Congressmen Confused on Palestine Resolution; Seek Private Advice of Officials

Unexpected complications have developed around the question of the Palestine resolution now before Congress as a result of the hearings by the House Foreign Affairs Committee which indicated that certain Jewish groups are definitely opposed to the section of the resolution recommending the ultimate establishment of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth, it was learned here today.

Before the hearings started there was little doubt that the resolution would pass since a large number of Congressmen were in favor of it. The hearings, however, introduced some confusion into the minds of certain members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who are now inclined to act on any hint they may get from the State Department and the War Department as to whether passage of the resolution is in the interests of the United States.

No indication has been given as to when hearings on the resolution will be resumed by the Foreign Affairs Committee, but it was learned that several members of the Committee have already made private queries at the State Department as to what their attitude should be with regard to the resolution. The attitude of the State Department, it was stated, was not unfriendly.

NEUMANN’S ARGUMENTS FOR RESOLUTION CREATE FAVORABLE IMPRESSION

The testimony which made the greatest impression on members of the Foreign Affairs Committee was that of Emanuel Neumann. The resolution Mr. Neumann argued, is “a reaffirmation of an American policy and a word of cheer and of hope to the harassed multitudes of the Jewish people in Europe and their brave vanguard in Palestine.”

“Why this reaffirmation and why the express reference to the goal of a free and democratic Jewish Commonwealth?” Mr. Neumann asked. “The answer is obvious,” he continued. “The Balfour Declaration was unquestionably meant to help, in the words of President Wilson “To lay the foundations of a Jewish Commonwealth.” The policy was so understood, quite definitely, by our own Government at the time. There is clear documentary evidence of that fact. But in the course of these years, under pressure of Arab intransigeance and a campaign of terror carried on with the help of the Axis, the original commitment of the Balfour Declaration was gradually whittled down, interpreted and re-interpreted beyond recognition — a process which culminated in the White Paper.”