The Anglo-American Inquiry Committee on Palestine, which is en route to London where it will hold hearings on Jan. 25 to 31, will divide into four teams, which will fan out across Europe, after the London hearings are completed, a committee spokesman told this correspondent today.
The members of the committee, he said, hope to complete their investigations in Europe by the end of February, when they will assemble in Cairo for five days of hearings, before proceeding to Jerusalem, to complete the taking of testimony. Its report is expected to be in the hands of the British and American governments by May 1.
The problems of Palestine and the displaced Jews in Europe have been discussed at daily meetings of the committee, since the Queen Elizabeth sailed from New York, last Friday. The committee of twelve, assisted by a technical staff of seventeen, which includes research assistants, court reporters, secretaries and stenographers, meets for several hours daily under the chairmanship of British co-chairman Sir John Singleton. The mornings are devoted to meetings of the full committee, while in the afternoons, the sub-committees on Palestine and Europe meet.
The four sub-committees which will investigate conditions in Europe are as follows: Singleton, Judge Joseph Hutcheson, American co-chairman, Frank W. Buxton and Lord Morrison will go to Berlin. Bartley Crum, Frederick Legget and Richard Crossman will carry on their investigations from Frankfurt in the American zone. Dr. Frank Aydelotte, Major Reginald Manningham-Buller and Wilfred Crick will proceed to British zone headquarters at Lubeck. James MacDonald and William Phillips may possibly go to the French zone, using Paris as their headquarters.
REFUGEE SPOKESMEN WILL TESTIFY AT HEARINGS IN D.P. CAMPS
When visiting the displaced persons camps, the committee members will be accompanied by military interpreters to assist them in obtaining a first hand impression of the needs and desires of the camps’ residents. They will get statistical and other information from UNRRA and the military authorities and take random samplings of individual testimony. Spokesmen for refugee groups within the camps will be heard. After completing their visits to camps in Germany, the probers will assemble in Vienna to pool their findings.
It is not known whether the committee will visit Czechoslovakia, Poland and Rumania, although the JTA learns that visas for these countries are not included in the committee members’ passports. However, no one on the committee has anything to say on the subject.
While nothing official has been announced, it seems doubtful that the committee will suggest immediate action on the problems before it, prior to submission of its final report. While the body’s terms of reference permit recommendation for an interim handling of the problems, it is still not clear whether the committee will issue an interim report or whether its interim recommendations will form part of the final report.
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