Palestine's Future

Northern Advocate, 1 September 1947, Page 4

Palestine's Future

In the light, of experience, the findings of the special UNO Commission on Palestine, to be submitted to the United Nations, do not suggest that a solution of the Palestine problem has been found. The commission has been driven to the conclusion that Arabs and Jews will not live together in amity, and that nothing but partition of the country into Jewish and Arab territories offers hope for a peaceful future. It is regretfully realised that “the claims of Aiabs and Jews, both possessing validity, are irreconcilable . . . and that partition will provide the most realistic and practicable settlement and alone provide the basis of meeting the national aspirations of both parties.” Probably no other decision could

be expected, but there is strong reason to fear that the partition will lead to war between Jews and Arabs unless there prevail wiser counsels than have so far been manifested. The Director-General of the Arab Office in London has declared that war will follow partition, while a Press correspondent reports that the Arabs already have an army of disciplined soldiers training in the Palestine hills. Britain, it is recommended by the committee, should be relieved of her mandate responsibilities at the earliest moment, a movement she has demanded, holding that she should no longer be expected to carry a burden which should be shouldered by the United Nations.

To that extent the committee's finding is satisfactory.