A resolution calling upon the United Nations to issue an interim order- prior to consideration of the Palestine question – instructing Britain to implement the Palestine mandate free of all restrictive enactments, was adopted here today at the extraordinary one-day Zionist conference called by the American Zionist Emergency Council and attended by 650 delegates from 37 states.
The resolution said that the Jewish Agency expected to be given representation in any of the United Nations deliberations on Palestine, and urged the U.N. to reaffirm freedom of immigration to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state “in clear and precise terms.”
Another resolution called on the United States Government to assume leadership in the new situation and to demonstrate its intention to honor previously made pledges. Pending a final solution, the resolution urges the United States to use its influence for an interim policy based on the provisions of the mandate, particularly for immediate admission to Palestine of the 100,000 homeless Jews and removal of the discriminatory land purchase restrictions in Palestine.
The conference expressed confidence in the leadership of the Jewish Agency and the American Zionist Emergency Council and pledged the “full support of American Zionism to these leaders in their efforts to open Palestine to unrestricted Jewish immigration and to attain Jewish statehood.”
Other resolutions condemned the British regime of brutal force against the Jewish community in Palestine; called on the U.S. to secure the commutation of the pending death sentences in Palestine; and expressed solidarity and support of the Yishuv and its “nationally disciplined leadership.”
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, addressing the gathering, declared that the end of the road seems to have been reached with Great Britain. He suggested that it may be advantageous to have the question reviewed by an international body whose members “are not as committed to appeasing Arabs as are the British today.” He stressed the “tremendously increased role” of the United States in the ultimate decision.
“What that role will be,” he said, “remains to be seen. But during the last few months the attitude of the American Government toward our cause has been more understanding, more sympathetic than it has been for a long time. And even more than that, it has been an effective manifestation of desire to be of help. If this attitude continues and is strengthened and reinforced, we may count upon a large measure of undergirding of our position by the United States.”
Dr. Emanuel Neumann, reporting on the negotiations with British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin and Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones, in which he participated as a member of the Jewish Agency executive, said that the British Government “is not yet ready to depart from its anti-Zionist orientation and from the principles of the White Paper.”
The British Government is particularly bitter, Neumann said, at the role the United States has been playing. “There is terrific resentment at what is considered American interference.” He reported complaints by Bevin that more Jews would have been settled in Palestine by now if the U.S. had not interferred.
Other speakers at the conference included Mrs. Judith Epstein, president of Hadassah, Henry Monsky and Louis Lipsky of the American Jewish Conference, Prof. Hayim Finaman of the Laborites, Gedaliah Bublick of the Mirrachi, B. Netanyahu of the Revisionists and others.
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