The British Cabinet met today to discuss the Palestine problem, but postponed a final decision on the proposed “federalization” plan because no formal reply has been received from President Truman. Another session of the Cabinet will be held as soon as the attitude of the United States has been clarified.
Prior to the Cabinet meeting the British Government received a communication from President Truman which did not indicate other acceptance or rejection of the plan. However, it is understood that it indicated that the first reaction of the President to the plan was unfavorable.
Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, chief of the British Imperial General Staff, attended the meeting. John Strachey, Food Minister, who is not a member of the Cabinet and is normally invited only when matters pertaining to his department are involved, was also present. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, who has been ill recently, participated in the meeting but he is going to the Peace Conference and Prime Minister Attlee is expected to handle future Palestine developments.
ALTERNATIVE PLANS FOR PALESTINE; NO CHANGE IN MANDATE EXPECTED
There are conflicting reports here as to whether the British Government has considered alternative plans to the “federalization” scheme, if Truman finally rejects it. One source said that several other plans have been broached, while Reuters today reports that it is understood that the Government has no alternative plan should the United States decide against the proposal.
Reuters added that the Cabinet for the time being is not considering the question of the Palestine mandate. “Even if Britain were to hand over the mandate, there is nobody to whom it could be passed, as the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations has not yet been set up,” it pointed out.
The Government still hopes that an agreement can be reached with President Truman if he suggests modifications of the “federalization” plan, the diplomatic correspondent of the Star, a London newspaper, said today. The same paper reported that at today’s session of the Cabinet, Colonial Secretary George Hall reported on his recent discussions of the plan with Dr. Chaim Weizmann. It is understood that Dr. Weizmann recommended to the Cabinet that it invite representative of Jewish groups in various countries, in addition to representatives of Palestine Jewry, to the roundtable conferences, the report states.
A report from Egypt today said that members of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee met in Alexandria under the chairmanship of the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem and decided that the Palestine Arabs will participate in the forthcoming London round-table talks only if the Mufti is allowed to lead the delegation and if Jews will not participate.
JEWISH AGENCY’S CRITICISM OF PLAN MERITS CONSIDERATION, TIMES SAYS
The Times, in an editorial, asserts that the Jewish Agency’s criticism of the plan for the partition of Palestine into four sections merits “serious consideration.” It declares, however, that the Agency’s rejection of the plan as a basis for discussion is unjustified and that the Agency’s attitude is inexplicable unless based on the hypothesis that it will not accept any compromise short of the full Zionist program. The newspaper suggests that the Agency statement may have been made to influence policy in the United States “where powerful forces are at work making substantial modification inevitable.”
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