Palestine.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 24 November 1938.

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Photo of Mr Thomas Williams Mr Thomas Williams , Don Valley

The tone of the hon. and gallant Member for Abingdon (Sir R. Glyn), who has just spoken, is not only to be admired, but I think that hon. Members sitting in all parts of the House will feel that that is the only tone with which to approach a subject of this magnitude. I am not sure that I agree with his observations, to which I shall return later, but none the less I admire the tone and temper of his speech.

This has been a very interesting Debate, in which there have been some very remarkable speeches, and not the least remarkable and interesting was that of the Minister himself. He thanked hon. Members for their patience over a long period of time, and particularly during the past few months, and he hoped for a continuation of the exercise of that patience. That may be granted to him so long as hon. Members feel that the Government are getting on with their job. He told the House that the Government were still conscious of their responsibilities to Jew and Arab alike in Palestine. Perhaps it is a good job that the right hon. Gentleman did tell us that, because nobody had noticed it for quite a long time. He lauded the remarkable achievements of the Jews, and he said what good fellows the Arabs were. He also said there were more Arabs in Palestine to-day alive and healthy because of Jewish capital and Jewish endeavour, and that the Arab population was increasing faster than that of the Jews. Then, curiously enough, he told us the Arabs were afraid of the over-lordship of the Jews. I know that those statements are not necessarily inconsistent, but they seemed rather remarkable at the time. During the course of the right hon. Gentleman's speech one had mixed feelings, according to the part of the speech to which one was listening. At times I saw a beautiful home in course of erection; on other occasions I saw the home falling away brick by brick. The right hon. Gentleman appears to be torn between a halt in immigration into Palestine and the erection of the home that was promised to the Jews long ago. One thing can be said for the right hon. Gentleman, however. He has a thorough grasp of the general situation, and we entirely agree with him that without order there can be no peace and there can be no economic reconstruction.

I should like to second the vote of thanks so ably moved by the right hon. Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill) for what the Government have been doing in Palestine. The Government at last, if the White Paper means anything at all, are facing up to responsibilities that they have refused or failed to face up to during the past several years. Indeed, there have been years of incredible weakness, which has led to the present situation, and Commission after Commission have not resolved their problem. There seems today, whether one takes one view or the other, a really unanimous desire in all parts of the House that the Government at long last should not only bear their real responsibilities, but should move forward as rapidly as possible in an attempt to honour the solemn obligations given to Jew and Arab alike many years ago. The right hon. Member for Epping—I am sorry he is not in his place—contributed a rather novel suggestion to the House. In the absence of any declared policy on the part of the Government, the right hon. Gentleman ventured to submit a policy of his own. There may be good points and there may be some virtue in his suggestions, but it seems very remarkable that such changes should have been made in our attitude towards Palestine since the original Balfour Declaration was made and the Permanent Mandates Commission handed on the responsibility to this country.

My right hon. Friend the Member for South Hackney (Mr. H. Morrison) pointed out that the first big change was the lopping-off of Tranjordania altogether. Then the right hon. Member for Epping coined the phrase "economic absorptive capacity," and we have had later a "political high level," and the right hon. Gentleman's latest suggestion is, I think, the most novel of them all. He suggests, for instance, that the future immigration should not depend upon economic absorptive capacity, but should depend upon the number of Arab babies that are to be born year by year. It seems to me that that is really not the kind of policy that any Government could accept, for, after all, if the immigration of Jews into Palestine is to be determined by the number of Arab babies that are to be born year by year, obviously the Mufti will be supporting birth control almost immediately the policy is accepted. But the question of economic absorptive capacity is not something that can be determined by the birthrate. It must of necessity be something that is determined by the careful, creative work and preparation carried on by those who are arranging for the absorptive capacity. The question of erecting this or that factory or preparing this or that settlement is a determining factor, but a mere question of the number of children born to one particular race in a small country is not.

