PALESTINE: SUBMISSION TO UNO.

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 February 1947, Page 5

PALESTINE: SUBMISSION TO UNO.

Britain Expected To Take Action

(Recd. 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, February 13. The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Bevin, and the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Creech Jones, unexpectedly summoned the Jewish Agency leaders to the Colonial Office for a last-minute talk before Mr. Bevin reports to the Cabinet to-morrow. Mr. Bevin asked the Jews to make their final representations about Palestine. Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent says that Cabinet will not be asked to work out a new plan for Palestine. If will simply decide in what form the question of Palestine will be submitted to the United Nations and whether in the meantime British troops will be withdrawn. Mr. Bevin will probably recommend that the British troops should stay pending the United Nations decision. lie will not object to waiting- for a decision until the Assembly’s September meeting.

Dr. Jamail, Foreign Minister of | Iraq, stated to-day that the Aralps. believed that further discussions ■ with the Jewish representatives would be useless, because the Jews were apparently determined that they would not discuss anything other than a separate Jewish state. The Arabs believe that a Jewish state is physically impossible. They are willing to give the Palestine Jews full citizenship rights and guarantees of protection as a minority. An Arab Offer. “They can share in the country’s administration on equal terms with the Arabs, in proportion to their population. We cannot go beyond that,” Dr. Jamail added. The Arabs believed the British proposals ran counter to the resolution carried by the United Nations in December, affirming that displaced persons could not be “dumped” into any country in such manner as to cause apprehension among the indigenous inhabitants. The Arabs had a very real apprehension about the continued arrival of Jews in Palestine. The London conference on Palestine definitely broke down yesterday, says Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent. The Arabs uncompromisingly rejected all the British proposals and the British Foreign, Secretary (Mr Bevin) told them that Britain would probably have to put the whole matter before the United Nations. Mr Bevin met the Arabs to hear their objections to a “modified Morrison plan.” He told them Britain had no other proposals to lay before them. Report to Cabinet Mr Bevin, at the end of the session, said he would regretfully have to report to the Cabinet that they had failed to reach any agreement. The Arabs, however, acceded to Mr Bevin’s wish to have one more meeting on Thursday to hear the results of Mr Bevin’4 consultations with the Cabinet. The correspondent adds that although there were no hard words the atmosphere at the conference to-day was tense. The Arabs put their case more clearly and uncompromisingly than ever before. Mr Bevin told them that in his view it would have added considerably to the prestige of both parties if they had exercised sufficient statesmanship to secure a solution between themselves, but there had

been no spirit of compromise from either side and they seemed as far from a solution as ever. Several Arab delegates declared specifically that further Jewish immigration would lead to bloodshed in the Middle East. One of them prophesied “explosions throughout the Arab world.” “Hitler’s Arguments” The Arabs told Mr Bevin they regarded the economic arguments in favour of Zionism as being on a par with Hitler’s arguments for overrunning the Balkans and Mussolini’s for conquering Abyssinia. One delegate, discussing Mr Bevin’s plea that the Arabs should meet the Jews, half jokingly suggested that it would be necessary to detail one policeman for every delegate to such a conference. The Secretary of State (Mr A. Creech Jones) asked the Arabs whether they wished Britain to wash her hands of Palestine. Could the Arabs keep order themselves? The Arab reply was a very definite yes. The Arabs urged that Palestine should be declared an independent State and the United Nations notified forthwith. EXPLOSIONS DAMAGE SHIPS AT HAIFA LONDON, Feb. 13. Explosions in the port of Haifa today damaged two Government ships, a launch and a landing craft. No one was hurt. Reports reaching Jerusalem say six Jews were wounded when 100 Arabs attacked a Jewish village near Nathanya, says the British United Press correspondent. The Arabs abducted one Jew. The attack followed a dispute between Jews and neighbouring tribes of Arabs about the ownership of some land.

Jews fought Jews for the second night in succession when 10 armed men believed to be members of the Hashomer Hatzair kidnapped an extremist Yemenite Jew from an orange grove at Rehovoth near Tel Aviv, says Reuter’s correspondent in Jerusalem. The kidnapping is'believed to be in retaliation for a terrorist attack in which two members of the Hashomer Hatzair were kidnapped from Tel Aviv. The Hashomer Hatzair is an organisation of Left Wing Jews favouring the creating in Palestine of a binational State.