867N.01/1316
Press Release Issued by the Department of State on November 9, 1938
The Department has received from the British Government a copy of the Report of the Palestine Partition Commission6 containing various proposals with regard to the partition of Palestine.
[Page 983]The Department is informed that after a careful study of the Commission’s Report the British Government has reached the conclusion that the political, administrative and financial difficulties involved in the proposal to create independent Arab and Jewish states inside Palestine is so great that such a solution of the problem is impracticable.
With a view, however, to finding alternative means of meeting the needs of the difficult situation in Palestine, it is understood that the British Government proposes to invite representatives of the Palestine Arabs and neighboring States, on the one hand, and of the Jewish Agency on the other, to confer as soon as possible in London regarding future policy, including the question of immigration into Palestine.7 It is the Department’s further understanding that if the London discussions should not result in an agreement within a reasonable period of time the British Government will take its own decision and will announce the policy which it is proposed to pursue.
The Department has been informed that in considering and in settling its policy, the British Government will keep constantly in mind the international character of the Palestine Mandate with which it has been entrusted and its obligations in that respect.