Tribute to Dr. Chaim Weizmann’s leadership of the Zionist movement and defense of Great Britain’s Palestine immigration policy were voiced last night by Malcolm MacDonald, Colonial Secretary, at the annual dinner of the Anglo-Palestinian Club.
Pointing out that while only 10,000 Jews entered Palestine in 1932 and immigration figures for the first nine months of 1935 showed a total of 45,000 had entered, Mr. MacDonald expressed surprise that despite this large increase many were still critical of the Mandatory Power.
Englishmen, Mr. MacDonald stated, are so much concerned with Palestine’s upbuilding that they want the structure built on a firm foundation, not “jerry built.”
The impulse behind the Jewish National Home, he declared, is a great spiritual impulse. He did not believe, he said, that the real test of Jewish statesmanship lay in building up a Jewish community there, but in the ability of the Jews to cooperate with other people in Palestine.
“You must cooperate with the Arabs,” Mr. MacDonald advised. “You must create conditions there that will make the Arab work with you. There’s room for both and there you’ll live side by side.”
Mr. MacDonald observed that not only has the life of the Arabs been improved by Jewish cooperation but their standard of living has been raised.
Referring to the possibility of war, the Colonial Secretary asked if High Commissioner Wauchope would be dining with them if such a danger existed.
Sir Arthur in the course of his address expressed agreement with David Ben-Gurion, Zionist labor leader, that Palestine needs most of all land for settlers and water to make the farms productive. He said he welcomed the Huleh project because it would supply those needs.
Another need cited by the High Commissioner was for trees. Stating that the Palestine Government was planning to plant each year half a million trees through the agency of various bodies, Sir Arthur emphasized that the “tree of good will” was equally important.
Dr. Weizmann pointed out that since the experts had said there was insufficient room for Jews in Palestine, 150,000 Jews had entered Palestine. He said that the Palestine Government should derive satisfaction from the fact that a considerable number of German Jews have entered Palestine and found their new life and new hope, which constitutes the “greatest moral conquest of the age.”
The dinner was under the chairmanship of James Rothschild. Other speakers included James McDonald, League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Chief Rabbi J. H. Hertz, Sir Robert Waley Cohen; the Lord Archbishop of Liverpool, Prof. G.B.S. Haldane, Lady Erleigh and Barnett Janner, M.P.
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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.
