“Palestine is doing more to poison relations between Britain and the United States than any other thing at the present time,” the House of Commons was told today.
The statement was made by Leonard David Gammans, Conservative, who demanded that Prime Minister Attlee make public the correspondence between him and President Truman on the Palestine question.
“The House is entitled to learn of the representations made to President Truman by His Majesty’s Government,” Gammans argued. However, his request was rejected by Prime Minister Attlee who declared that there was no precedent for publishing any correspondence between a British Prime Minister and a President of the United States.
BRITAIN REJECTS JEWISH AGENCY DEMAND FOR INCREASED IMMIGRATION QUOTA
The government has turned down a Jewish Agency request for an increase in the Palestine immigration quota pending resumption of the Palestine Conference on Dec. 16, it was reported today. The British are reported to feel that if they agreed to such an increase they would be breaking faith with the Arabs.
The London Times, which is close to the Foreign Office, said this morning that the Agency had demanded a monthly immigration quota of 4,000 as a condition to agreeing to condemn terrorism. The newspaper says that “it is unfortunate, because nothing is more unacceptable to the Arabs” who, it said, have received assurances that immigration will not be increased before the London talks are resumed. It expresses fear that “what began as a private conversation between Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Colonial Minister Arthur Creech-Jones will now take on an international aspect.”
In an address before the Paddington Labor Party last night, William Warbey, Labor M.P., charged that “in Palestine we are now ruling by a military dictatorship, thereby arousing the opposition of the whole Jewish community.” He demanded that Britain cease sending notes to Yugoslavia, Poland and elsewhere, “because in Palestine we now have a police state under British control.”
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