THE WORLD ZIONIST CONGRESS MET IN CLOSED SESSION FOR THE LAST TIME THIS MORNING PREPARATORY TO VOTING TONIGHT ON A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ON ITS PLAN TO PARTITION PALESTINE AND ESTABLISH A JEWISH STATE.
THE 483 DELEGATES WERE TENSE WITH EXPECTATION AS THEY AWAITED A FINAL APPEAL THIS EVENING BY DR. CHAIM WEIZMANN, ZIONIST PRESIDENT, WHOSE PROPOSAL THAT PARTITION BE ACCEPTED IN PRINCIPLE WAS THE BASIS FOR THE RESOLUTION TO BE PRESENTED TONIGHT.
THE RESOLUTION WAS BEING DRAFTED BY A COMMITTEE OF 48 DRAWN ON A PROPORTIONAL BASIS FROM THE VARIOUS FACTIONS AT THE CONGRESS. A MINORITY RESOLUTION OPPOSING PARTITION AND DEMANDING THAT THE PALESTINE MANDATE BE IMPLEMENTED WAS BEING DRAFTED BY A COALITION OF ANTI-PARTITION DELEGATES, INCLUDING THOSE REPRESENTING THE MIZRACHI (RELIGIOUS ZIONIST) ORGANIZATION AND THE SHOMER HATZAIR (YOUNG GUARDS) FACTION OF THE LABORITES.
THIS MORNING’S SESSION WAS FEATURED BY AN ATTACK ON THE ROYAL COMMISSION PLAN BY PROF. SELIG BRODETSKY, FOLLOWING LAST NIGHT’S ADDRESS BY DR. STEPHEN S. WISE OF NEW YORK. OTHER SPEAKERS WERE ISAAC GRUENBAUM, OF PALESTINE, RABBI JACOB FISHMAN OF PALESTINE, FRITZ BERNSTEIN OF HOLLAND, RABBI ABBA HILLEL SILVER OF CLEVELAND AND MRS. GOLDIE MYERSON OF PALESTINE.
BRODETSKY SEEKS BETTER TERMS
“AN OFFENSE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE” WAS THE DESCRIPTION APPLIED BY PROF. BRODETSKY, ENGLISH MEMBER OF THE WORLD ZIONIST EXECUTIVE, TO THE TINY JEWISH STATE IN PALESTINE PROPOSED BY THE BRITISH ROYAL COMMISSION.
PROF. BRODETSKY URGED THE DELEGATES TO REJECT BOTH THE JEWISH STATE AS OUTLINED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSION AND THE “PALLIATIVES” RECOMMENDED BY THE COMMISSION IN CASE PARTITION IS NOT ADOPTED.
WHILE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE AFTER WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO EXPECT THAT BRITAIN WILL CONTINUE THE PRESENT LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATE FOR PALESTINE, PROF. BRODETSKY SAID, HE EXPRESSED CONVICTION THAT PARLIAMENT WOULD SUPPORT BETTER TERMS FOR THE JEWISH STATE.
HE URGED THAT THE NEW EXECUTIVE TO BE ELECTED HERE BE AUTHORIZED TO NEGOTIATE, BUT ONLY UNDER DEFINITE CONDITIONS LAID DOWN BY THE CONGRESS TO AFFORD A BETTER FUTURE FOR THE JEWISH NATIONAL HOME. HE ALSO URGED THAT THE EXECUTIVE BE INSTRUCTED TO PREPARE A DETAILED PROPOSAL ON PALESTINE TO BE LAID BEFORE THE NEXT CONGRESS.
MRS. GOLDIE MYERSON, PALESTINE LABOR DELEGATE, VOICED STRONG OPPOSITION TO PARTITION, ADVISING THE CONGRESS TO MOBILIZE THE OPINION OF THE ENTIRE JEWISH WORLD TO REJECT BOTH THIS SCHEME AND THE ROYAL COMMISSION “PALLIATIVES.”
WISE WARNS PARTITION WOULD END MANDATES SYSTEM
“THE ANSWER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO BRITAIN,” DR. WISE DECLARED AT LAST NIGHT’S SESSION, “MUST NOT BE YEA OR NAY, BUT NON POSSUMUS — YOU WOULD NOT RESPECT US IF WE DID.”
DESCRIBING THE MANDATORY SYSTEM AS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING GAINS OF THE WORLD WAR — THE OTHER BEING THE SAFEGUARDING OF MINORITIES — DR. WISE WARNED THAT PARTITION WOULD END BOTH AND WOULD MORALLY MEAN THE END OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATES COMMISSION.
