The comments in the Palestine press on the Inquiry Commission’s report are based on imperfect knowledge since only an 800 word summary of the report has been officially published, declared the Jerusalem correspondent of the “London Times.”
In the meantime the Arab paper, “Felestin,” while refusing to admit the Commission’s description of the riots as an unjustified attack on the Jews, expresses gratification at the Commission’s acquittal of the Arabs on a charge of planning the riots. The “Felestin” says that “if the British government pays attention to the findings of the report and acts accordingly it will be well for Palestine and the British Empire, but if it follows Harry Snell, whom the government undoubtedly influenced, then peace is far from Palestine and England.”
Jewish comment, says the correspondent of the “London Times,” consists of a comprehensive and bitter charge that the Commission exceeded its terms of reference and expressed superficial views on economic subjects on which it had insufficient evidence. The “Times” representative sees the Jews feeling that the difficulties arising during the working of the Mandate did not prove the failure of the Jews but rather the incapacity of the British officials to fulfill an international trust.
The Hebrew paper, “Ha’Aretz,” says that Harry Snell with his reservations preserved the Commission’s honor otherwise “this astonishing document is revealed as a bare-faced distortion of the Zionist ideal and the simple historic truth, which the Jewish people must add to the long series of infamous anti-Jewish documents which enrich their national museum.”
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.
