Pasha Says U.N. Protects Aggressors, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, May 31, 1948.

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CAIRO, May 30 (AP)-Abdel Rahman Azzam Pasha, secretary-general of the Arab League, said tonight “the Zionists who started this war in Palestine must be left alone to take the punishment they deserve.”

It was Azzam Pasha’s first public declaration since the United Nations Security Council called on the Arabs and Jews last night to agree by 6 p. m. (EST) Tuesday on a four weeks cease fire in the Holy Land.

Azzam Pasha made the statement to newsmen after he held a 90 minute conference with Count Folke Bernadotte, the U. N. Palestine mediator.

He did not say whether the Arabs would accept or reject the latest U. N. truce proposal.

The League official added, however, that he told Count Bernadotte the initiative now was in the hands of the Arabs and the United Nations were “interfering to protect the Jews in spite of the fact they are the aggressors” in Palestine.

“I told him the Arabs have already worked for peace and this war was started by Zionists in the Jaffa region where 200,000 Arabs, possessing only 48 rifles among them, were living,” Azzam Pasha said.

“The Jews prepared for this war for more than 10 years.

“We have always advised the Zionists, with whom we had no enmity, to prevent the use of armed force to achieve their aims. Now that they have used such force they must be left alone to take the punishment they deserve.”

Count Bernadotte plans to fly to Haifa tomorrow morning and then motor to Tel Aviv for talks with Jewish officials. He expects to return Tuesday to Cairo or go to Amman, Trans-Jordan. The Arab League’s political committee plans to meet tomorrow in Cairo or Amman. The mediator will go to the capital in which the committee sits.

In his statement to newsmen, Azzam Pasha said the Arabs knew they had no friend in the Western world on whom they could rely.

“Not even Britain, on whom rests the responsibility of permitting the Zionists to prepare for this war and commit the most horrible crimes against the Arabs,” he added.