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

124 ZIONISM AND PALESTINE
P.P.S. 15. iii. 40
But facts outstared partition. The Woodhead
Technical Commission appointed in March 1938 to
advise on the practical effect to be given to these Recommendations
of the Royal Commission found them to
be, in effect, wholly impracticable, and by November
1938 had reported accordingly. As Lord Samuel wrote
two years later "No solution can be hoped for by a
geographical division of the country. The Peel Commission
tried to do so. But the 'Jewish State' which it
envisaged would have contained 46 Arabs to every 54
Jews ; and one-third of the Jewish population of Palestine
would have been left outside it" 1 . The British Government,
in a too long deferred endeavour to achieve settlement by
agreement, then convened the interested parties, Arabs
and Jews, for a round table conference with the Colonial
Office; warning them that, failing such agreement, they
would " take their own decision. . . and announce the
policy which they proposed to pursue". The delegates
arrived in London. A fine round mahogany table was
provided. There were conferences, for the Jews conferred
with the Government and so did the Arabs. But since
the Arabs declined to confer with the Jews there was no
round table conference. In May 1939 therefore the
British Government duly declared their policy, in a
statement covering the three major aspects of the Palestine
problem: Constitution, Immigration and Land.
In this document, the present charter of Palestine,
they first maintain the promise of a national home for
the Jews in Palestine, and lay down the process whereby
they propose incorporating this home within an independent
Palestinian State. Secondly, they regulate immigration
at a total of 75,000 for the next five years, after
which "no further Jewish immigration will be permitted
1 Including representatives of the neighbouring Arab States of
Egypt, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, the Yemen and Transjordan.