(i) It must recognize the right of the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine to continue in occupation of the country and to preserve its traditional character.
(ii) It must recognize that questions like immigration which affect the whole nature and destiny of the country should be decided in accordance with democratic principles by the will of the population.
(iii) It must accept the principle that the only way by which the will of the population can be expressed is through the establishment of responsible representative government. (The Arabs find something inconsistent in the attitude of Zionists who demand the establishment of a free democratic commonwealth in Palestine and then hasten to add that this should not take place until the Jews are in a majority.)
(iv) This representative Government should be based upon the principle of absolute equality of all citizens irrespective of race and religion.
(v) The form of Government should be such as to make possible the development of a spirit of loyalty and cohesion among all elements of the community which will override all sectional attachments. In other words it should be a Government which the whole community could regard as their own, which should be rooted in their consent and have a moral claim upon their obedience.
(vi) The settlement should recognize the fact
that by geography and history Palestine is inescapably part of the Arab
world; that the only alternative to its being part of the Arab world
and accepting the implication of its position is complete isolation,
which would he disastrous from every point of view; and that whether
they like it or not the Jews in Palestine are dependent upon the
goodwill of the Arabs.
(vii) The settlement should be such as to make possible a satisfactory definition within the framework of U.N.O. the relations between Palestine and the Western powers who posses interests in the country.
(viii) The settlement should take into account that
Zionism is essentially a political movement aiming at the creation of a
Jewish state and should therefore avoid making any concessions which
might encourage Zionists in the hope that their aim can be achieved in
any circumstances.
9. In accordance with these principles, the
Arabs urge the establishment in Palestine of a democratic government
representative of all sections of the population on a level of absolute
equality; the termination of the Mandate once the Government has been
established; and the entry of Palestine into the United Nations
Organization as a full member of the working community.
Pending the establishment of a representative
Government, all further Jewish immigration should be stopped, in
pursuance of the principle that a decision on so important a matter
should only be taken with the consent of the inhabitants of the country
and that until representative institutions are established there is no
way of determining consent. Strict measures should also continue to be
taken to check illegal immigration. Once a Palestinian state has come
into existence, if any section of the population favours a policy of
further immigration it will be able to press its case in accordance
with normal democratic procedure; but in this as in other matters the
minority must abide by the decision of the majority.
Similarly, all further transfer of land from
Arabs to Jews should be prohibited prior to the creation of
self-governing institutions. The Land Transfer Regulations should be
made more stringent and extended to the whole area of the country, and
severer measures be taken to prevent infringement of them. Here again
once self-government exists matters concerning land will be decided in
the normal democratic manner.
10. The Arabs are irrevocably opposed to
political Zionism, but in no way hostile to the Jews as such nor to
their Jewish fellow citizens of Palestine. Those Jews who have already
entered Palestine, and who have obtained or shall obtain Palestinian
citizenship by due legal process will be full citizens of the
Palestinian state, enjoying full civil and political rights and a fair
share in government and administration. There is no question of their
being thrust into the position of a "minority" in the bad sense of a
closed community, which dwells apart from the main stream of the
State's life and which exists by sufferance of the majority. They will
be given the opportunity of belonging to and helping to mould the full
community of the Palestinian state, joined to the Arabs by links of
interest and goodwill, not the goodwill of the strong to the powerless,
but of one citizen to another.
It is to be hoped that in course of time the
exclusiveness of the Jews will be neutralized by the development of
loyalty to the state and the emergence or new groupings which cut
across communal divisions. This however will take time and during the
transitional period the Arabs recognize the need for giving special
consideration to the particular position and the needs of the Jews. No
attempt would be made to interfere with their communal organization,
their personal status or their religious observances. Their schools and
cultural institutions would be left to operate unchecked except for
that general control which all governments exercise over education. In
the districts in which they are most closely settled they would possess
municipal autonomy and Hebrew would be an official language of
administration, justice, and education.
