There will be no resignation of officials of the Palestine Administration, declares the “Near East and India” magazine, known for its close relations with the Colonial Office. The paper expresses satisfaction with the Inquiry Commission, declaring, however, that despite the Jewish demands it will not comprehend the whole situation, particularly in regard to the attitude of the Palestine administration towards the establishment of the Jewish national home. “That hope,” it writes, “has been rudely shattered.”
Expressing regret that the British policy regarding the establishment of the Jewish National Home is not to be re-examined, the paper points to the announcement of the Colonial Office that upon the receipt of the report of the Inquiry Commission, it will consider along what lines, within the terms of the Mandate, future policy in Palestine should be directed, referring either to the progress of the Arabs toward self government in Palestine, or the establishment of the Jewish National Home or both.
It is well to remember, the “Near East and India” further avers, that hitherto the only restrictions against the Zionists were of an economic nature. It remains to be seen whether political restrictions, arising from the hostility of the Arabs and the consequent necessity of retaining the British garrison are to be added.
Now is the time, it continues, when the real seeds of friendship with the majority of the population may be sown anew. To control the present situation, without vitally offending the Arabs, is the capital British interest. It is impossible to deny that everywhere the Arabs sympathy with their co-religionists in Palestine.
It is the Commission’s immediate task to penetrate through the mass of exaggeration on either side. It is to be hoped their report will not only satisfy the domestic position, but will also be recognized as a model of fair British judgment, the article states.
The Palestine problem transcends domestic worries, in the opinion of the “Near East and India.” By the manner in which it effects extrication from the Arab-Jewish conflict, the statesmanship of the British Government will be judged. Britain’s prime duty, it says, is to heal the breach between the Arabs and the Jews and not to emphasize the antagonism between the two races whom it still hopes one day to fuse into a single whole, it concludes.
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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.
