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RECORDING OF THE CONVERSATION OF THE USSR AMBASSADOR IN LEBANON AND SYRIA D.S. MALT WITH THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF LEBANON H. FRANGIER

April 30, 1948

Secret

I met with Frangier, who had returned from Cairo, to find a way out of the impasse in the issue of transferring the plot to us. [...]

Referring to the decisions taken by the political commission of the Arab League on the Palestinian issue, Frangier said that Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt and, it seems, Saudi Arabia agreed to the proposal of the King of Transjordan Abdullah to occupy Palestine with his troops. When I asked whether we are talking about the whole of Palestine or only about its Arab part, as all local newspapers note, Frangier replied that the Arab part of Palestine will remain Arab anyway, so there is no need to occupy it, we are talking about the whole of Palestine. But to my additional question whether Abdallah agreed with this, because in this case he will have to conduct serious battles with the Jews, Frangier avoided a direct answer, which may mean that he himself is not sure whether Abdallah will decide to occupy the Jewish part of Palestine.

To my attempts to find out what caused the decision of the Arab countries to give their consent to the occupation of Palestine by the Transjordanian troops, since Abdallah does not hide his claims to Palestine, Frangier explained that Transjordan is not a member of the UN, therefore it is not bound by any obligations towards this organization. In addition, the capture of Haifa by the Jews shows that the Arab volunteers are not able to achieve a decisive advantage over the Jews, so some more organized force is needed to successfully fight the Jews. Currently, the Arabs have no other choice, and besides, it will be possible to cope with Abdallah.

 

When it came to the general discussion of the fundamentals of the participation of Arab countries in the Palestinian struggle, Frangier noted that the Arab countries openly help the Palestinian Arabs in their struggle against the Zionists and thus violate the general provision of non-intervention necessary in such cases.

But this happened because almost all the other countries that make up the UN also openly help Zionists and Jews in carrying out continuous immigration to Palestine and in arming Jews in Palestine. Consequently, the Arab countries are doing nothing more than the rest of the countries are doing.

However, to my attempts to find out which countries are helping Jews and contributing to illegal immigration to Palestine, Frangier evaded a direct answer, making it clear that the main one is the United States. Developing his thought, Frangier added that the Arabs would allegedly agree to end the struggle in Palestine if the United Nations could completely suspend Jewish immigration to Palestine and the delivery of weapons to Jews.

When it came to the possibility of establishing a truce in Palestine, Frangier said that the Arabs were supposedly ready for a truce, and not only in Jerusalem and Jaffa, as the newspapers write about it, but throughout Palestine. As for the transfer of Palestine under the tutelage of the United Nations, the Arab countries allegedly agree to it, but on the condition that it will be temporary and will lead to the independence of Palestine. However, Arab countries will never agree to custody in her current American proposal.

Speaking about the ongoing negotiations in Amman between the leaders of Arab countries, Frangier confirmed newspaper reports that Lebanese Prime Minister Riad Solkh left for Amman, ostensibly to finally settle the order of military events in Palestine, but when active Arab hostilities begin countries in Palestine and what their order is, he did not want to tell. According to Frangier, Riad Solh from Amman should return to Beirut and after supposedly, together with the Prime Minister of Syria Jamil Mardam Bey, fly to Saudi Arabia for negotiations with Ibn Saud.

Note: These reports from Frangier regarding the consent of the Arab countries to the occupation of Palestine by the Transjordanian troops mean that the Arab League has completely ceded to the British on all Middle East issues and that the British have decided to keep Palestine after May 15, but through Transjordan, if the Transjordanian troops are not defeated in battles with Jews.

At the same time, there is every reason to believe that King Abdullah gave his consent to the Arab countries to occupy all of Palestine, but in reality he will limit himself only to the occupation of its Arab part in order to preserve his army and have it ready for the subsequent formation of Greater Syria, because, in the event the defeat of the Transjordanian army in the fight against the Jews, it is possible that Transjordan itself will either be completely captured by Syria, or divided between Syria and Saudi Arabia, and Abdallah, if he survives the defeat of his army, will repeat the last days of his father’s life, who just like Abdallah, dreamed of becoming a great Arab king and ended up fleeing to the island of Cyprus.

Messenger D Malt

WUA RF. F. 0106. Op. 7.P. 8.D. 7.L. 82-86.