Jewish Conference in London Discusses Palestine and Rights of Jews in Europe

The Palestine question was the center of discussion today at the conference of representatives of Jewish organizations from various countries convoked jointly by the Anglo-Jewish Association and the American Jewish Committee.

All speakers stressed the fact that Palestine offers the greatest opportunity for absorbing displaced Jews and those wishing to emigrate from European countries. There was general agreement that Palestine must be opened to Jewish immigration on the largest possible scale, and that the settlers there must be enabled to develop the resources of the country.

Jacob Blaustein, head of the American Jewish Committee delegation, addressing the session on the International Bill of Rights, urged that the Bill be expanded by the United Nations Organization and be made part of the constitution of all states who are members of the UNO. He also asked that each state empower and oblige its courts to judge complaints regarding violation of the Bill of Rights. The Commission on Human Rights established by the UNO should be authorized to intervene before national courts, whenever a violation of the Bill of Rights occurs, he suggested.

The inclusion of specific assurances of equal civil and cultural rights for Jews, among other groups, in the peace treaties with Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria was advocated by Prof. A.L. Goodhart of Oxford University. He proposed that the treaties should have the following provisions: 1. Protection of human rights; 2. Any attack against a community as such should constitute a crime; 3. No country is entitled to take away citizenship from its nationals. These provisions, he said, should also be part of the constitution of the states concerned, while infractions should be referred to the UNO, since attacks on minority rights constitute a danger to international peace.