“right” of Jews to Resettle Palestine Stressed by Roosevelt

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a letter to the United Palestine Appeal, has supported the “right” of the Jewish people to resettle Palestine. Governor Herbert H. Lehman also reaffirmed his sympathy with “the economic and spiritual development of Palestine.”

The letters made public today were written in connection with the forthcoming publication of the “United Palestine Appeal Yearbook for 1936.”

President Roosevelt’s letter follows.

“We need from time to time to renew our faith in those eternal verities which are and which must forever remain the bases of human betterment. First among these is the common aspiration of mankind to seek communion with the Great Ruler of Human Destiny and next is the love of the homeland, which is a natural aspiration of our devotion to family life.

“The interest which I have had and have frequently manifested in the rebuilding of the ancient Jewish homeland is, I am persuaded, an interest which is shared by all who recognize that every people has the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is a source of renewed hope and courage, that by international accord and by the moral support of the peoples of the world, men and women of Jewish faith have a right to resettle the land where their faith was born and from which much of our modern civilization has emanated.”

Governor Lehman wrote:

“I have long been in thorough sympathy with the economic and spiritual development of Palestine. It is of greatest significance today because it promises to uphold and fortify civilization in its faith in the ancient ideals of justice, tolerance and charity at a time when the rest of the world is morally and spiritually depressed.”