Palestine Immigrants
The rock on which every attempt to negotiate a Palestine settle- ment has foundered is Jewish immigration, and it looks as if the same rock is liable to give the coup de grace to the present truce. A truce, during which the Jews were enabled to build up their forces with unlimited recruits from overseas would be no truce at all ; restric-
tions on immigrants are as essential as restrictions on arms, and the United Nations cannot allow loopholes in either traffic. Yet it is as hard for the Jewish leaders to admit the need for restrictions as it is for the Arabs to admit the existence of a Jewish State. Fre- sumably (though little is known of the exact form the discussions have taken) Count Bernadotte has been suggesting that peace is possible if both Jews and Arabs surrender their main prejudices, and war is inevitable if they do not. If his arguments are consistently backed by the United Nations—that is, if they are prepared to con- sider the use of sanctions against either side—he can still carry on with his mission. But if the United Nations do ever have to crack the whip, their task will be made much harder by the contempt with which the authority of their present representatives is being treated in Palesrtne. The death of two United Nations' observers at the hands of Egyptian irresponsibles creates a situation which cannot be ignored at Lake Success. The Jews have all along treated the United Nations as an indulgent ally, while the Arab States have 'treated them as an irreconcilable enemy. The behaviour of their forces in the field is a reflection of these mistaken points of view. The continual truce-breaking in Jerusalem is only a reflection of the failure of the Jewish and Arab authorities to admit to their followers that neither in the matter of immigration nor of the Jewish State can they have their own way.
