Appointment of a six-man Royal Commission to investigate the causes of the Palestine disorders, now in their fourth month, was formally announced in the House of Commons today by William Ormsby-Gore, Colonial Secretary.
Viscount Peel, chairman of the Wheat Commission and former Secretary of State for India, was named chairman of the body, with Sir Horace Rumbold, famous diplomat, vice-chairman.
The commission’s functions were defined by the Colonial Secretary as follows:
1) To enquire into the manner in which the Mandate has been carried out in relation to the obligations of the Mandatory Power towards Arabs and Jews respectively;
2) To ascertain whether there are proper grounds for complaint either by the Arabs or the Jews with respect to grievances under the mandate;
3) To make recommendations, if the grievances are well-founded, for elimination of their source and prevention of their recurrence.
The Colonial Secretary said it was impossible to determine the date of the commission’s departure for Palestine and declared it certainly would not start work until peace had been fully restored.
The commission, it was announced, will have complete power of deciding for itself on the methods it is to use in furthering its investigation.
The other members of the body are:
Sir Laurie Hammond, Sir Harold Morris, Sir Morris Carter and Reginald Coupland, professor of Colonial History at Oxford University.
J. Martin, head of the Colonial Office’s Near East department, will act as the commission’s secretary.
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