A threatened breakdown in the Anglo-Jewish talks was averted today when members of the British delegation and the political department of the Jewish Agency met at the St. James Palace and explored the possibilities of continuing the talks on a new basis. Colonial Secretary MacDonald and Foreign Undersecretary Butler reaffirmed the assurances given the delegation yesterday by Prime Minister Chamberlain that the Government was not committed to the suggestion for establishment of a Palestine state and invited the Jews to put forward their own suggestions as a basis for further talks. The Jews, however, intimated that they preferred to have new suggestions come from the Government.
During the hour-and-a-quarter meeting today the Jews made clear their refusal to consider the previous suggestions and said that this was not the time for a final solution of the Palestine question, which, they hold, must result from a gradual evolutionary process over a period of the next ten to fifteen years. They stressed the belief that the Palestine mandate must continue and the solution of the question must come within the mandate’s framework.
The Jewish negotiators will consult Monday with the Jewish conference panel. Both the British and the Jews hope that Monday evening’s Anglo-Jewish informal session will find a basis for discussion which would permit resumption of the normal sessions of the conference. The situation thus is that after a month of discussions the Anglo-Jewish talks will be back where they started from, recommencing from a new beginning. If, when the formal talks are resumed. They are on a somewhat different basis, then the present Jewish conference committee is likely to dissolve on Monday after empowering the Jewish Agency Executive, perhaps together with a small committee, to conduct further negotiations. Among those sailing next Wednesday for New York is Sholem Asch, the author.
The Anglo-Arab talks will be resumed tomorrow on the basis of the British suggestions, Arab objections and counter-proposals.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION
The British Government did not reiterate its attitude on the MacMahon correspondence, as was stated on Page 1 of this JTA NEWS. A later dispatch said that the Government had decided to issue no statement on the interpretation of the correspondence as long as the Anglo-Arab talks were in progress and the letters under discussion.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
