GAVE MISGIVINGS AS TO THE WISDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN’S PROPOSAL TO PARTITION PALESTINE WERE VOICED TODAY BY GENERAL JAN CHRISTIAN SMUTS, MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA.
IMPLIED CRITICISM OF THE BRITISH ADMINISTRATION IN PALESTINE WAS CONTAINED IN A MESSAGE GENERAL SMUTS SENT TO THE SIXTEENTH ZIONIST CONFERENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA, MEETING HERE, IN WHICH HE SUGGESTED THAT THERE IS “ALWAYS THE ALTERNATIVE OF FIRM GOVERNMENT” RATHER THAN PARTITION OF THE HOLY LAND.
“THE POLICY OF THE JEWISH NATIONAL HOME AND THE MEANING OF THE MANDATE TO GREAT BRITAIN WERE DECIDED AS MATTERS OF FIRST CLASS IMPORTANCE,” GENERAL SMUTS DECLARED, “ON CONSIDERATIONS OF HIGH INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND FAR-REACHING STRATEGY.
“THE PRESENT CLASHES BETWEEN THE JEWS AND ARABS ARE SMALL IN COMPARISON WITH THESE CONSIDERATIONS, THE IMPORTANCE OF WHICH IS INCREASED BY RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SITUATION. THERE IS ALWAYS THE ALTERNATIVE OF FIRM GOVERNMENT IN CASE OF FURTHER TROUBLE.”
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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.
