Big Brotherly Advice

When she stepped ashore in Haifa, she wept. Feige Fried's mother, seven brothers and sisters would never know Palestine's freedom. They had disappeared into the Nazi crematorium at Oswiecim; Feige escaped.

With the 26-year-old Jewess came 996 other refugees, the last allowed to enter Palestine under Britain's 1939 White Paper.

Already the Arabs had planned a boycott of Jewish goods. Now they again threatened a strike throughout the Middle East, spoke of cutting off U.S. and British oil concessions. Nobody paid much attention to the threats, but they reflected rising Arab tempers. If there is trouble, the Jews will fight back. Now being demobilized in Europe, veterans of the war-wise Jewish Brigade are coming home to Palestine (see cut); 23,000 armed Jewish settlement police are already on the spot.

Into troubled Palestine the British last week sent new thousands of battle-hardened soldiers, ready for a fight. In the U.S., a resolution introduced in Congress urged unlimited Jewish immigration into Palestine; mass meetings demanded a new British policy there, and an "unofficial" group of Americans (including three Congressmen) planned a flight to London to tell Britain exactly what to do about the problem.

Finally, the pent-up British said what they had long been thinking. Americans have been generous with typical big brotherly advice on the Middle East. miserly when it comes to assuming responsibility there. Responsibility means U.S. soldiers, guns, planes and ships. Was the U.S. ready to put up?

The New York Times's Herbert L. Matthews reported from London that Harry Truman and Prime Minister Attlee had agreed on a joint policy. But the British Foreign Office said the U.S. had made no military commitment. A vast selling job would be necessary to persuade Congress to send armed forces to Palestine.

The burden of the Middle East was still Britain's. Leftwingers came up with a suggestion likely to appeal to TVA-minded Americans: a Jordan Valley Authority which would irrigate thousands of now-arid acres, make possible development of light industries, enable Palestine to enlarge its population by 4,000,000.

Washington and London both expected a British announcement this week on Palestine immigration. As soon as possible thereafter, Britain will almost certainly toss the entire explosive issue at the already overburdened United Nations Organization.

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