At its first session since returning from a two-month inquiry into Palestine troubles, the Royal Commission today heard charges that certain sections of the Palestine Government were anti-Jewish and pro-Arab, and demands for immigration of 1,500,000 Jews into the Holy Land in ten years.
The charges were voiced by Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Laborite Member of Parliament who has long been a protagonist of Zionism.
Addressing the six-man body, of which Lord Peel is chairman, at a public hearing held in the committee room of the House of Lords, Col. Wedgwood also charged the Palestine judiciary with being unfair to Jews, particularly in cases involving land disputes.
Col. Wedgwood voiced caustic criticism of the entire administrative setup in Palestine. The Holy Land, he declared, had more officials per square mile, most of them Arabs, than any other British territory.
The demand for extensive immigration into Palestine and facilitation of creation of a Jewish majority headed a series of demands presented by Vladimir Jabotinsky, world leader of the right-wing New Zionist Organization and organizer of the Jewish Legion which helped in the British conquest of the Holy Land.
Mr. Jabotinsky strongly criticized the British Government for what he described as its “muddling through” policy in Palestine affairs.
He advanced, also, the possibility of an “alternative mandatory” should Great Britain feel itself unable to fulfill the purpose of the mandate which he said was to facilitate “a Jewish majority without hardship to the Arab minority.”
If the Mandatory Power could not fulfill that purpose, he declared, “it is their duty to see that security for Jews be not prejudiced pending an agreement for an alternative Mandatory.”
ASKS SPECIAL BODY TO PLACE DISORDERS’ GUILT
Mr. Jabotinsky demanded appointment of a special independent commission to establish who were guilty of causing the Palestine disturbances. He rejected compromises like cantonization, parity between Arabs and Jews, and a legislative council. “None of them is practical and they would lead to even more dangerous trouble,” he said.
The Palestine troubles, he asserted, are due to the “Mandatory Power’s failure to produce a planned policy, clear to all concerned and laying down beyond cavil the principle of a Jewish majority and the essentials of a regime necessary to create such a majority without hardships to anyone.”
Asserting that this failure affected the Palestine Government’s personnel and fostered the conviction among the Arabs that violence could kill Zionism, he suggested the following remedial program:
1-Reform of the civil service and budget.
2-Agrarian reform.
3-Opening of Transjordan to the Jews.
4-Assuring security by establishing a Jewish contingent in the British garrison, Jewish police units and legalized self-defence units.
5-Adoption of Mr. Jabotinsky’s ten-year plan for admitting 1,500,000 Jews into Palestine “which would reduce Jewish distress in the diaspora, ensuring at the same time a Jewish majority.”
“We deny all allegations that carrying out such a scheme would meet formidable obstacles within or outside Palestine,” he declared. “On the contrary, once the resolve is made clear to all parties concerned its execution will take a normal course.”
He added significantly: “If Britain is unable to do this, then they should give back their mandate and do it in a way which would not harm Jewish safety and the Zionist future.”
Concluding, he pointed out that this was his party’s view, adding that he believed such a time would not come because he had faith in Great Britain.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
