The British Government today rushed plans for separate conferences with Arab and Jewish leaders looking toward an understanding. The Government will enter the discussions bound by its obligations both to the Jews and Arabs under the mandate, but will permit either to advance arguments for modification of the mandate, colonial secretary Malcolm Macdonald told Commons. He declared the Government was already in communication with Arab states neighboring Palestine regarding participation in the consultations, but rejected suggestions that he also invite the united states and polish governments to be represented.
In a broadcast address later, Mr. MacDonald stressed that the Palestine problem would be solved by political, not military action in the event a round-table conference did not help the Government in deciding a policy. In Commons, he ruled thumbs down on possible participation of the exiled ex-mufti of jerusalem in the round-table conference. the mufti’s past record makes him “wholly inacceptable “Mr. McDonald said. “this house will have observed that the government reserved the right to refuse to receive leaders whom they regard as responsible for the campaign of assassination and violence.”
The London discussions will be in two phases — the first between Palestine Arabs and neighboring states, on the one hand, and Britain, on the other hand, and the second between representatives of the Jewish agency for Palestine and the british government, mr. Macdonald said. It was understood parallel discussions will be held to be followed by a joint roundtable conference if the preliminaries, are successful.
Supplementary estimates covering measures of financial relief for the Palestine government will soon be introduced in commons, mr. Macdonald announced. he said disturbed conditions had caused a serious revenue shrinkage and increased security expenditures, making the Palestine Government unable to meet unavoidable-liabilities.
The House of Lords will hold a debate on the Wood head report and the Governments statement of policy on dec 12, it was announced today. date for the debate was set upon motion by Lord Snell, leader of the Labor opposition.
British newspapers, commenting on yesterday’s White Paper, approved the abandonment of the partition proposal, but were guarded in discussing the prospects for success of the British discussions with Arabs and Jews.
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.
