Moderation

A startling note of moderation crept into Palestinian affairs last week. The "Morrison Plan" for a federal Palestine was fading like a desert mirage. The Jews refused to discuss it. Arab representatives at the London conference rejected the plan in toto. The British Government was about ready to drop it.

The Arabs proposed a counterplan which represented a high-water mark in their willingness to compromise: a "democratic" Palestine in which the Jews would have "constitutional guarantees against discrimination and guarantees safeguarding their cultural and language rights," representation in the government proportional to their population. Said Abdul Rahman Azzam Bey, Secretary-General of the Arab League: "I am looking forward to the day when there will be a Jewish representative for Palestine in the Arab League."

The Jews too leaned toward compromise. After informal discussions with Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, Zionists in London sent an emissary to Jerusalem to win Zionist Inner Council approval for Jewish participation in the conference. The Jews were prepared to go to Lancaster House with a plan for outright partition and "establishment of a viable Jewish state in an adequate area of Palestine."

The partition plan was almost certain to split Jewish ranks. The extremist Irgun Zvai Leumi and Stern Gang, neck-deep in guerrilla warfare against the British, would turn just as eagerly on Jewish "appeasers." In a showdown, moderate Zionists would probably have the support of Haganah, largest of the underground groups. The compromise note was already sounded by "Voice of Israel," the Haganah radio station, which last week condemned violence and "purposeless terror."

Meanwhile Jews resumed their attempts to enter Palestine illegally. Three miles off the coast, a British minesweeper intercepted the 200-ton schooner Palmach, loaded with 800 refugees and quantities of TNT concealed in soap bars. A British boarding party was met with "a shower of missiles." Before fire hoses and tear gas ended the resistance, one illegal immigrant was killed and several British sailors were injured.

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