Allies Urged to Issue Statement on Their Objectives in Palestine

A demand that the United Nations, especially the United States and England, issue a joint statement concerning their objectives in Palestine and Syria in order to make clear their attitude on the Jewish problem in Palestine as well as on the proposed formation of a union of Arab countries, is voiced in an article published in the current issue of the London Economist, leading British weekly newspaper dealing with economic problems of the British Empire.

The article points out that the Allies cannot afford “to allow the situation to deteriorate” in Palestine and Syria since these two countries may form part of the springboard for the next Allied attack. It emphasizes that not even Jewish moderates are prepared to accept the white Paper policy which would place Jewish immigration to Palestine at the discretion of the Arabs after next Spring.

The article declares that the suggestion of a bi-national state in Palestine, which has been put forth by Dr. Judah L. Magnes and the Ichud Party, offers a basis for an Anglo-American agreement concerning policing of the country and the question of an Arab federation in which the present Jewish population would be safeguarded and future Jewish expansion provided for. It adds that Magnes’ views are receiving more attention in Washington than demands for a Jewish Army and a Jewish Commonwealth.

Sir Ronald Storrs, former governor of Jerusalem, writing in the Sunday Times yesterday on the same subject, stated that “Syria and Palestine have formed one country for centuries. They have been subjected to policies which were widely unpopular among the vast majority of the population. Palestine has undergone the ordeal of investigations by commissions of experts in everything but Palestine.” Sir Ronald declares that the attention of the Syrian Arabs is focussed at present on whether the Arab National Committee in Palestine will be allowed to reform and on developments in the Pan-Arab federation scheme. Discussing federation, Sir Ronald writes that the Christian Arabs, especially the Maronites in Syria, are not in favor of anything more than an economic union with the surrounding Moslem world.