| In 1936 the Peel Commission recommended that the Mandate would be divided into two: to a Jewish state with 2000 square miles and the rest for the Arabs. Ben Gurion thought that this was better than nothing, but the Arabs turned down the whole idea altogether. This division was suggested, because violence was daily and took place everywhere. In 1936 alone the Arabs carried out 2000 violent attacks on Jews, set their orchards and fields on fire, derailed trains and buses. This relentless Arab-terror lasted till 1939. Moreover there was a never-ending stream of Arab-immigration to the Mandate from Arab-countries, especially from Syria, the purpose of which was to out-number the Jews. The rep.s of the British gov. sought to shut off Jewish immigration on pretext that "there was not enough room in Palestine". Magnes probably thought that founding a Jewish state in the middle of all these never-ending hostilities, blood-shed and resistance is unrealistic and would not survive. |
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