ABSTRACT

The locus standi of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia in the Palestine conflict is taken for granted by contemporary observers who assume, mistakenly, that it derives from the military intervention of the Arab armies against Israel in 1948. Whereas the standing of Arab parties outside of Palestine was by no means always quite so clear and not open to doubt. Their claim to primary interest in the determination of Palestine’s fate, moreover, is of earlier origin; it began a full decade earlier, in the period 1936-39. And it stemmed from Arab action of a definite diplomatic character rather than being established under the force of arms.