Emphasizing that he does not think that post-war repatriation will solve the problem of a large number of Jewish refugees, James G. McDonald, chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, today expressed the opinion that "Palestine offers incontestably the primary hope for the solution of the problems of Jewish refugees."
Mr. McDonald, who spoke at the Annual Order Day Rally of the Binai Zion at the Hotel Pennsylvania; also pointed out that he has no faith in the efficacy of the several proposals for a universal Bill of Rights. "I urge the leaders of the American Council for Judaism to take account of the terrible realities of the hundreds of thousands of homeless Jews who at the end of the war can only hope to re-establish themselves outside of Europe." he stated.
"The conclusion which emerges inescapably from a realistic resume of twenty-five years of intergovernmental dealings with refugees and from a realistic appraisal of the world situation is that in Palestine, and only there, can the mass of Jewish refugees hope to be welcome and to be assisted to integrate themselves in the life of the community," Mr. McDonald said. "Only in Palestine will most of them feel that they have returned home."
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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.