Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain will be queried in the House of Commons tomorrow regarding the American Government’s attitude toward the White Paper When the debate on the Palestine question gets under way, Mr. Chamberlain will be asked to state whether, in accordance with the Anglo-American Convention of 1924 covering American rights in the Holy land, the United States has approved modification of the Palestine mandate as proposed in the new British policy.
The British Broadcasting Company has arranged a 35-minute political debate on Palestine for Tuesday evening, following conclusion of the Commons debate. Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald will speak for the Government, David LIoyd George for the Liberals and Tom Williams for the Laborites.
A resolution appealing to the British Government for reconsideration of its Palestine policy as unacceptable to the Jews and a violation of international pledges was adopted unanimously today by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Moving the resolution, Dr. Israel Feldman declared the White Paper ignored not only the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate but “millenniums of Jewish history. “The deputies, he said, as British citizens “have the privilege, duty and right to inform British opinion and the British Government that in presenting the proposals they are asking them to run counter to major British interests.”
Speaking in support of the resolution, Sir Robert Waley Cohen warned against “surrender of beneficent progress to the forces of banditry and destruction, and the abandonment of the one constructive achievement of international policy in the last 20 years. “He urged the Government to reserve decision on the immigration question until after the five-year period and in the meantime allow the Jews and Arabs to buy or sell land. “Then,” he said, “This White Paper might be turned from a destructive course into an instrument of well-being for the Palestine people of all races and creeds, lead to mutual respect and cooperation, a return to peace and progress, and make possible education for self-government.”
British’s Palestine policy was denounced by Viscount Samuel today in an article in the Sunday Times. “There was,” he said, “an earnest desire the would over that the British Government would forward a plan which reasonable men everywhere could urge upon the contending parties as being on the whole right and fair. It must be regretfully said that this is not such a plan.”
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.
