Mrs. Goldie Meirson, head of the political apartment of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, ended her five-week American tour ?ere yesterday at a dinner meeting with a group of outstanding Washington newsmen and radio correspondents. Before returning to New York the same evening she unexpectedly appeared at an overflow meeting on Palestine, addressed by Dr. Stephen S. ##ise under the auspices of the Washington chapter of the American Jewish Congress, and was given a standing ovation.
She told her dinner audience that attempted conciliation with the Arabs at lie this time would result only in strengthening their resistance to the U.N. decision on partition, since they regard the lack of firm action by the U.N. as encouragement to proceed with violence. “Conciliation is not possible,” she said, “so long as any Arab is allowed to believe that the U.N. has not made up its mind.” She said that if the Mufti were removed from the scene, influential Arabs who are now terrorized by a, would come forward and that a basis of negotiation could be established.
She pointed to non-aggression pacts concluded even now between Jewish and Arab villages in Palestine as a sign of the friendly relations between the two peoples. In the course of detailed questioning, including the reasons for the British attitude, Mrs. Meirson pointed out that the British, far from practicing the impartiality which they profess regarding implementation of partition, have helped to arm Arab 18 guards and replenish the Arab war budget by a long-deferred payment of $1,200,000 to the Moslem Supreme Council.
The decisive factor, she told her listeners during several hours of discussion, is the spirit of the Jewish community and particularly of the young people. She stressed their determination to fight and their need for arms. Only a token international force is desired, she said, since the Jews wish no one else to do their fighting for them. The distinction between maintenance of peace in Palestine and enforcement of partition, raised by the United States at the Security Council, she termed “a legal quibbled.”
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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.
