THE PALESTINE SITUATION
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Jeffries objects to the use of the term " Pales- tinian " because he thinks that it " assumes that there is a genuine nation established in the Holy Land to be distin- guished by this adjective (sic) from the Arab race which surrounds it." He is evidently not aware that the word " Palestinian " applies to all persons who were born in Pales- tine, or who, by fulfilling the necessary legal conditions, have become domiciled in the country, and are therefore en- titled to receive a Palestinian Passport. The bulk of these people are Arabs and Jews, and it is in respect of them that I deplore Mr. Jeffries' allusions to majorities and minori- ties, because it is they who must find means of living in peace, side by side, and the gateway to peace is not through numerical calculations.
Mr. Jeffries excuses himself, on grounds of space, from any
full reply to my last letter, but he selects from it one question —namely, on what occasions have the Arabs been side= tracked " or " unheard " ? In this context he quotes the decisions of the International Court of Justice at ,the Hague in the matter of the " Mavromatis Concessions." This was a case involving a pure question of law, whit& turned on the question of whether, under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne; certain Concessions granted to a Greek by the Sublime Porte_ before the War still remained valid. The Concessions were for supplying electricity to Jerusalem and to Jaffa. In the first case the verdict was in favour 'of M. Mavromatis, 'in the other against him. But in neither case were Arab rights or
interests in the slightest degree involved. - I cannot congratulate Mr. &Mies on this choice of an illustration to support his theory that the British Government is deaf to Arab grievances. His -general accusations against Mr. Winston Churchill, Mr. J. H. Thomas and Mr. Ormsby; Gore would require to be formulated before he could hope to make them impressive.—I am, Sir, yours obediently,
Previous page
