The whole trouble arose through Balfour giving Palestine to Dr. Weizmann, when it wasn't his to give. He might as well have handed him Madagascar.

The thing was that Dr. Weizmann had just supplied the British government with a cheap way of making cordite. Naturally, the government was very grateful, and Balfour said:

"How much do you want?"

"I don't want money," said Weizmann.

"Quite so," said Balfour. "Then what shall it be? Baronetcy, earldom, or what?"

"I don't want a title," said Weizmann. "I don't want anything for myself."

"You, a Jew, don't want anything for yourself!" said Balfour. "But you must want something. What is it?"

Weizmann answered: "I want Jerusalem."

And, since Jerusalem didn't belong to Balfour, he was quite ready to balance the account by handing it over.

On the other hand, it is quite true we made, through Lawrence, certain pledges to the Arabs.

For a long time Lawrence was very sore about it, feeling the British government had let him down. But from conversations that I had with him, I feel sure that in the end Lawrence came to the conclusion that the Arabs had got about as much as they could manage.

Anyhow, he fell out with the Arabs. The fact is that Lawrence was a grown-up boy without any idea of politics.

What can we do now? Well, we are bound to break some of our promises. And there is certainly no royal road out of our difficulties.

I know that it has been proposed that Palestine should be ruled by the King of Egypt as an autonomous province, and that in this case the British would have as much control over the country as is good for them and for it.

It is also suggested that the inhabitants would feel more at home with an Eastern ruler; but I am not so sure of that. I am not sure that the Arabs would welcome the change; I am fairly certain the Jews would not.

You must remember that though race runs through the whole problem, so does economics. The Arab proletariat approves of the Jew, for the Arab workman of the towns finds employment with the Jews at a good price. He doesn't want them to go.

On the other hand, the rural Arab (that is, the Palestinian — it is not quite accurate to call him an Arab) wants land, and when he tries to buy, he finds himself hopelessly outbid by Jews, who are ready to pay quite fancy prices, backed as they are with money from abroad.

It is in the country districts that you find the feeling between the two races quite bitter. I know that when I was out there an Arab chauffeur refused point-blank to drive me to a Jewish land settlement.

I hesitate to call this a conflict between a primitive race and an industrialized race, for when a race is in difficulties it may always be described as primitive.

But it is a conflict between two races, both of whom rely on our promises, and it is a conflict in the rural districts between small landowners or would-be landowners without capital resources and actual or prospective landowners with very large capital resources.

The British government can do little. They must leave the people of the country, Palestinian and Jew, to come to terms.

If the inhabitants realize that it is up to them to do so, they will find a way out. For there is plenty of room for all of them.

Publication Date: September 9, 1939