No Progress

No nearer a final soluton today than it was two months or two years ago, the Palestine crisis still awaits firm and honest British action. The partition plan that was presented this fall has been dropped by Whitehall after both Jews and Arabs refused to accept either part or all of the proposal. Jewish circles envisioned little merit in any "autonomous" Jewish State in Palestine that would be unable to fix its own immigration quotas and thus determine its own destiny. The Arabs, (although it is doubtful that the extremely vocal land-owning Arab spokesmen represent real Arab sentiment), have often stated that "if the British proposal permits entry of one more Jew into Palestine, it will mean war." Needless to say, more than one Jew has trickled into the Holy Land in the past months...and there has been no war.

Overlooking this fact, and in the face of strong verbal resistance to their proposal, Britain has back-tracked and now presents a new plan which might have been adequate two years ago, but which today merely exudes a weary self-interest. It calls for the creation of two semi-autonomous States. Arab and Jewish, subject to over-all British authority. No specific boundaries would be set--the areas of the States would be decided upon by the majority of the population in the particular section. Jewish immigration would be upped from its present 1,500 per month figure to 100,000 every two years, and the influence of all outside bodies such as the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency would be eliminated. Finally, the plan would run for five years, after which time, if declared unsuccessful, Palestine would be turned over to the UN.

Essentially, this plan would assure increasing British domination in the Holy Land and little more. The Arabs, accustomed to shifting their nomadic populations with little regard to border lines, could easily gain majority control of most of the country's area. This would, in effect, mean British control. Certainly the permitted entry of 100,000 Jews every two years would hardly meet Jewish DP needs in Europe. (Last week, General McNarney stated that "without question, 95 percent of Jewish DPs in Europe want to go only to Palestine.)

But the bitterest pill is the fact that not six months ago, London refused large scale immigration into Palestine "because of the large British army that would be required there to keep peace." Yet today, there is a British army of well over 100,000 in the Holy Land whose apparent function is to wipe out the Jewish underground. If the British could succeed in this venture. Palestine would house a permanent Jewish minority. Naturally, the Arab League, even if cut off in Palestine, would make its weight felt throughout the other British interests in the Middle East. After five years, the Arab majority and the British Government would probably declare the plan a "success," and Palestine would remain a British mandate.

True partition, with fixed boundaries and complete autonomy, still seems the one best plan, imperfect as it may be. The alternatives are further delay, suffering, and perhaps, bloodshed. Britain would be rid of Palestine, which up to now it has been trying to drop with well glued fingers, at the same time retaining a military base. The Jews would find the area of their future expansion defined and limited, but they would have a haven and a future. And the Arabs, while renouncing claim to a sizable area of the Holy Land, would unquestionably be able to negotiate a suitable economic settlement that would assuage their initial hurt. Meanwhile, unless real autonomy comes out of partition, better no partition at all.