Demand for Jewish Army Renewed in London; Partition Scheme Shelved Goldmann Reports

The Jewish Agency is renewing its demand for the formation of a Jewish Army, it was revealed here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Zionist leader and chairman of the administrative committee of the World Jewish Congress, upon his return from London.

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Goldmann disclosed that the partition of Palestine as a solution of the Arab-Jewish problem had been discussed recently “in some English quarters” but has been pushed into the background because of the unanimous opposition of all leaders of the Zionist movement.

“There is good reason to look forward with hope and confidence to a just solution of the Palestine problem which will pave the way for Arab-Jewish cooperation in the large areas in the Near East,” Dr. Goldmann stated. “The Zionist leadership is renewing its demand for the formation of a Jewish military unit based primarily on the nearly 40,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine. This unit should participate in the liberation of Europe, which will mean also the liberation of enslaved European Jewry.”

POSSIBILITY OF RESCUING JEWS FROM EUROPE STILL EXISTS

“I had the opportunity in London,” Dr. Goldmann continued, “to meet with Jews and non-Jews who had arrived recently from occupied Europe. Their reports confirmed the worst apprehensions about the extermination of European Jews. From more than three million Jews in Poland, less than 200,000 are supposed to be alive. Still, there are several millions of Jews living in Europe.”

“I got the conviction that possibility of rescue exists, if it is properly organized without undue red tape and done with energy and efficiency. To speed up rescue is doubly necessary now before the invasion of Europe. There is justified fear that the period before the final collapse of the Nazis may become the worst chapter in this tragedy. The retreating Nazis will try to exterminate the Jews before they withdraw.”