The first duty of the Mandatory power is to make certain that no political considerations or experiments be permitted to disturb or retard the work of solid economic progress which through Jewish efforts and enterprise has raised Palestine from the low level to which Turkish misrule had reduced it, declares Robert Boothby, M. P., in a letter to the London “Times.”
Pointing out that the report of the Shaw Commission focuses public attention on the recent happenings in Palestine, Mr. Boothby says the political conflicts must not be allowed to overshadow the realities of the great economic and social progress achieved in that country. “Jewish energy and British guidance have made roads and railways, built hospitals and schools, an air base is being created, and what will be one of the finest ports in the Mediterranean is being constructed at Haifa.”
Another letter appears in the London “Times” signed by Lord Robert Cecil, John Buchan, Malcolm MacDonald, and Archibald Sinclair. Under the heading “The Spirit of the Mandate,” this letter points out that the report of the Commission is replete with matter deserving of the most careful consideration and says that it contains the findings, as to the responsibility of the tragic events of last Autumn… “but in assessing this responsibility, the Commission has been drawn to make observations upon certain major matters of policy.
“This may have been natural and inevitable but such observations cannot be considered on the same plane of authority as their findings upon the specific matters upon which they were appointed to report. Technically they have gone beyond their terms of reference, for we had twice the repeated assurance of the Prime Minister that such questions were not within their province, but remained matters to be dealt with at the discretion of the Government. Our purpose in addressing you is to ask, that public judgment should realize the world-wide bearing of these problems, and to urge that the government should in the first place reaffirm the adherence of Great Britain to the letter and spirit of the Mandate and should in the second place take full and responsible advice upon methods by which its terms can be best fulfilled.”
The letter concludes with a suggestion that the satisfactory fulfillment of the Mandate and the carrying out of Britain’s solemn pledge, transcends party differences and points out that “nothing could be more consummate with the spirit of the great man who has gone from us than that the leaders of the three parties should consult together to clear the path for the fulfillment of that national duty which Lord Balfour had so deeply at heart.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
