“near East” Magazine Urges Special Commission on Wall Question

That the Commission of Inquiry’s report will not be ready before the spring is the prediction in an editorial of the “Near East and India Magazine” said to be close to the Colonial Office. The Commission’s sittings prior to the preparation of the report will last about two months, the magazine states.

In the meantime, it is hoped that the feelings of the Palestine population will be quieted and the findings of the Commission will be accepted with good grace.

The editorial stresses the feeling of anxiety existing with regard to the approaching Yom Kippur and suggests that the question of what constitutes the status quo of the Wailing Wall be taken up immediately before the Commission publishes its general recommendations.

If the Commission on Holy Places in Jerusalem, which was originally provided for, is not able to assemble, could there not be appointed a special commission to determine the knotty problem of the Wall, which was the immediate cause of the Palestine disturbances? the magazine asks. The editorial further foresees that the British government’s policy in Palestine will remain unchanged, either as regards the abolition of the Churchill memorandum which Palestine Jewry demands, or the Arab claims for self-government. The solution upon which the British government will resolve will not be one involving a change in policy, but possibly one involving a change in administrative methods. An instructive feature of the situation will be to see how great a force is required to secure an effective administration, the “Near East and India” declares.

The “New Statesman” in an editorial comment states that there is no question of abandoning the Palestine Mandate and that general satisfaction is to be derived from the statements made to the Council of the League of Nations by Foreign Minister Henderson. The editorial is regarded as denoting a change of attitude on the part of the “New Statesman” in connection with the Palestine question. The terms of reference of the Inquiry Commission are carefully drawn, it declares, but should be wide enough to order and insure the infliction of adequate punishment on the guilty and give the government material guidance for future policy.

Continuing it says: The secret ambitions that have been cherished in Rome will remain in the category of pious aspirations, and the suggestion, emanating from Jewish circles in Warsaw that Poland could manage Palestine very nicely, can only be regarded as a joke. Few, either Jews or Arabs, whatever grievances they may have against the administration, want (Continued on Page 4)

a change in the Mandatory power, and we hope that the present and succeeding British governments will have the active support as well as the respect of all who stand for the making of a Palestine nation. The making of a Palestinian nation is no easy task, but it is the only real solution of the problem of the Jewish nature. Its realization depends more on the Jews and the Arabs themselves than on the Mandatory Power. We are told that oil and water never mix, but is not that an analogy which begs the fundamental question? it asks.

Commenting on the interview of its correspondent that only bayonets will maintain the Mandate in Palestine, the “Daily Mail” declares editorially: “Any moment we may expect a fresh upheaval and recurrence of fierce Arab attacks on the Jews. In the meantime, Great Britain is expected to find the money to keep the Jewish National Home in existence, holding down the Arabs with aircraft and bayonets. Our presence in Palestine is unsatisfactory either to the Jews or the Arabs, and has ruinous consequences to ourselves, costing money and grave military responsibility.

“Field Marshal Wilson, seven years ago told the British people the assumption of the Palestine Mandate is a dire mistake, and the support of it by British politicians may lead to a loss to the Empire. Bonar Law admitted being bombarded with requests from the British public to go out of Mesopotamia and Palestine. The move should be made now and at once.

“Any attempt to dragoon 650,000 Arabs into obedience to 150,000 Jews is doomed to failure. The Arabs, having been promised self-determination and a national government complain they have been deceived. They are the majority and do not want us. The Jews complain of our administration. We cannot afford to waste millions of money and thousands of men there. Therefore let us get out,” the editorial concludes.