The Jewish Agency may urge–through some friendly nations–that the United Nations take up the Palestine question, if the Agency Leaders come to the conclusion that it is hopeless to expect any agreement with the British Government, it was revealed at a press conference here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, a member of the Jewish Agency executive, upon his return from Europe where he participated in the informal talks between Foreign Minister Bevin and Jewish Leaders on the Palestine issue.
Dr. Goldmann declared that all elements exist for a compromise solution of the Palestine question, and that the continuation by the British Government of its “present repressive and dilatory tactics” can only result in “an explosion.”
Asserting that the Jewish Agency had made “a supreme concession” in an attempt to break the present stalemate, Dr. Goldmann warned that if no agreement is reached between Britain and the Jewish Agency by Dec. 16, when the London conference on Palestine is to resume, it would cause “an all-out struggle” against the British Government by Palestinian Jews supported by Jews in other parts of the World. The Jewish Agency, the declared, would wage a political fight, but lacking police power and in the face of rising tension, particularly among younger Jews, it would be unable to restrain those elements which will increasingly turn to methods of violence and terror.
“If the British want a compromise and a just solution, they can get it today,” he stated. He pointed to the of t-expressed American support and said that in seven talks in three weeks with Foreign Minister Bevin, he and other representatives of the Agency had clearly outlined the basic conditions for Jewish participation in the Palestine Conference in London. They were: freedom to choose the Agency spokesmen and an agreement on a basis of discussion likely to lead to fruitful results. Neither of these conditions, he said, were accepted.
SAYS “VIABLE JEWISH STATE” WOULD INCLUDE 65 PERCENT OF PALESTINE
Failure of the British Government to accept the compromise solution offered by the “viable state” proposal of the Agency, which is supported by the American Government and by moderate Arabs, Dr. Goldman declared, will show lack of goodwill and will “permanently embarrass Anglo-American relations.” He warned that, while unable to foretell the actual results, “it will be nasty for everybody concerned.”
Agency leaders, he said, told Bevin that if the British Government accepted the principle of a viable state, they were prepared to participate in the London talks and to submit their idea of an adequate area. This would constitute approximately 65 percent of Palestine to include Galilee, the coastal plain and the Negev.
The Jewish Agency “reluctantly” decided “to accept the supreme sacrifice involved in another partition,” Dr. Goldman continued, “not out of choice or a conviction of equity,” but “in a desperate effort to open the way for immediate large-scale Jewish immigration” to save hundreds of thousands of Jews in Europe.” He asserted that “very important Arab leaders would be ready to consider a partition scheme if they knew that they had to accept a compromise,” and called on the British Government to press for “a conciliatory mood” among the Arabs.
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.
