Arab-jewish Relations in Palestine Tense, American Correspondent Reports

Arab-Jewish relations in Palestine have deteriorated recently, it is reported in the Christian Science Monitor today in a cable from Jerusalem by Joseph G. Harrison, Monitor correspondent with the United Nations forces in the Middle East, who claims that “the uneasy Arab-Jewish truce which has existed in Palestine during the last several years is now beginning to show signs of cracking.”

“Although there appears to be no immediate prospect of recurrence of widespread disorders and bloodshed which disgraced the Holy Land during the middle 1930’s, shrewd British, Jewish and Arab observers here admit the situation has deteriorated during the past six months, and all sides are agreed that some way must be found to ease tension,” the American correspondent writes.

Emphasizing that both the Arabs and the Jews are determined not to compromise, Harrison points out that “the extent of the feeling aroused throughout the Arab-speaking world by this issue is indicated by the statement of one spokesman in Jerusalem that, even if Palestinian Arabs are inclined to acquiesce in Jewish demands, other Arab countries would do everything in their physical power to prevent it.” He adds:

“One most regrettable aspect of the impasse is widely attested by the fact many persons on both sides, especially among the youth, appear willing to accept open armed conflict as the ‘best means of settling the thing once and for all.’ This attitude of part of the population obviously greatly increases danger of incidents which both sides are ready to seize upon and magnify.”