Jewish Agency Resumes Demand for a Jewish Army; Britain Explains Difficulties

The demand that Britain fullfil its promise to establish a Jewish fighting force was voiced here today at a public meeting by Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency, who is in London to participate in discussions with British officials on post-war Palestine. He urged that the British Government combine all Jewish military units scattered throughout the Mediterranean theatre of war into one Jewish army.

British official circles explained that the Jewish army has not been raised briefly because of “administrative difficulties which would arise if every race or religious minority in the British Empire raised its own army.” The statement also pointed out that it is difficult to identify or gather throughout the world all the Jews wishing to serve in such army, “not to mention the welding of the army into a single unified whole.”

Official circles today also defended the White Paper policy by repeating the old argument that not all Jewish immigrants allowed to enter Palestine under the White Paper have actually come into the country. They emphasized that immigration to Palestine must be controlled in accordance with the absorptive capacity, suitability of the immigrants, necessity to detect the infiltration of spies and fifth-columnists.

Commenting on the fact that the majority of the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations had voted against the White Paper, these same circles stated that the attitude of the Commission “weakened” in a subsequent interchange of views during which its members could not agree as to whether the policy of the White Paper was in accord with the mandate, or whether the mandate was unworkable under certain circumstances. Therefore, the British statement declares, the views of the members of the Mandates Commission were transmitted to the Council of the League of Nations without manimous recommendations. The Council did not act on the report of the Mandates Commission due to the outbreak of the war, which paralysed the work of the League.