Evening star., 1939-05-21

Great Britain has laid the foundation
for a new Palestine. Whether it be a
Palestine of peace and cooperation be-
tween Jews and Arabs or Palestine of
riot and turmoil depends on many fac
tors, some of them imponderables, but
peace or war, Palestines destiny is fixed
in the parliamentary white paper issued
last week in which the British govern
ment sets down what it intends to do to
settle the feud beween Jews and Arabs
Great Britain has cast the die for the
Holy Land, and it is not a mold into
which either contending faction will fall
with great willingness or ease Cor
ceivably it may have to be forced down
their collective throats by the might of
British artillery, infantry and planes
Put, most important of all, Britain
after three years of vacillation and mud
ding through, finally has decided her
course. The air is cleared, the lines are
drawn each side knows where it STANDS
What has hurt Palestine more than
anything else, since it became clear at
the time of the Arab general strike in
1886 that new regime and final settle
nent were essential, has been the un-
certainty among both Jews and Arabs
OF their future. Arabs feared Britain
was manipulating to convert the coun-
try by migration into a Jewish state
with Jewish majority. Jews feared
Britain might cut Palestine adrift, leav-
ing the national home to struggle alone
Can Develop National Home.
The British white paper angered both
sides because it failed to meet the
minimum demands of either. At the
same time that it restricted Jewish in
migration after five years. it assured the
Jews of five more years of immigration
with which to strengthen their position
Furthermore, it left room for the Jews
to continue developing their national
rome in the sense that it has always
been understood by British statesmen
end assured the Arabs that their state
is not to be converted into a Jewish
state, with Arabs instead of Jews in the
minority.
Jews are free, under the British plar,
to build further in Palestine that ma
tlonal home to which they have aspred
since Theodor Herzl, Viennese journalist
and founder of modern Zionism. had his
vision to save Jewry at the Dreyfus. trial
IN Paris. 1t is not Palestine "as" the
national home, but, in the words of the
Balfour declaration, the national home
"in" Palestine
This question whether Palestine was
to become in entirety the national home
OF the Jews or whether it was to en-
brace an Arab state as we'll as the ma
tlonal home has plagued all discussion
OF the subject since the Balfour decla-
ration appeared in 1917. The League
OF Nations mandate to Great Britain
and the Lodge-Fish resolution, passed
by Congress in 1922. followed the vague
wording of the Balfour declaration. a
national home 'in" Palestine
The white paper settles the question
once and for all as far as the British
government is concerned by stating:
N. M. government therefore now de-
clare unequivocally that it is not part
OF their policy that Palestine should
become a Jewish state. They would
indeed regard it as contrary to their
obligations to the Arabs under the man
date, as well as to assurances which have
been given to the Arab people in the
past, that the Arab population of Pales-
tine should be made subjects of Jew
ish state against their will"
The method of formation of the new