February 13, 1948 Israel Offers Peace, the Grand Mufti Rejects

“Toward the end of January a delegation representing all classes of Arabs form Haifa, headed by Archbishop Hakim, visited the Mufi in Cairo with the intention, it was rumored, of obtaining support for a plan to declare Haifa an ‘open city.’ It was unsuccessful. However, it is learned that all sections of the Arab national committee who feel that it is in their own interest to maintain peace in the city for as long as possible. This, and the fact that the moneyed Jewish community in Haifa wishes for peace, provides some grounds for the hope that order may be maintained there for some time. Both communities are well armed and tension of course exists. The situation depends entirely upon the control the leaders of both factions are able to maintain over their more irresponsible followers.”

Source: British In its Fortnightly Newsletter No. 61, dated February 13, 1948, the British intelligence reported the Arab effort to make Haifa an open city: Nation