JEWS AND ARABS

Evening Star, Issue 23124, 25 November 1938, Page 9

JEWS AND ARABS

THE PROBLEM OF PALESTINE BRITAIN'S MANDATE DIFFICULTIES DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMHOHS (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, November 24. (Received November 25, at 11.30 a.m.) Mr Malcolm MacDonald, in opening the Palestine debate in the House of Commons, said it had not been possible pending publication of the Woodhead report to make a constructive effort for peace. It had meanwhile been necessary to concentrate on deal-

ing with the campaign of assassination which had developed into an Arab revolt against the British authorities. The forces now at the disposal of the Government were steadily re-establish-ing order. “ We all know that certain interested propagandists have been levelling many foul charges against the conduct of our troops,” he said. “ I see a good many things at the Colonial Office, but I have never seen any evidence in support of those charges.” “ On the contrary, the reoceupation of the Old City of Jerusalem a few weeks ago was an example of the way in which British troops can with perfect humanity, as well as perfect success, conduct a delicate military operation among a civilian population. THE REAL PROBLEM. “ The real problem in Palestine is not military, but political. Our troops can restore order—they cannot restore peace. The Government has got to do that, “ The problem of Palestine is stated brilliantly in the report of the Peel Commission, he said. First of all there are the Jews. Nearly 2,000 years ago their home was Palestine. Since then they have been dispersed and scattered over the face of the earth, but during the last 20 years many of them have been hastening back to Palestine under tho terms of the mandate entrusted by over 50 nations to Britain. Since 1922 over 250,000 Jews have entered Palestine and settled there.”

REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS. Mr MacDonald added that thenachievements were remarkable. They had turned sand and dust into orange groves. They had created new city housing. To-day 140,000 souls were where there was only a bare seashore. 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 return to their own homeland had been multiplied a hundredfold. The tragedy of a people who had no country had never been so deep as it had been this week.

“ I must utter this word of warning,” he said. “ When we promised the Jews a national home in Palestine we never anticipated this fierce persecution in Europe. We had made no promise that that country should be the home for everyone who was seeking to escape from such imminent calamity, and, even if there was 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. It has got to be settled over a far wider field. “ The British Empire, of course, can make its contribution. It is making its contributions to-day, but at the present time, despite the disturbance, emigrants are going to Palestine week after week at the rate of about 1,000 monthly. The Government, said Mr MacDonald, announced a short time ago the next definite stage in its Palestine policy—namely, discussions by Arabs and Jews in London, and it could not do anything now which would prejudice the chance of these discussions ending successfully. It was in the best interests of the Jews themselves that future policy in Palestine should as far as possible bo based on a wide agreement. CASE FOR THE ARABS. Referring to the Arabs, Mr MacDonald recalled that they had lived in the country for many centuries. They were not consulted when the Balfour Declaration was made, nor when the mandate was framed, and during these post-war years they had watched, with an occasional angry protest, this peaceful invasion by an alien people. They wondered whether a halt was ever going to be called to it, and feared that it was going to be their fate in the land of their birth to be dominated by an energetic newcoming people—dominated economically, politically, and commercially. A great many people regarded the Arab agitation as a mere protest by a gang of bandits, and it

was true that many of the Arabs who had taken part most eagerly in the trouble were cut-throata of the worst type, but there was much more than that in the Arab movement. They must recognise that many in the Palestinean movement were moved by genuine patriotism, Mr MacDonald proceeded to refer to the growth of the Arab population, which was now 990,000, and was estimated to reach 1,500,000 in 20 years.

BOTH MUST MAKE CONCESSIONS. Mr MacDonald added that the Arabs could not say the Jews were driving them out of their country. Had no single Jew come into Palestine after 1918, the Arab population to-day would still have been round about 600,000. It was because the Jews had come, bringing modern health services and other advantages, that Arab men and women who would have been dead were alive to-day, and Arab children who would never have drawn breath had been born and grown strong. It was not merely the Jews who benefited by the Balfour Declaration —the Arabs also benefited very greatly. He knew the 'Arabs feared they would lose their freedom and be dominated by the Jews if the process went on. “,We cannot put the Jews under the domination of the Arabs in Palestine. Unless we can remove that Arab fear that they are going to be put under the domination of the Jews, we shall have to face a hostile people over a great area, and we shall have to lock up a great part of our army in Palestine, Under the treaty we have solemn obligations to both peoples in Palestine. On the one hand we are pledged to facilitate Jewish emigration into Palestine under suitable conditions, and to encourage the settlement of Jews on the land. On the other hand,” Mr MacDonald continued, “ we. are pledged to see that the weight and position of the Arab population are not prejudiced. How are we to reconcile justly those two obligations? That is the problem we have to solve. I do not think it ought to rest on the Government alone to**find a solution. It ought to rest also on the other parties concerned — the Arabs and the Jews. They have both got to make concessions to each other. If they were only willing to do that, peace and prosperity would return to both parties in Palestine. The Government is prepared to make a supreme effort to achieve that understanding.” Mr MacDonald recalled an incident of 20 years ago, when Dr Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist organisation, crossed the Jordan and conferred with Feisal, with whom, after some months, he signed an agreement about Palestine. That was the relationship towards which they wanted to move back. The coming discussions would probably be held between the Government and each of the other parties separately, but they hoped before long that all three would gain in the discussion. “The Government,” continued Mr MacDonald, “ will, of course, enter these discussions bound by its obligations under the mandate to the Jews and to the Arabs and bound by its duty to Parliament, other members of the League of Nations, and the United States, and shall not seek to prevent Arab or Jewish representatives from offering an argument as to why the mandate should be discontinued. I hope it will be possible to start the London discussions within the next few weeks, or at the latest at the beginning of January.” VIEWS OF OPPOSITION. Mr Herbert Morrison (Lab.) said the Opposition did not criticise the decision to call a conference. He thought, however, that they should have some reasonable idea of the Government 3 policy, and asked for an undertaking that Parliament would not without consultation be converted to any agree ment reached. He suggested the further lifting of the restriction on immigration to permit a greater number of Jews to go there at once. Sir Archibald Sinclair (Liberal leader) pressed for the favourable con tarnation of Dr Weizmann’s suggestion for allowing 10,000 Jewish children to enter where the same number of Jewish families were willing to take them.