Palestine Arab Delegation - Correspondence Regarding Balfour Agreement IV lyrics

No. 4. The Colonial Office to the Palestine Arab Delegation. DOWNING STREET, llth April, 1922. I am directed by Mr. Secretary Churchill to inform you that he has had under his careful consideration your letter of the 16th March, 1922,* [*No.3.] regarding the future constitution of Palestine. 2. Mr. Churchill shares the regret expressed in the concluding portion of your letter that the Delegation have not seen their way to adopt a more responsive attitude towards the proposals that he has placed before them. As you are aware, the object of his proposals is to confer upon the People of Palestine a large measure of control over their own affairs, while securing the due fulfilment of the pledges from which, as you have repeatedly been informed, His Majesty's Government have no intention of receding. No useful purpose would be served by farther discussion of the policy underlying these pledges. Mr. Churchill would only observe that His Majesty's Government do not accept the conclusions drawn in paragraph 2 (a) of your letter, which appear to be based upon an incomplete acquaintance with the correspondence of 1915 cited in that paragraph. 3. Mr. Churchill has at all times been careful to explain that there can be no question of rescinding the Balfout Declaration. The Declaration, as you are aware, provided, first, for the establishment of a National Home for the Jews in Palestine; and, secondly, for the preservation of the rights and interests of the non-Jewish population of the country. The point to which Mr. Churchill has endeavoured to address himself, in his communications with your Delegation, is the provision of adequate safeguards for the fulfilment of the second part of the Declaration. He cannot but express his disappointment that the Delegation should decline to co-operate with him in seeking a practical solution of this important question. He fails to see what advantage they, or those who advise them, expect to derive from the purely negative attitude that they have seen fit to adopt. The d[r]aft constitution, which the Delegation refuse to discuss in detail, was framed with the object of creating some permanent machinery through which the interests of all sections of the population could find effective expression. In so far as they may regard the machinery suggested as defective, the Delegation would clearly serve the interests of those whom they claim to represent by offering criticisms of suggesting improvements. But what interests they hope to serve by mere abstention from collaboration it is less easy to understand. While regretting the attitude of the Delegation, His Majesty's Government will not be diverted thereby from the line of action which they conceive to be in the best interests of the people of Palestine as a whole. 4. Mr. Churchill desires me to add that he has further examined, in consultation with the High Commissioner for Palestine, the question of the control of immigration. The High Commissioner has suggested, and Mr. Churchill is disposed to agree, that the functions of an Immigration Board could best be discharged by a Standing Committee of the Legislative Council set up under the Constitution. The Committee might consist of half the total number of elected members, Moslems, Christians and Jews, under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. They would act in an advisory capacity, but it would be upon their constructive proposals and suggestions that the future legislation governing immigration into Palestine would be based. The details of the scheme have still to be worked out. Its elaboration is a matter in which the Delegation could render valuable a**istance, and Mr. Churchill hereby renews his invitation to them to discuss this question with representatives of this Department. He believes that the Delegation would share the regret that he himself would feel if they were to leave England without accomplishing any constructive work or making any contribution towards the foundations of a prosperous and contented Palestine. 5. Mr. Churchill notes that the Delegation have no objection to the publication of this correspondence. He will make arrangements accordingly at an early date. I am, etc., J. B. SHUCKBURGH.