Great Britain Likely to Accept Balfour’s and Lloyd George’s Plan for Palestine Inquiry

It appears fairly certain that the British government, which has noted the joint letter from Lord Balfour, David Lloyd George and General Jan Christian Smuts, calling for a new Palestine commission to study the workings of the Mandate, will take the advice offered by the three statesmen, who were members of the war-time cabinet that issued the Balfour Declaration.

An editorial in the “Sunday Times” warns against permitting the letter to be interpreted as a suggestion of the failure of the British Mandate policy. The “Sunday Times” points out that the Mandate has not yet had a proper chance and that the commission now sitting in Palestine is not suited to reporting on a high policy like the Mandate. The editorial goes on to say that there is no possibility of Great Britain renouncing the Palestine trust, for such a resignation would only place another power in the position of the Palestine mandatory, which, in view of British interests in the Suez Canal, is not allowable.

“A wholly Arab independent Palestine would not last three years. An Arab Palestine under British protection would be a financial burden to Great Britain, something which it is not in Zionism. If Zionism were non-existent British interests would require British intervention in Palestine.”