Dr. Stephen S. Wise, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, suggested today that the Jews of the world raise $50,000,000 for settlement work in Palestine in order to overcome British objections to increased Jewish immigration on the ground of absorptive capacity.
He declared in answer to a question by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at a press conference that “if the Jews of America and of the world, instead of thinking in terms of $3,500,000 or $5,000,000, under the auspices of the Council for German Jewry, were to tax themselves in the amount of $50,000,000 from Jewish resettlement in Palestine, the British Government would be moved to give quite a different hearing to the argument in behalf of greater economic absorptive capacity.”
He asserted: “I have every reason to know, and it will soon come to light, that the Jewish Agency has made a real dent on the British Government. The House of Lords debate primarily and the debate in the House of Commons secondarily have shown that the leadership of England is very sensitive with regard to charges of non-cooperation on the part of the British Government in the matter of fulfilling the Balfour Declaration.”
He added: “The legislative council has not yet been established. The immigration restrictions are temporary and have not yet been put into effect. There is one way, and only one way–and Dr. Weizmann was entirely right in his ceaseless affirmation of the principle–to bring about maximum immigration into Palestine, that that is to supply maximum funds for the reception, settlement and absorption of would-be Jewish immigrants into Palestine.”
He said that the relationship of the United Palestine Appeal and the Joint Distribution Committee was one of “friendliness and good will,” adding that “nation building is not in competition with organized charity.”
Dr. Wise declared there must be “mass emigration from Poland,” stating that latest figures showed that one half the Jews in Poland were living below the subsistence level.
Dwelling on Palestine’s importance as a refuge for German Jews, Dr. Wise said that 67 per cent of the exiles had found a home there, while America, England, Holland and the Scandinavian countries combined had permanently taken care of 20,000 persons.
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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.
