Arabs Warned That Britain and United States Intend to Back Jewish National Home

The Arab world was told today by the London Times that “the welfare of the Jewish National Home in Palestine is a matter of deep concern to Britain and the United States and constitutes a moral obligation from which no British Government could divest itself.”

The warning was sounded by the most influential newspaper in Britain as an indication to the Arabs that in preparing a post-war program, they must take a realistic attitude towards Jewish claims on Palestine.

“It may be assumed,” the Times says, “that the process of formulating the Arab claims for presentation after the war has already begun. Though the details of the Arab peace aims cannot be foreseen, the general character of the claims is already clear.”

The article then reveals that the two major demands with which the Arabs will come to the peace conference are: 1. A reduction of European influence in Arab countries, including the Zionist influence in Palestine; 2. The establishment of a closer association among the Arab countries themselves.

Among the details under consideration, the Times continues, there are controversial issues not yet settled between the British and the Arab peoples. The main issue is that of Palestine. Pointing out that the welfare of the Jewish National Home is a matter of deep concern to Britain and the United States, the paper makes it clear that the British Government is under moral obligation to safeguard it.

“If Arab statesmen fit this inescapable reality into their calculations, British statesmen will then not allow it to deflect them from building a stable relationship for the Arab world,” the article says. “There is good hope that their mutual relations will not be shipwrecked over it.”

The article concludes by emphasizing that the Arabs, in their desire to share in the economic benefits of the Atlantic Charter, are automatically involving themselves in certain political obligations.