Syria Moves against (1) Zionism and (2) Abdullah, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1948.

Click here to view the original article.

By JOSEPH C. COODWIN. Associated Press Staff Writer

(The following story is a combination of two dispatches dated May 5 and May 6 and received in London by air mail. The Syrian government has imposed a form of censorship called “administrative regulation” on foreign news dispatches transmitted by cable.)

By JOSEPH C. COODWIN. Associated Press Staff Writer

DAMASCUS, Syria, May 6 (Delayed)-The Arab world, rocked by Jewish military successes in Palestine and plagued by political bickering at home, appears to observers here to have jockeyed itself into the position of choosing between all-out war in the Holy Land or revolts at home.

The Syrian and Lebanese Premiers now are in Riyad, Saudi Arabian capital. They apparently are seeking King Ibn Saud’s support in internal problems, as well as aid for Palestine Arabs.

Before their departure from Damascus the Lebanese Premier, Gmad En Solh, told Syrian newsmen they proposed to confer with the Saudi Arabian monarch on “coordination of action against Zionism in Palestine.”

However, observers in Damaseus generally agree that Syria and Lebanon are seeking Saudi Arabia’s help in stemming “Hashimite ambitions” to unite the Arab lands of the Middle East under a single government headed by King Abdullah of Trans-Jordna.

(The Hashimites are an Arab faction from which the Kings of Iraq and Trans-Jordan were drawn when those countries were set up and which fought bitterly against King Ibn Saud in the 1920s.)

Trans-Jordan and Iraq were reported not represented at the Riyad talks, although both countries apparently are co-operating in preparations for the proposed invasion of Palestine by regular Arab armies.

Besides worrying about Abdullah’s ambitions, the governments of Syria and Lebanon are chafing under pressure from their peoples to send regular troops to Palestine immediately to prevent the formation of a Jewish state.

Since King Abdullah took the spotlight in prospective Palestine invasion plans, Syrian leaders have grown increasingly nervous. Reliable official sources said some of these leaders now are pressing for the use of regular troops in Palestine without waiting for the termination of the British mandate next Saturday.

Informants said a recent secret conference of Arab leaders here spent most of its time debating these three problems-

1-The demands of Syria and Lebanon for the immediate dispatch of troops to the Holy Land “before the situation deteriorates further.”

2-The insistence of Trans-Jordan and Iraq on waiting until the end of the British mandate to avoid possible clashes with British troops and to give the United Nations additional time to search for a peaceful solution.

3-The rejection by the exiled Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin El Husseini, of any proposals which might postpone what he called “the inevitable settlement in blood in Palestine itself.”

The Syrians and Lebanese are said to have charged the Hashimite leaders with playing into British hands and “giving the Zionists time to establish a Jewish state in fact.” Uncertain of the Egyptian attitude, the Syrians and Lebanese are reported to be courting Saudi Arabian favor.

The Egyptians, observers said, may be playing a lone hand in the hopes of getting the United Nations to take over the U. S.-backed proposed Palestine trusteeship.