Responsible Zionist circles, apprehensive over the Palestine Government’s decision not to issue an immigration schedule for the current six months, asked today: “Have we returned to the period of appeasement in Palestine policy?”
While admitting the hampering effect of the war on travel to Palestine, Zionist circles said that these circumstances did not justify stoppage of immigration, even under the Palestine White Paper, which was never accepted by any responsible Jewish body. They said that even now exceptional arrivals and transfers of capital. were possible.
Zionist opinion, drawing a parallel between the decision of the Palestine Government and recent deportation of illegal immigrants, states that a situation is arising in which legal immigrants are not allowed to arrive and illegals who succeed in arriving are deported. (The Government’s announcement said that a limited number of the expired immigration certificates would be renewed.) Zionists assert that the whole episode reveals a lack of any touch of goodwill.
The Zionist Review warns that the decision will arouse concern and resentment throughout the Jewish world and among enlightened circles in England and America. The Zionist organ says it cannot believe that the decision was taken with the full knowledge and approval of the British Government and urges that it be reconsidered without delay by the highest authorities.
“Not Palestine, not even the Jewish people alone are involved,” the paper states. “What is involved is nothing less than the principle for which this war is fought.”
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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.
