With interest in British press forecasts of the Royal Commission’s recommendations on Palestine at its keenest, circles close to the Commission were believed in some quarters today to have inspired the reports of impending cantonization or partitioning proposals as a trial balloon to test public reaction before specific recommendations are determined.
Official circles continued to decline comment on the reports, which have been featured in London newspapers the past week.
Jewish circles here, in unison with the expressed attitude of leaders in Jerusalem, asserted today a cantonization proposal would be entirely unacceptable and would be fought to the limit.
Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, commenting on reports that the Holy Land would be partitioned into Arab and Jewish sections told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “such a scheme will doubtless be fought with greater vigor than any danger that has threatened the Jewish National Home in the past.”
In some quarters, however, it was pointed out that if the partitioning scheme provided satisfactory self-government and adequate immigration possibilities, it might win some Jewish support.
In this connection, the conservative Morning Post’s forecast today is being closely studied. According to that paper’s political correspondent, the Commission’s recommendations will include termination of the British mandate by international agreement and establishment of separate Jewish and Arab states with the Jewish state having League of Nations membership.
The Post declares such a development would mean “international status and recognition for the Jews.”
The Jewish state, the correspondent asserts, would be a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, with the Jews responsible for maintenance of order within their domain but with such national services as telegraph shared by both states.
According to the correspondent, the Royal Commission realizes the profound impression such a proposal will create and that it will almost certainly involve immediate and perhaps serious outbreaks in Palestine and increased Arab-Jewish tenseness.
The Commission is said to believe, however, that a bold, constructive solution is preferable to a compromise involving mere adjustments.
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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.
