Lawrence of Arabia, Zionism and Palestine - The World War I ...

POSTSCRIPT 7. viii. 37
. . . Even now, in this thy day ...
The'above section of Orientations was begun well before
the disturbances of 1936 and finished before the Royal
Commission had started for Palestine; with an occasional
footnote added in 1937. I have made bold to leave it
untouched; believing that its facts, inferences and
suggestions, so far as they go, are still perhaps less remote
from actuality than general opinion since the issue of the
Report would be disposed to allow. The main difference
of atmosphere with regard to the practicability of the
Mandate, between 1931—when I was last in Palestine—
and 1937 seems due less to the disturbances (which
could admittedly have been quelled much earlier),
or to the appointment, sojourn or historical analysis
of the Commission, than to their drastic and startling
recommendations. These, though as little expected by
the Government 1 as by the public, were accepted by
both with a surprising but not unintelligible alacrity.
True that, as in Parliamentary Debates during twenty
years of Incidents and Inquiries, the "unreasonableness"
of both sides (created by British and League Policy),
the "apathy" of the Palestine authorities (largely due
to lack of Home direction), and the admirable diagnosis
of the Commission each received an ample acknowledgment
from all Parties. The Palestine twins are shown to
be temperamentally irreconcilable, and the local practitioners
incompetent; the general applause being reserved
for the brilliant, if ultimately irresponsible, Consulting
Specialists. Nevertheless, to a stranger present throughout
the Debates in 1936 there was in 1937 one startling
1 As stated by Mr. Ormsby Gore in the House of Commons.
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