REFERRING TO THE SEPARATION OF TRANSJORDAN FROM PALESTINE, THE NEW YORK ZIONIST LEADER SAID: “WE WILL NOT AGAIN GIVE OUR SIGNATURES TO A DOCUMENT WHICH ROBS US OF THE LITTLE THAT REMAINED TO US AFTER THE EARLIER PARTITION THAT ROBBED US OF TRANSJORDAN. WE WILL NOT APPEND OUR SIGNATURES TO A DOCUMENT WHICH CREATES A JEWISH STATE THAT WOULD BE LITTLE MORE THAN A MINIATURE REMINDER OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION AND THE BRITISH MANDATE.”
HE DESCRIBED THE PARTITION PROPOSAL AS “THAT BITTER PILL OF PARTITION SWEETENED A LITTLE, AND VERY LITTLE, BY A JEWISH STATE.”
HE ASSERTED:
“THE ANSWER TO BRITAIN MUST BE CLEAR — ‘PARTITION, NO! PALLIATIVES, NO! A JEWISH STATE, YES! FULFILLMENT OF THE MANDATE, YES!'”
HE DENOUNCED THE BRACKETING OF PARTITION AND PALLIATIVE MEASURES OFFERED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSION AS ALTERNATIVES, DECLARING THE PALLIATIVES WERE SO UNJUST AS TO THROW DOUBT ON THE GENUINENESS OF THE OFFER OF A JEWISH STATE.
PARTITION IS THE SUREST WAY OF POSTPONING AND AVERTING ARAB-JEWISH PEACE, HE DECLARED. HE WARNED AGAINST ACCEPTING TEMPORARY GAINS AND ADVANTAGES WHICH “THREATEN TO CANCEL THE ETERNAL RIGHTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.”
“BALFOUR, THOU SHOULDST BE LIVING IN THIS HOUR,” DR. WISE CONCLUDED,” ENGLAND HATH NEED OF THEE.” (ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR WAS BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY DURING THE WORLD WAR AND AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION PLEDGING BRITAIN TO AID IN BUILDING A JEWISH HOMELAND IN PALESTINE.)
RABBI SILVER ASSAILS PROPOSAL
RABBI SILVER AND GEDALIAH BUBLICK OF PALESTINE JOINED DR. WISE IN ATTACKING THE PROPOSED PARTITION.
RABBI SILVER, WARNING THAT PARTITION WOULD INTENSIFY THE ARAB-JEWISH CONFLICT, URGED THAT THE CONGRESS INSTEAD ASK FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE PALESTINE MANDATE, A BETTER ADMINISTRATION IN JERUSALEM AND APPEAL TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE BASIS OF THE BENEFITS OF JEWISH ACTIVITIES TO PALESTINE AND THE ARABS, AS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE BRITISH ROYAL COMMISSION.
THE 300,000 ARABS (THE ROYAL COMMISSION’S ESTIMATE IS 225,000) REMAINING IN THE PROPOSED JEWISH STATE WOULD BECOME IRREDENTED AND BE THE FOCUS OF QUARRELS BETWEEN THE ARABS AND THE JEWS, RABBI SILVER SAID. NO MATTER HOW WELL THE JEWS TREATED THE ARABS, IRRITATION WOULD BE INTENSIFIED BY THE PRESENCE OF THIS LARGE MINORITY, HE HELD.
TO TRANSFER THE ARABS FROM THE JEWISH STATE WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE ECONOMICALLY AND MORALLY, RABBI SILVER SAID, SINCE THE ARABS, FEELING MORE SECURE ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY IN THE JEWISH STATE, WOULD REFUSE TO LEAVE, AND THUS WOULD HAVE TO BE MOVED BY FORCE.
HE WARNED THAT MINORITY RIGHTS OF JEWS IN OTHER COUNTRIES MIGHT BE SERIOUSLY JEOPARDIZED BY THE FACT THE JEWS WERE FORCIBLY TRANSFERRING A MINORITY FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
REFERRING TO DR. CHAIM WEIZMANN’S ARGUMENT THAT 2,000,000 JEWS COULD BE SETTLED IN THE JEWISH STATE IN 20 YEARS, RABBI SILVER HELD THIS WOULD NOT SOLVE THE POLISH JEWS’ PROBLEM AND THAT MOST OF THE JEWS WOULD REMAIN IN POLAND.
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.
