ARAB DEMANDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1939, Page 5

ARAB DEMANDS

THE LONDON DISCUSSIONS EXAMINATION OF McMAHON CORRESPONDENCE. 7 QUESTION OF THE EXCLUSION OF PALESTINE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. March 4. Discussion of the British suggestions for the solution of the Palestine prob-i lem continued today between British representatives and the committee representatives of the Palestinian and Arab State delegations. Arab countersuggestions were also before the meeting. A further informal meeting with the Jews, who are understood in the meantime to be maintaining their objections to the acceptance of the British proposals as a basis for discussions, will take place on Monday. Meanwhile, a White Paper published yesterday gives the text in English of correspondence exchanged in Arabic between July, 1915, and March, 1916, between Sir Henry McMahon, who was then British High Commissioner in Cairo, and Sherif Hussein of Mecca. It is stated that as a result of the work of the special sub-committee set up in the Palestine Conference the text has been revised so that where the language of the original draft or contemporary translations has been found on examination not to reproduce accurately the Arabic of the actual correspondence the correct translation should be substituted. A DISPUTED PASSAGE. The claim of the Palestine Arabs to an independent Arab State in Palestine is based on their understanding of a passage in a letter from Sir Henry McMahon dated October 24, 1915. This passage, cited in the Peel report, and the variations made in the new text are of purely verbal importance. The Arab contention that Palestine was included in the limits within which Sir Henry said that Britain was prepared to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs has never been accepted. The British view was stated by Mr Winston Churchill as Colonial Secretary in 1922. He stated: — “The promise was subject to a reservation which excluded the portions of Syria lying to the west of the district of Damascus. This reservation has always been regarded by Britain as covering the whole of the Vilayet of Beirut and the independent Sanjak of Jerusalem. The whole of Palestine west of the Jordan' was thus excluded from Sir Henry McMahon’s pledge.” It is also significant that in a letter to the Press in July, 1937, Sir Henry McMahon himself confirmed that he did not intend to include Palestine in his pledge to the Arabs. BRITISH PRESS COMMENT. In the view of most newspaper commentators the publication of this correspondence after more than 20 years Iras not shed any new light on a controversy to which it has sometimes been alleged to be the key. “The Times” expects that both parties to the controversy will continue to claim that the text of the letters supports their particular view. The “Daily Telegraph” thinks _jt clear that nothing in the. correspondence contradicts the British interpretation of the crucial paragraph in Sir Henry' McMahon’s letter of October, 1915. but, in view of the admitted ambiguity of the geographical references, this newspaper and other commentators obviously feel that real importance attaches to the view of the meaning held bv Sir Henry McMahon himself. The “Daily Telegraph” mentions that Colonel Vickery, who went over the correspondence itself with Sherif Hussein in 1920, has recently put on record his impression .that Sherif Hussein himself did not dispute the point that Palestine was excluded from the pledge to support Arab independence. The “Daily Telegraph” adds: "The view that Sherif Hussein agreed to the theory of exclusion and that Palestine formed part of the excluded area has not merely been held by successive British Governments and by Sir Henry McMahon, but was accepted by Emir’ Feisal and that great champion of the Arab cause, the late Colonel T. E. Lawrence.” ARAB NOTABLE SHOT. WHILE WATCHING FOOTBALL , MATCH. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. JERUSALEM. March 4. Adnan Nashas Hibi, a cousin of the delegate to the Palestine conference, was shot and seriously injured while watching a football match at Herod’s Gate today. VICTIM DIES (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) JERUSALEM. March 5. Nashas Hibi. who was shot while watching a football match, has died. ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES. SEIZED BY SEARCHING TROOPS. (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) JERUSALEM, March 5. Troops searching the hills for the Arab terrorist headquarters seized nine rifles, 200 cartridges and hundreds of sticks of gelignite with detonators. They found also many British types of uniforms which had been worn by terrorists. BOMBS IN PARCEL ADDRESSED TO OFFICIAL AT SCOTLAND YARD. LONDON, March 5. A suspicious parcel was opened by Post Office detectives at Victoria sorting office today and found to contain two incendiary balloon bombs. i The “Sunday Despatch" says that the parcel was addressed to a high official of Scotland Yard. Experts stated that the package would have burst into flames about the time it was due for delivery.