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion will be looked at and examined very carefully in the light of his own actions in the past on this very question. After all, to have changed from the economic absorptive capacity to what is now termed for temporary purposes a political high level, and then to go on to the question of the Arab birth rate, is a concession—to whom? A concession to those who have been rebelling against our administration of the Mandate and the Balfour Declaration. It seems to me that if we were to accept a suggestion of that kind, whether it involved the immigration of 30,000 or of 35,000 would make little or no difference, because if we remove the question of the economic absorptive capacity, it may be 50,000 this year, 40,000 the next year, 55,000 the year alter and then down to 35,000. It would be some sort of fortuitous level, and then that 35,000 or 30,000 would be too much later on, and there would be demands for further reduction to 25,000 or perhaps 20,000.

I need say little or nothing about the social and economic achievements of the Jews who have emigrated to Palestine during the past 10 or is years. My right hon. Friend the Member for South Hackney, the right hon. Member for Caithness, the right hon. Member for Epping, and the Peel and Woodhead Commissions have not only brought out clearly the remarkable achievements of those Jews who are now there, but have stressed the affinity between the well-being of the Arab population and Jewish capital and endeavour. The only thing I would say about that is that, having seen some parts of Palestine in their happier moments when conflict was not present, I found, like most other hon. Members who have been fortunate enough to visit that country, that it is scarcely possible to return home without a biased mind. The bias is because of the modern miracles that have been achieved in a comparatively short space of time by the Jewish people. Unfortunately, however, wherever one went one found that instead of the Government having encouraged economic and social developments, they had almost always done as much as they could to retard it. To that extent they retarded what should have been the normal and natural economic absorptive capacity which would have meant an increase in the number of Jews who had gone to Palestine.

During the last year or two we have had in this House several Debates on Palestine and the administration of the Mandate. We have often wondered, when questions concerning the Mufti were put in the House, whether the Government were really weak in their administration or whether they were icily indifferent, and, by suffering and edging, hoped sometimes by some means completely to get away from their responsibility. The hon. Member for Stourbridge (Mr. R. Morgan) put a question two and a half years ago asking what the real responsibility of the President of the Supreme Moslem Council was for the strikes that were then being organised. The then Secretary of State said that if this gentleman did take part in any of these incidents the Government would take special steps to deal with him, and, as they were fully alive to all the incidents, the Government would look after that kind of thing. It took until 21st October, 1937, before the then Secretary of State really admitted in the House who had been responsible for organising the so-called strikes which developed into a general insurrection in Palestine. The hon. Member for Shettleston (Mr. McGovern) asked: Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that the Grand Mufti has been operating against the interests of this country and Palestine during the whole of his period of office?" — [OFFICIAL REPORT, 21st October, 1937; col. 25, Vol. 327.] The Minister's reply was, "Yes, Sir." If the Minister was aware that during the whole of the period of office of the Mufti he had been operating against the interests of this country and of Palestine, we are justified in declaring that the Government have not only been weak in their administration, but have actually been accessories to the fact of this insurrection and rebellion. With all the murders and assassinations that have taken place in the last two years or so, the Government having all this knowledge at their disposal, one is bound to ask whether it was just weakness in administration or calculated indifference. Certainly no positive action has been forthcoming from the Government during that period.

I would say to the hon. and gallant Member for Abingdon that I think every Member is anxious that all that can be done should be done to bring the Jew and the Arab together. Unfortunately, however, during the past two years all those loyal Arabs who have desired to cooperate with the Jews and with our own administration have had little or no protection from the administration there. We know that almost everything that has been done has been inimical to the interests of the loyal Arabs. We know that the Mayor of Hebron was killed by the Arabs, that the Mayor of Haifa was shot at several times; and that the Mayors of Nablus and Jaffa had several attempts made to assassinate them. We know that several other loyal mayors have been very lucky to escape assassination, and yet there has been little or no protection for them. To that extent we not only charge the Government with having failed to take such opportunities as presented themselves by negotiation and discussion for the provision of such a policy as would have been mutually advantageous to the Arab and the Jew, but with having deliberately allowed things to deteriorate so that loyal Arabs have been obliged to leave Palestine for their own safety, and slowly and surely the Arab economic situation has been deteriorating.

