The conference on Palestine will open tomorrow at noon in an atmosphere almost as gloomy as St. James Palace where it will be held. Since this is not the formal opening of the parley, there will be no ceremonies and headline-catching speeches as the British and Arab delegates get down to business.
The possimism is shared by the British, Arabs and Jews alike. Despite the brave words of British spokesmen who publicly saw the conference leading to a “final solution,” government officials privately expressed doubts concerning the outcome of the talks and are discouraged by their inability to convince the Jewish Agency to participate. However, they are hopeful that the presence of members of the Agency executive in London will permit a true exchange of views.
Agency leaders are divided on their opinions of the conference’s chances of success, but all are equally downcast at their failure to learn whether the government favors the partition principle or whether it has a plan of its own in mind. The possibility that the situation will change sufficiently to permit Zionist attendance in the later stages of the parley are considered remote.
The recent barrage of public statements by prominent Arabs on the unaccepability of a partition scheme resulting in a Jewish state is seen as making a compromise more difficult. Insistance on maximum demands by the Palestine Arabs who were absent from the first sessions is stiffening the backs of the extremists among the other Arab delegations.
The length of the conference is a matter of pure speculation, but it is believed that the discussions will drag out. Britain is in no hurry to end the conference since it fears the effect of failure. Apparently the first point on the agenda will be the Palestine Arab demands which exceed those of the Arab League at the first part of the parley.
Jewish Agency quarters, speculating on the course of the conference, foresee the British listening to the Arabs, then coming to the Jews for their views, and finally drawing up a hasty, patchwork compromise which will satisfy no one and will be rejected by both parties. Britain will then go before the United Nations next September and complain that it is impossible for the Jews and the Arabs to agree, and demand UN approval of the British plan.
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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.
