Authoritative sources said today that the British Cabinet will decide tomorrow on the immediate withdrawal of British troops from Palestine and the surrender of Britain’s mandate over Palestine to the United Nations for the United States.
The British Government’s decision, these sources asserted, follows an unexpected switch by Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin during ministerial conferences yesterday and was largely motivated by the Exodus scandal and the worldwide unfavorable publicity resulting from this.
The diplomatic correspondent of the London Evening News said tonight that a majority of the members of the Cabinet had been in favor of getting out of Palestine as soon as possible but that this course had been opposed by Mr. Bevin. The conversion of the Foreign Secretary to this view, he added, ensured a decision to this effect by the Cabinet.
The Cabinet meeting was to be held today, but was postponed when Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones was held up in Jamaica by the hurricane which raged in the Caribbean area this week. Creech-Jones will leave for Flushing Meadow within the next few days. The Cabinet decision is not expected to be made public until the Colonial Minister, or some other British spokesman, presents it to the U.N. General Assembly.
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