Restoration of law and order will be his first task in Palestine, Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, who will succeed Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope as High Commissioner next month, declared today at a Royal Empire Society luncheon in his honor. His second task, he added, will be to obtain contacts with the “ordinary man” living in the country, “not only the people who are or who call themselves leaders of public opinion.”
Sir Harold revealed that he had been deluged with advice from all over the world representing all views and that he had discussed Palestine problems with two members of the Royal Commission.
“I realize,” he said, “that in going to Palestine, it is likely to be a spotlight rather than a halo which I shall meet.”
In a toast to Sir Harold, Colonial Secretary William Ormsby-Gore paid him warm tribute and described the Palestine difficulties as “tremendous in their ramifications throughout the whole world.” He expressed the conviction that Palestine “cannot be the exclusive possession of the Christian world, the Moslem world or the Jewish world. All must have a share and a place in it.”
“Its destiny,” the Colonial Secretary continued, “will be for Britain in the course of time, maybe a long time, by one process or another, to bring about in a common Holy Land of all, peace between Jew and Moslem, which is of vital interest to us all.” He concluded with a pledge to Sir Harold of unvarying and unqualified support.
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