By April 28, 2008 Read More →

May 29, 1948, Churchill Blames Labor Govt. for Palestine War, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle

Churchill

“If the government had laid down the mandate when I first advised them to do so, it would have been a melancholy event, but the results would have been immeasurably less destructive and damaging than what has happened and is happening now.” – Winston Churchill

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PERTH, Scotland, May 28 (AP)-Winston Churchill said tonight the Labor government’s handling of Palestine was “an outstanding case of mismanagement.”

“If the government had laid down the mandate when I first advised them to do so, it would have been a melancholy event,” the Conservative former Prime Minister said in an address. “But the results would have been immeasurably less destructive and damaging than what has happened and is happening now.”

He said it would have been possible to make “an equitable partition” of the Holy Land after Britain’s World war victory, “using the forces we had and the influence and reputation we had acquired.”

Addressing a meeting of Scottish Conservatives, Churchill said the Socialists had caused “deep disappointment and anger” among Palestinian Jews by turning their backs on pledges given to the Zionists during the 1945 general election.

Churchill recalled he had advised the government to lay down the Palestine mandate in August, 1946. He said the government waited nearly 18 months, during which time British troops were “horribly” murdered and “both Jews and Arabs were preparing for war.”

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