The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1946. PALESTINE’S FUTURE

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 October 1946, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1946. PALESTINE’S FUTURE

PALESTINE'S future can never be regarded with detachment by the nations of the world, because its geographical position makes that country a central point ot interest, which must be forever the subject of universal stresses. At the moment Great Britain is shouldering the difficult task of maintaining this central point of stress in something like a condition of equilibrium. America is not yet prepared to provide assistance which is helpful in the carrying out of the task of monitor. As the world moves towards an international government—and that is precisely what is being attempted by the United Nations Organisation—other nations will, it is to be hoped, come forward to share the responsibilities of the keeper of the peace. That day has not yet dawned. Britain has. for about a century, provided the King’s peace in India, and has been roundly cursed for her pains. It is so easy to misrepresent an alien Power, no mat ter what she does nor what policy she may pursue. Britain's policy in India was originally exploitory, but when the old “John Company” was succeeded by India Office rule the attitude of Britain changed to that of a trustee. India’s welfare was sought; India’s development was encouraged; India’s aspirations were fostered. India to-day has walked,out of the Commonwealth. If she is not yet through the door site is already well down the hall. With this experience so lately brought to its final stages, it is natural for Britain to endeavour to find a way of avoiding the approbrium that always attaches to the occupying Power in dealing with Palestine. The Balfour Declaration was too vague, to make it an instrument for providing the answers to to-day’s problems. The question is what is now to be done, with Arabs allowing the Jews to play the lawless role and divorce the sympathy once running strongly in favour of Zionism? Will Jewry find a way to meet a situation already difficult, or will the current policy of violence, murder and destruction continue? Will Arab solidarity remain or will it dissolve? These things arc wrapped in the mists of the future. But the present explosive situation is likely to be touched off by a spark at any time. Britain is not prepared to engage in the financial or military obligations involved in accommodating the current Jewish designs to send 100,000 more European Jews to the country. The Arabs are equally determined that such a policy, which must eventually lesult in the swamping of the country with Jewish residents, shall, not be carried out. The Conference in London is pursuing its arduous course with the hope that eventually some solution shall be found. At the present lime Ihe only possible line of solution seems to be by partitioning the country. The British proposal is that the coastal strip, comprising the Plain of Sharon, the Valley of Jezrecl, and the western side of the Valley of Ihe Jordan from Beisan northward to Dan, enclosing the Sea of Galilee, shall be included in the. Zionist aieas. This should prove to be acceptable to the Jews, seeing that it comprises the. richest and most industrialised parts of the country, and the Jews have contributed largely to this result. But the Arabs look upon this division as taking the heart out of the country, and are not satisfied with the large area—mostly desert—which is assigned to them by the partition proposal. The British propose that an area shall be under their jurisdiction comprising an acute triangle from the lower end of the Dead Sea with a line drawn direct west through Beersheba to the coast and running down from the coast where this line touches it to the tip of the Persian Gulf, the eastern side of the triangle being the. Trans-Jordanian border. This would preserve file territory for the British, enabling them to construct a canal from the -Mediterranean through to the Persian Gulf and thus provide an alternative route to the Suez Canal. That this new sealane is necessary now that Egypt is pursuing its uncertain nationalistic path, is obvious enough, and it is not Britain alone that is interested in this new canal construction proposal. Such a canal would assist the Arab States in the future by providing a commercial way for the world through or adjacent 1o their territory, and this may have far-reaching influence upon the whole of the .Middle East. The international tensions, however, will not diminish with the construction of this alternative canal to the Suez route. They may be intensified. There is, therefore, every reason for Britain seeking to avoid being branded as the criminal who is always engaged in securing the swag for herself and being relieved of her prizes in the interest of international amity. Let international amity be bestowed on the problem beforehand in this instance, seeing that other nations are equally interested in the economic and transportation developments that arc now being contemplated in respect to this area.