(EDITORIAL) If in the successful assertion of her rights, Syria should have been encouraged by Britain against French high-handedness, it must seem odd when Arab rights in Palestine continue to be placed in cold storage. The argument that conditions of war alone precluded settlement of political problems that worsened with time has been ruled out of court by the example of Syria which on January 1 was guaranteed anew her independence. Efforts made by American Jewry to short-circuit the Arab claim to Palestine are gathering momentum and the request now made to the British Ambassador at Washington for a repudiation of the White Paper of 1939 must call into question the intentions of the British Government. The White Paper of 1939, approved by Parliament, had stated: “His Majesty’s Government now declare unequivocally that it is not a part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State.”

To attempt to reconcile such an assurance with the Balfour Declaration which Mr. Lloyd George had sponsored during the last war has been at the root of all evil, for it reads: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019