The Palestine Crisis
It is understood that among the many tasks that are engaging Mr. Bevin's attention, he is giving major consideration to the Palestine problem. There is none that is more urgent. The situation in the country itself is getting worse rather than better ; such inoidents as the flogging of British offioers, commissioned and non-commissioned, is taxing the restraint
of British troops beyond permanent endurance. Meanwhile there is hope of light from anywhere except the renewed Palestine Conference in London. The prospect that the Jews would after all take part in that seems to be dispelled by the proceedings of the Zionist Congress at Basle, which has resulted in the displacement of Dr. Weizmann from the presidency of the World Movement, and on that account and others has discredited the whole movement con- siderably. That is largely due to the militant attitude of American Zionists, which caused Dr. Weizmann to observe a little caustically that he was not greatly impressed with persons who urged from New York resistance which had to be carried out in Palestine. The Con- gress decided by the narrow majority of 171 to 154 (with abstentions which might have turned the scale) against participation in the London Conference, but with a bare loophole for a reversal of that decision in certain circumstances by the newly-elected General Council—on which the American element bulks fairly large. How- ever, the presence in London of Mr. Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive in Palestine, is to be interpreted favour- ably rather than otherwise.- With the Arabs apparently adamant against partition the prospects of any agreement in London seem remote. To hand Palestine over to U.N.O. sounds an easy way out, but that expedient would not solve all old problems and might well raise some new ones.
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