The Army of Salvation

The Arab League, at a meeting held in Cairo between 9 and 17 December 1947, decided to raise, train, arm and finance an army of salvation for Palestine composed of volunteers and based in Syria. It was also decided to allocate volunteers to every Arab country as follows: Palestine-500; Transjordan-200; Syria-500; Iraq-500; Saudi Arabia - 500; Lebanon - 300; Egypt - 500. 1 The decision to prefer Syria as the main base for future operations in Palestine, though primarily dictated by military necessity, was accepted willingly and with satisfaction by the Syrian government. It would give Syria a leading role vis-à-vis Transjordan on one hand, and demonstrate Syria’s valuable contribution to Arab aims towards Palestine, on the other. Throughout the period during which the United Nations discussed the Palestine question, Palestine was the central and often the only theme in the Syrian newspapers. The proceedings in Lake Success during the final hearing were attentively followed. A burst of indignation and incitement from the Damascus press, following the UN Assembly’s decision to divide Palestine, caused excited feelings amongst demonstrators in Damascus and Aleppo. A rumour in Aleppo that mosques in Palestine had been burnt by Jews caused an attack on Jewish synagogues and other Jewish institutions which brought substantial damage to property. The Minister of the Interior took the opportunity of the demonstrations against the Communists to declare the Communist Party illegal and to close Communist offices throughout the country. The atmosphere in the country was set by these preliminary actions, which were sponsored by the authorities. 2