French Press Inclines Toward Britain, Fellow Mandatory, on Mandates Commission’s Report

With France one of the important Mandatory Powers, the general tone of the comment in the leading French papers on the Mandates Commission’s report on the Palestine riots of 1929 is one of “speaking as Mandatory to Mandatory it is better to stick together.”

“Le Temps,” whose editorials on foreign affairs reflect the attitude of the French foreign office, says that the report cannot fail “to provoke a lively reaction in England,” since the British cabinet “intends to defend itself against any reproach for not having fulfilled in Palestine all its obligations towards the Jewish National Home. The Mandates Commission is doing its duty in studying the facts and searching for the cause of the conflicts, which means to criticize, but it would be erroneous to believe that the Mandates Commission ought to act defiantly towards the Mandatories.

“The prime duty of the Mandatory Power is to preserve order. Great Britain possibly committed errors in Palestine but she incontestably had the intention to conscientiously fulfill the Mandate. Indeed, the task of conciliating the creation of the Jewish National Home and the legitimate rights of the Arab population is by no means an easy task, and if the British authorities were surprised by the events it would be unreasonable to conclude that England had failed in any respect to fulfill the conditions of the Mandate.”

“L’Action Francaise,” the Royalist organ, utilized the report of the Mandates Commission for attacking the entire Mandates system, saying that: “A mandate represents a form of sovereignity hardly desirable. It is hardly probable that British citizens will bless the memory of Lord Balfour for his declaration which resulted in the Mandates Commission’s report.”