Sir Harold MacMichael, who was British High Commissioner for Palestine during the turbulent years of 1938 to 1944, described the borders of Israel today as a “monstrosity.” The former British Commander-in-Chief of in Israel, condemned suggestions by British Labor Party leaders that urgent guarantees be given of the Arab and Israel borders and declared that frontier revisions must come first.
In a letter to The Times of London, Sir Harold welcomed the idea of border guarantees as a means of abating tension in the Middle East but denounced the proposal “to perpetuate, by means of international guarantees, the tragic injustice of the frontiers as they stand at present.”
The retired official’s letter was prompted by suggestions made earlier by Hugh Gaitskell, Labor Party leader, that the Arabs be guaranteed against Israel expansionism and Israel be guaranteed against Arab attack.
He said that if in return for guarantee of security against aggression from the other party “counter-pledges were demanded for necessary adjustments of boundaries by arbitration or negotiation, with international guarantees to follow, that would surely be more to the point.”
He said that Mr. Gaitskell might have had something like that in mind “but his words as reported unfortunately suggest the opposite – the sanctification of a monstrosity.”
Sir Harold MacMichael was considered the most unpopular and unsuccessful High Commissioner in the history of the British mandate.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
