Despite State Department reports of the widespread anger in the Arab world provoked by his pro-Zionist policies, President Truman did not hesitate to revoke Roosevelt's promises to Ibn Saud on Palestine with the words:

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism; I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents."

With these words, President Truman betrayed the commitment of his predecessor, made on behalf of the United States, and prepared the soil for decades of instability and, at times war, in the Middle East.

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