Weizmann Meets with Zionist Leaders; Says Only Release of Prisoners Will Each Situation

Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who arrived here yesterday from Palestine, met this morning with members of the Jewish Agency who are now in London, including Agency treasurer Eliezer Kaplan and Berl Looker, and with other political advisers.

In a statement issued here Dr. Weizmann said: “It was with great reluctance that I left my people in Palestine at this hour of their great trial. The Yiahuv has behaved courageously and with exemplary restraint, but the tension is severe. The situation can only be normalized by the immediate release of the Zionist leaders and other detainees and by opening the doors of Palestine to the hundred thousand refugees from Europe, and hastening a positive solution. As one who has always believed in cooperation with Great Britain I say that this is necessary in the interests of both parties.”

The diplomatic correspondent of the Manchester Guardian said today that the presence here of Dr. Weizmann and High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham, who is expected to arrive today, is bound to bring the political discussions on Palestine to a climax. Referring to the present impasse on the Palestine issue, the correspondent writes that “tragedy has befallen this great statesman (Weizmann) who has been a leader not only of the Jews, but of humanity.”

The War Office tonight officially denied that British reinforcements were being sent to Palestine. It said that the First Armored Division, which was the unit mentioned in newspaper reports, was still in Italy and is not in the process of being moved.

Addressing a large mass meeting in Liverpool tonight, Samuel Silverman, Labor Member of Parliament said that the Palestine Administration had exceeded the instructions given it by the Colonial Office in taking action against the Jews. Prof. Selig Brodetsky, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told the meeting that the attack on the Palestine Jewish community was an attack op Jews throughout the world.