Text of White Paper

A summarized text of the Government White Paper outlining the policy in Palestine follows:

“The Government has now given further consideration to the various conclusions and recommendations of the commission of inquiry” says the White Paper of the Colonial Office, issued today for transmission, by the Foreign Secretary, to the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, according to its express wish to be furnished with the text of a statement possibly a fortnight before the Council’s meeting.

OFFERS PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

“Before proceeding to a discussion of details, the Government wishes to offer some preliminary observations of a more general nature. The difficulties arising out of the peculiar character of the Palestine Mandate are well known and there is no need to labor on this aspect of the question since it is one with which the Mandates Commission is already familiar, having been discussed in the course of observations recorded by the Commission in November, 1924, and the observations recorded by the Mandates Commission then have lost none of their relevance at the present time.”

(Observations of the Permanent Mandates Commission on the Palestine Mandate are appended on Page 4.)

CONFLICT OF INTEREST REMAINS

“The conflict of interest remains and the task of holding a balance has certainly not decreased in difficulty; the situation is one of great delicacy calling for the exercise of all possible patience and circumspection. That it has certain unsatisfactory features, as pointed out in the Commission’s report, the Government is not concerned to dispute. It is rather more concerned to provide a remedy and to this task they mean to address themselves with all resources at their disposal.

“The Government does not underrate the difficulties and conditions under which remedial measures can be applied and is strictly limited and governed by the terms of the Mandate and by the dual obligation which it imposes. Such measures cannot be devised or introduced at a moment’s notice, caution is essential and the ground must be carefully examined before an advance can be safely made. For these reasons the government is not in a position to formulate precise and concrete proposals in regard to all points that the Commission raised.

COMMISSION’S FINDINGS ACCEPTED

“On some, at least, of these points, it can’t do more than indicate provisionally the lines on which it hopes to proceed. Turning to questions of detail the government accepts generally the findings of the Commission of Inquiry under the following five heads: First the nature of the outbreak, Second the Zionist complaints against the Grand Mufti, Third the Zionist complaints against the Palestine Arab Executive, Fourth the Zionist complaints against the Government, and Fifth minor Arab grievances.

“The Government does not consider that these conclusions in themselves call for special action. It will be noted that Harry Snell attributed to the Grand Mufti a greater share in the responsibility in the disturbances than the report attributes and expressed the view that the Grand Mufti must bear the blame for his failure to make any effort to control the character of the agitation conducted in the name of the religion of which he is the head in Palestine.”

The White Paper refers in this connection to the Inquiry Commission’s report where it is stated whatever activities the Grand Mufti may have indulged in are outside the Government’s knowledge, but in public the Mufti both at noon on August 23rd and thereafter throughout the period of the disturbances, exerted his influence in the direction of promoting peace and restoring order. The White Paper reports, too, that Harry Snell also dissented from the conclusions of the report acquitting the Moslem religious authorities of all but the slightest blame for the innovations introduced in the neighborhood of the Wailing Wall.

Continuing, the White Paper says, “on this point it is be observed that the report does not purport to assign any specific degree of blame to the Mohammedan authorities and the conclusion which it records is that in the matter of nnovations of practice, little blame can be attached to the Grand Mufti in which some Jewish religious authorities also would not have to share. The Government does not feel that it can usefully offer any further comments on this branch of the question.

IMMIGRATION AND LAND PARAMOUNT

“It is in relation to the question of immigration and the land problems, and to immigration in particular that the dual character of the mandate assumes its most significant aspect. This was recognized in effect by the Mandates Commission in the course of its observations in November, 1924. The policy which the government has adopted and which it has endeavored to follow is based upon the principle that immigration ‘shall not exceed the economic capacity of the country at any time to absorb new arrivals’.

“The soundness of this principal will hardly be challenged but its practical application is not without difficulty. The absorptive capacity of the country must be correctly gauged. Everything turns upon that. But to gauge it correctly many intricate considerations of land settlement and development must be taken into account and the margin for miscalculation is necessarily wide. If there have been mistakes in the past they must be avoided in the future, but the question is too important and too vital in the property of Palestine to be tackled hastily or without due consideration.

NO SPECIFIC PROPOSALS WITHOUT SURVEY

“The Government felt unable to formulate specific proposals without further expert examination of the whole problem in all its aspects. A highly qualified investigator has accordingly proceeded to Palestine. In the meantime temporary measures are being taken with a view to safeguarding the position of certain elements in the population of Palestine.

“The question of the temporary suspension of immigration is under examination and legislation is to be introduced with the object of controlling the disposition of agricultural lands in such manner as to prevent the dispossession of the indigenous agricultural population. These temporary measures will be superceded in any case by such permanent enactments as may be decided upon when the future policy is determined in the light of Sir John Simpson’s report.

“The Government is also making inquiries, according to the Commission’s observations, that the selection of immigrants under the labor schedule ought not to be entrusted to the General Federation of Jewish Labor in Palestine. The Government is also in consultation with the High Commission regarding the question of providing credit facilities for Palestinian agriculturists.

“On the important subject of constitutional development, the Inquiry Commission made no formal recommendation beyond urging that when the question again comes under review regard be had to their conclusion that the absence of any measure of self-government has greatly aggravated the difficulties of the local administration.

“This is a question in which the