A series of resolutions on peace and post-war problems, including the Palestine problem, abrogation of Nazi anti-Jewish legislation, repatriation of refugees, outlawing of anti-Semitism, and post-war migration, were adopted here today by the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee at a meeting in the Hotel Waldorf Astoria, in lieu of the cancelled 38th annual meeting of the organization.
Presided over by Jacob Blaustein, chairman of the executive committee, the meeting heard a number of reports, including one on peace problems presented by Judge Joseph M. preskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, and one by George Z. Medalie, chairman of the overseas committee of the organization. The following course of action was recommended in the resolutions adopted.
1. The creation, in accordance with the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, of “a permanent commission to be set up at the earliest possible time by the United Nations Conference to formulate an International Bill of Rights embodying the principles of human rights, fundamental freedoms, religious liberty, and racial equality, and a course of procedure for the implementation and enforcement of the bill.”
2. The outlawing by the United Nations of “public or organized incitement against religious, ethnic and racial groups” as “contrary to the principles and interests of world democracy and a danger to the peace and security of the world.”
3. The abrogation of Nazi legislation and discrimination against Jews in the “just” manner of the armistice agreements between the governments of the United Nations and the respective governments of Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary. These armistice agreements — in the words of the Hungarian armistice — provide for the repeal of “all discriminatory legislation and disabilities” and the enactment of measures that will give “all displaced persons and refugees, including Jews and stateless persons, at least the same measures of protection and security as its own nationals.”
4. A liberal policy of repatriation that would provide, All displaced nationals, irrespective of race, creed or ethnic origin, with readmission to the country of their nationality; the readmission of all displaced persons, “whether of foreign nationality or stateless” to the country of their permanent residence; “That no displaced person should be compelled to return to the country from which he was displaced” and that he should be “allowed to continue to live in the country in which he resides even, insofar as practicable, in neutral countries which have served as a temporary haven of refuge,” Displaced persons are defined as “those who have fled, been expelled from, or forced to leave the countries of their nationality or permanent residence since the Nazis came to power in January 1933.”
ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION ON MIGRATION IS URGED
5. That inasmuch as “migration is a matter of vital international interest” that “a Commission on Migration, under the Economic and Social Council of the general International Organization should work for the adoption and ratification of an international migration convention” based upon the principle that in all migration matters.
6. On Palestine, the Committee reaffirmed its previous statements and resolutions, including the Statement of Views of January 31, 1943, which recommended for Palestine “an international trusteeship responsible to the United Nations” in order: “to safeguard the Jewish settlement in and Jewish immigration into Palestine and to guarantee adequate scope for future growth and development to the full extent of the economic absorptive capacity of the country; to safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of all inhabitants; to safeguard and protect the holy places of all faiths; to prepare the country to become, within a reasonable period of years, a self-governing commonwealth under a constitution and a bill of rights that will safeguard and protect these purposes and basic rights for all.”
7. Statelessness and the practice of denaturalization should be recognized as “a condition injurious to the existence of the national state, to the human community and to the dignity of the human personality.” To this end, a convention on statelessness should be adopted by the United Nations and a Commission on Statelessness should be set up under the Economic and Social Council to implement this convention.
The Committee endorsed the statement and urged “the adoption and enforcement” of the policy of the State Department in regard to the punishment of Axis criminals and their associates, which calls for “the punishment of German leaders and their associates for their responsibility for the whole broad criminal enterprise devised and executed with ruthless disregard of the very foundation of law and morality, including offenses, wherever committed, against the rules of war and against minority elements, Jews and other groups, and individuals.” Blaustein Outlines Activities of the Committee at Home and Abroad in Past Year
Reporting on the activities of the American Jewish Committee during the past year, Mr. Blaustein declared that the organization has, in all its work, at home and abroad, emphasized the necessity of “the dignity of the human being” to the end that “political, civil and religious equality of the citizens of all lands, regardless of creed or ancestry, shall be solemnly recognized.
“We do not delude ourselves, however,” said Mr. Blaustein, “into believing that even with the achievement of that aim, our work will be done. Alas, tragic experience has shown that rights granted by charters and treaties are not always granted in practice, and that the full and loyal implementation of solemn pledges can be assured only at the price of eternal vigilance and continuous struggle. To such vigilance and struggle the American Jewish Committee is pledged.”
Mr. Medalie, reporting as chairman of the overseas committee, declared there must be no isolationism in our thinking either as Americans or Jews. “It is very important,” he said, “that we not succumb to the views of the extremist who believes that fighting anti-Semitism on the homefront is the one and only job for American Jewry: nor must we abdicate our sense of perspective to the zealot who does harm to his cause by thinking only in terms of overseas relief and Palestine.”
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.
