Jewish Agency Leaders Meet with British Officials to Study “federalization” Maps

Although Jewish Agency leaders today announced that the Zionists have rejected the Bevin proposals on Palestine and will not even consider them a basis for discussion, it was apparent tonight that the door has been left open for further negotiations in an attampt to find a formula acceptable to the Jews.

David Ben Gurion and Moshe Shartok met tonight with officials of the Colonial Office to inspect maps showing the delimitation of the Jewish and Arab zones under the Bevin plan. Neither the Foreign Minister nor Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones was present.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Shertok said that the Agency could not accept the British proposals, would not even consider them as a basis for further talks and was prepared to break off discussions unless the government agreed to the basic Zionist demands for an adequate Jewish area, full power of immigration into that zone and recognition of eventual Jewish independence in at least a part of Palestine.

ZIONIST ACTIONS COMMITTEE MAY BE CONVOKED IF TALKS ARE BROKEN OFF

If the talks should be broken off, a meeting of the Zionist Actions Committee would probably be convened to hear a report on the negotiations, he said. At the same time, the government would be urged to restore the status of the mandate–abrogation of the land laws and no restriction of immigration–while awaiting consideration of the issue by the next session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Shertok said that the Bevin scheme was unacceptable on the following counts:

1. There was no certainty that any immigration would be allowed at the end of the initial two-year period, or at what rate if some were allowed. Also the plan was a step backward compared to Morrison’s proposal to admit 100,000 in one year.

2. The suggested Jewish area is inadequate, and provides no room for further expansion since only those areas will be considered Jewish in which Jews now have a majority. This means that not all land now occupied by Jews will be included in the Jewish zones, and since the Jewish area need not be contiguous, it would result in “fragmentation” of the existing Jewish settlement.

3. The purpose of the plan is to prepare Palestine to become an independent, unitary state, which would mean that after five years the Jews would be a permanent minority in a Palestinian state with an Arab majority.

Shertok admitted that the establishment of an independent state was not spelled out in the Bevin proposals, but charged that was the intention of the framers of the plan. He pointed out that the creation of a permanent Jewish minority was precisely what the Jews found objectionable in the White Paper.

AGENCY WILL SUBMIT WRITTEN REPLY WITHIN FEW DAYS

The Agency stand will be outlined formally in written reply to be submitted to Bevin within a few days, after which “we will consider our business finished,” Shertok said, adding that if Britain attempted to imposs the plan by force, the Jews would not cooperate, and consequently it was unlikely that the scheme would work.

H.A. Goodman, political secretary of the Agudas Israel, said today that while the British proposals require considerable clarification, he hoped they would not be rejected “out of hand,” since they contain definite pledges on immigration.

An Agudah delegation which met with Creech-Jones yesterday was assured, Goodman stated, that the new plan would implement, rather than supersede the mandate, and that the rights of the Jewish Agency would be safeguarded. He suggested that a commission composed of Colonial Office officials and Jewish representatives be set up to attempt to bring the British plan more in line with Jewish demands.