RIVERS of blood are flowing in the Middle East, but the one organisation that has been conspicuous by its absence is the Arab League. Founded in Cairo in 1945 with only seven members, the League of Arab States, now referred to as Arab League, has 22 members, the increase in numbers being of no consequence.

The first decision it made was to oppose the UN`s Palestine partition plan, which itself smacked of prejudice. The Arabs constituted 55 per cent of Palestine`s population, but they were given 40pc of it, and Jerusalem was awarded the status of an `international enclave`. The Arab world`s rejection of the partition plan lacked statesmanship. If the Arab League had accepted the UN`s partition plan the history of Al Aqsa and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, would have been different.

The Zionist leadership knew the Arab world`s military weakness and had during the mandate turned the kibbutzim into virtual arsenals. However, after World War II, there were better opportunities for the Jewish leadership to get hold of the latest weapons gathering dust in Europe. There were Jewish soldiers in the Allied armies and they did what was obvious. They rushed the latest World War II weapons to the kibbutzim in Palestine by every available means by boat, ship, and air. Thus, when Britain finally quit Palestine, the Jewish leadership was ready to take over that part of Palestine which had been allocated to the would-be Jewish state.

What was the military strength of the Arab world? Azzam Pasha, a top Arab League official, put this question to Sir John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha), Commander of Transjordan`s Arab Legion. He replied: `Some 4,500 officers and men.` Azzam Pasha said: `I thought you had more.` He then asked how many the Jews had. Glubb Pasha replied: `Perhaps 60,000.

The total forces with the Arab League were: Egypt 10,000; Arab Legion 4,500, Syria 3,000 and Iraq 3,000: a total of 20,500. But the Syrian army took no part in the fighting, and Lebanon had no army.

King Abdullah of Transjordan had made up his mind to send troops to the areas allotted to the Arabs in the partition plan but not to those given to the Jewish state.

The Arab Legion was also told to stay away from Jerusalem.

Egypt`s King Farouk had pledged to take Jerusalem before his main rival, King Abdullah, could reach the holy city. The Egyptian monarch`s air force consisted of planes which were not airworthy. As for Transjordan, it waited for five days, but its appeal to Western nations, to the UN, and to Britain evoked no response. It was obvious the Israelis would occupy all ofJerusalem. Therefore, finally, at dawn on the eve of May 14, the Arabs launched an invasion of `Mandate Palestine`, and attacked Tel Aviv, meeting resistance from the well-equipped, numerically superior Jewish forces. The issue was Jerusalem, and Glubb Pasha`s account of the battles he won despite marked inferiority in men and material makes for fascinating reading in his autobiography The Changing Scenes of Life.

He writes: `Inside the city of Jerusalem, the Israeli forces already there had started energetically to conquer the whole city, half of it was Arab. The inhabitants appealed in frantic terms to King Abdullah and the Jordan government to save them. Amman was in a state of passionate emotion.

`I had only some 4, 500 men to face a much greater number of Israelis ... I could ill afford to break into the city of Jerusalem, where our small numbers would immediately be swallowed up. ...

`The Israelis inside Jerusalem weremethodically taking over the Arab half of the city street by street. For five days we waited while the Transjordan government appealed passionately to the consuls of the Western nations in Jerusalem, to the United Nations who had allotted theholy city to themselves, and to the British government. It was obvious that, in a matter of hours, the Israelis would have occupied all Jerusalem ...

`At dawn on May 19, we were, therefore, obliged to break into Jerusalem... . We moved along the line of junction between the Jewish and Arab cities, without attacking any Jewish quarter, until we made contact with the old city. With a force of 300 men, we entered Jerusalem, a city which contained more than 100,000 Jews.

He writes how a Jewish writer misreported the situation and said that Glubb Pasha had four batteries of heavy guns, smaller artillery units, two infantry regiments and large units of tanks and armoured cars. After the artillery barrage, they advanced in masked strength, tanks in the lead.

The truth was, Glubb Pasha`s force which took Jerusalem consisted of one company of infantry and a squadron of four armoured cars. So the question arises: where is the Arab League? • The wnter is Dawn`s Extemal Ombudsman and an author.