Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01
j. S. RULE CHANCE
|NPALEST|NE SEEN
Arab Jewish Clash May Lead
British to Surrender
Holy Land Mandate.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

of it to the United States are regal ded
in Washington as eventualities which
may come out Of the sanguinary Arab
Jewish clash in the Holy Land. Neither
OF these contingencies, it can be stated
on high authority, is likely to evoke
any enthusiasm in government quarters.
But they are held to be possibilities,
and on that account developments in
Palestine are being watched here With
interest bordering on anxiety.
One phase of the situation which is
observed with some concern Is the rls-
ing tide of American criticism which Is
being leveled at Greet Britain. These
tragic events in Palestine" as President
Hoover called them in his message of
sympathy to the great Jewish protest
meeting at New York, have stirred the
American people to their depths. What
would be considered deplorable in
Washington would be the fomenting of
sentiment leading to an official Amer
lean remonstrance to the British gov
eminent, or which would influence the
British to weigh the wisdom Of desert
Ing Palestine.
Coming at the moment when Anglo
American naval negotiations are at
their most delicate stage, any diplomatic
action by the United States, which Lon
don might find embarrassing, would be
capable of arresting, if not wrecking,
the agreement on which both countries
are about to get together.
Two Results Seen.
If the British government should be
moved by British public opinion or
hostile foreign agitation to relinquish
the Palestine mandate, Washington
authorities foresee two almost certain
results: ID that the idea of the Jew
ish National Home" would suffer
grave blow, from which it might not be
able TO recover, and 90 that the United
States, as the second Zionist power"
would be invited to take over the man
date. Most Americans have forgotten
that when the League of Nations gave
the Palestine mandate to Great Britain,
a formal effort was made to make the
United States the mandatory power In
another former Turkish domain, VIZ
Armenia. 1t was mainly the famous
report of the Hartford Commission that
determined the American Government
to keep hands off Armenia.
The best political and governmental
opinion in Washington is overWhelm-
ingly to the effect that American pub
lie sentiment would promptly reject any
suggestion of a United States mandate
in Palestine. The reasons are obvious
and numerous. Over night such
mandate would plunge America into the
boiling cauldron Of European ana
Asiatic politics, with immeasurable
military and naval commitments as an
inevitable consequence.
Garry Special Weight.
Apart from the significant identifl-
cation of Senator Borah, chairman OF
the foreign relations committee, with
them, American remonstrances against
alleged British responsibility for the
Arab outbreaks against the Jews In
Palestine carry special weight In Great
Britain because of the influential back
ing the Zionist movement now COM
mands in the United States. The gen.
erous contributions of American Jews
are not only financial sinews at the
World Zionist Organization, but they
probably account for the lions share
Of them.
DR.. Chain Weizmann, the brilliant
Zionist leader, has made numerous
visits to this country in recent years
and fired American Jews, particularly
the weather. among them, with be-
lated, but enthusiastic, belief in the
cause. Up to this year influential
non Zionists if not anti Zlon1stS,
groups of American Jews ranked as
but this Summer, under the leader
ship of Louis Marshall, distinguished
New York lawyer and chairman of the
pledged zionism their support. DR..
Weizmann has had long conferences
with both President (then Secretary
Hoover and Senator Borah during his
periodical trips to America.
Vast Moslem Nation.
Authorities in Washington declare
there is definite reason to believe that
the British would like to get rid of
further responsibility for safeguarding
the Jewish National Home in Palestine.
The British Empire is vest Moslem
power because of its hundreds OF mil
lions of Mohammedan subjects in In
dia, Mesopotamia, Transjordiania and
other regions in Erlroue, Asia and
Africa. BY assuming the League OF
Nations mandate over Palestine ana
the concurrent duty of seeing the Zion
ist state established there Britain en-
countered the undying hostility Of the
100000 Arabs who lnhabit the Holy
Land-Arabs who consider it as their
own country by dint of thousand
years of occupation. Recent events
required the turning OF British guns
on these MohammedanS and the kill
ing of many of them in the suppress
sion of the anti-Jewish riots. The
whole Moslem world is af1ame with an
ger over Great Britains action, which
was taken in pursuance Of its mandate
obligations to preserve peace and order
in Palestine. But such outbreaks as
the present disturbances are bound to
convince the British that there Is an
ever-present danger Of what Senator
Borah at the Madison Square Garden
meeting called IAN international sham
bles," and correSpondingly enduring
peril to the empires Moslem interests.
Most authorities acquainted with the
Palestinian situation describe the Arab
Jewish differences as ineradicable. All
efforts by the Zionist leaders to concil-
late their Mohammedan fellow cit
liens" have come to naught. The Arabs
refuse to see anything but an alien mi
nority and an alien religion placed in
status of preference and domination
over the Arab land. They resent it, and
their resentment is bitter and deep
seated. It extends beyond the Jews,
who are its immediate cause, to the
British, upon whom the Arabs look as
the abettors of their foes and the arclli-
tects of their woes. The question which
London is believed now to be anxiouSly
asking itself is whether the empires
by the perpetuation of conditions which
perpetuates this violent discomfort in
Moslen hearts.
Attitude Toward Canal.
Great Britain accepted the Palestine
mandate primarily because of the Holy
Lands proximity to the Suez Canal and
the strategic advantages which flow
from British military and naval SUI
premacy there. But as the impending
British withdrawal from Egypt indicates,
the London government seems less con-
cerned over the safety OF the Suez than
a.