Between the Lines

At the session of the Actions Committee in Jerusalem yesterday Mr. Shertok, the able member of the Zionist Executive, found it necessary to explain from the platform that I am all wrong in what I stated several days ago in my column here that the Jewish Agency has lost its monopoly over Jewish immigration into Palestine by the new announcement of the Palestine government. This new angued, is nothing but a repetition gued, is nothing but a repetition of an old ordinance issued ten years ago.

Whether the announcement of the Palestine government, as published last week in the official Palestine Gazette, is merely a repetition of an old ordinance or not, the fact remains that Jewish farmers and industrialists will now, under the “repeated ordinance,” be in a position to obtain immigration certificates for their employes directly from the Palestine government and not through the Jewish Agency.

JEWISH AGENCY DEFEATED

Does this not mean that the Jewish Agency has lost its sole control over Jewish immigration into Palestine? Does this not mean that the Jewish farmers and industrialists in Palestine who had never approved of the Jewish Agency’ system of distribution of immigration certificates, have now gained a victory over the Agency? Does this not mean that the Jewish Agency is now no longer the sole medium for obtaining immigration certificates from the government for Jews?

There is no doubt that something is wrong with the present system of the distribution of immigration certificates. There is also no doubt that the ordinance published last week by the Palestine government which Mr. Shertok terms a “repetition” of an old ordinance is due to the fact that too many complaints have been heard recently against this system.

GRAVE CHARGES

Only last month the Palestine Hebrew press openly accused the Jewish Agency of selling the immigration certificates instead of distributing them impartially to those who are entitled to getting them. The official organ of the Jewish Farmers’ Association in Palestine came out with the accusation that in Warsaw the so-called “Palestine Amt,” established by the Jewish Agency, had a revenue of not less than 80,000 last year, just from selling immigration certificates which it received.

To these charges, which have been heard recently again and again from different countries where the immigration certificates are distributed, the Jewish Agency has so far not replied. Grave as these charges are, they were no doubt also brought to the attention of the Palestine government, since they appeared in the Palestine press. Are these charges not one of the reasons why the government has now taken the monopoly for distributing certificates away from the Jewish Agency?

THE NON-ZIONISTS AFFECTED

Something is wrong with the present system of the Agency’s distribution of certificates, if such charges can be made publicly. Something is wrong with the Agency for not answering these charges. It seems to me, however, that the worst feature is the fact that the non-Zionists in the Jewish Agency have no representation whatsoever in the bureaus which distribute the certificates locally.

The non-Zionists in the Jewish Agency are as responsible for the distribution of the certificates as the Zionists. They are responsible to the Palestine government and they are also responsible to the thousands of Jews who are to receive the certificates. The charges made in the Palestine press affect the prestige of the non-Zionists as much as of the Zionists. The action of the Palestine government in taking the monopoly for the distribution of certificates from the Jewish Agency is an expression of mistrust of the entire Agency in which the non-Zionists are represented just as well as are the Zionists.

SYSTEM MUST BE CHANGED

The non-Zionists should therefore demand that they be given a voice in the distribution of the immigration certificates, if they wish to avoid unpleasant experiences in the future. Though no longer the sole recipient, the Jewish Agency still remains the major recipient of the immigration certificates. The distribution of the certificates should therefore not be left henceforth to the so-called “Palestine Amts” alone, in which only Zionists are represented. A radical change must be demanded by the non-Zionists in order that those Jews in different countries who are not members of Zionist groups but who are just plain Jews, should also be given their chance to obtain immigration visas to Palestine.