p.

5.

or create anything at all - except a hell of a lot more
Arabs. The only quality which they seem to have & which
the Jews have not to the same extent - is a sense of
humour & a faculty for laughter, as a race. & much
more apparent friendliness. But this is caused largely by their
simplicity, & also their cunning & complete lack of principles;
they will laugh & joke with you one minute & stab you in
the back the next - for your firearm, or because
somebody has paid them of.

And those are the people we have been trying to appease
& curry favour with - at the expense of the Jews & at the
expense of the war effort.

The situation is complicated, of course - & I wonder do you
understand it? Roughly speaking it is like this - during
World War I, the Balfour Declaration explicity & in
writing, promised Palestine to the Jews as a National
Home. this was in return for the promise of their full
help & support in the war. And about the same time
we promised the Arabs that in return for their support,
we would free them from Turkish rule & assist them
to set up their own state. After the peace, we agreed
to accept the Mandate for Palestine, & so implement
the promise of the National Home. And then Arab
nationalism came into play & the fun began. It was
never intended that the Mandate should be a permanent
affair - we were to get every thing into shape, & order
& then leave the country to cary on. But neither the
Jews nor the Arabs would accept each other's rule -
& I can see no reason why they should - nor
would they work in together. And so, having done a
gigantic piece of double dealing in 1914-18 - we have
spent 20 years & more playing about with the
problem & nobody & no Government has had the