BITTER DEBATE ON PARTITION OF PALESTINE, HELD SINCE THURSDAY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS OF THE TWENTIETH BIENNIAL WORLD ZIONIST CONGRESS, NEARED A CLOSE TONIGHT AS PROPONENTS OF THE BRITISH SCHEME THREW THEIR HEAVIEST GUNS INTO THE BATTLE.
VICTORY APPEARED CERTAIN FOR THE PRO-PARTITIONISTS, LED BY DR. CHAIM WEIZMANN, PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD ZIONIST ORGANIZATION, AND DAVID BEN-GURION, PALESTINE LABOR LEADER AND MEMBER OF THE ZIONIST EXECUTIVE.
UNDER A RESOLUTION THAT WAS BEING GROOMED FOR A VOTE, THE EXECUTIVE WOULD BE EMPOWERED TO NEGOTIATE FOR MORE FAVORABLE TERMS FOR THE PROPOSED JEWISH STATE THAN CONTAINED IN THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION. THE EXECUTIVE, HOWEVER, WILL BE LIMITED IN ITS POWERS, THE RIGHT OF FINAL ACCEPTANCE BEING RESERVED FOR A NEWLY-ELECTED CONGRESS.
DR. WEIZMANN, WHO HAS ADDRESSED THE CONGRESS AGAIN AND AGAIN ON BEHALF OF ACCEPTANCE OF PARTITION IN PRINCIPLE, LAST NIGHT WAS REINFORCED BY MR. BEN-GURION, REGARDED AS THE SECOND MOST INFLUENTIAL LEADER IN THE ZIONIST HIGH COMMAND.
A JEWISH STATE IN PART OF PALESTINE, THE LABOR LEADER ASSERTED, WAS PREFERABLE TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION’S ALTERNATIVES, WHICH INCLUDED RIGID RESTRICTION OF JEWISH IMMIGRATION WITH THE POLITICAL PRINCIPLE REPLACING THAT OF ECONOMIC ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY OF THE COUNTRY AS A YARDSTICK.
UNDER THE MANDATE, HE DECLARED, NO MORE THAN 700,000 JEWS COULD HOPE TO ENTER PALESTINE IN FIFTEEN YEARS WHILE UNDER PARTITION BETWEEN ONE MILLION AND A MILLION AND A HALF NEW IMMIGRANTS COULD BE ABSORBED IN THE SAME PERIOD.
HE POINTED OUT THAT IN A DIVIDED PALESTINE, JEWS WOULD BE GOVERNED BY THEIR OWN LAWS AS REGARDS ACQUISITION OF LAND, DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY, AND SECURITY.
“WE WILL SHOW THE WORLD HOW TO TREAT OTHER PEOPLE JUSTLY,” MR. BEN-GURION DECLARED, ADDING THAT ARAB-JEWISH UNDERSTANDING WOULD IMPROVE UNDER PARTITION.
PLEDGES AID IN RESETTLING ARABS
REFERRING TO THE PROBLEM OF THE 225,000 ARABS LIVING IN THE PROPOSED JEWISH TERRITORY, MR. BEN-GURION SAID THEIR TRANSFER WAS ETHICAL, NECESSARY AND PRACTICABLE. HE SAID THE JEWS WOULD PROVIDE MEANS FOR SETTLING THEM UNDER THE ARAB GOVERNMENT.
CONCLUDING, HE HAILED ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE AS THE “BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION AWAITED TWO THOUSAND YEARS.”
EARLIER IN THE EVENING DR. WEIZMANN, IN ADDRESSING A CAUCUS OF THE GROUP A GENERAL ZIONISTS, POINTED OUT THAT ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE, “HOWEVER SMALL, WOULD ENABLE THE CONDUCT OF PALESTINE WORK, NOT ON A BASIS OF SCHNORREREI (BEGGING) AND ZIONIST COLLECTIONS IN AMERICA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE GALUTH, BUT BY ITS OWN CONSTRUCTIVE EFFORT.”
DR. WEIZMANN WAS SUPPORTED BY DR. S. E. SOSKIN, WHO RECENTLY QUIT THE JEWISH STATE PARTY BECAUSE OF ITS OPPOSITION TO PARTITION; MOSHE SMILANSKY, BARUCH OSTROWSKY, SCHMUEL ZHUKOVITSKY AND ISRAEL ROKEACH, ALL PALESTINE FARM LEADERS.
SHMORACK, GROSSMAN GIVE OPPOSITION VIEWS
STRONG OPPOSITION TO PARTITION WAS VOICED AT THE EVENING SESSION BY DR. EMIL SHMORACK, OF POLAND, AND MEIR GROSSMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE JEWISH STATE PARTY.
MR. GROSSMAN, DECLARING HE COULD NOT FOLLOW LEADERS LIKE DR. WEIZMANN AND CHARGING HIS SPEECH WAS A “CONFESSION OF FAILURE,” TERMED THE PROPOSED JEWISH STATE NO MORE THAN A “VASSAL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.” HE SAID ACCEPTANCE OF PARTITION WOULD AMOUNT TO A “SUICIDE PACT” AND CONTENDED THAT THE CONGRESS WAS NOT AUTHORIZED TO DECIDE THE ISSUE.
MR. SHMORACK, REPRESENTING THE GROUP B GENERAL ZIONISTS, DECLARED HIS PARTY WAS NOT PREPARED TO ENTRUST THE EXECUTIVE WITH PARTITION NEGOTIATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
VLADIMIR JABOTINSKY, LEADER OF THE NEW ZIONIST ORGANIZATION, ARRIVED YESTERDAY. THE CHIEF PROPONENT OF A JEWISH STATE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE JORDAN, WHO IS OPPOSED TO ACCEPTANCE OF PARTITION AS OFFERED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSION, IS NEGOTIATING FOR A MEETING WITH DR. WEIZMANN.
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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.
