A NEW VIEW OF PALESTINE
Ste,—I yield to no man in respect for Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr as a theologian and moral philosopher. But, as most students of his writings know, to real profundity in his treatment of abstract issues Dr. Niebuhr often unites an extraordinary shallowness of judgement on concrete issues. Like some other preachers, he is liable to be " conditioned" by his sympathies into accepting easy generalisations or catchwords with- out serious investigation of the facts. Of this tendency his New View of Palestine in your issue of August t6th gives a flagrant example. The attitude of the partisan is already revealed in his dismissal of unpalatable evidence as " not completely convincing " and his complaint that the strong condemnation by the British Press and "officialdom " of the actions of those for whom he pleads is " almost hysterical." But most revealing of all is his assumption that the Arab attitude is determined by "a small circle of feudal overlords," acid that he, a moral philosopher, should prescribe a purely economic remedy for a social and political conflict
These have long been familiar themes of Zionist propaganda, and it would be interesting to know how much serious study of modern con- ditions in the Arab world Dr. Niebuhr undertook before writing this article.
On the larger issues which he has raised it is impossible to comment at length in a letter. But Dr. Niebuhr's angle of approach to these is perhaps even more significant than his "new view" of Palestine. Some of us have long since realised that Zionist propaganda in the United States would stick at nothing to stir up American hostility to Great Britain. This article only confirms the fact and illustrates the degree of success which it has had.—Yours faithfully, H. A. R. Gras. St. john's College, Oxford.
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