867N.01/1251
The Chargé in Egypt (Merriam) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 4.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Legation’s despatch No. 1426 of October 21, 1938,85 reporting the proceedings of the Inter-parliamentary Congress for the Defence of Palestine which was held at Cairo from October 7 to 11, 1938, and to state that four gentlemen representing the Congress called at the Legation by appointment on October 21, 1938, for the purpose of requesting me to transmit to my [Page 964] Government the conclusions and resolutions adopted by the Congress, which I agreed to do. These gentlemen were: Mohamed Aly Alluba Pasha, President of the Executive Committee of the Congress, an Egyptian Senator; Tewfik Doss Pasha, an Egyptian Deputy; Hamad Pasha El Bassel, an Egyptian Deputy, and Fares Bey El Khuri, President of the Syrian Chamber. A copy of their letter of transmittal and of the document embodying the conclusions and resolutions are enclosed herewith.87
During their call, the delegates made an eloquent plea for an attitude on the part of the Government of the United States toward the Palestine question based on President Wilson’s principle of the self-determination of peoples of which, they stated, the Jewish National Home in Palestine is in effect a gross violation. They entered their plea, they said, on the grounds of justice to the Arabs, notwithstanding their full appreciation of the weight of Jewish influence in the United States and of the extent of American Jewish investment in Palestine.
Respectfully yours,