Contrary to expectations, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine will not issue an interim report on the situation of the Jews in Europe; it was officially announced here last night by the group’s secretaries, Harold Bealy and Leslie Rood.
They told a press conference that Jewish representatives from Hungary and Rumania have been invited to testify, and said that they expected the Hungarians to arrive today. Doubt was expressed that the delegates from Rumania would arrive in time because of “technical difficulties.” The main body of the committee is leaving for Cairo tomorrow.
Rood and Bealy revealed that the Allied control commissions in Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria had been asked for permission for the committee to enter those countries, but it had been refused. Therefore, the committee asked the British and U.S. members to send the heads of the Jewish committees to Vienna to testify.
Questioned concerning a statement by several of the Jews who demonstrated here on Sunday, that the committee had not spoken to the “man in the street,” Bealey replied that “the committee is satisfied that they have talked with representative Jews of Vienna. We have been able to talk with everyone who made a request to be heard,” he added. “This is the only place so far that that has been possible. Elsewhere, too many asked to be heard.” Bealey said that the committee was sorry it had missed the demonstration.
The official schedule of the inquiry group at the moment provides for three days of hearings in Cairo, opening on March 5, followed by three weeks in Palestine, devoted to hearings and travel about the country.
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