ARAB DEMANDS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20728, 11 February 1939, Page 7

ARAB DEMANDS

OUTLINED AT PARLEY MANDATE ABROGATION JEWISH NATIONAL HOME (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 11 Raghcb Bey Nashashibi and Yakub Effendi Farraj, president and ricepresident of the Defence Party, who were nominated as delegates on a joint delegation did not attend to-dav's conference, the former being unwell and the latter has not arrived from Jerusalem whence he has been summoned At the conference, which was held in St. James' Palace this evening the Arab case was opened by Jamal Husseini, cousin of the Grand Mufti. It is understood that his concise 20minute statement included some proposals. The News Chronicle states that Husseini asked Britain to abandon the attempt to establish a Jewish national home, abrogate the mandate, and substitute an Anglo-Palestinian treaty similar to the Anglo-Irak treaty. Husseini also demanded the cessation of Jewish immigration and sales of land to the Jews, and stated that Palestine already had a larger population than it could support. ARABS STATE CASE ANTI-SEMITISM DENIED MANDATE CONDEMNED DEMANDS SUMMARISED (Official Wireless) (Received Feb. 11, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 10 The statement of the Arab case was made at the Palestine conference by Prince Hussein, who emphasised that it had nothing in common with antiSemitism and was not inspired by any hostility to the British people or any other people, but the Arabs felt it one of self-evident justice, resting on the natural right of a people to remain in undisturbed possession of their country and their natural desire to safeguard their national existence and ensure that it should be secured and developed in freedom and harmony with their traditions and ideals. Prince Hussein also made a point that up to the time of the Balfour Declaration and mandate the relations between the Arabs and Jews were peace ful and friendly. After arguing that the policy pursued in Palestine had proved the justice of the Arabs’ fears and contending that the immigration of Jews and Jewish land purchases had hern on a scale detrimental to the material interests of the Arab population, he declared the Arabs had never, and never would recognise the Balfour declaration or mandate but in the eyes of the Arabs the question was not primarily one of material interests but first and foremost one of moral and political values. “A Grave Injustice** The Arab case was based on the fact that the policy hitherto pursued in Palestine constituted a grave injustice to the Arab people of a kind for which there was no parallel and that until that injustice was adequately redressed there would be no peace in the Holy Land. Prince Hussein concluded by summarising the demands of the Palestine. Arabs under four heads: Firstly, recognition of the right of Arabs to complete independence in their country; Secondly, abandonment of the attempt to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine; Thirdly, abrogation of the mandate and illegalities resulting from it and its replacement by a treaty similar to that between Britain and Iraq, creating a sovereign Arab State; Fourthly, immediate cessation of all Jewish immigration and sales of land to Jews. The Arabs, he said, were prepared to negotiate in a conciliatory spirit the conditions under which reasonable British interests should be safeguarded and approve the necessary guarantees for the preservation of and right of access to all holy places and for the protection of all the legitimate rights of the Jewish and other minorities in Palestine. Pledges Disregarded Britain's policy since the war had shown that Arab fears were far from groundless. The Arabs were denied the independence promised by Britain's pledge in 1915 in return for an Arab share in the allied victory. The terms of the mandate had proved a flagrant violation not only of the promises but of the right of political independence specifically recognised by the Covenant of the League of Nations. Dispossession of Lands Palestine's post-war administration had exercised unfettered power equivalent to a dictatorship, thereby depriving the Arabs, who before the war, enjoyed Parliamentary representation, of Ihe elementary rights or self-government. The Jewish population in Palestine had increased by 22 per cent since the war and now numbered 400,000 of a total of 1,400.000. The Jews in 1918 owned 150,000 acres and now owned 330,000 of the total of 1,950,000 available, driving the Arabs from the most fertile parts. Arab villages had been razed and rnosques. homes and cemeteries wiped out. The real Issue was whether the Arabs, after the continuous occupation of Palestine for over 1300 years should be forcibly evicted In order to enable the Jews to e6tabllßh a national home. Yakub Effendi Farraj accepted an invitation to be one of the two representatives of the Defence Parly on the PalesUne Arab delegation* _ a