THE PALESTINE MANDATE

Hawera Star, Volume L, 16 February 1931, Page 5

THE PALESTINE MANDATE

BRITIAN AIMS AT JUSTICE I JEWISH-ARAB RELATIONS LAND SETTLEMENT INQUIRE. 1 (British Utfieial Wireless.) < RUGBY, Feb. 13. The Prime Minister, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, has addressed a letter to Dr. Weizemann, president of the . Jewish Agency, which, constitutes an ] authoritative interpretation of the recent White Paper and represents a < full statement of the Government policy in Palestine. . * The Prime Minister recalls that it i has been said that the policy of the . Government involves a serious depar- « ture from the obligations of the man- i date as hitherto understood, that it < misconceives mandatory obligations and that it foreshadows a policy in- < consistent with the obligations of, the < mandatory to the Jewish people. Atte lit ion is drawn to the fact that not '• only does the White Paper of 1930 endorse the White Paper of 1929, which 1 had been accepted by the Jewish Agency, hut it recognises the under- ■ taking of mandates to the Jewish peo- ' pie and not only to the Jewish popu- ■ lation of Palestine. The White Paper was placed in the < foreground of his speech in the House of Commons in April, 1930, in which 1 he announced the intention of _ the • Government to continue to administer I »•' Palestine in accordance with the terms of the mandate as approved by the ' 1 Council of the League of Nations. That position was reaffirmed by his 1 speech in the House of Commons in 1 November. “In carrying out a policy mandate : the mandatory cannot ignore the existence of differing interests and 1 viewpoints,” Mr MacDonald writes. “These, indeed, are not in themselves irreconcilable, but they can be reconciled only if there is a proper realisation that the full solution of the problems depends on the understanding between Jews and Arabs.” Regarding criticisms that the White Paper contained injurious allegations against the Jewish people and Jewish labour organisations, Mr MacDonald points out that" such intention is expressly disavowed. It recognises that the Jewish Agency had all along given willing co-operation in carrying out the policy in the mandate, and the constructive work done by the Jewish people in Palestine had beneficial effects on the development and wellbeing of the country as a whole. Dealing with the question which had arisen as to the meaning of “safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants in Palestine, irrespective of race and religion,” and the words “assuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced,” the letter says these words indicate in respect to civil rights that the mandatory is not to discriminate between persons on the grounds of religion or race, and this provision applies equally to Jews, Arabs and all sections of the population. ... . _ The undertaking to facilitate Jewish immigration and encourage close settlement bv Jews on the land, says Mr MacDonald, remains the grave obligation of the mandate, and can be fulfilled without prejudice to the rights l and position of other sections. The letter says stress has been laid on the words in the White Paper “that it would not he possible to make State lands available for Jewish settlement in view of their actual occupation by Arab cultivators now landless.” * The Government feels under an obligation to facilitate the settlement of landless Arabs displaced owing to their holdings passing into Jewish hands, hut the recognition of such an obligation in no way detracts from the larger purposes of development which the Government regards as the most effectual means of furthering the establishment of a national home for the Jews. It is the Government’s intention to institute an inquiry as soon as possible to ascertain, inter alia, what State and other lands are or properly can be made available tor close settlement by Jews. This inquiry will he comprehensive, and will include the whole land resources of Palestine. Referring to the control of immigration. the letter emphasises that such control dates from the original immigration ordinance, and the Government does not contemplate any prohibition of Jewish immigration in any of its categories. . The Government unequivocably reaffirms that the obligations _ of the mandate are solely international obligations from which there is no intention to depart, hut if the efforts are to succeed there is a. need for recognition that no solution can be satisfactory or permanent which is not based on justice both to the Jewish people and the non-Jewish communities in Palestine.