Palestine Land
The Government has got itself into as awkward a situation as can well be imagined over the Palestine Land Regulations which it has decided to issue. That is not entirely its own fault. It can do nothing in Palestine which will not be challenged by either Arabs or Jews. In issuing the regula- tions limiting the sale of land by Arabs to Jews it is simply giving effect to the intentions proclaimed in the White Paper of last May, a document which on the whole represented as good a compromise as was possible in an impossible situation —provided always that some sort of federal situation is the ultimate goal. The claim of the Jews that the issue of the regulations is a breach of the " truce " observed since war broke out is not valid, for a truce implies the maintenance of the status quo, and while land-transfer continues the status quo is being continually modified. Much more serious is the fact that a majority of the members of the Permanent Mandates Commission, consisting of its ablest and most experienced members, declared the White Paper proposals to be in conflict with the Mandate under which Palestine is administered. The Commission's report has not yet been considered by the League Council, but the Government has decided to go forward in spite of that. Unless there is far stronger ground for action than the Colonial Secretary dis- closed in the House on Wednesday, the decision to create a fait accompli is hard to justify.
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