Ben Gurion Statement That Arabs Favored Partition in 1937 Denied by Arab-jewish Group

A denial of David Ben Gurion’s statement at the World Zionist Congress last week that the Arabs were prepared to accept partition in Palestine as far back as 1937 was issued here today by the League for Arab-Jewish Rapprochement.

In a statement to the press, the League said that a representative of the Mufti of Jerusalem approached Chaim Kalvarisky, president of the League, in 1937 and asked his aid in arranging a conference with the Jewish Agency to arrive at a common front in opposition to the British partition scheme. The Mufti’s aide refused to even consider partition, declaring that the Arabs wanted a round table conference to “find, by joint endeavor, a way out of the complicated situation.”

The discussions were to be based on a bi-national program providing for large-scale Jewish immigration and the political equality of both peoples, the statement declared, adding that the Agency did not respond to the Mufti’s proposal because it was engaged in discussing partition with the British, and that the contact was finally broken when the British deported the Mufti’s emissary as well as other members of the Arab Higher Committee.

Mishmar, organ of the Hashomer Hatzair, commenting on the statement, says that this and other material which cannot be published completely refute Ben Gurion’s statement at the Congress.

The Irgun Zvai Leumi secret radio, “Voice of Fighting Zion,” today stated that the underground group was supporting neither the “Goldmann nor the Morrison plan” for the partition of Palestine. “Both mean a ghetto in the Jewish homeland,” the announcer said, “an abyss into which the enemy is pushing us. It is imperative to halt this process. We will do it, but not by words.”