Agency Unopposed to International Solution for Palestine, but Says White Paper Must Go

The Jewish Agency is not opposed to the reported British plan to refer the entire Palestine question to the United Nations, but such a move cannot excuse further delay in rescindment of the White Paper, an Agency spokesman said today.

Stressing that the report was still completely unconfirmed, he pointed out that the “international recognition of the Jewish claim to Palestine has always been a cardinal principle of Zionist policy, and even now Britain holds Palestine by international authority as trustee of the League of Nations.

“But the White Paper was promulgated by the British Government under its own responsibility,” he continued. “The authority of the League was not sought, nor was there prior consultation with the United States, with whom the British concluded a treaty concerning Palestine based on the League’s mandate. Moreover, the Mandates Commission of the League pronounced the White Paper incompatible with the terms of the mandate.

“Thus on the notable occasion when a competent organ of the League censured the policy laid down by the British Government, it persisted in its defiance of the international authority. The views of the Mandates Commission were fully shared by Churchill and the Labor Party. During the debate on the White Paper, the Labor opposition charged the Chamberlain Government with concealing from the House the Mandates Commission’s disapproval.

“There can, of course, be no possible objections to the British Government’s now seeking international approval for a new policy,” he concluded, but this cannot be made an excuse to maintain in the meantime the White Paper, responsibility for which rests with the British Government and it alone. The breach of faith was committed by it and must be undone by it.”