Churchill Reaffirms British Policy of Jewish National Home in Palestine

The British policy with regard to the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine was reaffirm today by Prime Minister Churchill. The British Prime Minister added that this policy will be taken into consideration during discussions in Cairo on the establishment of a pan-Arab federation.

The statement by Churchill was made in commons in reply to a question whether the British government is still adhering to its policy Palestine embodied in the Balfour Declaration which provides that Palestine is to become a Jewish National Home. “There is no need for any change in the policy of His Majesty’s Government regarding Palestine,” was Churchill’s answer.

Thanking the Prime Minister for the “welcome reply,” D. L. Lipson, Independent Conservative member of the Parliament wanted to know, however, whether the present Cabinet supports the principles expressed in the White Paper on Palestine.

The discussions now held in Cairo are of a privates nature so far, and are being conducted between Arab leaders of Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency, made a flying trip last week to Cairo, but all that was reported was that he met with the British military authorities there. Whether he had also made contact with the Arab leaders interested in the formation of a pan-Arab federation was not disclosed. In the meantime it is known here that the Arabs of Syria are especially eager to attract Jewish interest to the scheme of a pan-Arab federation in which Palestine will play an important part.

In connection with the Cairo discussions, the attitude of the Yishub to the pan-Arab federation scheme will be clarified here with the arrival in London of David Ban-Gurion, chairman of the Zionist Executive. Mr. Ben-Gurion is expected to fly from Palestine to London within the next few days. He will make a stop-over in the United States on his way to London and will report to Zionist leaders in America on various important political problems which Palestine is facing now, including the problem of the projected federation of Arab countries.