The Palestine Conference The Palestine Conference opened formally on Tuesday
night ; but no immediate progress with the discussions could be made, owing to the disagreement between the main body of the Arab delegates and the representatives of the Palestine National Defence Party. It appears that Mr. MacDonald's efforts must either be spent on reconciling the differences between Arab and Arab or greatly complicated by having to hold separate discussions with the two Arab sections.. Some hope may be found in the presence of the representatives of the Arab States, whose influence on their colleagues will certainly be exercised in favour of moderation. Unlike the Arabs, the Jewish delegation presents a united front to the Conference, and such unity should greatly strengthen its pre- sentation of the Jewish case. The Conference cannot be said to have opened in very auspicious circumstances ; but Mr. MacDonald is still optimistic enough to believe that some constructive proposal will emerge. So happy a result would seem more probable if the Government already had in mind the main outlines of a compromise on which the two delega- tions could be brought to agree. Mr. MacDonald, however, has stated that the Government will enter the Conference without any preconceived ideas of how it should end. Optimism without ideas is no very reassuring basis for British policy.
