184 nehru and the era of deterioration, 1947–1964government since September 1946, was its moving spirit. The prepara-
tory work began in April 1946. Formally inaugurated on March 23, 1947,
the conference ended on April 2 with a valedictory address given by
Nehru. The primary purpose of the conference was to promote greater
understanding of Asia (Egypt was the only non- Asian invitee). As a re-
sult, “not only controversial issues involving these countries, but even
matters like defense and security which concerned powers outside Asia
were excluded from the agenda, which listed only such innocuous sub-
jects as national freedom movements, migration and racial problems,
economic development and the status of women.”^4
The conference off ered an opportunity for the yishuv to interact with
India’s nationalist leadership as well as those from other Asian countries.
Hugo Bergmann, a professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, headed a ten- member “Jewish Delegation from Palestine.”^5
The delegation felt that they represented only the Jewish community in
Palestine and not the whole of Palestine. In spite of “our constant eff orts
to call ourselves, ‘Jewish Palestine Delegation,’ and to maintain that we
represent only the Jewish part of Palestine, we were considered, some-
times consciously and sometimes implicitly, as a delegation of Palestine
as a whole”^6 or as a “Hebrew University Delegation.”^7 Some members of
the delegation felt it was an “endeavor not to mention and not to refer to
Jewish Palestine.”^8
There was a near total absence of Arabs at the conference. Out of the
thirty- two countries that were invited, twenty- eight countries and a few
observers attended the New Delhi meeting. While the Arab League was
represented by an observer, six Arab countries (Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Ara-
bia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen) “did not accept individual invita-
tions.”^9 The Jewish delegation felt that this was due to the “request and
pressure” from the Indian Muslim League, which boycotted the confer-
ence.^10 The Egyptian delegation linked Arab nonattendance to the par-
ticipation of the Jewish delegation.^11 One observer could not hold back
his sarcasm and remarked that the conference had “delegates from seven
Arab countries numbered six in all— fi ve from Egypt and one observer
from the Arab League representing the other six countries.”^12
The yishuv saw the invitation and participation as a offi cial recognition
of the Jewish nation as a legitimate member of the Asian family of na-
tions.^13 Refl ecting this optimism, the Jewish delegation felt that “the
most important and positive aspect of our participation is... the mere
fact that we have taken part. This participation in itself has established