British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 54

CHAPTER II.

(3) Land. The High Commissioner would be given general power to prohibit and regulate transfers of land, since the reports of several expert Commissions had indicated that "owing to the natural growth of the Arab population and the steady sale in recent years of Arab land to Jews, there is now in certain areas no room for further transfers of Arab land, whilst in some other areas such transfers of land must be restricted if Arab cultivators are to maintain their existing standard of life and a considerable landless Arab population is not soon to be created".

Ths Jews unanimously condemned the proposals and their reaction in Palestine was immediate. On 17th May the P .B. S. transmission lines were cut and the official announcement of the new policy delayed thereby; the headquarters offices of the Department of Migration were set fire to; and the Government offices at Tel Aviv were sacked. A Jewish general strike was held on 18th May and violent speeches of protest made; in Jerusalem shops were looted, the police stoned and a British constable killed. In the following week a campaign of attacks by Jews on Arabs and Government was begun, and, with a short lull during the first half of July, continued until the outbreak of war; time bombs, isolated murders and sabotage of telephone services, the P.B.S. and police launches were the main features of this campaign; during this period there was a marked increase of Arab snipping on Jewish traffic but no other sign of an organized campaign of retaliation by the Arabs.

The former Arab Higher Committee, at the direction of the Mufti, rejected the terms of the White Paper but, on 29th May, the National Defence Party announced its readiness to co-operate with Government in giving effect to them.

22nd and 23rd May, 1939.

The House of Commons debated the White Paper and by 268 votes against 179 approved the policy set out therein and rejected the motion put that "as the proposals of His Majesty's Government relating to Palestine, as set out in Command Paper No. 6019, are inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Mandate and not calculated to secure the peaceful and prosperous development of Palestine, this House is of opinion that Parliament should not be committed pending the examination of these proposals by the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations" *. On 23rd May the House of Lords, after debate, approved the policy without division**.
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* Hansard Vol 347 Cols. 193S•2056 and 2120-2190, 0 Hansard Vol. 113 Cols. 81-143.

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