Will Demand Colony Status for Palestine

A resolution demanding that Palestine be declared a Crown colony instead of a mandated territory under British administration, will be introduced in the House of Commons Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Laborite member announced today.

Col. Wedgwood will also introduce a resolution demanding that any Jew who has succeeded in entering Palestine legally or illegally, be permitted to remain, to purchase land and to settle in Transjordan.

JEWS BEHIND MOVE

The suggestion to change the status of Palestine from a mandated territory into a British Crown colony, will receive support from certain Jewish leaders and from many British statesmen, it was believed here today.

Col. Wedgwood, who is known as “the father of the Seventh Dominion League,” has long advocated that Palestine be proclaimed a British Crown colony, eventually to be converted into a dominion.

It was pointed out here today that Col. Wedgwood’s proposed resolution is a direct result of the movement recently launched in Palestine by Jewish farmers headed by M. Smiliansky, and industrialists, who believe that Palestine’s commercial interests will benefit greatly if the country becomes a British colony instead of remaining a mandated territory. As a Crown colony, Palestine products would be exempt from customs duties throughout the British Empire and its exports, especially of citrus products, would greatly increase.

The procedure of converting Palestine from a mandated territory into a Crown colony involves international formalities, since Palestine is now under the control of the League of Nations and Great Britain must report to the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations on any proposed changes for Palestine.