Copyright—Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that it is not the imposition of a Jewish Nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world in order that it may become a center in which Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race an interest and pride. But in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not of sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of the Jewish National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed and that it should be formally recognized to rest upon the ancient historic connection.”
DISCREPANCY IN FACT, SPIRIT
Discrepancy in fact and in spirit is obvious. British obligation is not limited to the inhabitants of Palestine. It must also comprise further external obligation. The duty of the British Government cannot be discharged merely by a convenient administrative treatment of a local situation.
There is no use at this stage in examining whether the obligations which Great Britain has contracted by the Balfour letter and the Palestine Mandate were wise or unwise. The sole question is whether they are being fulfilled. If it is held by impartial opinion that they are being fulfilled, or that they are incapable of fulfillment or that our latest Government has neither the will nor the means to persevere in their fulfillment, there is one relief and one relief only which can be sought. No one could claim that the British nation is bound for all time, irrespective of events or of their own physical and moral strength to pursue the policy of establishment of the Jewish National Home. But from the moment that we recognize and proclaim that we have departed from these undertakings and are regarding the Zionist cause as a mere inconvenient incident in the Colonial Office administration of Palestine, we are bound to return our Mandate to the League of Nations and forego the strategic moral and material advantages arising from the British control of, and association with the Holy Land.
Copyright—Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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.
