Administration Criticized for Hiding Behind the War Department

Resentment was expressed today by Rep. Ranulf Comption, republican member of the House and co-sponsor of the Palestine resolution, at the action of the House Foreign Affairs committee “in bowing to Administration pressure and delegating its authority to discuss legitimate foreign affairs of the United States to the War Department whether at the instigation of foreign interests or in line with a questionable new foreign oil policy.”

“The Administration should frankly state our position on the Palestine resolution and not hide behind any mysterious and general inferences from the War Department,” Rep. Compton said in a statement issued here. “I am reluctant to agree to the wisdom of a course of government which resigns diplomacy and decisions on political questions to the military. Let’s have the truth Let’s be done with subterfuge and mystery. I do not think real danger to the Allied cause lies in the simple and honest wording of the Palestine resolution; but if it does let our war leaders state that danger openly.

“If there is powerful and mysterious opposition to the Palestine resolution right here in Washington, let the power be disclosed and the mystery dissipated,” his statement continued. “People of this country can best consider and judge after public knowledge and discussion. A public statement is due the American people. Is it genuine fear of an Arab uprising – or is it merely a pipe-dream or a dream of a pipeline – that prompts this appeasement of the Arab puppets?”

ARAB OBJECTIONS TO JEWISH CLAIMS ARE INVALID, CONGRESSMAN SAYS

Rep. James A. Wright, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who is the co-sponsor of the Palestine resolution, issued the following statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

“The Secretary of War has notified the Foreign Affairs Committee that the security of our troops and success of the war might be endangered by action on the Palestine resolution at the present time. We are not military strategists and we cannot oppose our judgment on military matters to judgment of our military leaders. The result must inevitably be the delay of any action on this resolution for the time being.

“But this must not be considered a judgment upon the merits. Eventually and I hope soon – we must decide whether or not we wish to maintain the position we took in the resolution of 1922 and in the convention of 1925. The claim to Palestine is a just one and any objections which the Arabs make to it are invalid. As soon as the military position improves, it is the obligation of the House to take affirmative action on the Palestine resolution.

WAR DEPT. OBJECTS TO PALESTINE RESOLUTION AS A WHOLE

Authoritative sources disclosed today that the objections raised by the military authorities against the Palestine resolution were not directed against any particular part of the resolution, but against the resolution as a whole. The vote for tabling the resolution was 11 to 3, with Chairman Bloom voting with the minority, it was learned. The decision to discuss Palestine at today’s executive session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee came suddenly. Some members of the committee did not know of the decision until this morning, when they were summoned to appear by telephone.