THE PALESTINE MANDATE SIR, —The facts I referred to are (0
that there are at least tr,000,000 Jews in the world (Mr. Hammersley gives this number, which is, how- ever, much lower than any estimate I have seen from any other source) and (2) that .Palestine cannot possibly maintain a quarter of them. The conclusion I drew was that Mr. Hammersley is wrong in saying that " the problem of Jewish homelessness can be solved in Palestine." He now says he did not mean "the problem of Jewish homelessness" 'which was what he said) but "the problem of the homeless Jew." This Is a very different matter, and I hope that, in future, Mr. Hammersley will make it quite clear, for his original statement was exceedingly mis- leading. Too many people already imagine that Palestine can be the solution of the Impish problem, and Mr. Hanunersley's letter has doubt- less added to their number.
The fact is, as he now admits, that it is only the already homeless Jew who is to go to Palestine, and this little country will therefore not contribute one iota to the solution of the Jewish problem in such countries as, for example, our own, or the U.S.A., where I have repeatedly been assured by American citizens, it is rapidly becoming more acute even than the colour problem.
Mr. Hammersley asks whether I "have noted that Jews want for a homeland less than one per cent. of the Arab world." I have. And I will now ask whether he has considered what would happen if the British Government were to offer an even smaller proportion of the British Empire to the Jews, and that without even consulting the inhabitants? Yorkshire, e.g., is an area rather less than Palestine. Wales is about the same size. If Mr. Churchill were to offer either of them to the Zionist Association, would Mr. Hammersley hope to conciliate the inhabitants by reminding them that their areas were, after all, less than one per cent. of the British Empire?—Yours, etc.,
MAUDE ROYDEN SHAW.
[This correspondence is now closed.—En. The Spectator.]
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