I entirely disagree with the hon. Member who said that it would do more harm than good to increase immigration now, that we ought not to flood Palestine with immigrants. The economic deterioration appears to have been largely due to a reduction in immigration, plus the effects of the insurrection. However, I am pleased that in the White Paper the Government tell us that they are accepting full responsibility for the government of the whole of Palestine. Whether partition is sound—or less sound—I am not prepared to argue this evening, but the White Paper says that the Government feel they have alternative means of solving the problem consistently with fulfilling our obligations to Arabs and Jews. In that they have our good wishes, we say Godspeed to them in those negotiations, but, all the same, we feel they ought to have a policy, and whether the discussions succeed or fail no more time ought to be wasted. We have waited for one Commission and then waited for a second Commission, and now we are to wait for discussion and negotiations. The Government ought not only to be ready with a policy but ought to be determined that that policy shall be carried through.

Conciliation and negotiation are a necessary part of the policy, I hope, of every hon. Member in this House. It is on record that the Jews have for many years past been willing to negotiate, but have never found the Arabs willing to negotiate on the basis of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. While we have no objection to discussion and negotiations, I suggest that if we are to honour our pledges the basis of those negotiations must be the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. In this connection I would remind hon. Members that the Arab Kingdoms to be represented at these discussions cover an area as large as the whole of Western Europe, while Palestine itself is little more than the size of Wales. It may be that representatives from the Arab Kingdoms have a contribution to make to the discussions, but I suggest that representatives from the Government of Poland, which has 3,300,000 Jews, may also have a contribution to make, and likewise representatives of the Government of America, with their several million Jews. If discussions, negotiations and conciliation are to be the order, I am not sure that the right hon. Gentleman could not with justice call in representatives from those two countries. If when the Balfour Declaration was made in 1917 there was need for a Jewish national home, the need is ten thousand times greater now as the result of what has been happening in Europe recently.

The British Government may offer opportunities in the sweet by-and-by. We do not discount any opportunities that may be afforded to refugees. Tanganyika may provide opportunities for a few; other countries may find openings for a small number of Jews; but there can be no alternative to Palestine. No country on earth has such opportunities for a large number of immigrants, opportunities created and made for them, as are available in Palestine. When a national home was promised to the Jews I presume that it was not intended to be a home on shifting sands, a home under canvas that could be blown away by any and every gust of wind, or that the home was intended to be lodgings from which they could be turned out at any moment, but that it was to be a home really worthy of a great people.

Ever since the moving speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Derby (Mr. Noel-Baker) the other evening I have been wondering not only why the Government hesitate to take advantage of opportunities which Palestine does afford but wondering also whether, in all the circumstances of the situation in Europe, and after all that has happened on the part of those who have been organising rebellion and insurrection during the past two or three years, the Arabs might not make a gesture to the Government, and incidentally a gesture to the Jews, so that as many Jews as possible from Germany or elsewhere could be given the opportunity to migrate to Palestine. The right hon. Gentleman and, I am sure, the Noble Lord who is to reply, know perhaps more about Palestine than I ever hope to learn. The Noble Lord must know that in the past the Government have restricted and retarded economic development and have prevented the Jews creating opportunities that might have been created, and that would have permitted an increased number of immigrants into that country without in any way adversely affecting the Arab population.

I went down to one area that has been mentioned, and saw exactly what it was like. I saw a few Arab families living in huts—they could not be called houses. They were living more like beasts than human beings. It was almost a tragedy for any Britisher who knows the meaning of the word "house" to see those wretched hovels. That was not the worst of the crime, for we learned that settlers had tried to settle down there in past generations only to be wiped out by mosquitoes and malaria. There was an opportunity for development, and Jews secured a concession. They were ready and willing to put down £900,000 to £1,000,000 and the Government were called upon to make a contribution of some £230,000. Opportunities such as they had never had before were waiting for them, but the Government have failed to put up their small contribution. Work could have been found for 2,000 people, and later on perhaps 20,000 families could have been accommodated. That is the sort of thing the Government might have done to help Jews, and Arabs, too, but they have not done it.

