Page:Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929 cmd 3530.djvu/4

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To the Right Honourable the Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

We were appointed by you on the 138th of September, 1929, to “‘ enquire into the immediate causes which led to the recent outbreak in Palestine and to make recommendations as to the steps necessary to avoid a recurrence.’

After consideration of the question of the procedure to be adopted in the conduct of our enquiry we decided to seek powers enabling us to require evidence to be given on oath or declara- tion and to compel the attendance of witnesses and the produc- tion of documents. It was found that this end could most easily be attained by the appointment of the Commission as a Commis- sion of Enquiry under an Ordinance in force in Palestine. The warrant of appointment issued by the High Commissioner for Palestine is reproduced in Appendix I to this report.

Though the enquiry which we were commissioned to make was not In any sense a public judicial proceeding we felt that the cbject of our mission would be furthered by the appointment of persons to represent before us the interests of the parties principally concerned in the enquiry. From the beginning it was clear that a very large number of people would wish to give evidence and that, unless the interests of the parties principally concerned were entrusted to individuals who could collect, marshal, and present the evidence, our task might be unduly prolonged. We therefore decided to agree to the appointment of representatives of the three parties principally concerned in our enquiry, namely, the Palestine Government, the Palestine Arab Executive, and the Palestine Zionist Executive. At the request of the two Executives, made after our arrival in Pales- tine, the maximum number of representatives allowed for each party was increased to six. Mr. KENELM PREEDY and Mr. R. H. Drayton, the Solicitor-General in Palestine, appeared for the Government of Palestine; Mr. W. H. Stoker, K.C., Mr. REGINALD SinpEy, AuNI Bey AppuL Hap, and Mr. Moanan- NAM appeared for the Palestine Arab Executive; and Sir Boyp Merriman, K.C., -M.P., Viscount ERigicnw, K.C., Mr. S. Horowitz, Mr. W. A. Davies, Mr. 8. E. KARMINSKI, and Mr. L. J. Stem appeared for the Palestine Zionist Executive and the Zionist Organization, of which the Executive are the repre- sentatives in Palestine.

In order to test the reliability of evidence laid before us, the representatives of the parties concerned were allowed to ask questions of witnesses presented by other parties to the enquiry and, aS a convenience to the Commissioners, those representa- tives were invited to indicate at an early stage of the enquiry

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