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Moyne Stresses Need of U.S. Arms in Palestine; Sees Time Not Ripe for Arab

June 17, 1941
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Increasing United States deliveries of war supplies will greatly affect the Palestine situation, Colonial Secretary Lord Moyae declared at a press conference today.

Sir Harold A. MacMickael, Palestine High Commissioner, is seeking employment of maximum military forces in Palestine in one or another of the established services, like the British army, ordinary police, army technical services, volunteer force and settlement police, Lord Moyne declared.

Organizationally, all these forces could absorb personnel as fast as they become available, the Colonial Secretary said, and there is no doubt that expansion is highly desirable from a military viewpoint, but incomplete utilization of military manpower is entirely due to lack of equipment and the length of time required for transportation of equipment from Britain.

Amplifying Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden’s recent statement regarding British support for closer Arab ties, Lord Moyne said Britain did not desire to force a federation upon the Arabs, but if the initiative come from the Arabs, Britain would lend whole-hearted support.

There are many Britishers and Arabs, however, who feel that in the middle of a life and-death war, it is not the propitious time to press such a delicate question, he continued.

Syria will probably be ruled by an Angle-Free French military directorate until the and of the war, the Colonial Secretary stated, at which time Syria and Lebanon will be given their independence.

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