Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald denied in the House of Commons today that the discussions in Cairo on the Palestine problem were an extension of the recent London conference. He said the talks were undertaken on the initiative of the Arab states and covered certain points of the pending Palestine policy to be imposed by the British Government and were informal.
Mr. MacDonald declared he was unaware that Egyptian Ambassador Hassan Nachat Pasha had conveyed to Cairo, as had been reported, any variation in policy from that contained in the final proposals made by the Government at the London conference. He declined to reveal the nature of the points raised during the Cairo discussions, but asserted that the talks last week between Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency and Premier Mohammed Mahmoud Pasha of Egypt were not part of the discussions with the British.
Replying to critical queries on why informal discussions were being held with the Arabs and not also with the Jews, Mr. MacDonald declared the way was open to the Jewish Agency for Palestine to raise any points if it wished. Later in the afternoon, he conferred with Ambassador Nachat Pasha in the Colonial Office.
COLONIAL SECRETARY’S STATEMENT
Mr. MacDonald stated at question time, answering Tom Williams, Laborite: “Since the London conference came to an end, His Majesty’s Government have been considering their future policy on Palestine. In informal discussions before they left London, the delegates of some neighboring states expressed certain views and raised points in connection with His Majesty’s Government’s intentions, and the informal discussions which have taken place have been concerned with elucidation of those points.”
Mr. Williams then asked: “As the statement made at the end of the London conference was that His Majesty’s Government would now explain their own policy to be superimposed on Palestine, can he (the Colonial Secretary) say, if informal conversations are taking place with the Arab delegation, why there have not been similar conversations with the Jews?”
Mr. MacDonald replied: “As I have said, the delegates of certain Arab states took the initiative in raising certain points in connection with policy, as they were perfectly entitled to do. We have informal discussions with them on those points, and it is open to representatives of the Jewish Agency to do the same thing if they wish to do so.”
“Can he say,” Mr. Williams interposed, “if, when the Egyptian Minister travelled to Egypt to continue the conversations, and when representatives of the Jewish Agency were at Cairo, whether the Minister conveyed from His Majesty’s Government any variation in the policy of the Government as previously submitted to the London conference?” The Colonial Secretary replied in the negative.
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