Base Betrayal of 93 per cent. of the People, ENGLAND’S DISHONOUR, Nottingham and Midland Catholic News 15 07 22

Base Betrayal of 93 per cent. of the People, ENGLAND’S DISHONOUR,

 

Nottingham and Midland Catholic News, 15 July, #1922Live, Timeline of British Mandatory Palestine

 

“In flatly rejecting the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the Palestine Mandate the Arab Congress declared it was a gross violation of the British pledge.

 

The Arabs declare that the importation of a body of heterogeneous Jews will result in supplanting the native born inhabitants by aliens, and will so defeat the establishment of a government deriving its power from the will of the people.

 

The Arab Congress just held in Jerusalem has issued a protest against the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the Palestine Mandate to the world at large, and is arranging for a three days’ general strike.

 

Arab discontent, with Mr Churchill’s recent declaration of policy, says the “Times” correspondent at Jerusalem, is increasing, and it is being widely asserted that as the powers of the Legislative Council are ‘illusory,’ there are, therefore, no guarantees for the execution of his high sounding promises, as an autocratic Government continues to administer the country with a Zionist personnel.

 

Gross Bad Faith.

 

The President of the Palestine Arab Delegation recently declared: Ever since the Armistice and the Balfour Declaration, our people have been trying to show the British Government that this Declaration is incompatible with their national aspirations and with what they had been led to believe was England’s object in prosecuting the war in the East. England said: ‘My object is prosecuting the war in the Near East is to liberate oppressed peoples and to help them to establish governments that derive their initiative from the will of the people.’

 

The People Reject.

 

The Arab population of Palestine, Christians and Moslems, finally decided to send delegates to England in order to enlighten British public opinion.

 

This Delegation has now been in England a whole year. The House of Commons, in its last debate on Palestine would seem almost wholeheartedly to have supported the Government. This, of course, shattered the hopes which the people of Palestine had placed in the Government.

It is evident from the telegrams the people of Palestine have sent that they refuse to acknowledge any mandate which is based on the Balfour Declaration.

 

The Arab Delegation has sent the following letter to Mr Churchill as the Colonial Office and to the Council of the League of Nations at Geneva:-

 

“We have the honour to submit to you copies of telegrams received by us from the inhabitants of Palestine whom we represent, announcing their refusal of the mandatory system which is founded on the Balfour Declaration.

 

You will be assured from this that all Moslems and Christians, who form 93 per cent of the total population of Palestine cannot be satisfied unless the demands of the Delegation so often submitted to you are acceded to.

 

Since the Balfour Declaration has become the instrument by which Arabs are deprived of their plain right for independence which is supported by pledges given to them, the Delegation cannot but refuse a mandate which is based on the Balfour Declaration.”

 

The Delegation intends to meet the Council of the League of Nations, which takes place in London on Monday.

 

The Manifesto.

 

The Arabs have been profoundly shocked by the action of the Commons in the recent debate on the Palestine mandate at Westminster. They find it difficult to believe that men could so shamelessly and cynically dishonour the plighted word of British statesmen. The Arab Delegation has addressed a manifesto to the British nation.

 

This manifesto declares:

 

'The Delegation, as well as the Arab people of Palestine, cannot accept the Zionist policy of the Government, which is incompatible with their national aspirations.

 

Does the claim that England is bound to ‘keep the word she has given before all the nations of the world,’ to quote Mr Churchill (to the Zionists) constitute justification for her to break her word to the Arabs, given two years previous to the Zionist pledge.

 

Hebrew for One is 700.

 

'The tendency in the present Administration of Palestine is to Zionise the country. To this end Zionists have been given leading posts in the State. Hebrew has been recognised as an official language, when only seven per cent. of the population is Jewish and only two per cent of these know Hebrew; the Zionist organisation is officially recognised as a body with which the Administration is to consult on any public works, services, and utilities, and on the development of any of the natural resources of the country; lands with owners are being rented by Jewish immigrants; the importation of arms by Jews is not strictly watched; Jewish colonies have been given British arms; and, the worst of all, a Russian Zionist, Mr Rutenberg has been granted a concession to utilise all the waterways of Palestine for a period of seventy years, and more if required. This concession has never been put to public tender. By this concession Mr Rutenberg and the Zionist organisation which backs him, acquire a stranglehold on the economic life of the country, and, according to a well-laid plan, thus attain the political domination they are in reality after.'

 

The war was professedly fought to vindicate the principle of “the consent of the governed” and to enthrone that of liberty. Well might the Arabs exclaim, “Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!”

 

Image - from Eltaher.org, described as a crowd protesting in Haifa, 1922

Done