London Conference Adjourns Without Setting Date for Resumption; Situation is “vague”

The Conference on Palestine adjourned this afternoon without setting a date for resumption of the sessions, after the conferees agreed to establish an Anglo-Arab committee to continue the discoussions.

An official spokesman said that during the two-hour meeting which was held at Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin’s home, because the Arabs complained that St: James Palace, where the first session was held on Monday, was too cold– Bevin told the Arabs that Britain had not yet reached a final decision on the Palestine question, and had not drawn up a plan for its solution.

The Arab and British delegates, therefore, dissussed all the various proposals thus far submitted, including the Arab plan for complete independence and a halt to Jewish immigration and settlement, the Morrison federalization plan, partition and a compromise between the Morrison scheme and partition. No reference was made to the possibility of a Jewish state being established in all of Palestine. The question of United Nations action was not raised directly, but reference was made to it. Bevin discussed these plans only generally, pointing to the difficulties involved in adopting any of them.

REPORTED BEVIN SOUNDED CUT JEWS ON SOME SORT OF PARTITION

The Foreign Minister also told the Arabs what topies had been considered during his talks yesterday with Zionist leaders. Informed sources say that Bevin attempted yesterday to get the reaction of the Jewish representatives to some sort of partition plan, but the Zionist delegates said they would have to refer any such question to a full meeting of the Jewish Agency exesutive. They also stressed the demand that Britain honor its obligations under the Balfour Declaration.

The official spokesman refused to say this afternoon whether the conference had reached an impasse, but admitted that the situation was “vague.” He said that the idea of a joint committee to continue talks was broached by Bevin and approved by all the delegates. It is rumored that the Arabs do not expect the conference to last much longer, and have booked passage for next week.

Prior to today’s meeting, Prime Minister Attlee gave a luncheon in honor of the Arab delegates at his official residence, 10 Downing Strest,

At the request of Former Prime Minister Churchill, Arthur Greenwood, acting leader of the House of Commons, agreed today to a debate tomorrow afternoon on the “maintenance of public order in Palestine,” with the provision that central questions of basic policy there shall not be touched upon since the Palestine conference was still in session. Churchill and other Conservative spokesmen have been pressing for a full-dress debate on Palestine for several months. Last week the former Premier asked that a debate be scheduled as soon as the conference closes.