|
THE 1948 ALL-PALESTINE GOVERNMENT
When Eltaher’s friend and companion in the long struggle for freedom, Ahmad Hilmi Abdel-Baqi Pasha, was asked by the League of Arab States in 1948 to form an “All-Palestine Government” in Gaza as a last effort to rescue what could be rescued of historic Palestine, Hilmi Pasha issued him Palestinian Passport Nº 1.
He then invited him to join the Cabinet and asked him to choose any Ministry he liked. In 1949 he issued him Palestinian Diplomatic Passport Nº 11.
Eltaher thanked Hilmi Pasha and accepted the passports with pleasure. But he was convinced that nobody would recognize these passports, starting with the Arab League countries which recommended that a Palestinian Government be created in the first place. He apologized from accepting any official government post in the All Palestine Government, even if it were an honorary position, in order not to lose his freedom of action and the freedom to write as he wished.
|
