May 19, Readers of the "North-China Daily News" will not be surprised at the developments with regard to Palestine embodied in the White Paper, which has been issued on the subject, and the declaration that "His, Majesty's Government declares unequivocal= ly that it is not part of its policy that Pales~ tine should become a Jewish state," makes clear once, and for all what should have been emphasized years ayo. In this tragedy of errors which has been the Palestine ques~ tion for all too long, misunderstandings often based upon wishes have been respon= sible for much of the divergence of views between the British, Arabs and Jews, for a study of the Balfour declaration of Novem= ber 2, 1917, and the White Paper of 1922 makes it quite plain that the creation of a Jewish state at the expense of the Arabs was never in fact contemplated. At the risk of overmuch reiteration it is perhaps as well that the important passages of both docu= ments should be repeated here. The historic Balfour Declaration was as follows Mis Majesty's Government view with favour the establish mer Palestine of a National Home. for the bert endeavours to fac of that object. it being understood national Settlement, and the transformation that nothing shall ye' done which may pre= of the administration from one of inter= Judice the clit und religious rights of existing Rational complexion to what would in effect "ov-Jeiesh communities in Palestine, or the Japanese, for while apparently" there sh, and olteal statue enjoyed" by the would be no alteration in the number of], Jews in ans other country. other foreigners on the Municipal Council, In the White Paper issued by Mr. Winston the act that its decisions would have to be Churchill, the Colonial Secretary, in 1922 the carried out by Japanese officials who would salient passage reads be servants of the municipality The nat tobe acquired by all only, would inevitably mean that only such ne, whether Jews or non= decisions as suited the Japanese book would purposes of internal oF be carried into effect. "Viewed in the light would be Palestinian and of the. repeated assurances that the rights third party' neutral Powers would be ra interfered with as little as possible, these ferential that. it should low thu demands, and the stiffening of the Jo Palestine 'i of right od not on sullerane, bbeeause of the council's reply to them have That ts the a strange aspect. it is a very. clear, and the existence of 1 Jewich definite right of the foreigners livin in eer-should "be inter tain ports of China that they shall be allow- teed. ed to form themselves into international The declaration of policy was formally and communities for the purpose of conducting publicly accepted by the Zionist Organiza their own affairs, and that any infringement tion, and it is clear that it explicitly disclaims of that right means a wrongful int torter nee the intention of creating a wholly Jewish with the interests of the people whose rights Palestine or of contemplating the disap it is thus sought to modify.
There is more ance or subordination of the Arab popul than that to be said about the situation tion, language or culture, which is thus created.
It is possible to conix but natural that the Jews should ceive that by reason of the prosecution of desire to sce in Palestine the setting up of es the rights and interests of third a Jewish state as being in their eyes. the party neutrals might be infringed accidental-fullest possible application of the term ly. That cannot, however, be true in the "National Home," but it is quite clear from
change constitutional rights Present circumstances where it is sought 10 all that has transpired that, while that wish which are a matter of permanent record by sheer force of arms, for which there cannot in the cir= cumstances be the slightest That is a point wi borne in mind, can absolve the Japanese authorities from the blame not only of the fringement of very established rights, but of their own often repeated assurances.
Was often the father of the thought, there was nothing Balfour Declaration or the White Paper of 1922 to justify hopes that this would ever come about, It is distinctly stated that there should be no prejudice to the civil, and religious rights of existing, non-Jewish communities in Pales= tine, and it follows that the handing over eof the control of Palestine te the Jews would nity of the The terms of the Japs rear aig that of the no possibility of there being any possible misapprehension us to what their originators have in mind. They desire what would be in fact a Japanese administra was never into the country to brin: up to its present The promise of a National Home intended to apply to the creation tion of the Inter some thin ch in the plan would be entirely ineffectual. of force by means of the kind ied to constrain the pat Council to make the pistol point which they power whatever to sort sh state in which the Arab popul-it ars to have been fully realized Zionist Organization, and actually accepted as the true state of affairs. Never= [theless it now seems that by the Jewish ata time might come, when balance between the Jews and the Arabs had been re-established in favour of the could in no former, that Jewish control of Palestine have. referring the Hex more salient points to the eczsul Id come about as an ordinary process: lution. In time the Arabs. themselves that, and seat might have under proper
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.