The Palestine Arab High Committee today announced rejection of Britain’s Palestine policy. In a communication addressed to neighboring Arab governments, the committee demanded immediate convocation of a constituent assembly to elaborate a constitution without waiting for the end of the ten-year period stipulated in the White Paper.
The Arabs will be content only when their national aspirations are realized, the statement said. “Palestine will be independent within the framework of Arab unity and will remain Arab forever,” it declared. The statement said the White Paper proposal retained the principle of the mandate and only provided restrictions on the Jewish national home without affecting the basic promise in the Balfour Declaration.
Independence for Palestine, moreover, remains subordinate to effective Jewish-Arab collaboration, whereas the Jews have already refused that collaboration, the statement said. This places the Jews in a position indefinitely to postpone the birth of the new sovereign state especially since they have it in their power to prolong the transitional period which can be extended, according to the White Paper, if “circumstances” warrant, the Arab communication said.
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