Now that the Arab and Jewish cases have been put before the Palestine Conference, the impression created is that the two peoples are so far apart in their claims as to what should be done for a settlement of the present dispute that the task of recon-oiling them will in all probability prove impossible of accomplishment. The Arabs have demanded—1, complete independence; 2, abandonment of the attempt to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine; 3, abrogation of the Mandate and its replacement by a treaty creating Palestine a sovereign Arab state, and 4, immediate cessation of Jewish mmigration and sales of land to the Jews. The Arabs have stated their willingness to negotiate in a conciliatory spirit for condi-oons under which reasonable British interests shall be safeguarded; to approve necess guarantees for the preservation of and the right of access to all holy places and for the protection of all legitimate rights of Jewish and other minorities in Palestine, but they consider that measures which have been taken under the Mandate, such as the facilities given to Jews to enter Palestine, to acquire land and other exceptional privileges, have rendered it null and void, and worthy of abrogation. All this amounts to a demand for unconditional surrender by Great Britain the Arabs, and the dependence upon Arab goodwill for the protection of vital British interests in the eastern Mediterranean. It is n the circumstances extremely unlikely that anything approaching these terms will ever be conceded by Great Britain, while it is perfectly obvious that they will be bitterly opposed by the Jews themselves, who would see in any such surrender their own relinquishment as a minority to the mercies of an independent Arab state. This is not to deny that the Arabs have a great deal of justice on their side. Their claims to Palestine are centuries old, and while a very much anger time ago the land was undoubtedly Jewish, usage since the most of them wer dispersed into other lands justifies to a ver great extent the Arab claims. They are most certainly not to be dispossessed.
The Jewish statement which was published in London yesterday is equally es forthright as that of the Arabs, indeed in the abridged version which has come to hand it is possible to perceive traces of defiance. If the statement that the Jews did not want to dominate the Arabs, but would not allow themselves to be dominated by them has any meaning whatever, it must surely be that they desire an equality of status with them, but when hey deny that Palestine is an Arab land, supporting their contention with the allegation that the Jews already form one-third of the population and were responsible for -wo-thirds of the economic activity of the ovntry, they have in all probability placed heir finger on what is really the cause of Arab complaint. Economic dominance is but short step from political control, and from political control there is no very great dis-lance to the perfection of a Jewish state with the Arabs reduced to that mino status which they are seeking so earnestly o resist. That there have always been some Jews in the country seems to be relied upon as proving some dezree of continuity of tenour. "It is by no means a strong argument. Nor is it strengthened by the conten-ion that for the last 60 years active resettlement work has been going on; this latter does nothing more than to show the shortness of the term of Jewish resurgence in Palestine is compared with the many centuries of Arab ownership So long as the Jews follow a policy which is obviously designed to create a Jewish state at the expense of ihe Arabs, so long will it be impossible to secure agreement between the two peoples. A Jewish state in Palestine was never contemplated by Great Britain. The very specific limitations enunciated in the Balfour Declaration support that view, for it was clearly laid down that nothing should be done hich might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. The creation of a Jewish state would undoubtedly constitute an infringement of the civil rights of existing non-Jewish communities in the country, for the Arabs would be placed at a disadvantage which they are strenuously seeking to avoid.
The continuance of a policy permitting un-
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