Acceptance or rejection of the results of the Conference between the Jewish Agency and the British Government is exclusively a matter for the Zionist Congress and the Council of the Jewish Agency, says an official statement issued here by the Administrative Committee of the Zionist Organisation of America in regard to Mr. Ramsay MacDonald’s recent letter of interpretation of British policy in Palestine addressed to Dr. Wezmann, the particular reference being to Dr. Weizmann’s reply that the statement has re-established, in his opinion, the basis for co-operation with the Mandatory Power. (In commenting on it, I can speak in my personal capacity only, Dr. Weizmann said in his reply to the Prime Minister).
Mr. MacDonald’s letter is an improvement over the White paper in tone and in the appraisal of the Jewish achievements in Palestine and the recognition of the relationship of the entire Jewish people with Palestine, the statement of the American Zionist Administration declares. But the letter omits much that should be made explicit, it proceeds, adding that final judgment can be rendered only when the conclusions on other phases of British policy are laid before the Zionist Congress and the Council of the Jewish Agency.
The Administrative Committee of the Zionist Organisation of America held a special meeting last week to consider the new Government letter, and after a long discussion a committee was appointed to draw up a resolution in conjunction with the American Committee of the Jewish Agency.
The speakers were reported divided in their opinions, Mr. Ussischkin, who was then in America, being dissatisfied with the statement, and Mr. Jacob de Haas and Mr. Ab. Tulin expressing themselves against accepting the Government letter as a basis of co-operation with the Mandatory Government. On the other hand, Mr. Berl Locker, one of the Poale Zionist leaders, Rabbi Mayer Berlin, the leader of the Mizrachi, Mr. Louis Lipsky, former President of the Zionist Organisation of America, Mr. Morris Rothenberg, the head of the American Keren Hayesod, and Mr. Ab. Goldberg, were said to have declared that they regard it as a significant victory for the present.
Other speakers at the meeting, it was added, criticised Dr. Weizmann, contending that he had no right to express an opinion on the new Government letter, and insisting that he should have told Mr. MacDonald that the Zionist Congress is the only body capable of passing judgment on the new statement.
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