Jews Can Offer Alternatives to “federalization” Plan at London Parley, Britain Says

Jews and Arabs who accept the British invitation to attend the Palestine round-table discussions in London will be in a position to offer alternative or counter proposals to the “federalization” plan for Palestine, a Foreign Office spokesman stated today. He said that Britain does not intend to limit the scope of the discussions to the “federalization” scheme.

Believing that partition of Palestine would be acceptable to both Jews and Arabs, the London Spectator, leading English weekly newspaper, today urged that Britain adopt this policy without delay, In view of the fact that visaless immigrants are arriving in Palestine on an unprecedented scale, the newspaper said, Britain is faced with the choice of allowing “illegal” debarkations, or preventing these landings at the cost of provoking war with the Haganah.

Meanwhile, the New Statesman and Nation, pointing to the deterioration of the British position in the Middle East, which it attributes to Foreign Minister Bevin’s Palestine policy, says that troops stationed in Palestine should have provided support for Britain’s policy in the Middle East but instead are committed to operations against the Jews. The magazine also warns that sending back the visaless immigrants to Europe would destroy the last hopes for cooperation between Britain and the Jews.