ARAB AND JEW

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22627, 15 January 1937, Page 8

ARAB AND JEW

Toward the Palestine Royal Commission the Arab authorities adopted an attitude of non-co-operation until the last moment. The Grand Mufti has given evidence, but of a kind that affords little hope that anything but the capacity to police the country with battalions will ensure order. He has charged the Jews with the intention of destroying the Moslem holy places, demanded that the "national home experiment" should be abandoned with the cessation of Jewish immigration, asked that the mandate should be ended, and threatened that unless grievances are removed unrest will be intensified. This sounds very much like an ultimatum. Of course, it is impossible for Britain to dishonour her word to the Jewish people, and the problem must necessarily be resolved to one of holding a fair balance befween the Arabs and the Jews. One. fact that has been proved by the commission is that the official Jewish migration agency has not exercised the control over illegal entry into the country which was required of it. Thus the Arabs have something to support their claims. On the other hand it is recognised that part of the problem of Palestine has been caused by the great influx of Arabs from other territories to - share the prosperity created by Jewish immigration, capital and enterprise. It is not improbable that the fires of unrest already rising high have been fanned by currents from outside —the Abyssinian war, for instance, the military coup in Irak, the Turkish demands in regard to Antioch and Alexandretta, to say nothing of the disturbing factors in Europe. Some time ago the Times remarked that Palestine, while awaiting the decision of the Royal Commission, is fatalistically preparing for the next round between Israel and Ishmael. The defiant Arab gesture now made justifies that statement.