Diplomatic circles expressed interest today in Sir Austen Chamberlain’s disclosure in the House of Commons last night that he had insisted in 1922 that the Palestine mandate be given to the United States.
According to Sir Austen, who at the time was the elected leader of the Unionist party, the then Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, had opposed his suggestion.
“I suggested and pressed upon Mr. Lloyd George,” Sir Austen declared, “that Palestine be offered to America. I thought that Palestine would be likely to attract America, but Mr. Lloyd George disagreed.”
Replying, Mr. Lloyd George admitted that the question of the United States taking colonies had been discussed before the assigning of mandates by the League of Nations.
Transference of the British mandate over Tanganyika to Germany was vigorously opposed by Sir Austen during a formal debate yesterday on foreign affairs, on the ground that Germany’s treatment of the Jews showed she was unsuited for the task.
Sir Austen declared that he would not “take the responsibility for handing over a territory to a Government which is refusing nationality to a section of its own people.”
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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.
