PALESTINE DISORDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20991, 2 April 1930, Page 9

PALESTINE DISORDERS

INQUIRY INTO CAUSE. REPORT OF COMMISSION. ARABS HELD TO BLAME. (British Official Wl-eless.) (United Press Association.) (Bj Hlestrls Telegraph—Copyright.) RUGBY, March 31. The report of the commission on the Palestine disturbances of August last was presented to Parliament to-day. The commissioners have come to the conclusion that from the beginning the outbreak was an attack upon the Jews by Arabs, for which no excuse has been established. A few attacks by Jews upon Arabs were mostly retaliatory. There ia no proof that the Grand Mufti or the Palestine Arab Executive premeditated or organised the disturbances as has been alleged. The outbreak neither was, ,nor was intended to be, a revolt against 'British authority. The commission has no serious criticism to make of the action token by the Palestine Government, either immediately before or after the outbreak. It considers that the Government has throughout discharged to the best of its ability the difficult task of maintaining impartiality between the two peoples whose leaders have displayed little tendency to compromise. The commission considers that dewisn enterprise and immigration, when not exceeding, the. country’s absorptive capacity, have conferred material benefits on Palestine, which the Arabs have shared. But with regard to immigration it considers that the Jewish authorities have departed from the doctrine laid down in 1922 and accepted by the Zionist organisation, and that\ the Zionist claims have been calculated to create among Arabs apprehensions of loss of livelihood and political subjection. >•- ' Attention is drawn to the number of evictions of Arab cultivators and upon the sale of land they occupied without alternative land having been provided. A complaint is not 1 made against the Jewish land companies, which in some cases paid cash compensation and acted with the Government’s knowledge, but an acute situation has been produced and a landless, discontented class is being: created, which is a potential source of danger. It is urgent that some remedy he found for this situation. _ The" commission’s is that Palestine cannot support an increased agricultural population without radical changes in. farming methods. It is believed that the difficulties of the Palestine Government are aggravated by Arab resentment at having no measure of self-government, and having, _ unlike the Jews, no direct access to his Majesty's Government. The reduction, of the garrison in Palestine and Transjordania is considered to have been carried too far. The commission considers that the fundamental cans? of the disturbance was the animosity of the Arabs toward, the Jews arising from disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future. The immediate causes were repeated incidents in connection with the Wailing Wall, provocative press articles on both sides, propaganda among the less educated Arabs, the inadequacy of the military -< forces and police, and the belief among the Arabs that the Palestine Government’s decisions could be influenced by political considerations. The primary recommendation of, the cpmmiaison.is that, his Majesty’s Govern--rd'ment Should issue : immediately abatement of policy and make plain its intention of carrying out that policy with all the resources at its command. Such B, statement would be more valuable if it contained a clearly-defined interpretation by the British Government of the passages in the mandate safeguarding the rights of the non-Jewisb communities and laid down more explicit directions for the guidance of the Palestine Government in its policy on vital* issues, such as immigration and land. These recommendations are based largely on the assumption that the proposed definition of policy will clearlv state that the rights of non-Jewish communities will be fully safeguarded. It recommends that a clear statement be issued of future policy for the of Jewish immigraition and that the administrative machinery be examined with a view to preventing a repetition of the excessive immigration of the years 1925 and 1926. Machinery should be devised for consulting non-Jewish interests on immigration questions. It is proposed that a scientific inquiry be held into projects of improved methods of cultivation being introduced. The land policy could then, be regulated in the light of the results of the inquiry. Meanwhile, measures should be taken to. check the present tendency towards the eviction of peaaaift cultivators. The Government should consider ■ means of providing poorer cultivators with credit facilities. No formal recommendation regarding constitutional developments is made, but attention is drawn to the view already expressed in .the’ report that the resentment of the Arabs at their failure to obtain any measure of self-government is aggravating the difficulties. The commission recommended that a . commission be appointed to determine rights and claims in connection with the Wailing Wall, that more effective control of press propaganda be considered, and that the British Government reaffirms that the special position assigned to the Zionist organisation does not entitle it to have all the government of Palestine. The existing garrison should be maintained for the present, and an independent inquiry should be made into the police organisation. Attached to the report is a note of reservation by Mr Snell, a member of the commission. He takes a more serious .view of the responsibility of the Arab leaders for the disturbances, and criticises the action of the Palestine Government in certain respects, and does not endorse the criticisms of the Jewish authorities. Regarding immigration limits, Mr Snell recommends a more extensive land inquiry than that contemplated by his colleagues. Emphasising the necessity of co-operation between the Jews and Arabs, he proposes that a few Dion of both races of hicrli character and influence should meet and discuss the possibility of a common. effort as the first step towards racial co-operation.