Anglo-american Cooperation on Foreign Issues Includes Palestine, Bevin Announces

Anglo-American cooperation in foreign affairs includes the Palestine issue and the problems of Jews in Europe, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin told the House of Commons last night, in the course of his report on the British foreign policy. His remark was followed by a full-dress debate on Palestine, which had been demanded of the Government for several months.

Opening the debate, Samuel Silverman, Laborite, called on the Foreign Secretary to deal with the Arab states as he had indicated he planned to deal with Russia “with cards on the table, face up.” Silverman asked whether it was true that the British members of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine had been instructed to discourage issuance of an interim report on the Jews of Europe. He quoted extensively from a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report of testimony taken by the committee at the DP camps in the U.S. zone in Germany, and asked what kind of a national home there can be if Jews are not allowed to enter Palestine to buy land there.

The Government’s policy in Palestine was defended by Colonial Secretary George Hall, who expressed the hope that “peace and tranquility will reign” in Palestine when the inquiry committee holds hearings there next month. He said that the committee’s terms of reference were broad enough to allow it to issue an interim report, if it so desired, and denied emphatically that British members had been urged to block issuance of such a report. He voiced his sympathy with the sufferings of the Jews in Europe, adding that he believed the committee’s report would open a way to a solution of their problem.

COLONIAL MINISTER SAYS EMERGENCY REGULATIONS IN PALESTINE WERE NECESSARY

Hall denied any knowledge of the fact that the inquiry group had been barred from Hungary and Rumania, and also said that he was not aware that Nazi prisoners of war were being brought to Palestine for forced labor. (An official announcement to that effect was made in Palestine this week.) If it is true that German prisoners are being transferred to Palestine, he will take action, Hall stated.

When Hall referred to his concern regarding the activities of “certain Palestine organizations,” Silverman interposed that the now defense regulations there were beyond anything imaginable except in a police state. The Colonial Minister replied that the regulations were deemed necessary to give the authorities the power required to deal with the situation, but that it does not necessarily mean that these powers would be used.

Former Colonial Minister Col. Oliver Stanley described the Palestine problem as a “running sore,” which had caused the death of thousands and unhappiness for millions, and poisoned Britain’s international relations. One of the great difficulties in the situation, he said, was the fact that the two opposing cases were both good. If Jews and Arabs, he added, can accept a middle course, there is hope for a solution.

BRITISH WILL NOT LEAVE PALESTIES UNTIL ASKED BY JEWS AND ARABS

The crux of the Palestine problem, he continued, is the fear by one side of domination by the other, and expressed the opinion that the British will not leave the country until asked to do so by dews and Arabs together. The inquiry commission, Col. Stanley declared, should be able to finally dispose of the various alternatives for Palestine.

Viscount Hinchingbrooks, Conservative, told the House that American participation in the inquiry committee must be viewed in light of the fact that the U.S. is an important center of world Jewry. The job of “applying the results of the commission of inquiry is a British responsibility, and an honorable task for which we have adequate power and means,” he added. He called for ruthless action to put down any outbreaks in Palestine, and the stationing there of crack troops.

Daniel Lipson, Independent, welcomed America’s joining in seeking a solution of the Jewish question, asserting that the Jewish problem was a world problem which might endanger world peace unless it was properly handled. He called for a solution of the Palestine problem which would be just to Jews and Arabs alike–“not a Jewish state, but a Palestinian state.” He criticized the anti-British campaign in the Palestine Hebrew press, saying that if Britain had not stood firm in 1940, there would be no Jewish problem today, as all the Jews in Europe would have been massacred.

WITHDRAWAL OF 50,000 BRITISH TROOPS FROM PALESTINE URGED BY LABORITE

Squadron Leader Samuel Segal, Laborite, denied that violence was inherent in the Zionist movement. He urged withdrawal of the 50,000 British troops in Palestine, and of the British members of the Palestine police, stating that eight RAF squadrons are sufficient to maintain peace there.

Thomas Reid, Laborite, said that the Palestine problem was caused by Arab fear of political domination by the Jews. The Arabs, he added, are afraid that the Jewish national home will become a Jewish state, now that the Zionist Organization has come out flatly for such a solution.

One of the last participants in the debate, Flight Licut. William Teeling, Conservative, said that the Jews should be allowed into Palestine because they can bolster British defense of the Empire, aside from the humanitarian reason that some home must be found for them. It would be very useful for Britain, he continued, to have Jewish industries in the crucial area of the Middle East.