The Arab Higher Committee today decided to call a general strike throughout the country for Friday in protest against the recommendations of the Anglo-American inquiry committee. It also telegraphed an appeal to neighboring Arab countries asking them to declare “sympathy strikes” on the same day.
The Arab committee also cabled to the Governments of the United States and Britain, repudiating the committee’s report and its recommendations. The cable reiterated the demand of the Palestine Arabs that Palestine be declared an independent state.
The executive of the Jewish Agency, following an extraordinary session under the chairmanship of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, today decided not to issue any formal statement until the British Government makes public a statement of policy with regard to the recommendations of the committee.
No serious trouble is expected in Palestine despite the threats of Arab leaders. The average Arab knows that the Jews are well organized to meet any attack. He is also well aware of the strength and the military mobility of the Jews. Isolated attacks on Jews in remote points of the country are, nevertheless, considered a possibility.
The general opinion among the Jews here is that the Arab threats are voiced “for export only,” to impress public opinion abroad and thus prevent the carrying out of the recommendations made by the inquiry committee.
The sentiments of the average Arab in Palestine can, perhaps, be ganged by the fact that today, following the protest of the Arab Higher Committer, Arab merchants, who have been doing business with Jewish dealers despite the boycott, placed orders for large quantities of merchandise over the telephone, since they were afraid to appear in Jewish stores. Similarly, Arabs patronizing small Jewish stores did their shopping today at side entrances.
The general Jewish reaction to the report is that while the committee performed a humanitarian dead in urging the admission of 100,000 Jews and abrogation of the land restrictions, its recommendations are disappointing since they virtually whitewash the present regime and reject the basic demand for a Jewish state.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
