Arab Opposition to Jewish State in Palestine Must Not Be Minimized, Shertok Warns

Arab opposition to a Jewish state in Palestine must not be mininized if the Jews are to be successful in building their own state there, Moshe Shertok, political chief of the Jewish Agency, declared this weekend at the 33rd annual convention of Hadassah. The parley, which is being attended by some 3,000 delegates, is slated to close Tuesday.

The vehemence of the Arab opposition to Jewish statehood is in a small measure evidence of the Arabs’ conviction of the practicability of a Jewish state, Shertok insisted. “It is because the Arabs know how real and practical our claim is, and what force our advocacy of Palestine has created both in the Centile and Jewish worlds that they can make so desperate a bid for the overthrow of claims to Jewish state?ed,” he declared.

Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency, who preceded Shertok, asserted that the United Nations faces a “major victory ## a major defeat” over the Palestine issue. “It will enormously increase its ##restige and authority if it succeeds in solving the Palestine problem. It will be taken to its very foundations if it fails to back up the recommendations of its own ##nding committee,” Rabbi Silver said.For the Jewish people, an affirmative decision will mean the “beginning of new epoch in its history, a turning away from the Valley of the Shadow of Death, to new life and a new hope, The manner in which the Arab proples will react to the decision of the United Nations will also have great consequences for them,” he continued. “It may mean prolonged and costly conflict which will benefit no one, or it ##ay mean cooperating for the regeneration of the entire Hear East for the blessing of all and the hurt of none.”

The United States was the first of the great powers to endorse a Jewish state in Palestine, and it now should insist that similar action be taken by the United Nations, Mrs. Rose Halprin, the only American woman member of the Jewish Agency executive, said in an address last night.

Mrs. Halprin pointed out that the United States promised to help implement economically, financially and along security lines the establishment of a Jewish state. Let us continue our creditable and historic role on this question by pushing for a conclusive solution now,” she said.

This evening, Judge Morris Rothenberg, president of the Jewish National fund, told the delegates that the creation of a Jewish state would not alone solve the problem of expansion of Jewish settlements. The land will remain the property of its Jewish or Arab owners and “every inch” needed for expansion will have to be purthased, he stressed. Earlier today, Rev. Carl Herman Voss, chairman of the executive council of the American Christian Committee for Palestine, warned the parley against being mieled by Arab threats.