MESOPOTAMIA AND PALESTINE

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 29

MESOPOTAMIA AND PALESTINE

LORD ISLINGTON’S ADVICE. WITHDRAW AND SAVE MONEY.' (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 10. On© would think, according to th© hesitaring statements of some of our politicians, that there are insuperable difficulties in getting out of Mesopotamia (writes Lord Islington in The Weekly Dispatch). I maintain that there are none, and that we could withdraw with the full approbation of the native population. I wish I could feel sure in my mind about that attitude of the new Government on our Near East follies. At the beginning of the week we had the Chancellor of the Exchequer oalmly saying that there may be no reduction in taxation in next year 3 Budget. And- two members of the new Government—Mr Neville Chamberlain (Postmaster-general) and Colonel Arnery (First Lord of the Admiralty)—went so far os to say that there was to be no question of withdrawal from “honourable obligations” either at home or abroad. To my mind there is no doubt but that the reference is to Mesopotamia and Palestine. Let us not be deceived. The public wants a relief from the burden, of taxation. Our Near East follies mean so much more on our taxes. We can reduce taxation if we cease spending millions recklessly on needless military adventures. I should say that the immediate withdrawal of our forces from Mesopotamia and Palestine would be a potent contribution towards a reduction of Is in the income tax. Hesitating politicians tell us there ere difficulties in the way; but if we examine these difficulties we see on what a slender basis they rest. We have important military garrisons in Palestine, Constantinople. throughout the Suez Canal zone, along the frontier of Persia, and in Mesopotamia. With the exception of the Canal zone I cannot see why we should not have evacuated all British soldiers from these parts within the next six months. MESOPOTAMIA A CROWN COLONY. We should withdraw from Palestine and from Mesopotamia to the Busra line forthwith. When we undertook the /nandate for Mesopotamia there was no question of continuous military occupation. We undertook “to facilitate its progressive development as an independent State.” We were authorised to raise local native forces to protect the mandated area; but there was no obligation to find a defensive force of British troops. The Coalition Government flooded Mesopotamia with troops from Mosul to Bussorah. Most of these have been withdrawn and replaced by air forces. If there were serious danger from incursions of tribesmen on this thousand-mile front the forces available would be quite inadequate, while the reconquest of this vast area would take years and cost millions. * . Mesopotamia has been placed in the position of ci Clown Colony to all intents and. purposes. Its administrative departments have been given a non-Arab character. The ideal was to help the- Arabs to establish a, system of government. We have interpreted it almost as if it meant entering, into possession Our present system in Mesopotamia can oniy be supported by bayonets at terrific cost to the taxpayer. In Palestine also we have a garrison ana larve military commitments, neither of whic.i is “justified by the political sltuat on. We have everything to gain by making a national settlement with the- Palestine Arabs and Jews. There is no threat from that quarter to the Suez Canal and our waterway to the East. The population is friendly to us and desires to develop the country. The mandatory system as we have interpreted it is much too costly. Besides, the present method of enforcing our mandates with large military and Air Force garrisons acts as an irritant to the Moslems. Great Britain is the greatest Moslem Power, and the new Government should avoid all caus s of irritation. THREE CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. Turning to the Near East crisis, it i» obvious that it has already cost Great Britain too much both in money and Imperial prestige. The foreign policy of the new Government should be based on the three cardinal principles: Immediate re-establishment of cordial relations with France Abandonment of military adventures abroad. Satisfactory treaty with the TurksFriendly Franco-British relations were almost destroyed by the Coalition. This situation has got to be altered. The main plank of the new Administration’s European policy should be to the restoration of that FrancoBritish cordiality which existed throughout and immediately after the war. The effects of a real Entente Cordiale will be felt at once. It will materially assist the establishment of peace in the Near East. It will help the solution of the urgent reparations prob’em. We shall present a united front to Germany. This foreign policy I have outlined is a policy of economy. The savings from the abandonment of our military adventures will be enormous, and these can be supplemented by vast economies at home. I am certain that millions can be saved in the new Government departments. We should work for an £800,000,000 Budget.