WITH PALESTINE SEETHING WITH EXCITEMENT OVER GREAT BRITAIN’S PROPOSED TRIPARTITION OF THE COUNTRY, HIGH COMMISSIONER SIR ARTHUR GRENFELL WAUCHOPE TODAY CALLED JEWISH AND ARAB LEADERS INTO INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE CONFERENCES.
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER CONFERRED SEPARATELY WITH GRAND MUFTI HAJ AMIN EL HUSSEINI, WHO HAS FOUGHT PARTITION; RAGE BEY NASHASHIBI, FORMER MAYOR OF JERUSALEM, LEADER OF THE ARAB FACTION FAVORING THE IDEA; AND MOSHE SHEROK, HEAD OF THE POLITICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE JEWISH AGENCY FOR PALESTINE.
MEANWHILE, THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS AND POLICE PATROLLED THE COUNTRY, ON GUARD AGAINST POSSIBLE OUTBREAKS.
THE ROYAL COMMISSION’S SCHEME WAS ANNOUNCED BY RADIO LAST NIGHT. AFTERWARD, SIR ARTHUR TOOK THE MICROPHONE TO EXPRESS THE HOPE PARTITION “WILL NOT ONLY END THE MANY TROUBLES BUT CREATE A NEW ERA OF GOODWILL FOR ARABS AND JEWS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.”
HIGH COMMISSIONER’S RADIO STATEMENT
“YOU HEAD TONIGHT THE GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION’S PROPOSALS, THE GOVERNMENT STATEMENT AND ALSO A NUMBER OF ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY THE SCHEME FOR ARABS AND JEWS, BUT YOU DID NOT HEAR REASONED ARGUMENTS LEADING THE ROYAL COMMISSION TO MAKE THE RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT ACCEPTS IN PRINCIPLE,” THE HIGH COMMISSIONER SAID.
“I ASK THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE CAREFULLY TO CONSIDER THE ARGUMENTS AS WELL AS THE CONCLUSIONS AND FORM A CONCLUSION AFTER REFLECTION AND CONSULTATION. I AM FEARLESS TO SAY THAT DURING THE EIGHTEEN YEARS OF HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT EVERY HIGH COMMISSIONER MADE EVERY EFFORT TO ENCOURAGE COOPERATION BETWEEN ARABS AND JEWS AND RECONCILE CONFLICTING INTERESTS.
“THE CHIEF CAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTY IN RECONCILIATION HAS BEEN THE FEAR OF AMBITIONS, REAL OR IMAGINARY, LEST ONE PEOPLE MIGHT NOT THREATEN THE NATIONAL WELL BEING OF THE OTHER.
“FOR THIS AND OTHER REASONS CAREFULLY SET OUT IN THE REPORT. I ASK ALL CAREFULLY TO WEIGH THE ADVANTAGES OF PARTITION FOR ARABS AND JEWS AND TO CONSIDER WHETHER THE SCHEME WILL NOT SOLVE IN A JUST AND PRACTICAL MANNER THE DIFFICULTIES FROM WHICH PALESTINE HAS BEEN SO UNHAPPILY DISTRACTED IN THE PAST, INCLUDING THE THREE PROBLEMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT, IMMIGRATION AND LAND, WHICH HAVE BEEN THE CAUSE OF MUCH DISSATISFACTION.
“AFTER A CAREFUL STUDY OF SUSTAINED AND REASONED ARGUMENTS SET OUT BY EARL PEEL AND HIS COLLEAGUES, I GENUINELY HOPE THAT PARTITION WILL NOT ONLY END THE MANY TROUBLES BUT CREATE A NEW ERA OF GOODWILL FOR ARABS AND JEWS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.”
JABOTINSKY SEES ZIONISM MADE “A MOCKERY”
VLADIMIR JABOTINSKY, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW ZIONIST ORGANIZATION, SCORNFULLY REJECTED PARTITION AS “TRANSFORMING ZIONISM TO A MOCKERY.” BARRED FROM ENTERING THIS COUNTRY, HE MADE HIS STATEMENT BY TELEPHONE FROM ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, TO THE JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY.
ADDRESSING HIMSELF TO WORLD JEWRY, MR. JABOTINSKY URGED “ONE DECISIVE MANIFESTATION” BY AN UNITED JEWRY AGAINST THE PROPOSAL. HE DECLARED THE JEWISH PEOPLE WOULD FIND “POWERFUL ALLIES AMONG MANY NATIONS TO FRUSTRATE” THE PLAN “UTTERLY AND FOREVER.”
CHARGING THE ROYAL COMMISSION HAD OBVIOUSLY “RELIED ON THE SEDUCTIVENESS OF EMPTY TITLES OF STATEHOOD AND GOVERNMENT” TO RENDER THE PROPOSAL ACCEPTABLE TO THE JEWS, HE PREDICTED THE EXISTENCE OF NEIGHBORING ARAB AND JEWISH STATES WAS “DOOMED FROM BIRTH.” “PERHAPS THE WORST FEATURE OF THE SCHEME,” HE SAID, “IS TO ENCOURAGE TWO MUTUAL CLASHING IRREDENTAS WITHIN A SMALL TERRITORY ENTRUSTED BY THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO GREAT BRITAIN’S KEEPING.
