The action taken by the British Government on Palestine was due to misunderstanding, not to hostility, Dr. Weizmann declared at a meeting of the Vaad Loumi (Palestine Jewish National Council), which he addressed here to-night, when he described the struggle in which the Jewish Agency had been engaged over the Pass field White Paper and the Simpson Report, comparing it to David’s fight with Goliath.
The negotiators in London were obliged to disregard the advice from America and Palestine to discontinue the discussions with the British Cabinet, Dr. Weizmann explained, and the result is the MacDonald letter, after which, he said, everything now depends on us.
The new negotiations will commence on April 14th., Dr. Weizmann announced and will deal with the development plan, for which a tripartate agreement is essential, affording the first opportunity in a decade to confer with the Arabs on practical questions, from which political negotiations may follow.
The question of a Palestine Legislature will not be discussed yet, Dr. Weizmann said, but it must inevitably come up in one form or another. It is a lie to say that we have agreed to a Legislature, he added.
The land ordinance will soon be made public, Dr. Weizmann went on, and it will be found to be satisfactory.
Dr. Weizmann proceeded to complain of the activities of the Revisionists, saying that the attacks from the Jewish side were worse than those from the Arab side.
Dr. Weizmann informed the Vaad Leumi that he expects to go to America after Passover on behalf of the Palestine Foundation Fund (Keren Hayesod).
Mr. M. M. Ussischkin, the head of the Jewish National Fund, has declined the offer made to him of the chairmanship of the Vaad Leumi, and was absent from the session which Dr. Weizmann addressed to-night.
Many leaders of Palestine Jewish life who are not members of the Vaad Leumi were present at the session, including some of the leading Palestine planters.
The Administration of the new Vaad Leumi will consists of three Labour representatives, one General Zionist, one Mizrachi, and one Sephardi, probably Dr. Arlossoroff, Mr. I. Ben-Zvi, and Dr. Abraham Katzenelson, representing Labour, Mr. Eliahu Berligne, representing the General Zionists, Rabbi Ostrowski, the Mizrachi, and Mr. Elmalah the Sephardim.
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