Britain Opposes Special Meeting of Mandates Body on Palestine

Great Britain announced on Saturday its opposition to the convocation of an extraordinary meeting of the League of Nations Mandates Commission to deal with current disorders in Palestine.

The Mandatory Power for the Holy Land had incorporated into a resolution by the Assembly on the Palestine mandate its stand that the special meeting “is premature in view of the fact that necessary documents” were not available.

The resolution, which approved the report of the sixth (political) commission, pointed out that British representatives had called attention to declarations made to the Council on Sept. 26, stating that the present situation in Palestine did not permit Britain to report on current disturbances in Palestine until the Royal Commission of inquiry had completed its work.

The proposal for the special meeting of the Mandates Commission had come up during the deliberations of the Sixth Commission. In expressing approval of the sixth commission’s report, the Assembly declared:

“Many delegations interpreted the report as the unanimous will of the commission to reestablish order in the country.

“The Polish delegation emphasized the interest which Poland takes in the development of the Jewish national home. It further demanded that new places be found for settlement of Jews of Eastern and Central Europe. Other delegations stressed the importance for respective countries of the Zionist emigration movement.

“Some delegates, on the other hand, demanded that the Mandatory Power should strictly observe the principle of duality in Palestine, the policy to observe on one hand the principles of the Mandate which concern the development of the Jewish national home, and on the other hand which guarantees the rights of the Arab population.”