Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver and Dr. Stephen S. Wise both see in the majority report of the Inquiry Commission a white-washing of the Arabs. Labeling the report “the typical civil servants’ report on events of the first magnitude which apparently it has been unable to envisage save from the civil servant point of view,” Dr. Wise says that the Zionists and world morale face two tests, the first whether the British government will complete the whittling away of the Balfour Declaration, and the second whether the Zionist leadership will have the courage to speak out in protest against the report “which may prove to be deeply satisfying to non-Zionists but which unless neutralized by the Prime Minister will be wholly dissatisfying to Zionists.”
Dr. Wise concludes by remarking that “this report challenges the Jewish Agency to act with unity, with wisdom, with unflinching courage.”
The recommendation of the Commission, if carried into effect, would make impossible the upbuilding of Palestine as the Jewish National Home under the terms of the Mandate and the pledge in the Balfour Declaration, declares Rabbi Silver. Seeing the criticisms of Jewish immigration and land purchases as unfounded, Rabbi Silver says the recommendations are in complete accord with the sentiments of the Arab agitators and “point the way to a complete nullification of the Mandate.”
Rabbi Silver is of the opinion that the statement of policy to be issued should not leave either Arabs or Jews “any further doubts in regard to the policy of their government. Palestine needs today straight-forward speech, policy and action.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
