Jewish Agency Denies Reports It Asked for Delay in Government Parley to Await Expected Arrival of Am

Reports that the Jewish Agency asked for a postponement of the negotiations with the government were denied today in an exclusive statement issued to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by the Jewish Agency with the approval of the government. The statement says “the Jewish Agency states that it has not asked for a postponement of the meetings with the cabinet committee and that the rate of progress made in those discussions is determined by the situation itself.”

In addition to denying the allegation made at last night’s Labor meeting in Whitechapel by Michael Marcus Labor M. P., that Dr. Chaim Weizmann himself had requested a postponement from the government until an American representative arrives to participate in the negotiations, the statement also refutes the report of the Jewish Chronicle that negotiations were interrupted upon Dr. Weizmann’s request and that they are unlikely to be resumed for four or five weeks.

The Jewish Chronicle also stated that in government circles the opinion was that Dr. Weizmann’s asking for the postponement indicated that he “was more concerned about the retention of his leadership than with the contents of the White Paper.” At the same time the Jewish Chronicle asserts that in well-informed circles the opinion is current that a new High Commissioner will be named for Palestine because Sir John Chancellor’s undisguised hostility to the Jewish National Home misled Lord Passfield into believing that the White Paper would be reluctantly accepted by the Zionists.