The Palestinian State would be an Arab state
not (as should be clear from the preceding paragraph) in any narrow
racial sense, nor in the sense that non-Arabs should be placed in a
position or inferiority, but because the form and policy of its
government would be based on a recognition of two facts: first that the
majority of the citizens are Arabs, and secondly that Palestine is part
of the Arab world and has no future except through close cooperation
with the other Arab states. Thus among the main objects of the
Government would be to preserve and enrich the country's Arab heritage,
and to draw closer the relations between Palestine and the other Arab
countries. The Cairo Pact of March 1945, provided for the
representation of Palestine on the Council of the Arab League even
before its independence should be a reality; once it was really
self-governing it would participate fully in all the work of the
League, in the cultural and economic no less than the political sphere.
This would be of benefit to the Jewish not less than the Arab citizens
of Palestine since it would ensure those good relations with the Arab
world without which their economic development would be impossible.
11. The state would apply as soon as possible
for admission into U.N.O. and would of course be prepared to bear its
full share of the burdens of establishing a world security system. It
would willingly place at the disposal of the Security Council whatever
bases or other facilities were required, provided those bases were
really used for the purpose which they were intended and not in order
to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, and provided also
Palestine and the other Arab states were adequately represented on the
controlling body.
12. The state would recognize also the world's
interest in the maintenance of a satisfactory regime for the Moslem,
Christian and Jewish Holy Places. In the Arab view however the need for
such a regime does not involve foreign interference in or control of
Palestine; no opportunity should be given to Great Powers to use the
Holy Places as instruments of policy. The Holy Places can be most
satisfactorily and appropriately guarded by a Government representative
of the inhabitants, who include adherents of all three faiths and have
every interest in preserving the holy character of their country.
Nor in the Arab view would any sort or foreign
interference or control be justified by the need to protect the
Christian minorities The Christians are Arabs, who belong fully to the
national community and share fully in its struggle. The would have all
the rights and duties of citizens of a Palestinian state, and would
continue to have their own communal organizations and institutions.
They themselves would ask for no more, having learnt from the example
of other Middle Eastern countries the dangers of an illusory foreign
"protection" of minorities.
13. In economic and social matters the
Government of Palestine would follow a progressive policy with the aim
of raising the standard of living and increasing the welfare of all
sections off the population, and using the country’s natural resources
in the way most beneficial to all. Its first task naturally would be to
improve the condition or the Arab peasants and thus to bridge the
economic and social gulf which at present divides the two communities.
Industry would be encouraged, but only in so far as its economic basis
was sound and as part of a general policy of economic development for
the whole Arab world; commercial and financial contact with the other
Arab countries would so far as be possible strengthened, and tariffs
decreased or abolished.
14. The Arabs believe that no other proposals
would satisfy the conditions of a just and lasting settlement. In their
view there are insuperable objections of principle or of practice to
all other suggested solutions of the problem.
(i) The idea or partition and the establishment
of a Jewish state in a part of Palestine is inadmissible for the same
reasons of principle as the idea of establishing a Jewish state in the
whole country. If it is unjust to the Arabs to impose a Jewish state on
the whole of Palestine, it is equally unjust to impose it in any part
of the country. Moreover, as the Woodhead Commission showed, there are
grave practical difficulties in the way of partition; commerce would be
strangled, communications dislocated and the public finances upset. It
would also be impossible to devise frontiers which did not leave a
large Arab minority in the Jewish state. This minority would not
wittingly accept its subjection to the Zionists and it would not allow
itself to be transferred to the Arab state. Moreover, partition would
not satisfy the Zionists. It cannot be too often repeated that Zionism
is a political movement aimed at the domination at least of the whole
of Palestine; to give it a foothold in part of Palestine would be to
encourage it to press for more and to provide it with a base for its
activities. Because of this, because of the pressure of population and
in order to escape from its isolation it would inevitably be thrown
into enmity with the surrounding Arab states and this enmity would
disturb the stability of the whole Middle East.
(ii) Another proposal is for the establishment
of a bi-national state; based upon political parity, in Palestine and
its incorporation into a Syrian or Arab Federation. The Arabs would
reject this as denying the majority its normal position and rights.
There are also serious practical objections to the idea of a
bi-national state which cannot exist unless there is a strong sense of
unity and common interest overriding the differences between the two
parties. Moreover, the point made in regard to the previous suggestion
may be repeated here: this scheme would in no way satisfy the Zionists.
It would simply encourage them to hope for more and improve their
chances of obtaining it. . . .