The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Abd er-Rahman Azzam Pasha, published numerous declarations assuring the Arab peoples and all others that the occupation of Palestine and of Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade for the Arab armies. Azzam Pasha’s statements pointed out that armies were already on the frontiers and that all the millions that the Jews had spent on land and on economic development would surely be easy booty for the Arabs, since it would be a simple matter to throw the Jews to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. As the time for the British withdrawal drew nearer, the zeal of the Arab League was redoubled. Meetings and conferences took place almost daily and burning calls and appeals were issued. Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine urging them to leave their land, homes and property and go to stay temporarily in neighbouring, brotherly States, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down. The Palestinian Arabs had no choice but to obey the ‘advice’ of the League and to believe what Azzam Pasha and other responsible men in the League told them – that their withdrawal from their lands and their country was only temporary and would end in a few days with the successful termination of the Arab ‘punishment’ action against Israel.
