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Zionist Actions Committee Fails to Reach Decision on Participation in London Parley

September 20, 1946
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The Small Zionist Actions Committee, which was to decide today on whether the Jewish Agency should participate in the London conference on Palestine, adjourned this morning without reaching any decision, It will meet again on Sunday or Monday.

No reason was given for the sudden adjournment, but it is believed that it was due to a report from London that Colonial Secretary George Hall, who met yesterday with members of the executive of the Jewish Agency, had promised to reply tomorrow to the terms they presented as a basis for joining the conference.

Berl Locker, a member of the executive, is expected here tomorrow by plane with the latest news from London, including a report on the meeting with Hall. Meanwhile, the central committees of the Mizrachi and the Mizrachi Laborites today voted aginst participation of the Agency in the London parley.

The Hashomer Hatzair, left-wing laborites who want Palestine to become a bi-national state, and the Movement for Labor Unity, an opposition group within the Histadruth, proposed at the meeting of the Actions Committee that the decision of the Jewish Agency executive taken in Paris recently should not be changed. This provided that the Agency should not propose any partition plan to Britain, but should seriously consider such a plan if presented by the British Government.

The Mapai, Jewish Labor Party, met last night, but failed to reach any decision on the question of Agency participation in the London conference. The meeting authorized the Mapai representatives in the Zionist Actions Committee to make the decision.

As a result of the differences of opinion within the Actions Committee, two last-minute proposals were presented to the committee’s presidium this morning. One urged that no decision be adopted today, but that members of the Jewish Agency executive be called here from London for an extensive report on the negotiations with the British Government before a vote is taken. The second proposal suggested the immediate convocation of a full meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in Paris in order to clarify the new situation, after which the Actions Committee would vote on participation.

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