ARABS REJECT PROPOSALS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 149, 20 March 1939, Page 10

ARABS REJECT PROPOSALS

Palestine Talks End Without Agreement BRITAIN TO IMPOSE SETTLEMENT Military Operations To Continue (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 17. The Palestine conferences ended tonight without reaching an agreement. The final meeting -was with the Arabs, who found the British proposals unacceptable. The Jewish delegation had already declined to accept the proposals. Interest now centres in Britain’s announcement next week of her policy for an imposed settlement. It is generally agreed, however, that the discussions must have contributed in some degree to an understanding, and they certainly have been the means of establishing valuable personal contacts.

Terrorist Gangs Broken Up.

In the meantime the mandatory’s duty of restoring order is inescapable and in Palestine itself military operations continue; but a great change has come over the scene since last autumn when, with large gangs of armed terrorists disturbing the peace of the country, it was decided to increase the garrison to two divisions. As a result of systematic drives most of the important gang leaders have lied to Syria, and gangs have either been dispersed or split up into small parties which have concealed their arms. Troops which have been searching for hidden arms and rounding up suspects have been encountering less and less active opposition, and the tactics of terrorists are now confined to acts of individual terrorism. Serious dissensions have also broken out among the rebels themselves and captured documents show that there is ever-growing dissatisfaction with the financial administration, for which the rebel headquarters in Syria are responsible.

MAJORITY RIGHTS CLAIMED

Arabs’ Minimum Demands By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. LONDON, March 17. The Arab delegates to the Palestine Conference issued a statement that the Arab demands solely expressed the minimum consistent with justice and the national aspirations of their race. “Throughout the conference,” says the statement, “we were conciliatory and expressed willingness to safeguard the vital interests of the Empire and our readiness to recognize the Jews as a privileged community, giving them citizenship rights and treating them as a permanent privileged minority with rights guaranteed by Britain. “Our essential claim was that the Arabs should enjoy majority rights. We have gone far to meet the British and Jewish interests and to go further meant abandoning all our rights in favour of foreigners who will ultimately become dominant in the community.”

JEWISH PROTEST One-Day Strike In Palestine Today JERUSALEM, March 17. A 24-hour general strike throughout Palestine will start at 5 a.m. on March 20 as a protest against “the crystallization of the Jewish national home as a permanent minority.” JEWISH DELEGATION TO DISSOLVE LONDON, March 17. The Palestine Jewish Agency has advised the Secretary for Colonies, Mr. M. MacDonald, that the Jewish delegation is to dissolve because it is unable to accept the Government’s proposals.