Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1948. PALESTINE ISSUE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 146, 2 April 1948, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1948. PALESTINE ISSUE

Without doubt the most vexed of international problems to-day is that of the future of Palestine. The date fixed by Britain for the surrender of her mandate is now only a matter o,f weeks away, and internal conditions in the Holy Land are all the time deteriorating. The General Assembly of the'United Nations agreed on partition some months ago, but the United States is not now keen on pressing for implementation of the plan. This has come as a shock to most other nations concerned, and the feeling is growing, even in some quarters in America, that if efforts to settle the Palestine impasse are not successful, then it may mean the end of Uno. The correspondent of the “New York Times” expresses himself thus : “Delegates . and members of the United Nations secretariat express pessimism over the future of the organisation so far as effective work to keep the peace is concerned. Many insist that the United Nations has started down the same road which led the League of Nations to doom.” Palestine may not actually prove the rock on which the organisation will be wrecked, but it will be the wave which casts the ship on the rock. It is difficult to understand the reason for the- present American attitude, but one of the reaso'ns will probably be found in domestic political considerations. There are no fewer than 5,000,000 Jews in the United States. In so vast a country it may be thought that so few people of one class could exert any effective pressure, but the point is that they are not dispersed. In fact, about half the total reside in the city of New York, where they can swing elections. It is not far from the truth to say that New York is the greatest Jewish city in the world. Many of them feel very strongly about a national home in Palestine, and have staged big demonstrations to this end. America has found, however, that there are other voices in theHMiddle East. One commentator points out that America cannot afford to antagonise the Arabs, nor can the present Administration afford to antagonise the Jewish yote. That may be the main cause of the policy volte-face.