The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-08
By JOSEPH W. GREGG, JR.

By JOSEPH w. GREGG, JR.
 London, Dec. 8-(UP)-PaleStine Arabs and Jews will meet in Lon- don soon to seek a peaceful solu- tion among themselves to a quar- rel that has defied the British Governments ingenuity for % years.
 The conference, at which neigh boring Arab states also will be represented, will constitute a su- preme effort to end by agreement the reign of terrorism and blood shed in Palestine. If 1t fails, the British Government will seek to impose new settlement of its own.
 Great Britain has attempted two completely different methods of reconciling Arab aspirations for independence with Jewish hopes of a national home in Palestine It has tried governing both Arabs and Jews together under a League of Nations mandate and has at- tempted partition of Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states. Both policies are admitted by the British government to have failed. The partition plan was scrapped before even being put into operation.
 Peel Report Delayed
 The scheme for dividing Pales- a..k> {A ish states was recommended by royal commission under the late Earl Peel. The commission was ap- pointed in August, 1886, as a re- suit of grave disturbances which had broken out in Palestine earlier in the year. Its report was pub 1ished II months later.
 The report declared that history had proved the impossibility of Arabs and Jews living together in the same country. It proposed abandonment of the old mandate and partition of the Holy Land into three distinct areas:
 1-An independent Arab state to include Transjordan, all south- ern Palestine and all central Pales- tine except a narrow coastal strip
 2--An independent Jewish state consisting of Galilee and the coastal strip of central Palestine
 3--A British mandated area in- cluding Jerusalem and Bethlehem with narrow corridor to the sea along the Jerusalem Jaffa rail- road. Britain also would retain control of Nazareth and the im- portant naval base at Haifa.
 Provided Money Grant
 Beth Arab and Jewish states under the Peel commission plan would have been allied to Great Britain which was to have made an annual grant of $10,0o0, ,000 tc the Arab state.
 The British government imIne. diately adopted the solution ot partition and appointed a new commission, headed by Sir Johr Woodhead, to determine the bound aries of the new states.
 Instead of the general welcome which the British government had hoped would be accorded the par titiou plan it was immediately un- compromisingly denounced by both Arabs and Jews. The Arabs con- plaiqed it meant amputation of 2 land that was theirs by right and by centuries of occupation. The Jews feared it spelt final doom tc their hopes of National Home Publication of the plan resulted in the outbreak of the present Arat revolt and virtual collapse of law and order throughout the Holy Land.
 Meantime, the Woodhead com mission set to work to draw ur the boundaries of the new states After seven months the four mem- bers unanimously decided the par tition plan was unavoidable.
 In a report published last Nov. g they declared:
 Tn our opinion there is a deep- seated hostility to partition in any form among the Arab population of Palestine and we are convinced that the plan recommended by the royal commission would lead to the outbreak of a general re- bellion which could only be put down by stern and perhaps pro. longed military measures"
 Plan Called Unavoidable
 The report rejected the sugges- ton to create tiny Arab and Jew ish states as unavoidable from 8 political, economic and military standpoint. It revealed that the commission had examined three possible partition schemes:
 1.-The Peel commissions plan
 2A plan similar to the first but excluding most of Galilee iron, the Jewish state and placing it ir the British mandated area.
 3-A new plan dividing PaIes. tine into three parts - northern area retained under British man. date, a southern part retained under British mandate, and g central part to be divided into ar Arab state, a Jewish state and g British n1andated area around Jerusalem.
 The commission unanimously rejected the first plan and wa. divided on the second two.
 The immediate result of publica. ton of this report was that tht British government decided to jet. tison the idea of partition alto. gether and to call an immediate conference of Arabs and Jews tS meet representatives of the Brit. ash government in London.
 That conference marks the Brit. ash governments last slender hop, of . peaceful solution to a prob. lem which many acute observery Eanska. AnanssiInd ae iraso1,,I1n