The Southern Jewish Weekly

Between You and Me
BY BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1948, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
PEACE TALKS:
There are only about 60 Jewish residents on the island of Rhodes where the U. N. mediator, Count Bernadotte, is now trying to bring the Jews and the Arabs together for peace talks . . . While the U. N. mediator is working openly to bring about Arab-Jewish understanding, a great deal is going on behind the scenes between London and Washington . . . And at Lake Success the general feeling exists that the success or failure of Bernadotte's mission for achieving a real armistice depends on firm Anglo-American action. . . Only such action, United Nations officials believe, can bring about a compromise solution for Palestine and extend peace indefinitely after the cease-fire period . . . The opinion among most of the United Nations delegates is that such a compromise would first of all have to provide for the continued existence of a sovereign Israeli state, despite the stubborn objections of the Arabs to recognize such a state . . . On the other hand, the same United Nations delegates expect that, under Washington pressure, Israel will agree to some reduction of the area given to the Jewish state under the U. N. partition decision . . . It is with regard to this "reduction" in territory that wires are being pulled both by Washington and London on the initiative of the British Foreign Office . . . The British still hold the key to the situation in Palestine, since they can manipulate King Abdullah to do whatever they wish . . . And what they really wish is the Negev, either for themselves or for Abdullah. . . American Zionist leaders are now on guard, mobilizing all possible forces to counteract any effort on the part of the State Department to support British manipulations for a revision of the Israeli frontiers.