“The Inquiry Commission’s report establishes beyond a doubt that the Arabs attacked the Jews and that many of the Arab complaints are unjustified; for example, those regarding the Dead Sea Concession and the Rutenberg scheme,” said Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency and of the World Zionist Organization, in an address here yesterday afternoon to representatives of the press from all parts of the world.
“We are a people accustomed to disappointments,” declared Dr. Weizmann. “The history of Jews is a series of disappointments but at the same time we are a tenacious people and we shall go on with our work. We believe that our cause is just. Its justice has been recognized by civilized humanity and any temporary difficulties that may arise will not discourage us.”
Dealing with the land question, Dr. Weizmann said that “on the coastal plane of Sharon 20,000 families could be settled without infringing on the Arabs. Arab villages in the neighborhood of our colonies that are planting oranges are much more prosperous than the villages in the interior of the country. It is all a question of development and I am afraid that everything progressive that comes into the world causes a certain amount of friction.
“Now what is the amount of the friction that we created?” Dr. Weizmann asked. “In the last ten years there came to Palestine roughly 100,000 new people. On the other hand, roughly about 750 Arab tenants have been displaced. Of these 90 per cent have reestablished themselves on land in better conditions than before we paid them compensation for transport and removal amounting to $250 per person. When you consider that the whole annual budget of such a tenant is about $150 you see that he is getting the equivalent of a two year budget.
“There is no reason, therefore, for either limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine, except insofar as the absorptive power of the country is concerned or for placing a limit on the transfer of lands. Another 50,000 Jewish families can still be settled on the land.
“A second point in the report concerns the number of immigrants we are bringing in and the nature of those immigrants. I am unaware that the Commission made a particular study of this problem. I don’t think they could do it easily. We have been told that we have selected immigrants not in accordance with their fitness for their particular function that they have to perform in the country but in accordance with their political views. We can only say that as far as the Zionist Organization is concerned, and we are entirely responsible for immigration, we know nothing of any discrimination on any political or religious grounds.
“Many of the immigrants are young men and women and most of them came from Eastern and Central Europe and a great many came on the Labor schedule. Many belonged to the Trade Unions and I don’t think there is any particular sin in that, but this might have lent color to this particular part of the report. The Commission contended that more Jews had been brought in than the country could support. There are two categories of immigrants, those for whom the Zionist Organization is responsible, having guaranteed to the Palestine government that for a period of one year those persons would not be a burden on the country and those who could show that they had $2,500, now $5,000, before obtaining a visa.
“For this second category, the Zionist Organization was not made responsible. It is perfectly obvious that the possession of $2,500 does not mean that the possessor is necessarily fit for Palestine, and the man who comes with nothing at all may yet be a valuable citizen. We ourselves would like to see as many Jews as possible come into Palestine but we were very uneasy about this category of immigrant because they depended very largely on the economic condition of the country from which they came. It is rather hard, therefore, that the report charges us with overstepping the limit of the economic possibilities of the country.”
Asked whether he had any specific proposals for cooperating with the Arabs, Dr. Weizmann said, “I think that we could cooperate with the Arabs in a great many economic enterprises, more than has been the case in the past. We can cooperate with local government, medical and health work. These are initial steps that we would like to start to bring about more human relations. You shouldn’t run away with the idea that all Arabs are hostile. The hostile section is only more vocal. We have lived for years on the best neighborly terms with the Arabs. The Arabs say they dislike the young Jews who are coming in but they don’t mind those Jews who have been long established in the country; yet it was these who were massacred.”
Dr. Weizmann, replying to another question, said that thus far he had not been in contact with the Arab delegation. “So long as the Arabs think that by violence they can stop us from building the National Home, which is our right, cooperation is impossible.” Asked whether the report, as Colonel Josiah Wedgwood had suggested, would exasperate the Jews all over the world. Dr. Weizmann answered, “It will certainly be a severe disappointment. It is an unsympathetic report dealing with fundamental problems from very insufficient evidence.”
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.
