867N.01/1594
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
Mr. Victor Mallet, Counselor of the British Embassy, called today and handed me the attached aide-mémoire47 and statement respecting British policy in Palestine. Reading from instructions which he had in hand Mr. Mallet explained that the plan for Palestine, as outlined in the attached papers, was the “final” plan which would not be modified except perhaps in minor detail. He went on to say that the plan had been handed to the non-Palestinian Arab representatives on March 14 and to the Palestine Arab representatives and the Jewish representatives on March 15. If the proposed plan did not prove acceptable to the Arabs and the Jews it was Mr. Mallet’s understanding that the same plan, except for slight modification in detail, would be imposed upon the two peoples by the British Government in accordance with its previous announcement.
It was the British purpose to publish the plan in the form of a “white paper” to be laid before Parliament. Although the substance of the “white paper” would be practically the same as in the attached, the actual form would be somewhat different. Mr. Mallet stated that once the “white paper” had been laid before Parliament, that body would, of course, have an opportunity to debate upon the policy proposed.
- Infra.↩