Senator Robert F. Wagner late yesterday filed a report in behalf of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he stated that the Palestine resolution, which the committee passed, reflects, in its opinion, “a long series of authoritative expressions of American policy and the views of the American people on the subject of Palestine.”
“Passage of this resolution,” the report said, “will also furnish the occasion for Congress to express itself forthrightly on the horrible plight of the Jews of Europe, 5,700,000 of whom were victims of Hitler and his madmen, according to the indictment presented by the Allied War Crimes Commission.
“The war is over and the need for a Jewish Homeland where the Jewish survivors of these persecutions can live and breathe as free men and women, and where they can establish a free and democratic commonwealth, is greater than ever. Your committee feels therefore that the time is at hand when the long standing pledges to the Jewish people should be fulfilled,”
SENATOR CONNALLY SAYS HE OPPOSED RESOLUTION AT TRUMAN’S REQUEST
In a statement issued Iast night, Sen. Tom Connally, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and the only member to oppose passage of the resolution, said he did so at the request of President Truman. “President Truman made it quite clear to was and to the Foreign Relations Committee that he did not desire the passage of any resolution on the subject at this time.” Sen. Connally said. “He reported that it would be inadvisable. He stated that the passage of any resolution would greatly embarrass him in his international conferences seeking a solution. He stated that the passage of a resolution might tie his hands. These views of the President were concurred in by Secretary of State Byrnes, who opposes the passage of any resolution at this time.
“In this situation I could not obtain my consent as chairman of the committee to vote for a resolution which would embarrass the President in the performance of his international duties, and would be a hindrance in bringing about an understanding with Great Britain. In my view, the passage of the resolution is not in the interest of the Jewish people. My belief is that the resolution will injure the cause of the Jewish people and that it will bring about a situation making it very difficult for the President to make any progress whatever in the solution of the matter.”
The Mizrachi Organization and the Poale-Zion Organization, meanwhile, made public statements welcoming the committee’s action on the resolution, and expressing the hope that both the Senate and the House would adopt it without delay.
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