The Colonial Office published tonight a White Paper containing the dispatches sent to the High Commissioner for Palestine relating to the Arab Agency.
The first dispatch dated October 14 reaffirms the Balfour Declaration pledge saying. “It is an international obligation from which them can be no question of receding.” At the same time the document discloses the Arabs were offered an agency similar to the Jewish body in order to secure their cooperation.
The second dispatch dated November 9 says the Government learned of the refusal of the Arabs to accept the Agency with great regret. The three successive proposals to gain Arab cooperation are recapitulated, viz. the Legislative Council, the reconstructed Advisory. Council, and the Arab Agency, each of which was declined. “The Government is now reluctantly driven to the conclusion that further efforts along similar lines are useless and have decided not to receat the attempt,” it is stated.
The Mandate, the Colonial Office continues, has been brought into operation and the Government is bound to proceed to discharge its obligations even without the Arab assistance. The High Commissioner has been instructed accordingly to carry on the administration with the aid of the Advisory Council.
Commenting on the dispatch, the TIMES declares that the extremism of the Palestine Arabs makes attempts at cooperation useless. A firm policy is the only way to deal with the situation since the new Arab Party shows the same extremism. The article concludes with an appeal to the Government not to waver “or show signs of wavering in a policy deliberately adopted and publicly proclaimed.”
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