[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—My article " The
Arab and Zionist Policy " in your last issue reached you in the last minute before going to Press, and a considerable amputation was necessary to make it fit into the available space. As a consequence two points are missing in it to which I attach a certain importance.
The first is that the Zionists who are, relatively speaking, the passive element in the present three-cornered dispute, must take the initiative in solving the present deadlock by a direct offer of a round-table conference to the Supreme Arab Committee. The second, that I visualise the possibility of an ultimate solution of the political problem of Palestine, if and when a Jewish majority in Palestine becomes economic- ally possible, through. a Federation of Semitic States, in which Palestine and the adjacent Arab countries would be autonom- ous partners. This would give birth to a vital Semitic nation which, in close alliance with Great Britain and France, would secure political stability and peace in the Near East.
I may add that the seemingly intransigent attitude of the Arab leaders who persist in the unconditional rejecting of the Idea of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, which is the basis of the Palestinian Mandate, is no excuse for the Zionists to assume an equally unreasonable attitude of absolute negation with regard to the legitimate economic claims of the Arabs whose economic isolation in Palestine cannot be justified.
Dr. Weizmann's recent contention that there were " no reasons, religious, economic, or other, to excite a backward people but venomous propaganda," cannot stand the test of facts. Such statements are neither conducive to a better understanding between Arab and Jew, nor adapted to further the Jewish cause in Palestine before world opinion which is the decisive factor, the Mandate being a trust held by Great Britain on behalf of all the nations who approved the Balfour Declaration. The Jewish position has been greatly Weakened through serious blunders in the past. The present crisis must at last induce Zionist leadership to face the facts in a spirit of realism and good will. Public opinion in Great Britain and elsewhere will want evidence that such reorienta- tion of the minds, at least on the Jewish side, has taken place.
Previous page
