Behind closed doors the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations today entered into an examination of the White Paper submitted by the British government to the Commission in which Great Britain defines its attitude towards the various acute issues which dominate the Palestine situation. In addition to the White Paper the Mandates Commission will have before it the report of the Palestine Inquiry Commission and the reply to this report from the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
The riots in Palestine, the causes which led to them, the means for their prevention, the Wailing Wall issue, the recent suspension of immigration to Palestine and the inquiry being conducted by Sir John Simpson into land, immigration and development problems are part of the agenda with which the Commission will deal.
No decisions can be taken by the Mandates Commission. Its function is merely to receive and examine the reports of the Mandatory powers and to advise the Council of the League of Nations on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates. The members of the Commission are appointed as experts and not as government representatives.
IMMIGRATION OVERSHADOWS OTHER ISSUES
It is assumed in League circles that the suspension of immigration to Palestine will overshadow the riots and all other problems on the Commission’s agenda. The suspension of immigration has aroused indignation among Jews the world over and has been declared by Zionist leaders to constitute the suspension of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate itself by Great Britain, as the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine is the task Great Britain had undertaken to shoulder when it accepted the mandate.
It is pointed out that the Mandates Commission has already dealt with the problem of immigration to Palestine in its fifth session October 23 to November 6, 1924. A thorough examination and discussion took place at that time with Sir Herbert Samuel, then High Commissioner of Palestine, presenting the views of the British government.
COMMISSION’S 1924 OBSERVATIONS
The Commission embodied its conclusions in observations in which it declared that the problem of immigration represents the dominant issue in Palestine. “The policy of the Mandatory power,” the Commission stated, “gives rise to acute controversy. It does not afford entire satisfaction to the Zionists who feel that the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish National Home is the first duty of the mandatory power and manifest a certain impatience at the restrictions which are placed in the way of immigration, and in respect of the granting of land to immigrants.
“This policy is on the other hand rejected by the Arab majority in the country which refuses to accept the idea of a Jewish National Home.”
EMPHASIZES MANDATE’S DUAL NATURE
Emphasizing the dual nature of the Mandate, the mandatory power, the Commission observed, should in its immigration policy be actuated by considerations of the economic needs of Palestine.
In Jewish quarters it is pointed out that the Jewish colonization efforts in Palestine have kept pace with the power of absorption of the country which has been increased by Jewish enterprise, effort and industry. Declaring themselves in agreement with the principle that Jewish immigration should not exceed the capacity of Palestine, Zionist spokesmen emphasized that the recent order of the British government cancelled more than 2,000 immigration certificates which had been issued by the Palestine administration in view of definite economic needs and an acutely felt shortage of labor.
MANDATES COMMISSION MEMBERS
The hope is expressed in Jewish circles that the Mandates Commission will not approve of the closing of the doors of Palestine because of political considerations. The members of the Mandates Commission are Count Penha Garcia, for Portugal; Sir Frederick D. Lugard, former governor of Nigeria; M. Merlin, honorary governor general of the French colonies; Minister Pierre Orts, for Belgium; L. Palacios, professor at Madrid University; D. van Rees, former vice-chairman of the Dutch East Indies; N. Sakinobe, for Japan; William Rappard, rector of Geneva University; Dr. M. Ruppel, German colonization expert; Marquis A. Theodoli, of Italy, chairman, and Mlle. V. Daunevy, for Norway.
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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.
