Senate Foreign Relations Committee Adopts Resolution on Palestine; Wants Free Immigration

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by a vote of 15 to 1, today adopted a Palestine resolution based on the Wagner-Taft resolution which has been under consideration for some time. The dissenting vote was cast by Senator Tom Connally, chairman of the committee.

The resolution urges the United States Government to use its good offices with the British Government to secure the free immigration of Jews to Palestine “to the maximum of its agricultural and economic potentialities.”

The resolution also asks for full opportunity for Jewish colonization and development in Palestine so that the Jews “may freely proceed with the upbuilding of Palestine as the Jewish National Home and, in association with all other elements of the population, establish Palestine as a democratic commonwealth” with equal rights for all inhabitants.

The text of the resolution reads as follows:

“Whereas the Sixty-Seventh Congress of the United States on June 30, 1922, unanimously resolved; ‘That the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected’;

“And whereas the ruthless persecution of the Jewish people in Europe has clearly demonstrated the need for a Jewish Homeland as a haven for the large numbers who have become homeless as a result of this persecution;

“And whereas these urgent necessities are evidenced by the President’s request for the immediate right entry into Palestine of one hundred thousand additional Jewish refugees;

“And whereas the influx of Jewish immigration into Palestine is resulting in its improvement in agricultural, financial, hygienic and general economic conditions;

“And whereas the President and the British Prime Minister have agreed upon the appointment of a Joint Anglo-American Committee of Enqiry to examine conditions in Palestine as they bear upon the problem of Jewish immigration and the Jewish situation in Europe and have requested a report within 120 days;

“Therefore be it resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concuring) that the interest shown by the President in the solution of this problem is hereby commended, and that the United States shall use its good offices with the Mandatory Power to the end that Palestine shall be opened for free entry of Jews into that coun try to the maximum of its agricultural and economic potentialities, and that there will be full opportunity for colonization and development, so that they may freely proceed with the upbuilding of Palestine as the Jewish National Home and, in association with all elements of the population, establish Palestine as a democratic commonwealth in which all men, regardless of race or creed, shall have equal rights.”

ZIONISTS SATISFIED WITH THE RESOLUTION; HOPE SENATE WILL PASS IT

Adoption of the resolution was welcomed here by Emanuel Neumann, acting president of the Zionist Organization of America.” I hope that the resolution will be adopted by the Senate at an early date,” he said. “It should serve to reaffirm and clarify the position of the United States with regard to Palestine. It is reasonable to expect that the members of the Anglo-American inquiry committee on Palestine will take note of this action, and as indicative of the American policy.

“The text of the resolution,” Mr. Neumann continued, “is a considerable improvement over the original formulation as introduced in October. It covers all important points and clarifies various questions which were raised in the course of discussion. The virtual unanimity with which it was adopted in the committee indicates that the resolution can now serve as the common meeting ground of all sincere friends of a Jewish Palestine, Jew and Gentile alike.”