Non-zionist Stand on Palestine

Dr. Maurice J. Karpf’s address before the Palestine conference follows, in part:

“I take it that the American non-Zionist position with special reference to partition of Palestine is crystallized in the following:

“1. We are opposed to partition because we believe that it is socially unwise, economically unsound, politically unsafe, and violates the spirit of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate.

“2. We are opposed to the Jewish State as proposed in the Royal Commission report. Although many among us may be opposed to a Jewish State on principle, we believe that the issue of a Jewish State is not pertinent at the present time. It can only confuse and divide where there should be clarity and unity.

“3. We are opposed to the crystallization of the Jewish position in Palestine on the basis of the present situation. We are opposed to a permanent minority status. This is not because we wish to majorize the Arab people there but because we are certain that with a new start a spirit of confidence and good will can be developed between Jews and Arabs which will eliminate the need for thinking and acting in terms of majority and minority.

“4. We believe that no solution of the Palestine problem is possible without peace between the two main sections of the population. We therefore are eager for an understanding between the Arabs and the Jews, and shall endeavor to bring about such an understanding through whatever channels are most suitable. The unwillingness of the Mandatory Government to call a round table conference as suggested in the Agency resolution in Zurich imposes upon the Jewish leaders the obligation to seek other means to convene such a conference in an atmosphere which will make for its success. We consider the mandate to call such a conference in the Agency resolution as binding irrespective whether the British Government would call it or not. We urge the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine, preferably through their authorized representatives, to seek such an understanding.

“5. We believe that the Mandate should be continued, that it is workable, and that although the aims and ambitions of the extreme nationalists on both sides may be in conflict, the vast majority of Arabs and Jews in Palestine desire to and can live in pace and harmony.

“6. We wish to see established in Palestine a state in which Arabs and Jews will live side by side as free and equal citizens in a democracy, with all the rights, privileges, and guarantees vouchsafed by a democratic form of government to its citizens, and with adequate assurances of non-domination of either group by the other.

“7. We believe that under the essential conditions of security Palestine can accommodate large numbers of immigrants who will, as in the past, help in the up-building of the country, to the mutual benefit of Jews and Arabs. But we recognize the necessity and wisdom of limiting immigration to the economic absorptive capacity of the country, provided that this capacity be objectively determined and judiciously adhered to. We are opposed to the principle of a political high level of Jewish immigration, proposed by the Royal Commission.

“8. We believe that Palestine and its opportunities represent a hope to countless thousands of Jews throughout the world, and more especially in central and eastern Europe, who, because of ruthless and unjustified persecution must have an outlet, and that nothing should be done to close or limit the immigration possibilities of Palestine unnecessarily. Rather should the Mandatory Government seek ways and means for enhancing Jewish immigration to Palestine and Transjordan.

“9. We are opposed to the proposed restriction of land sales to Jews, but we believe that suitable provision should be made for preventing dispossession of tenant Arab farmers through land sales by absentee owners, either in the retention of an adequate portion of the land or in a transfer to some other area with just compensation so that they may have the means for a new start.

“10. We deeply abhor the strife and bloodshed induced by extremist Arab leaders and hope that for the sake of their own good name and that of their people they will stop the wanton destruction of life and property. We take pride in the magnificent self-restraint of the Jewish people in Palestine and are profoundly grateful that they did not yield to the understandable and human desire for retaliation and hope that they will continue to exercise this type of self-control.

“11. We regret and deplore such discriminating activity as may still exist on the part of Jews against Arabs in giving employment and boycott of Arab products. We urge the officers of the Jewish National Fund to reconsider and eliminate or modify the clause dealing with Arab Labor on National Fund land. We urge the Jewish labor leaders to use their best efforts to facilitate an understanding and cooperative relationship between Jewish and Arab labor.

“12. We hold that Palestine as a land of immigration possibilities, and as a need for the oppressed Jewish masses, and in its implications for the Jews of the world for good and ill transcends the Zionist Organization and political Zionism. We therefore propose a strengthening of the Jewish Agency to be representative of all Jews, Zionists and non-Zionists, in all countries.

“13. We believe that the President, the Executive, and the members of the Council and Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency should use their utmost endeavors for the realization of the above aims, and for the creation of those agencies and instruments which will bring about a better understanding between the Arabs and Jews, the Mandatory Government and the peoples in Palestine, between Zionists and non-Zionists, for the benefit of Palestine and all those who need it.

“The foregoing was rather hastily formulated, but I believe represents the principles which we have been fighting for all these years and for which Mr. Warburg took a stand before, during and since Zurich.”