The Anglo-American inquiry committee’s report on Palestine placed politics above humanity Senator Claude Pepper of Florida charged in an address here last night to the fifth annual dinner of the Jewish National Fund of New England, which was attended by 1,500 persons.
“The report,” Senator Pepper said, “shows more consideration for the political situation which unrestricted immigration into Palestine would produce than for the unspeakable suffering and misery which hundreds of thousands of Jews are meanwhile enduring in Europe.” He pointed out that while the report recommended the immigration of 100,000 Jews to Palestine, it left the remaining Jews “without even hope.” Responsibility for the death of the millions of Jews during the war was primarily on the Nazis, he declared, but the fate of the surviving Jews is “now our problem,” because the Jews are in our hands as United Nations.”
Accusing Britain of having subordinated her trust as Mandatory for Palestine to her imperial interests in the Middle East, Senator Pepper asserted that “the Arabs will be far more friendly to the Jews in Palestine when they know that Palestine is administered in the name of the United Nations.” He called for an immediate and to the land restriction policy of the Palestine Administration as recommended by the Anglo-American committee, asserting that repeal was needed to enable the J.N.F. to implement its land purchasing policy. “You cannot hope to establish the Jewish people in a national home unless they are established on their own land,” he concluded.
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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.
