The special session of the Assefath Hanivcharim, the Jewish National Assembly of Palestine, concluded after adopting a number of resolutions demanding the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish State and rejecting any schemes for the partitioning of the country, as “contrary to the historic and religious national bonds between the Jewish people and Palestine.”
Other resolutions emphasized that the Jews in Palestine wish to cooperate with the Arabs on the basis of guarantees of equal political rights without domination by either group, and are also seeking an agreement between the Jewish people and the Arab countries on the basis of mutual recognition.
A resolution asking for international assistance for the fulfillment of the Zionist program through free immigration to Palestine and large-scale settlement of Jews there was also adopted. The resolution demands that control over Jewish immigration to Palestine should be turned over to the Jewish Agency; also that the Agency should be granted full authority to develop and upbuild Palestine, including the wastelands.
An appeal for the rescue of the remaining Jews in devastated Europe, especially orphans, was directed by the assembly to the great powers. The appeal emphasized that the Jews in Palestine regard these orphans as their own children and are ready to take care of them. Thanks was expressed in the appeal to all Christian communities and organizations in liberated countries which sheltered Jews during the German occupation.
AGENCY LEADER DEFINES “IMMEDIATE ESTABLISHMENT” OF JEWISH STATE
Defining the attitude of the executive of the Jewish Agency toward the “immediate establishment” of Palestine as a Jewish State, Moshe Shertok, head of the Agency’s political department, told the Assembly: “We demand an immediate decision and declaration with regard to the establishment of a Jewish State. We demand mass-immigration controlled by the Jewish Agency. The realization of the Jewish State is connected with practical conditions which definitely are subject to negotiation.
“Because there is a plan for a Jewish State, there is need for large international aid,” Shertok continued. “It is not true that the plan for a Jewish State causes splitting and disruption. There is today no other plan which could and does unite the vast majority of the Zionist movement.”
It was revealed today that the part of the memorandum submitted by the Jewish Agency to the British Government dealing with the demand for the establishment of a Jewish State reads. “The Jewish Agency appeals to H. M. Government to inaugurate a new era for Palestine and the Jewish people by drawing the logical conclusion from the Balfour Declaration as originally conceived. At this juncture they regard as imperative a decision designating Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth– a country where the Jewish people shall be free to work out its salvation by large-scale settlement and by the achievement of full nationhood.”
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.
