Congressman Emanuel Celler of New York today issued a statement calling upon the American people to protest to President Roosevelt and to Prime Minister Winston Churchill against a reported contemplated move on the part of the American and British Governments to silence all discussions of Jewish aspirations to Palestine and thus “smash the hope” of turning Palestine into a haven for persecuted Jews of Europe.
Declaring that he had learned from thoroughly reliable sources that such a joint American-British statement will be issued soon, the Jewish congressman said that this statement is being prepared in an effort to appease the Arabs. “The statement will be an implied but nonetheless conclusive acceptance of the MacDonald White Paper of 1939, which limited Jewish immigration into Palestine to 75,000 for a 5-year period,” Congressman Celler explained. “Only 29,000 certificates of entrance into Palestine remain unused of that 5-year quota, and most of these will be limited to children.
“Even more alarming,” said Celler, “is the accompanying information that the joint statement will be issued with the knowledge and consent of the President. In the name of expediency and appeasement, under the shallow pretense of military and political necessity, Palestine as a homeland for the Jews becomes the ‘Lost Atlantic’ of a helpless, hopeless, unwanted people.”
ROLE OF PALESTINE JEWS IN PRESENT WAR CITED
Celler contrasted the role played by the Arabs and the Jews in the present war. He said “the Arabs of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran, far from being neutral, were actually hostile, easy prey to the foul noises of German propaganda.” In contrast he cited the record of Jewish soldiers, military doctors, nurses and workers.
“Yet,” he continued, “such has been the reward of the Jews that Arab appeasement is placed above Jewish honor. In Algiers another cruel blow is struck by Gen. Giraud’s abrogation of the Cremieux decree, depriving the Algerian Jews of French citizenship.” Celler expressed the view that the British had made up their minds regarding Palestine and that only President Roosevelt could bring about a change. He appealed to the President to convince Churchill that the White Paper be repealed and the original Balfour Declaration put into execution.
To foreclose discussion of further Jewish immigration into Palestine, said Celler, would doom to failure the forthcoming intergovernmental conference on refugees, and would “make us co-conspirators in the violation of international decency and honor.” Unless Britain can be persuaded to open Palestine at once to mass Jewish immigration, Celler said, “Europe will become a massive Jewish sepulchre.”
Charging that a number of inspired articles have recently appeared in the American press designed to prepare the public for the joint declaration, Celler declared that King Ibn Saud’s outburst against Zionism was part of the campaign. He also recalled to Churchill that latter’s statement in 1939 in Parliament declaring that the White Paper, insofar as it contained the provision that Jewish immigration could be stopped in five years, was a breach of faith by Britain.
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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.
