The British Government may defer announcement of its decision on the Palestine question because of the complicated international situation, Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald announced in the House of Commons today in reply to a question by Tom Williams, Laborite.
A Government White Paper containing the decision on the Holy Land’s future status had been expected to be issued on Wednesday after the five-and-half-week conference with Arabs and Jews had closed last Friday without producing an agreement for an amicable solution of the question.
The British Government’s Wartime support of the idea of a Jewish national home was recalled today in one of a series of documents bearing on negotiations with the Arabs during the World War which were published by the Government in an official White Paper.
One of these documents, a message by Commander Hogarth, a British representative, to Arab leaders in 1918, emphasized that since world opinion favored the return of the Jews to Palestine, the British Government favored the realization of this aspiration and the Government was determined, as far a compatible with the freedom of the existing population, that no obstacle be placed in the way of the realization of the Jewish ideals.
The White Paper also contained Commander Hogarth’s declaration to the seven anonymous Arab leaders in Cairo who presented a memorial to the British Government and the assurances given to Emir Feisal, late king of Iraq, by Field Marshal Viscount Allenby, commander of the British forces in the Near East.
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.
