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1939 London Round Table Conference

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aliasesLondon Round Table Conference, Round Table Conference, London Conference

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Summary

The conference held in London in February 1939 at which, in Kanafani’s account, Britain gained time after abandoning partition and the Surrounding Arab Regimes imposed their will on the Palestinians for the second time in less than two years, while the revolt’s fighting continued.

Details

  • Britain, which in November 1938 had abandoned the partition proposal recommended by the Peel Commission report, began trying to gain time: the Round Table Conference held in London in February 1939 illustrated the transaction going on between the command of the Palestinian revolt, which Britain knew was prepared to bargain, and the British (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.26 / printed p.50-51).
  • Jamal al-Hussaini did not go to the conference alone; he was accompanied by representatives of the independent Arab countries, and the speeches listed are those of Jamal al-Hussaini, Amir Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Amir Hussein of the Yemen, Al Mahir of Egypt and Nuri al-Said of Iraq (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.26 / printed p.50-51).
  • Kanafani concludes that the Arab regimes subject to colonialism were destined for the second time in less than two years to impose their will on the Arabs of Palestine through the identity of interests of all those who sat around the Round Table in London (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.26 / printed p.50-51).
  • Fighting continued while the conference sat; Kanafani lists the British official figures for February 1939 alongside the conference (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.26 / printed p.50-51).
  • In the same context Kanafani judges the attitudes of Iraq and Saudi Arabia not much better than that of the Jordanian regime, attaching a letter from Baghdad to the British Foreign Minister dated, as written, 31 Oct. 1930 (footnote 44); the date is recorded on the source page under Open questions (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.28 / printed p.54-55).

The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, Surrounding Arab Regimes, Nuri al-Said, Amir Abdullah, Peel Commission, 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine

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