A spokesman for the World Zionist Executive here today rejected the suggestion made in the House of Lords yesterday that the British Government negotiate with Arab states bordering on Palestine to secure the admission of Jews.
“It is not possible to solve the Jewish problem by creating Jewish minorities in Arab countries,” the spokesman said. “The experiences which Jewish minorities have had in many countries, as well as the experience of other minorities in Arab countries, have not proven so wonderful as to make the proposal attractive.”
The proposal concerning the opening of Arab countries bordering Palestine to Jewish settlement was made by Lord Moyne, former British Colonial Secretary, in the course of the discussion yesterday in the House of Lords on the broadcast made recently by Lord Wedgwood to the United States in which he urged that Britain surrender the Palestine mandate to America. Lord Moyne said that “Palestine, which is only a fraction of ancient Syria,” will not solve the problem of the millions of Jews in Europe who would be left homeless by the war.
The statement made by Lord Moyne, as well as the declaration made yesterday in the House of Lords by Lord Cranborne, the Colonial Minister, who spoke in behalf of the Government, were interpreted here today as revealing that the British policy with regard to the Jews in Palestine is as follows: 1. It opposes the creation of a Jewish Army or a Jewish Home Guard in Palestine; 2. It is opposed to the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish National State; 3. It favors negotiations for the settlement of European Jews in other Arab countries in the Middle East which could be merged into a federation of Arab states and leave the Jews as a minority in each of these states.
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.
