Palestine Govt. Attacks Jewish Agency in Memorandum to U.N. Inquiry Committee

The Palestine Government today made public a fourteen-page memorandum on the administration of the country under the Mandate, which it has already submitted to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine.

The memorandum undertakes to explain the principles of the Mandatory’s policy, which it describes as a “continual struggle for the uniting of two developing organisms for their mutual benefit and against all manner of disruptive elements.”

By one such disruptive element is apparently meant the Jewish Agency, which the government attacks as not having observed its terms of reference “thus increasing the element of disproportion given to the affairs of Palestine by the signalizing of a Jewish Agency in a special constitutional position.” The memorandum charges that the Agency’s activities have intensified the Arab antagonism toward the Mandatory’s policies. At the same time, the document justifies the Arab attitude in not establishing a similar centralized authority.

While praising Jewish achievements in the economic, agricultural, technical and cultural fields, the government asserts that these very accomplishments are one of the principal causes for the discrepancies and divergencies between the two peoples–since the Jews’ rapid development is creating a gap between them and the Arabs.

Referring to the government’s unsuccessful attempts to achieve Arab-Jewish cooperation, the memorandum blames both peoples for their “irreconcilable aspirations,” although admitting that this condition springs from a mutual fear of being dominated. The paper goes further, accusing both sides in these terms: “Neither recognizes the extent to which their unwillingness to compromise and their impetuosity, lawlessness or violence influenced the tempo of development, not only necessitating costly measures but also necessitating a continual adjustment of administrative arrangements in order to maintain progress in the fulfillment of the dual obligation as a whole and to facilitate the establishment of a national home.”

Another striking feature of the memorandum is the assertion that securing conditions to establish a national home becomes the more difficult as the home character becomes more alien to its surroundings, whence the memorandum draws the conclusion that the advancement of the poor Arab people must be given priority.

ADMITS JEWS HELPED ARAB ADVANCEMENT; WANTS ENGLISH AS ONLY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Admitting that the Arabs advanced in the 27 years of the Mandatory’s regime and were greatly assisted by Jewish intelligence and enterprising spirit, the statement maintains that this development brought into being new needs and wants and the necessity to seek means of satisfying them. However, it adds: “Politically it has intensified instead of mitigating resentment of Jewish expansion, distrust of the influence of that expansion on determining the character of the country and fear of Jewish domination.”

The memorandum enumerates two other reasons for disruption, namely, the share of production as between the two communities and the marketability of the commodities produced. It also complains that “the recognition of Arabic and Hebrew as official languages not only reduces the opportunity for providing a common ground between the two communities but also enhances opportunities for community chauvinism.” The concurrent use of the two languages, with English, as official language, is “a drag,” the report insists.