Laborites Scrap Partition, Call on Zionist Congress to Reaffirm Biltmore Declaration

In a move which will greatly strengthen the forces opposing the Jewish Agency’s partition plan for Palestine, the Palestine Labor Party–second largest group represented here–today adopted a resolution calling for reaffirmation of the Biltmore Declaration. The resolution contained the following recommendations:

1. The Congress should not adopt any political resolutions.

2. David Ben Gurion, chairman of the world Zionist executive, should declare at a plenary session of the Congress that the Biltmore Declaration, which demands the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth, remains the political program of the Zionist movement.

3. The executive which the Congress elects should participate in the London Conference on Palestine not on the basis of the Agency’s partition proposal, but on the basis of the Biltmore Declaration.

4. The Zionist struggle for large-scale Jewish immigration and colonization in Palestine, as well as for Jewish security, should continue.

Although the Labor Party’s statement of policy is certain to be endorsed by many of the delegates, it is unlikely that its suggestion that no political resolutions be adopted will be followed, or that the opponents of participation in the London parley will be swayed by its call for attendance on the basis of the Biltmore Declaration.

SHERTOK URGES PARTICIPATION IN LONDON PARLEY; SNEH OPPOSES PARTICIPATION

Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency, last night called on the Congress to vote for participation in the London Conference. He was criticized sharply today by Dr. Moshe Sneh, member of the Agency executive, who warned the Congress against participation.

In defending his view, Shertok pointed out that “if we go to London, it will be a new opportunity for putting up a fight for our future.” He assured the assembly that the delegation which will attend the London parley “will not preside over the liquidation of Zionism.” Any discussion of the “federalization plan” of the British Government is out of the question, he declared.

Dr. Sneh, strongly attacking participation in the conference, told the plenary session of the Congress this morning that “Britain does not seek a solution of the Palestine question and is not examining now as to when, how and to whom, to yield the strategic Palestine key.” He expressed the opinion that “England has decided against Zionism.”

BRITAIN CHARGED WITH PREPARING NEW RESTRICTIVE LAWS AGAINST JEWS

Dr. Sneh said that Britain is planning new restrictive laws against Jews in Palestine. He urged the Zionists to seek the cooperation of the entire world and not merely of England. Asserting that the United States is more friendly to Zionist aims than Britain, he declared that he was not ruling out cooperation with Soviet Russia and with the Arabs.

While urging active resistance in Palestine, Dr. Sneh stressed that he favored only “responsible resistance.” He attacked the extremists, saying that their means did not justify the end. At the same time, he appealed for Jewish unity all over the world, especially between the Jews of Palestine and American Jewry.

Prof. Selig Brodetsky, another member of the Agency executive, told the plenary session that he favored Jewish resistance, but was against acts of terrorism. He strongly urged Jewish participation in the London Conference. At the same time he disclaimed any preference for partition as an ideal solution of the Palestine problem.

SHERTOK URGES EXPULSION OF REVISIONISTS, IF THEY REFUSE TO CHECK TERRORISM

The question of terrorism was also dealt with at great length by Shertok. He said that the Revisionists had a clear choice: either to bring the terrorist organizations into “the fold of national discipline” which they are now defying, or to disavow them unequivocally. If the Revisionists do not adopt either of these alternatives, there will be no room for them within the ranks of the Zionist organization, he declared.

Turning to the demand for Jewish statehood, as expressed in the program of the executive, Shertok declared that the emergence of a whole system of independent Arab states around Palestine compelled the Zionist movement to claim statehood. “It is on that basis alone that we can achieve equality of status and thereby, peace,” he said.

Shertok denied that the Zionist position had been weakened as a result of the appearance of Zionist leaders before the Anglo-American inquiry committee. On the contrary, he said, the position of the Zionist movement was strengthened by the testimony of the leaders of the Jewish Agency. Even if Jews had not attended the round-table conference in St. James Place in London before the war, the British White Paper would have been issued, he said, adding: “Has our fighting capacity against the White Paper regime been impaired by having attended this round-table conference?”

TURMOIL AT CONGRESS CAUSED BY U.S. DELEGATE DENOUNCING REVISIONISTS

The Congress was thrown into a turmoil for three-quarters of an hour when the Revisionist bloc took violent exception to the reading of an interpolation by Louis Segal of New York, who, in behalf of the World Zionist Laborites, wanted clarity on the position of the Revisionists within the World Zionist organization.

Segal denounced the Revisionists for alleged connections with the terrorist groups in Palestine and with the Bergson group in the United States. Shouts and boos from Revisionist delegates made Segal’s attempts to read the statement inaudible. The chairman was forced to threaten to adjourn the meeting if the disorders were repeated. Order was finally restored after the chairman, David Remez, ordered Segal to delete the offending passage from his statement. Segal was then permitted to continue.

Dr. Arieh Altman, leader of the Palestine Revisionists, addressing the Congress this morning, launched a violent attack against Dr. Weizmann, declaring that he symbolizes the defeat of Zionism, which has brought it to the present crisis.” He denounced the executive for following Weizmann’s policy and maintained that the Zionist movement today faces two courses: either that of Vladimir Jabotinsky, the late leader of the Revisionist movement, or that taken by Hitler, meaning to let itself be destroyed. “If Zionism had understood this before the war, we could have had a Jewish state which could have saved European Jewry,” he said.

BRITAIN DOES NOT WANT ARAB-JEWISH AGREEMENT, ALTMAN SAYS

The Revisionist leader strongly supported “activism.” “You cannot go halfway,” he said. Regarding the Arab problem, he declared: “An agreement with the Arabs is political naivete. As long as there are three factors in Palestine – Jews, Arabs and British, and the third is the decisive one – there cannot be Arab-Jewish agreement because England do s not want it. It is politically naive to say that the Arab states are independent and that the Arabs dominate the Middle East. It is England which does it, and the Arab world does what England wants.”

Pointing out that there is no Arab-Jewish conflict, but an Anglo-Jewish conflict, the Revisionist leader said that the Palestine Mandate cannot be placed under the control of the United Nations in which England plays a leading role. “There must be an independent sovereign Jewish state which will take the fate of the Jewish nation into its own hands,” he said, adding that any other alternative, such as partition, means the end of Zionism.

Itzhak Riftin, speaking in behalf of Hashomer Hatzair, said that “peaceful life and development” is not possible in Palestine without an agreement with the Arabs on the basis of bi-nationalism. A bi-national state in Palestine, he said, would open the whole country to Jews and would compel England to change its political line. Strongly opposing partition, he argued that partition would create a constant irredenta in the whole Middle East.

DR. GOLDMANN DENIES HE ADVOCATED PALESTINE BASES FOR BRITAIN

Dr. Nahum Goldmann, in a personal statement, said that reports stating that he told a press conference in Washington that a partitioned Palestine would gladly give military bases to Britain is incorrect. What he actually said, Dr. Goldmann emphasized, was that all bases in the Middle East, including Palestine, should be placed at the disposal of the United Nations in the interests of world peace.

Today’s session of the Congress was opened by Chief Rabbi Alexander Shafran of Rumania, who described the difficult economic position of Rumanian Jewry. The Congress adjourned for the Sabbath this afternoon. The political debate will resume tomorrow evening.