Leaders of the Jewish Agency tonight met with leaders of non-Zionist Jewish organizations on the eve of the presentation of the Jewish case to the U.N., which is scheduled for Thursday. Dr. Abba Hillel Silver was due to speak tomorrow, but the Ad Hoc Committee postponed its meeting.
A delegation composed of American Zionist and non-Zionist leaders will seek a meeting with President Truman in order to clarify the attitude of the U.S. delegation on the majority recommendations of the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, which urge the partitioning of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Leaders of the Jewish Agency here are alarmed at the fact that a change of mood has occurred in the ranks of the U.S. delegation since the British declaration on Palestine by Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones and after Secretary of State Marshall met with the delegations of the Arab states last week. Although Secretary Marshall officially told the U.N. General Assembly that the U.S. Government will give “great weight” to the UNSCOP majority rocommendations, it is feared that the American delegation may not be inclined to give unqualified support to partition.
PALESTINE ISSUE ENTERING “CRITICAL PHASE” AT U.N., ZIONIST COUNCIL SAYS
Emphasizing that the Palestine issue “is now entering a highly critical phase at the United Nations,” the American Zionist Emergency Council today issued a call to Jewish organizations throughout the country to send telegraphic appeals to President Truman and to Secretary Marshall expressing concern over the fact that the U.S. Government “is not ready to take a clear attitude in the United Nations in favor of the UNSCOP majority recommendations.”
An emergency appeal to Mr. Truman to use his office “not only for favorable consideration of the principles of the UNSCOP majority report, but also its implementation, with the United States assuming its share of responsibility,” was telegraphed by Frank Goldmn, president of B’nai B’rith on behalf of the 300,000 members of the organization. The appeal also asked that American ships be made available for the transportation of displaced Jews from Europe to Palestine.
The Independent Order Brith Abraham, with 400 lodges in 28 states of the United States, also urged the American Government to support the UNSCOP partition re-commendations. An appeal to this effect was sent to Truman and to Secretary Marshall.
At a Zionist rally tonight in Great Neck, adjoining Lake Success, James G. McDonald, former member of the Anglo-American Inquiry Committee on Palestine, appealed to the President and Secretary Marshall to ignore Arab threats and back the UNSCOP majority recommendations. Other speakers who urged U.S. action to support the establishment of a Jewish state in a partitioned Palestine included Louis Lipsky, chairman of the Interim Committee of the American Jewish Conference, and Mrs. Judith Epstein, president of Hadassah.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.