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Ab .eam. ion No. 6 '5177 •

Dia* Becht SA Iff.1..1913... •

Officer'sknit

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DEC LASSIF F ES Alt' RE...tEASED OrCENTRAL INTEL!: 14ERCE AMC

SPOR.CESMETHOISIXpRI I OH 39 29NA21 VAR CRINEs 9l LOSURE ACTPATE 204

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• 'Zech conlint should be numbered to correspond with number in To• A line.Ohould be drawn across sheet under each comment.

:Officer Designations ebould be used in To column.: Each °Miter should initial (check mark insufficient) before further .routing.•. AotiOn.destred or action taken should be indicated in Comments column... Rotting sheet should always, be returned to 'Registry.

For Officer . Designationit see separate shett.

•- (20640) • • • SECRET

COE? IDEETIAL

07FICE C7 STRATEGIC 53R1IfTSART "WAS IV P.2:!TDCLE BAST 1

517

ro. 9677Jernsalon

PALESTIVE POLrfICAL

Bali Ardis el russeini. Creed rum. of Jerusalem

IMP 1943

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seen against the background of recent Palestine history. .•

(Summary of attached 32-page document.) 1:r0.45;

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(By one of the leadingMoslem Arabs of Jerusalem.)NOTS: (Riots end rebellions are underlined, Commissions and Reports are

capitalised.) •

34 Rajj Amin is about 52 years old. rix father was Heti of Jerusalem;his brother Emil succeeded the father, and upon Remil ls death in 19214Amin became not onlyrufti of Jerusalem, but Grand nett of Palestine.(A British-created position.)

2. 26 had studied at Al-Ashar Cniversity in Cairo until 1914, thenr .Sarni& in the Turkish army until 1917, deserted, fied t%en comported Prince

Faisal, and took on active part in the Arab monessent for a new state.• .

.Shortly after Feisal 1:40MBO King of Syria, Amin delivered a fiery ethortation,:in Jerusalem, deemsmang that Palestine be incorporated in Syria. A Jae spit.on a sacred flog, a riot ensued, and Amin fled to Transjordan, being sentenced

• in absentia to 15 rigi imprisoneent.•

3. * These 1920 riots were studied by the PALIN.410ARNETTCOMIS8IOE, but.although its report was never issued, its apprecintion of Arabchopes.leakedout, through later references to it.

4. July 14 1920 sew the termination of military occupation and the ap-pointment, as first !Ugh Commissioner, of Sir - .Torbert Sam:el, up to thattime an avowed Zionist supporter.

• • •5. In 1921 lain was pardoned, returned to Jerusalem, and shortly afterwhen his brother Emil died, helms appointed Matti, by British manipulation •of the Moslem nominations. Shortly the Rritish united the sabebista•etten

t. . ofthe Races and the Merin religious courts under a new Supreme Edelen' . •t. Council, and appointed Rajj Amin as its heel. . „

• •: •6. Lay 1921 Outbreak, stUdied by =CRAFT ECRICSSICE, resulted in this=WEILL-19ft MITE -PAPER, Iva rational Home for the Jean iriPaleitine,not Palestine to be a National Rome forth, Jams, 11 and other pointaencour-•aging .0:t the Arabs, it the Jews continued to oppose the recommended co-,operation with the Arabs. They intensified their program, bringing in100,000 inmigrants in 19,20-26. This boom period went into a slump; 1927-29with fewer immigrants and less money contributions, so the Zionist. triedto intensity interest by: .

a. /Merging the Jewish Agency, to include rich (and numerous)non-Zionist; . .1

b. Pushing Jewish elates to the Wailimg241. •Yellowing minor demonstrations, the WAILIE1 WAIL WHITE PAPER, Nov,. 1928, •assimed onnership of the mall to the rodeos. Demonstrations in Aug. 192y.

7. 1929 Riots. SURD:MISSION. 70? Amin hid been free of politicsexcept for datenctinr.-Italem rights to the holy sites. Mu., however, he 'wortas virtual head of the Arab -romp, to the LONDON CONFERENCE, called by the •Government. The Arabs favored the Shaw recommendations, *deb were eabodied- •in the PASWIELD WHITE PAPER, 1930, which advised limitation en. immigration,control of land sales to Jews, nd some form of self-govertimsnt. for Palestine;It was violently-attacked in Parliament and the press, by the Jaws, and theCabinet largely nullified it by the VACDOrALD LETTER TOMMY'.

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e. Another strdy, and the POPE &OMR REPORT - ercemed the derneratarue' conditions nt Arabs j follonth:mntontrolled JawIthjand purchuee andimmi.eration. .?"

9. inotter steer, thE MEW I:runs:I:or, in 1931, even enre favoratle tothe Arabs. Yet immilottion rose (1932-9553; 1933-30,337; 1934-k2,359).

hvgigration nado the setael fivares double these anotmts. Also, landpurchases continued. (Jewish farm land became, )'r trust proviaion, the inal-ienable property of the Jews a! thrmorld).

