Sir: The historical facts are: 1. In September 1947 the
Arab League declared its member states would resist the proposal made by a UN Commission to partition 'Palestine, if necessary by war.
(2.) In November 1947 the UN Assembly approved a partition resolution. Subsequently the Arab League met on a number of occasions to concert its war plans and made no secret of the fact. Arab citizens of Palestine were warned to get out of the way.
(3.) By January 1948, three months before Dir Yassin, a considerable emigration of Arabs was reported by the High Commissioner for Palestine.
(4.) In February 1948 Glubb Pasha (now Sir John Glubb), Commander of the then most formidable Arab army, that of Transjordan, along with her Prime Minister, discussed with Ernest Bev in, and obtained his assent for, their intention to invade Palestine as soon as the British left.
(5.) On or before May 15, 1948, the armies of all the surrounding Arab states, and that of Iraq, marched into Palestine. Several thousand civilians were killed and several hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled and were accorded refugee status by the UN.
Curiously enough, Sir John's key role in the origin of the conflict has not prevented him, ever since, from denouncing the Jews for waging war and creating the refugee problem. Equally so, Christopher Mayhew, loyal henchman of Ernest Sevin at the Foreign Office, whose Palestine policy dictated a prolonged defiance of the UN, has since become a most vociferous UN supporter.
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