When thinking in terms of economic absorptive capacity the Noble Lord will know that the capacity absorption of the land is determined very largely by irrigation or non-irrigation. There are 100,000 acres irrigated at the present time, and it is generally understood that one Jewish family can maintain itself on five acres of irrigated land whereas 25 acres are necessary of unirrigated land, There are 375,000 acres where the water resources are none, and where, if irrigation was prepared, some 60,000 families could be settled on the land. On the basis of experience the figures show that one family on the land can maintain three other families in urban areas in all kinds of industries or professions. We have been told that if the Jews were permitted to make the best use of their opportunities there would be the danger of flooding, but, as has also been said, they could work on a long-term plan which would be in the interests of and beneficial to both Arabs and Jews. The total area of Palestine is about 10,000 square miles but in the Negeb, an area of 4,300 square miles, there is scarcely a living soul. It is not likely to have any souls living on it unless Jewish capital, enterprise and energy are permitted to explore the possibilities of development and to accomplish in the Negeb work something like what has been accomplished in other parts of Palestine.

Governments of the past, whatever the Government may do in the future, have certainly stifled development in Palestine, instead of allowing full, normal, natural development, and that applies in municipal life particularly. While in this country municipalities spend about 5o per cent. of what the National Government spend annually, in Palestine municipal expenditure is about one-eighth of the national expenditure, and, as national expenditure in Palestine is very small, that is a clear indication that municipal development has been stifled, except in two or three areas. Then my right hon. Friend referred to the question of loans for various development purposes. Here one can see at a glance how district commissioners or the Palestine administration have stifled municipal development in the past. In this country, the total loan capital is about eight times the annual rates, while the loan capital in Palestine is just equivalent to one year's rates. The small expenditure for capital purposes within the municipalities has not been determined by the needs of the situation, but by the administration in Palestine. We want the right hon. Gentleman to change the situation in that particular. Instead of stifling development by municipalities or by those who are trying to create greater economic opportunities, I hope the right hon. Gentleman is turning over a completely new leaf.

The future of the Arab population is so intertwined and interwoven with the success of the Jewish population, with a continued flow of their capital and their endeavour, that to restrict the one or the other is not to help the Arab people, but to stifle them and retard their economic development. We on these benches feel that a great opportunity has been missed in the past. Millions of people have been left apprehensive as to our intentions for the future, and we have wobbled about all over the place, never having a continuous policy that the administration could apply. When I was there, I was informed that almost anybody could administer a policy, but that the best Civil Servants in the world found it difficult to administer no policy. That has been the grave weakness of our government for many years past. I hope that the communications and discussions are going to succeed, and that, having either found a policy through the discussions or imposed a policy of their own, the Government will not only see that that policy is fully and faithfully carried out, but will come as nearly as is humanly possible to fulfilling their obligations, not only to the Jew, but to Jew and Arab alike. I believe that, if opportunites are afforded to the Arabs and the Jews to live together, they not only can do so, but they will. I saw evidences of it.

The right hon. Gentleman this afternoon, after extolling the virtues of the Jews, pointed out that the presence of Jews in no way endangers or is a menace to the Arabs, and when he said, "If I were an Arab, I should be in fear and trembling," I wondered what sort of an Arab he thought he himself might have been. If he were one of those Arabs who used to receive a shilling a day wages but now was enjoying 4s. a day wages, would he still feel in a state of turmoil if more of those Jews who gave him that increase in daily wages came along? Or did he think of himself as an Arab landlord who, having now been taught the true value of the soil when properly worked on modern lines, was to-day losing something he himself might have got had he had the initiative, the enterprise, the brains and the determination of those who had emigrated there quite recently? The right hon. Gentleman might have feared for the future if he had been one kind of Arab; but I saw Arabs when I was in Palestine who not only did not fear the presence of the Jews but welcomed them and gloried in their presence, because of the transformation in their standard of life. I hope that at last the Government, after all their wobblings, are going to reach a final conclusion, and find the policy that a Government ought to find.