The definite opposition of the Jewish Agency to the establishment of a Legislative Council in Palestine, as proposed in the High Commissioner’s report to the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations last month, was formulated today by Nahum Sokolow, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and Dr. Chaim Arlosoroff, in charge of the Agency’s Political Department, in a statement made at a press conference here today.
The High Commissioner informed the Mandates Commission that steps to form a Legislative Council in Palestine would be taken after the projected new government ordinance with regard to municipal administration is carried out.
Both Agency spokesmen emphatically denied reports emanating from some quarters that the Jewish Agency is willing to compromise on this matter. In this connection the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports from Palestine were referred to as being the most reliable, by Dr. Arlosoroff.
As long as the Jews, Arabs and Englishmen fail to reach a previous basis of understanding, there will be no Legislative Council, Dr. Arlosoroff forecast. “The Palestine Government will have to consider many times before establishing a Legislative Council in which the Jews will not be participating,” he said.
Dr. Arlosoroff labelled as false the press reports in Warsaw suggesting that before the High Commissioner proceeded to Geneva he secured his assurance that the Jewish Agency Executive would not oppose a Legislative Council provided the Palestine government would grant the Jews certificates and other practical benefits.
This suggestion was supported with the allegation that a similar promise had been given by Dr. Arlosoroff with the projected introduction of an income tax. The later, Dr. Arlosoroff said, was the simplest method of supporting one lie with another.
The documentary evidence which he has presented to the Palestine Jewish National Council proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the falsehood of the allegations made with regard to the Executive’s approval of the proposed income tax, he said.
The documents show that the hands of the Executive are absolutely free in this respect, he declared, adding that he had made it clear to the High Commissioner and the treasurer of the government that the Executive would not define its attitude before consulting all Jewish interests.
Returning to the question of the Legislative Council, Dr. Arlosoroff expressed regret that the conditions of political work do not permit the revelation of documents and facts to the public which would expose the slanderers and silence their campaign of misrepresentations calculated to defeat the Zionist policy to which they profess allegiance.
The Political Commission of the Zionist Congress will learn the truth, Dr. Arlosoroff stated. In the meantime it should be clear to all thinking Zionists that such mendacious publicity is part of a wholesale campaign of deliberate slander and defamation now directed against Zionist labor. The spokesmen for this campaign are doubly venomous and reckless because the political representations in Jerusalem are now entrusted to a member of the Labor Party, Dr. Arlosoroff asserted.
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.
