The Palestine Government’s decision to deport illegal immigrants to a British colony was vigorously denounced by liberal and Jewish newspapers today, which stressed the “inhumanity” of such action against persons most anxious to help Britain in her struggle for humanitarianism and against barbarism in both Palestine and elsewhere. They also warned of the danger of encouraging anti-British Arab extremists.
Condemning what it termed a policy of “cold legalism,” the Manchester Guardian declared editorially that the refugees should be admitted under the immigration schedule, “had we any thought for the causes that have driven them to Palestine and the appeal their unhappy journey makes to the principles we profess to be defending in this war.”
The Zionist Review, organ of the British Zionist Federation, described the decision as a major political blunder which “mocks justice, wisdom and humanitarianism and travesties every principle for which Britain is fighting.” It warned that the official communique issued on the matter was “bound to stimulate Arab callousness” and charged the Palestine administration was “learning nothing, forgetting nothing and refusing to believe that anything had happened between March, 1939, and November, 1940.”
It pointed out that even under the White Paper there are still 40,000 immigration certifications left out of 75,000. “The unfortunate occurrence should at least teach those in responsible positions how disastrous is a treatment of refugees as if they were common lawbreakers, which does not pay regard to the deep human tragedy behind their escape and which does not give thought to what Palestine means for them.”
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.
