26 MAY 1939, Page 16

PEOPLE AND THINGS

By HAROLD NICOLSON

ON Monday and Tuesday there took place in the House of Commons a debate upon Command 6,019, known to the Jews as the Black, and to the Gentiles as the White, Paper on Palestine. We have always had our own Arabs in Parliament, some of whom have been inspired by anti-Semitic feelings, sonic by Fascist sturdiness, and others by perfectly sincere fictions about Arabia's wounds. The faces of these people shone with virtue triumphant. They were delighted when Mr. Crossley blithely dismissed our pledges as being but a whited sepulchre, ignoring the fact that it is the Arabs themselves who have reduced the temple to this tomb. The features of other members were shadowed by embarrassed distress.