“Full responsibility” for the policy of the Palestine administration was accepted here today by the new Colonial Minister Lord Cranborne speaking in the House of Lords and replying to Lord Davies and Lord Wedgwood who strongly attacked the policy of appeasing the Arabs at the expense of the Jews, and the general anti-Jewish trend of the Palestine government.
Declaring that it was impossible to differentiate between the policy of the Palestine administration and that of the British government, Cranborne declined to make a government statement concerning Palestine “at this time when it couldn’t possibly do any good and might be fraught with danger.” He expressed the belief that “in doing so I feel I will receive the support of the overwhelming majority of your lordships.”
He added that the government could not take any measures that would undermine the policy regarding illegal immigration but assured the Lords that “the government is as horrified as any of the Lords at the tragedy of the Strume and would do all possible to prevent this happening again though I cannot tell what steps will be taken. That must depend on time and circumstances.”
Lord Davies linked the Strume case with the recent admission of many of the followers of the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem into Palestine. He characterized the refusal to admit the Strume passengers as “stupid, callous and inhuman” and stated that the “only reason for that refusal was to curry favor with Arab recalcitrant.”
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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.
