Parliament Concerned over Partition Reports; Grossman Offers Solution

Parliamentary circles voiced concern today over the persistent reports that the Royal Commission was planning to recommend partition or cantonization of Palestine.

Both Liberal and Conservative spokesmen expressed anxiety that Parliament be consulted before a final decision regarding a solution to the Holy Land’s problems is taken.

Geoffrey Mander, Liberal, announced he will ask Colonial Secretary William Ormsby-Gore for assurance that the House of Commons will have the opportunity of considering the Royal Commission’s report before the Government acts on it. R.H. Morgan, Conservative, said he will query the Colonial Secretary on the date the report is to be published. Questions on the subject are set for April 14.

Meanwhile Jewish circles here continued to inveigh against the reputedly pending division of Palestine.

Meier Grossman, leader of the Jewish State Party, told a press conference that no “palliative” solution would settle the Palestine problem.

“World Jewry,” he said, “will never agree to restricted immigration or another division of Palestine, the first of which occurred in 1922 when Transjordan was detached.”

Mr. Grossman, a Palestinian, suggested as a solution to the difficulties besetting the Holy Land, a better administration which would effect the following: a proper system of security, agrarian reform to free the Arabs from the grip of effendis (wealthy Arab landowners), land reserves for Jewish immigration, a trade agreement with the British Empire and voluntary exchange of population with neighboring countries.

The New Zionist Organization executive issued a statement on the reported proposals in which it declared that “no proposals departing from the aim for establishment of a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan will be acceptable to the Jewish people.”