“THOUGH WE ALWAYS FOUGHT FOR JEWISH STATEHOOD, I FEEL ENTITLED TO SPEAK IN THE NAME OF OUR WHOLE PEOPLE IN SCORN OF THE WORTHLESS TRINKETS. OUR JEWISH ‘NO’ MUST BE UNANIMOUS AND ABSOLUTE. IT DOES NOT MEAN A PROTEST. IT IMPLIES REFUSAL OF COOPERATION.
“ANY JEWISH BODY AGREEING TO COOPERATE, EVEN UNDER PROTEST, IN CARRYING OUT THE FRAME OF PARTITION, SHOULD BE DISAVOWED BY A UNIVERSAL JEWISH PLEBISCITE.
“BUT THERE MUST BE NO SUCH BODY. IN THIS ELEVENTH HOUR, I APPEAL AGAIN FOR CREATION OF A SUPREME FORUM OF JEWISH UNITY. THIS WORLD JEWISH ASSEMBLY, BY UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, SHOULD BE ENTITLED TO REJECT PARTITION AND REPLACE IT WITH A PLAN FOR ACCELERATED RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JEWISH STATE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE JORDAN.
“ALL YOU WHO FOLLOWED HERZL, BE READY. NOT FOR PETTY MANIFESTATIONS. PERHAPS THE HOUR HAS REALLY COME WHEN THE WHOLE NATION WILL SOON UNITE UNDER HERZL’S BANNER AND THE HIGHEST SACRIFICE WILL BE BROUGHT IN ONE DECISIVE MANIFESTATION IN A PEOPLE’S HISTORY.”
“MAN IN STREET” REJECTS PARTITION
THE “MAN IN THE STREET,” FROM ORTHODOX RELIGIONISTS TO THE MOST RADICAL LEFTISTS, JOINED WITH HEBREW NEWSPAPERS IN REJECTING THE PARTITION PLAN. INTERVIEWED BY THE JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY, REPRESENTATIVES OF MANY SHADES OF POLITICAL THOUGHT VOICED BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE BRITISH SOLUTION TO WHAT THE ROYAL COMMISSION HAD TERMED AN “IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT” OF ARAB-JEWISH AIMS.
THE CONSENSUS WAS EXPRESSED BY ONE WHO SAID THE PROPOSED JEWISH STATE WAS A “MOCKERY OF JEWISH FEELINGS, ACHIEVEMENTS, BLOOD AND CAPITAL INVESTED DURING THE PAST TWENTY YEARS.” SOME CHARACTERIZED THE PROVISION THAT THE JEWISH STATE PAY A SUBVENTION TO THE ARAB STATE, AS AN OFFSET TO NEWLY ACQUIRED LAND CONSIDERED MOSLEM TERRITORY, A “HUMILIATION TO JEWISH STATURE.” IT WAS ANGRILY POINTED OUT BY OTHERS THAT INCLUDED IN THE ARAB TERRITORY, TO COMPRISE ROUGHLY TWO-THIRDS OF PRESENT PALESTINE, WOULD BE MANY CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED JEWISH AREAS AND LONG ESTABLISHED JEWISH COLONIES.
HABOKER, GENERAL ZIONIST HEBREW DAILY, ATTACKED THE GOVERNMENT POLICY WHICH IT SAID HAD CAUSED THE CONDITIONS NECESSITATING THE ROYAL COMMISSION’S REPORT AND CHARGED “THE AMBUSHERS WON.” IT DECLARED THAT “FURTHER COMPROMISES WILL ENCOURAGE OUTRAGES.”
DAVAR, LABORITE DAILY, DECLARED “A JEWISH STATE WITHOUT JERUSALEM, WITHOUT THE NEGEB IS ZIONISM WITHOUT ZION, A JEWISH STATE WITHOUT JEWS. THE REPORT PROPOSES THE JEWISH STATE BE THE ARAB STATE’S TAXPAYERS — QUITE IN THE PALESTINE BRITISH ADMINISTRATION’S KNOWN SPIRIT — BUT WE WILL NOT AGREE. WHO HOISTS THE JEWISH STATE’S BANNER, SIMULTANEOUSLY RESTRICTING IMMIGRATION, CANNOT DEMAND THE WE TRUST THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HIS INTENTIONS AND NEGOTIATE SUFFOCATING CONDITIONS WHICH ARE NO MORE THAN A SYMBOL OF JEWISH INDEPENDENCE. WE TRUST THE MANDATE CAN BE CARRIED OUT AND TRANSFORMED INTO A SOURCE FOR PEACE.”
HAARETZ, HEBREW DAILY, ASKED WHETHER ALLOTMENT OF 5,000,000 DUNAMS TO A JEWISH STATE CREATED TO RELIEVE MILLIONS WHILE 1,250,000 ARABS WERE ALLOTTED OVER SIXTY MILLION DUNAMS WAS A “REASONABLE AND JUST” SOLUTION.
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.
