World Zionist Conference Warned Not to Expect Great Concessions from Labor Government

Dr, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion, principal leaders of the world Zionist movement, today warned that Jews should not expect immediate improvement in the attitude of the British Government towards Palestine because a Labor Government is now in power.

Speaking at a closed session of the World Zionist Conference, in the presence of about 100 delegates from various countries, Dr. Weizmann outlined the Zionist prospects under the new government and stressed that he could not venture any definite forecast. “We shall have to wait and see,” he said. He reported that he has not had any contact with the new government, but met with some of its important members when they were still members of the coalition cabinet.

Ben-Gurion, reviewing the present situation, told the conference that it cannot be taken for granted that the Zionist position will change automatically as a result of the change in the British Government. The Zionists, he said, should bear in mind that Palestine is not the only problem which the new government faces. “At the sametime, we must make clear that Palestine is a matter of life and death for the Jews,” he added. “There cannot be any going back on Zionist demands.”

Mere changes in the White Paper which would imply the endorsement of the White Paper principles will not be accepted by the Zionist movement, Ben-Gurion stated, “We must insist on the complete cancellation of this document as a matter of right and not only as a mere desire,” he declared.

The conference heard a report on the situation of 140,000 Jewish survivors who are still held in camps in Germany. Eliahu Dobkin, head of the immigration department of the Jewish Agency, who just returned from a tour of these camps, revealed that in some of the camps the Jews proclaimed a hunger strike against the starvation diet which they are receiving. The lack of clothing there is so acute that in some camps Jews are compelled to wear Nazi uniforms.