BRITAIN DECIDES TO WITHDRAW FROM PALESTINE

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1947, Page 7

BRITAIN DECIDES TO WITHDRAW FROM PALESTINE

N.Z .P. A —Reuter—Copyright

(Reed. 10.15 a.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 26. Britain has decided to relinquish her mandate oyer Palestine and will withdraw all troops and administrative forces from Palestine soon.

The British Colonial Secretary, Mr Creech Jones, made this statement today when speaking at the United Nations General Assembly. He said Britain had decided to withdraw from Palestine regardless of the outcome of the present Assembly deliberations. Palestine was now in the United Nations’ hands. The main, problem was the enforcement of the Assembly’s recommendations,, and the United Nations itself must handle that problem.

“His Majesty’s Government is not itself prepared to undertake the task of imposing policy in Pal-| estine,” Mr Creech Jones said. He could not easily imagine the cir-. cumstances in which Britain would wish to prevent the application of the settlement recommended by the Assembly, but “in con-, sidering any proposals His Majbs-| ty’s Government should partici-! pate with others in the enforcement of the settlement. They must take into account both the inherent, justice of the settlement and the extent to which force would be required to give it effect.” Britain’s Attitude Mr Creech Jones said the British Government was in substantial: agreement with the 12 general recommendations of the Palestine Special Committee. The Government , particularly endorsed the first re- , commendation, that the mandate should terminate at the earliest prac- i ticable date and, secondly, that inde-i pendence should be granted in Pales-, tine at the earliest possible date.] Those recommendations were _an' ; exact expression of the guiding prin- i ciple of British policy in Palestine. The third recommendation to which his Government directed attention was that the Assembly should, as a matter of extreme urgency, immediately undertake the initiation and execution of an international arrangement to deal with the problem of distressed-European Jews. Question Of Execution Mr Creech Jones recalled that Sir . Alexander Cadogan earlier this year had made it clear that the British Government would in the highest degree be reluctant to oppose the Assembly’s wishes about the future of Palestine. > At the same time he drew a distinction'between accepting the recommendation in the sense of not impeding execution by others and accepting

the responsibility for the execution' thereof by the British Administration and forces. The British Government’s attitude remained as stated by Sir Alexander Cadogan. Britain had been ready to assume responsibility for giving effect to any plan on which agreement was reached between the Arabs and the Jews, but, if the Assembly recommended a policy which was not acceptable to the Jews and the Arabs, the British Government would not feel able, to implement it and it would be necessary to provide for some alternative authority to implement it.

“I repeat again that His Majesty’s Government has determined to base its policy on the assumption that it must lay down the mandate under which it has sought for 25 years to discharge its obligations to facilitate the

growth of a Jewish national home and protect the interests of the Arab population.”

Mr Creech Jones, commenting on the task confronting the Assembly’s Palestine Committee, concluded that their common aim was to bring about a settlement in Palestine which would be likely to endure because it was founded on the consent of the peoples concerned.

Britain’s Hope “I earnestly hope the United Nations may have more success than the United Kingdom in persuading the two peoples to co-operate in attaining then’ independence,” he declared. The United Kingdom delegation would place at the committee’s disposal any experience or knowledge they had which might help in the task. “If, however, no basis of consent for a settlement can be found, any recommendations made by the Assembly should be accompanied by a clear definition of the means whereby they are to be carried out.” After Mr Creech Jones’s speech, the chairman of the Palestine Inquiry Commission, Mr Justice Emil Sandstrom, of Sweden, read to the committee a report on the commission’s work. The committee adjourned until Monday.