London-jerusalem Talks on Increasing Palestine Immigration Revealed by Jewish Agency

Discussions are now in progress in Jerusalem and London on the question of easing Palestine immigration restrictions, it was revealed here today by Mrs. Goldie Meirson, head of the political department of the Jerusalem section of the Jewish Agency. She added that Britain has the power to increase the immigration quota without waiting for a decision by the United Nations.

Mrs. Meirson, who is en route to Zurich where she will represent the Palestine Labor Party at a conference of European Socialists, disclosed that Maj. Aubrey (?)an has been appointed the Jewish Agency’s liaison officer with the U.N. special commission on Palestine.

She said that she might see government leaders tomorrow, but denied a British (##)ress report that she was here to inform the government that the Palestine Labor Party did not oppose partition. She declined to give her own views on partition, or state whether the proposal for modified partition made recently by David Ben Gurion represented the views of the Jewish Laborites.

Mrs. Meirson said that Jewish workers in Palestine were shocked by Foreign Minister Bevin’s remark at Margate last week that the Palestine issue was basically a war between Jews and Gentiles, and hoped that the masses of British labor would not accept Bevin’s Palestine policy. She added that it was unfortunate that Britain, which took the initiative in presenting the issue to the U.N., is still unwilling to state that it will carry out the U.N. recommendations.

Referring to Bevin’s statement that the right of Jews to immigrate into Palestine is not spelled out in the Balfour Declaration or the Mandate, the Agency political spokesman said that if the Foreign Minister’s interpretation were to be accepted, there would have been no reason for issuance of either document.