JEWISH REFUGEES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 39, 25 November 1938, Page 5

JEWISH REFUGEES

NO OPENING IN PALESTINE.

TRAGEDY OF HOMELESS PEOPLE. PROBLEM OF KEEPING ORDER. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, November 24. Opening the debate in the House of Commons on Palestine, the Secretary for the Colonies (Mr MacDonald) said that the forces now at the disposal of the Government were steadily re-estab-lishing order, but the real problem in Palestine was not military but political. Their troops could restore order—they •could not restore peace. The Government had to do that.. * During the last 20 years many Jews had been hastening back to their ancient home. in' Palestine, and since 1922 250,000 had entered and settled in Palestine, where their achievements, had been remarkable. The Jews were in Palestine not on sufferance but by right, and to-day, under the lash of persecution in Central Europe, their eagerness' to ref urn to their home land had multiplied a hundredfold. The tragedy of a pe.ople with no country had never-been -so deep as it had been this week. “I must utter this word of warning,” said the Minister,. “When we promised the Jews a‘national home pv Palestine we never anticipated this; fierce persecution in Europe. We made no promise that the country should be a home for everyone who was seeking escape from such an imminent calamity, and even if there were, no other population Palestine, with its*; rather meagre soil, could not, in fact, support more than a fraction of those Jews who might wish to escape from Europe. The problem of refugees in Central Europe cannot be settled in Palestine.” Mr MacDonald said they could not now do anything which would prejudice the chance of the forthcoming discussions in London ending successfully. It was in the best interests of the Jews themselves that the future policy in regard to Palestine should, as far as possible, he based on a wide agreement. Referring to the Arabs, Mr MacDonald said that the Arabs feared it was going to be their fate in the land of their birth to he dominated by an energetic newcoming people—dominated economically, politically and commercially. Britain must recognise that many in the Palestinean movement were moved by genuine patriotism.—British Official Wireless.