Conference Ended As Jews, Arabs Reject British Plan

The British Government announced today the conclusion of the Palestine conference after Arab and Jewish rejection of Britain’s final proposals for an agreement had signified the failure of the five-and-a-half week efforts to find a compromise solution of the Palestine problem. The Government accordingly will announce next week a unilateral solution, which will be imposed regardless of the attitudes of the Arabs and Jews.

The Palestine Arabs’ rejection of the British proposals for establishment of an independent state after a transition period of indefinite duration was communicated to the Government representatives at a final session this afternoon at the St. James Palace. The Jews’ rejection of the plan was announced earlier in a letter signed by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and head of the Jewish delegation. The letter cited the following resolution of the Agency and the delegation:

“After having carefully considered the proposals communicated to them by His Majesty’s Government on March 15, they regret that they are unable to accept them as a basis for agreement and have decided, accordingly, to dissolve.”

George Antonius, secretary of the Palestine Arab delegation, said in a statement that the immediate cause of the break-up of the Anglo-Arab discussions was the British Government’s refusal to fix a time limit for the transition period before establishment of an independent state and Britain’s insistence that termination of the transition would be decided when full cooperation was established between Arabs and Jews.

The Palestine Arab delegation felt, the statement said, that this would give the Jews or any minority the opportunity to obstruct the smooth working of the transitional arrangement and a virtual veto of the independent state. On that, he said, the conference broke up, without even entering into discussion of the British proposals regarding immigration, land sales and a constitution.

In his oral presentation of the British proposals Wednesday night, Colonial Secretary MacDonald had allayed none of the fears held by the Jews, although he declared that the ultimate aim was an independent Palestine state and not an Arab or a Jewish state, and asserted that provisions would be made to safeguard the Jewish national home in its special position. He did not give any indications of the ultimate form of the state or of the safeguards that would be made for the Jewish national home beyond remarking that the state might be federal.

Mr. MacDonald was also understood to have declared that the proposals would be put into operation only after order had been restored in Palestine. With respect to termination of the transition period, he declared that this would depend upon success of the experiment and the possibility of cooperation between Arabs and Jews if a state is established. The statement left considerable doubt as to whether he really meant that the transition period would be terminated only with Jewish acquiescence.