Jewish delegates to the Palestine conference decided today to announce to the Government at tomorrow afternoon’s session complete rejection of Britain’s plan to drop the Holy Land mandate and establish an independent state, linked by treaty to Britain, with safeguards for Jews.
Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald’s announcement of the Government’s intentions on Friday came as a severe blow to the Jews, particularly in view of his statement to them earlier in the discussions that the question of an independent state was ruled out. They expressed themselves as shocked by the British decision to drop its obligations to the Jews under the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine mandate.
The Jewish Agency Executive met this morning and again tonight to draft a written statement which will be read to Mr. MacDonald tomorrow. The American and Palestinian delegations were reported to be solidly against the British proposals, although there was some hesitancy among the British Jews about definite rejection of the plan. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency, did not participate in today’s deliberations, being out of London, but will return for a meeting of the Jewish conference committee tomorrow.
At tomorrow morning’s meeting of the Jewish conference committee, the statement rejecting the British terms, the drafting of which was completed tonight by the Jewish Agency Executive, will be submitted. The American delegates — Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Robert Szold and Louis Lipsky — were reported already to have booked passage for New York on a ship sailing Wednesday.
It was learned that the Palestine Arabs have decided to accept the British plan, on the advice of the Arab states represented at the conference, which gave the plan their approval. Informed quarters described the plan as a surrender to Arab demands. It is reported that Mr. MacDonald, in presenting the plan to the Arabs, referred to an “independent Arab state.”
SEE END OF PRESENT HOPE FOR HOMELAND
Mr. MacDonald informed the Jews on Friday on Friday of plans for establishment of an independent state, bound by treaty to Britain, with guarantees of protection for the Jewish minority. The state would be established after a short transition period, which would start this Autumn after a round-table conference between the Arabs and a smaller number of Palestine Jews to determine the steps toward statehood in the interim period and the form of constitution to be adopted for the state.
In the interim, Jews and Arabs would participate in executive and advisory branches of the Government. The Colonial Secretary did not, however, reveal the proportions in which Jews and Arabs would be represented, but the Jews assume they would be given minority representation.
Members of the Jewish delegation asserted today that the plan marked the end of hopes for the present establishment of a national home in Palestine and relegates the Jews to a permanent minority status in the one land where they hoped to escape this.
There was strong sentiment among the Jewish delegates for walking out of the conferences because the British Government had decided to terminate the mandate despite assertions the Balfour Declaration.
Rabbi Meir Berlin, honorary president of the Mizrachi (religious Zionist) Organization, told the J.T.A. that he and the Palestine rabbis, Isaac Herzog, Ben-Zion Uziel and Jacob Fischman, would not participate in further negotiations with the Government because the proposals were not in accordance with the mandate. They will remain, however, to participate in the Jewish conference committee.
Bitterness was expressed among the delegates regarding the nature of the British plan. One delegate asserted that Dr. Weizmann’s warning at the outset of the conference that the Arabs would be rewarded for their hostility to Britain and the Jews punished for their unwavering loyalty was already coming true. The plan was described by Jews as a breach of faith by Britain. The question was bitterly asked: “Why did the British Government go to the trouble of inviting the Jews to London to participate in the funeral of their hopes?”
Mr. MacDonald advised the Jewish delegation which met him at St. James Palace following the roundtable session, to envisage such a state to be established after a comparatively short transitory period and to turn their attention now to the question of the interim state which he would like to see launched within a few months. He is understood to have proposed participation of Arabs and Jews, together with the British, in both the executive and advisory branches of the government during the interim period.
It is understood that Mr. MacDonald did not go into details on the eventual form the state will take, but he apparently envisioned a state in which the rights of both Jews and Arabs would be safeguarded under guarantees of equality of citizenship, or else a form of bi-national state.
The proposal for early establishment of a state, particularly in view of the unsettled international situation and conditions within Palestine, has aroused deep disquiet in Jewish circles which hold that such a project is premature. The suspicion is felt in certain quarters that statehood might crystallize the Jewish national home at the present level, particularly in view of well-justified fears of sweeping concessions to Arab demands.
It is realized, however, that the crux of the question lies in how such details as immigration and land sales will be handled during the interim period. Mr. MacDonald has not yet disclosed the Government’s intentions with respect to these, unless the so-called tentative suggestions given the Jews previously, which were promptly rejected, were the actual Government proposals.
Mr. MacDonald, however, has promised to go into these points when the formal talks are resumed Monday. Until then, the Jewish delegates are reserving judgment. A strong result of restrictions that may be imposed during the interim period the Jews are condemned to a permanent minority status in Palestine. Formal decisions with regard to the principle involved are expected to be adopted tomorrow at meetings of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the full Jewish conference committee.
Meanwhile, it was learned reliably that Myron C. Taylor, American vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee, has in recent weeks strongly pressed the view upon the British authorities that Palestine should be allowed to make a strong positive contribution to solution of the refugee question.
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