British Correspondent Fastens Riot Guilt on Palestine Administration

“There is the need for a clean sweep in Palestine,” declares the Jerusalem correspondent of the London “Daily Express” in a despatch today. “The Palestine crisis is for the moment ended, but one step must be taken without undue delay, a wholesale sweep in the administration which, in the face of the gravest and most persistent warnings given daily for weeks in advance of the fateful outbreak, sat back complacently and did little more than nothing. It is felt equally by the Jews and Arabs of Palestine that at the time when there was an obvious imminence of danger, the British government and the Palestine government bore the full responsibility of maintaining order. This responsibility was neglected. Facts concerning this failure were revealed to the correspondent by prominent leaders. Zionists and Moslems alike.

“It is unknown in Great Britain that days immediately preceding the bloody Friday, Zionist leaders in Jerusalem went almost on bended knees to the government, imploring them to take necessary measures for safeguarding life and property. On August 7, the Zionist Executive cabled to London, for the information of the Colonial Office, that ‘serious events could not be long deferred.’ On August 16 after a consultation with Mr. Luke, the Palestine Zionist Executive cabled to the Zionist bureau in London: ‘We are most seriously anxious about fur (Continued on Page 4)

“The Zionist Executive, however, insisted and the telegram was sent out.”

The correspondent’s account further relates the representations made in vain by the Zionists in Jerusalem. Within two days after his arrival, Sir John Chancellor stirred the Moslems of the country almost to a rebellion by the issuance of a proclamation which his officials now admit as having been ill-advised. Only the second proclamation ,in which he withdrew the first implication, quieted the Moslems, pending the arrival of the Inquiry Commission. Another surprise was the official announcement that under no circumstances would Sir John receive journalists who would be in a position to correct the anti-British propaganda broadcast through antagonistic sources, says the correspondent.