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FAILURE OF BRITISH RULE FORESEEN IN PALESTINE

MISAPPLIED BRITISH INTERESTS BRING POVERTY

"The British are so under the thumb of the Zionists that they have forgotten the elementary facts of good administration in Palestine," said George Antonius, noted Arabian student of the Near East in a speech in Adams House last night.

Pointing out that Great Britain had apparently abandoned principles that they had adhered to in all their other foreign possessions, Mr. Antonius went on to say that the native Arabs of the region were being severely upset by the Jewish action in Palestine.

"The Arab grievances against the British administration are three," he said, "first, in regard to representative institutions, second, in regard to immigration, and third, in regard to the land policy.

"While the apparent principle advocated in Palestine has been one of self-government, because of Zionist pressure, no real sort of self-government or representation has been offered the natives. In regard to immigration, the English government announced that the influx of foreign elements into the region would be limited to the economic capacity of the country. They have not investigated the economic capacity of the country. The result of the influx has been poverty and unemployment.

"The Zionists have been buying up the land without restriction, and the Arabs are being turned off their ancient homes. Investigations in the Palestine area have revealed a 'landless proletariat' living on the hospitality of the Arab communities. Zionist statisticians deny these facts. I am not in a position to say where the truth lies."

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Mr. Antonius went on to say that French and British interests in their Mandates in Syria lay in the air line routes to the East, naval bases in the eastern Mediterranean, pipe lines for oil and similar economic and military factors.

He emphasized the inexhaustible supply of potash, a mineral useful in fertilizer and munitions, in the Dead Sea as a source of British interest in Palestine.

He stated that the situations in the various Mandates were having their repercussions in the other Arabian-speaking parts of the world. The sense of solidarity which exists between all Arabic-speaking peoples, he explained, was the result of a Nationalist movement which has been in progress for a hundred years.

Mr. Antonius gave a summary of the history of the Arabian people to show how so many different racial types should have the same culture. He then told of the growth of the Nationalist movement which began as a revival of the early literature and culture and later took on an increased political complexion

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