Mandates Commission Report on Palestine Received by State Dept.

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

The British Government through its representative, Sir John Shuckburgh, at the recent session of the Permament Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, took occasion to point out that the requirements for a Jewish National Home in Palestine do not apply to the Trans-Jordan area, and consequently a policy for the latter has been adopted similar to that applied in Iraq, rather than the policy adopted for the area east of the Jordan, according to a report recived by the State Department here from Geneva.

In Trans-Jordania, special arrangements had been made on account of the engagements with the Arabs which had been entered into during the war, and that for this reason the policy of the mandatory in Trans-Jordania was somewhat similar to that adopted in Iraq.

The British representative also stated that as a result of the refusal of the Arabs to accept the policy set forth in the White Paper issued in 1922, it was eventually decided in Nov. 1923, after further offers had been made to the Arabs without success “to continue to carry on the administration on the existing lines”.

Sir John Shuckburgh declared that the situation in Palestine had greatly improved in the course of the last few years. Doubtless there are still difficulties; they are due to the exceptional mixture of races and religious sects in Palestine and the importance of this country from the religious point of view to certain parties of people. The result is that incidents which in any other region would be insignificant, assume extraordinary proportions in Palestine and are abundantly commented upon by the press. Nevertheless, he thought that progress had been made and that the various groups, in particular the Jews and the Arabs, are gradually arriving at a kind of mutual tolerance.

Questions were asked by the Commission concerning the judicial organization in Trans-Jordania, the Jewish communities in Palestine, the utilization of State lands to establish Jewish settlements, the conditions of settlements, and the economic and financial crisis in Palestine in 1926 and 1927, which resulted in a considerable decrease of the immigration and an increase of Jewish emigration.