120
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
and resources of one would be available to the other in all
emergencies."
"How about Palestine?" I asked.
"The idea of Zionism must be uprooted so as never to recur
in the mind of Jew or non-Jew. Once the Arab world is unified there will be no Zionism," Assad Bey said sternly. "Zionism is an obstacle. It cuts into the right wing of the Arab
world. How can you have a continuous Arab civilization when
European Jews set up a foreign nation in your midst?"
"Would you include Turkey and Persia in your scheme?"
I asked.
"Neither Turkey nor Persia is Arab," he answered.
If the dream should come true, the Arab Empire would
Stretch in an unbroken chain from the Atlantic to the Arabian
Sea for four thousand miles. It would boast a population of
nearly seventy million and cover almost four million square
miles of strategic territory. It would dominate the Suez Canal,
Gibraltar, and all the oil and military resources of the area.
"Would not such a Moslem bloc again try to conquer Europe by the sword?"
"You are misinterpreting history," As 6B&W