10. Najj Amin assisted the new MO Taaniasioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope,by repressin: anti-Prittsh feelinz anone the Arabs, and hoped for.implemen-tation of the various Coamission reports. rmt Arab disappointment rose;demonstrations of protest took place at Jaffa, withmany Arabs and Polleecasualties. (Antumn, 1e3h) In October, 1935, Jewish arms smalls* arousedArabs fears.. Nov. 1935, Sheikh Iszeddin al %Ream, fanatical -but idces.inrIn-cieled religious head, preached armed resistance, and he and his followerswere attacked and killea by the Police.

11.. In 1935, Wauchope formally offered a Legislatden lo7neil of Arab!and Jews in ratio of 2.41, sublect to certaimBritish vetoes. Arabs wouldnot accent all the latter point, the Jews opnosed the nhole thing, andJewish influence in Parliament was !Asia), annarent.

12.. following the April 1936 Riots. Arabs felt that Arab participantswere more heavily punished than were the Jews, and called a ceneral strike.All Arab parties now united to form tbs . Areb.riditter Committee, with fajj Aminas chairman. We had now 31.ven ni hope of peaceful settlement, and had becomedefinitely anti-eritiab. The strike degenerated into qpen rebellion, directedby Iraqi irmy officers who had resigtod their commissions. After seve.m1months the Comnittee called off the ymr, but anti-eritish sentiment wasmore bitter than ever.

13. 1936. 1b1EAL or FEZ COEVISS/011. Arabs at first boycotted it, but fin-.ally Neje Amin testifiedeto Arab aspirations and disappointments, mealsdemanded national independence. The Commission recomsended partition of thecountry Into Jewish, Arab, and =mon areas.

14. Intense Arab inAlgradeakwrenerad rebelloinieet. 1, 1937, the .Government dissolved the Arab.asher eommittoe declared it illegal, de-ported its members to Seychelles. Rejj Amin avoided arrest by remaining inthelfteque area, soon fled to Lebanon later to Iraq; in 1941 to Teheran;and finally to Italy and Germsny, where he now la.

15.. Ike PARTITION eaTISSIr" decided that peril:don was impossible, and.another Wein PAPSR formally cancelled the pin. Autumn, 1938, the BritiahInvited representatives of neighboring Arab states, as well as Arabs ofPalestine, and the Jewish Agency, to the LOP= COVEREES. fellers toreach a solution acceptable to either party.

•16. So the Government issued theta 1939 ram PAP as its definitepolicy.

a. Drastic curtailment of land sales to AVIS; .b. Practical stoppage of immicration after 75,000 In five yeers;c. Creation, in stages, of national representative government with

Arab majority; after 10 ew ro, to consider full freedom, treaty •relations with at eritain.

Arabs somed to it in 19140 Ms question?) b yt Jems have absolutely opposed it.

17. When War broke out, Arabs called off the rebellion. Since then, 4rehe-Nei that no implementation of the 3 points , has taken place, that t11 .al

• inistLration has :greatly exceeded prescribed limits. Arabs awit for 7heg1andCo folfil the terms of the White rater, but fear that Jewish pressure,aided.by American enpnort of the Jewish ay cause the policy to b an-nulled. The Jews are arming themselves, preparim to take the initiative ty.force from a warwearylk04eld.

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COMIASION.

ie. It shonid be borne in rind that 7ajj Amin folfille4 "moo f:nctions.Mc first -ems spiritual, asigyftsseeondiy, as head of the Suprema MaoismCouncil, receivtin7 a ealarY from+, 7overnmart, he se:Jr.:teed a temporal office.There, his control of educational and re1i2ione inetitutionoend endovments hesaroused little criticism, but in the aiministerin ..,' ofiamay &nd orphan Waqfo,and funds collected for mosque repairs, he could, manipulation, formmrd‘his personal 'and national ambitioni..

19. Eis third ftnetion, as chairman of the Areb v.ijher Townittee, after1936, vas purely political. Me 'Rebellion !Mich served looks treasonable in.itself, but when considered against the 'tole backzround, it looks pore likethe logical culmination of 17 years of aspiration, frustration, and distil.—usiorriant.

20. . It is a noot ,vimtadorther or not Uajj Amin was ever offered, oraccepted, financial assistance from ?aecist or Masi source. One of hisclosest friends has saids named rot/Aare him if he did. We could nolonger hope Dor any help of lustier: from ?veal Tritain... They. (the Pxitish)....are... controlled, for various reasons, tr, tho Jew:sand Zionists.'

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DIVISIBUTIONs Date of Infos As stated• Wash. Cairo s Oct. 30, 1943

' 1111es (2) Source a Pony from wall3raluattcm a 33-2