(EDITORIAL) The British pledge that Jewish immigration into Palestine would cease by March 31, while belated in its nature to prevent the tilting of the scales against the Arab population, is in danger of being dishonoured if America is to have her way. In its eagerness to cancel zero hour, the New York Times declares: “There can be no question that humanity and a sense of reality demand that this arbitrary ban should be lifted and immigration permitted on the most generous terms possible.”

Two wrongs do not make one right and the sudden sympathy for Jews at the expense of the Arabs comes strange from quarters that profess to uphold the democratic tradition. If the British White Paper had declared unequivocally that it was not a part of the policy of the British Government to make Palestine a Jewish State, it could have been left to British statesmen to reconcile the Jews to the false hopes inspired by the untenable Balfour Declaration, without American butting in. To have permitted immigration on a scale to eventually equate the Jews with majority rule in Palestine was a crime against the Arabs and an added reason for all the recent troubles which have subsided only with the outbreak of war.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019