CHANGE OF FRONT?

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5293, 4 January 1947, Page 4

CHANGE OF FRONT?

A LTIIOUGH there is no official indication that the British policy in Palestine is about to undergo a radical change, the statement made by Reuter that the alternatives of partition of the country into thpee zones or of the submission of the British mandate to the United Nations . Council appears to be highly significant in the light of latest events. The irony of the situation is that this suggested move should come only after the legacy of goodwill inherited from past administrations has been dissipated, in respect of both Jews and Arabs. It is stated that the more likely decision will be to place the problem in the hands of the United Nations. The ^ Attlee Government has been hagridden by fear of combined action by the Arab League, should partition be imposed on the country and that civil war, involving the whole Middle East, would break out. However, many people have differed from this view. A correspondent of the Times, of London, for example, returned from Palestine to find that the extent of common interests or even community of outlook among the States of the Arab League could easily be over-estimated ; and he commented that, if Britain were to impose a solution, in the form of partition, Jew and Arab would, aecording to Oriental habit, in all likelihood accept the inevitable and settle down to make' the best of it, after voluminous protests and a "reasonable amount of rioting." More recently, the editor of the Nation, Miss Breda Kirchwey, set out' to determine, in interviews with Arab leaders in* Palestine, how realistic are the fears of an Arab revolt. Miss Kirchwey found that nationalist feeling, though not as deep -as its leaders ^suggested, was unquestionably growing. "Will it explode in Palestine?" she asked. "To me the answer seems so obvious that I find it hard to take seriously the feverish warning of British officials and Arab propagandists. The caution displayed by the Arab leaders when they sit down to consider policy is far more convincing." "Unless all political signs fail, no general rising of Arabs would result from the application of the Anglo-American committee's proposals for partition and immigration. Doubtless there would be sporadic attacks and local .disorders, though even thes'e would, I am convinced, be rediiced by the general respect in which the Jewish defence organisation is held. But no Holy War, no invasion from neighbouring countries, not even civil war in Palestine." In its supposed- attempt to avoid a situation that it has constantly delineated in official communications with which the Press of the Empire has been increasingly bombarded, especially of late months, every incident, however serious or however smali, has been carefully reported, such as those possessing patience may read in this issue. No other military or quasi-military operations have been so meticulously eovered, in

' an apparent effort to impress | their necessity on the British j public, but all the publicity has | done has been to release a flood j of rancour and bitterhess. The | anticipated last-minute gesture | may be too late to save face for the Foreign Office, but not too late to make sorrie amends to the people of Palestine as a whole.