Palestine. Statement by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom [The White Paper of November, 1938]

Finding impracticable the recommendation of the Peel Commission (1937) that Palestine be partitioned into Arab and Jewish States, the British Government suggests instead, rather vaguely, “that the surest foundation for peace and progress in Palestine would be an understanding between the Arabs and the Jews…With this end in view, [we] propose immediately to invite representatives of the Palestinian Arabs and of neighboring States on the one hand and of the Jewish Agency on the other, to confer with them as soon as possible in London regarding future policy” (p. 3). Perhaps the main reason it was deemed impracticable to partition the land, is that while the resulting Jewish State would be economically viable, its Arab counterpart would not: “While the budget of the Jewish State is likely to show a substantial surplus, the budgets of the Arab State (including Trans-Jordan) and of the Mandated Territories are likely to show substantial deficits” (p. 3). See EJ, Vol. XVI, col. 484.