Mufti Says Jewish National Home Policy Responsible for Riots of Last Summer

Only the policy of the Jewish National Home led to last Summer’s riots declared the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in addressing a meeting of British M. P.’s in the House of Commons last Thursday, that was presided over by Lord Brentford, former Home Secretary. Expressing the disappointment of the Arabs with the Balfour Declaration, the Mufti said that the Arabs’ demands call for the establishment of equality for all the inhabitants of Palestine through representative government.

Others who addressed this meeting were Lord Brentford and Auni Abdul Hadi, a member of the Arab delegation. Jamal Husseini, also a member of the delegation, translated the Arabic addresses of other members of the delegation. Lord Brentford pointed out that the Inquiry Commission could not confine itself in the investigation only to the immediate causes of the riots “because it was necessary to ascertain what was at the bottom of the trouble.”

At the second meeting under the auspices of the Seventh Dominion League, founded to make Palestine a dominion of the British Empire, Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Labor M. P., and founder of the League, criticized the Commission’s finding that the outbreaks were not directed against British authority. He indicated that British authority and the safety of the Jews was the same thing. Col. Wedgwood expressed satisfaction that the English press had received the report with “so much doubtful praise and cold water” and said that “it opened the eyes of many people to England’s danger in the situation that had been created.”

Michael Marcus, also a Labor M. P., pointed out that Palestine, in the transition stage before it is granted self-government, must prove it is fit for it. Commander Kenworthy, a prominent member of the Labor Party in the House of Commons, described the strategic imperial and commercial aspects of Palestine as vital for the British Empire. He added that “the roaring traffic in arms across the Jordan constitutes a continual source of danger to Palestine.”