After several days of see-sawing back and forth, opinion at the World Zionist Congress seems to be crystalizing in favor of Dr. Weizmann’s demand for participation in the London conference, although the forces led by Dr. Abba Hillel Silver are still powerful.
A marked trend towards Dr. Weizmann developed following his impressive address last night and his supporters have not been slow to take advantage of it. Early today they began negotiating with various factions in an attempt to line up sufficient support to guarantee his election as head of the World Zionist Organization, and selection of an executive which will follow his line.
While Dr. Weizmann is believed to favor a small executive of about nine members, one of the combinations now being discussed is the creation of a three-branch executive with a section in Jerusalem, London and Washington. Such a combination would enable the establishment of a broad coalition executive, which might even include such opposition labor groups as the Hashomer Hatzair and the Achduth Avodah.
The Hashomer Hatzair delegates today announced at a press conference that they will support Dr. Weizmann for re-election to presidency, despite the fact that they are opposed to partition. By voting for Dr. Weizmann, the Hashomer Hatzair is trying to commit the executive to other proposals besides partition, a spokesman for the group explained. The other proposals are expected to include; the implementation of the mandate, the carrying out of the recommendations of the Anglo-American inquiry committee, and possibly the establishment of Palestine as a bi-national state.
The head of the Hashomer Hatzair delegation, Mordechai Bentov, told the press conference that he was confident that the loaders of the Jewish Agency would be forced to reject partition at the London conference, because Foreign Secretary Bevin would offer only an inadequate partition plan, which would be little better than the “federalization plan.” He emphasized that the Hashomer Hatzair would vote for Dr. Weizmann not as an individual, but as an exponent of a particular program. He pointed out that in his speech last night Dr. Weizmann did not commit himself to partition and stressed the importance of cooperation with the Arabs.
SILVER NAMED CHAIRMAN OF POLITICAL COMMITTEE; LABORITE IS VICE-CHAIRMAN
While negotiations on the composition of the new executive are going on behind the scenes, a political committee was formed today to prepare resolutions outlining the Congress stand on the major political issues before it. Dr. Abba Hillel Silver was named chairman of the committee and Goldie Meirson, a leader of the Palestine Labor Party, was named vice-chairman. A standing committee, which is a committee on committees, was also appointed, with Zalman Rubashev, Laborite, as chairman and Daniel Frisch, ZOA leader, as vice-chairman.
Dr. Israel Goldstein, Judge Morris Rothenberg, Leon Gellman and Dr. Ignacy Schwarzbart were among the speakers during the conclusion of the general debate yes- terday. Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Schwarzbart urged the Congress to reject attendance at the London conference while Dr. Goldstein denied that the United States would step out of the Palestine picture if the Zionists refused to attend the London talks. He suggested the establishment of a strong representation of the Zionist executive in America, since, he said, Zionist leaders in Jerusalem and London “may not be free to speak and to work.”
JUDGE ROTHENBERG WANTS CONGRESS TO PROTEST PALESTINE LAND RESTRICTIONS
Judge Rothenberg, president of the Jewish National Fund in America, warned the delegates that the land restrictions in Palestine were as dangerous as immigration restrictions, since “immigration into Palestine is meaningless without access to land. The fact should never be lost sight of that land is basic to our political aspirations in Palestine,” he added. He pointed out that the land owned by Jews in Palestine constitutes only 6.5 percent of the 27,000,000 dunams in the country and urged the Congress to voice a “loud and bitter protest” against the land laws.
Mr. Gellman, American Mizrachi president, attacked what he termed the “vicious” anti-religious practices of the communal settlements in Palestine. Devorah Rabinowitch of the American Mizrachi Women, said that most of the Zionist movement’s political activity should now be concentrated in the United States. She advocated “only organized, disciplined resistance to the British policy.”
Dr. Schwarzbart, a member of the General Zionist delegation from the United States, voiced the first open criticism of the Soviet Union at the Congress. He said that the Russians not only do not favor Zionism, but charge it with being an appendage of British imperialism. He also attacked the American Communist Party for a recent statement of policy in which it opposed establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, and said that further Jewish immigration should be under the authority of an Arab-Jewish state.
DELEGATE FROM POLAND WARNS PALESTINE MUST NOT BECOME BRITISH BASE
Adolph Berman, head of the Poale-Zionist delegation from Poland, said the working people of the world will not permit Palestine to become a British military base “for a third world war.” Calling for Arab-Jewish solidarity, he asserted that the Arab rulers and not the Arab people are the enemies of Zionism. He concluded with an appeal for the establishment of a Jewish Socialist state in Palestine.
Eliaha Loulu, a Sephardic member of the Palestine Labor Party delegation, discussed the problem of anti-Semitism in the countries of the Middle East. He said that anti-Jewish propaganda and sentiments had infiltrated into this region from Europe, and urged support for the Jews of the Middle East.
The growing support for Zionism among Latin-American Jews was described by M.M. Weinstein of Uruguay, who pointed out that Jews living in areas where Britain has interests can press for justice for the Jews of Palestine. Discussing a remark by a Revisionist spokesman, that the Zionists should welcome the return of the Revisionists, Weinstein said that he was ready to welcome them, provided they were ready to submit all the activities to Zionist discipline.
Another South American delegate, Isaac Regalski, editor of the Yiddishe Zeitung in Buenos Aires, attacked the Revisionists’ demand for establishment of a provisional Jewish government as a “political absurdity.” He supported participation in the London talks, stating that nothing was to be lost by attending, although it was unlikely that the conference would succeed.
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.