Mandates Commission’s Report to Be Published Wednesday; Britain’s Reply Included

The report of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations on its recent extraordinary Palestine session together with the observations of the British government on this report will probably be published Wednesday, the “Manchester Guardian” learns from Geneva. What is considered extremely significant concerning the British government’s observations is the reported promise contained in the observations that a second section of the observations will be forthcoming shortly in which there will be outlined a constructive program for the future administration of the Palestine Mandate.

It is understood that this document will reveal the proposals that the Arab delegation to London announced would be forthcoming through High Commissioner Chancellor when he returns to Palestine. According to the secretary of the Palestine-Arab Congress, Great Britain will offer the Arabs a legislative assembly which will be accepted by the Arabs without their surrendering their other demands for complete self-government and for the abolition of the plan for a Jewish National Home in so far as it envisages the supplanting of the Arabs by Jewish immigrants.

In the meantime the Syrian-Palestine Congress has offered to place at the disposal of the League of Nations the originals of the famous MacMahon-Hussein correspondence in which Sir Henry MacMahon is alleged to have promised Palestine to the Arabs. The secretary of the Syrian-Palestine Congress in his letter to the League of Nations refers to the recent announcement by Dr. Drummond Shiels, undersecretary for the colonies, in the House of Commons, concerning the MacMahon – Hussein correspondence that no reason exists which prompts the British government not to reveal the text of the correspondence so far as the Arabs are concerned and pointing out that all matters referring to Palestine are contained in this correspondence. The secretary offers to produce the full texts of the letters exchanged between Sir Henry MacMahon and Hussein if the League of Nations desires.

The announcement of Dr. Shiels concerning this matter declared that the British government would not make public the correspondence because of reasons of state and not because of anything dealing with Palestine. In Jewish circles it was sometime ago revealed that the Jews had no fear of the consequences of the correspondence being published and were not opposing its publication.