Zionist Labor Convention Appeals to U.S. to Suspend Immigration Restrictions

An appeal to the Government of the United States “to suspend its present quota restrictions and open the gates of our country to all those who can possibly be rescued from the Nazi hell,” was made today in a declaration adopted by an extraordinary convention of the American Labor Zionist movement which opened at the Hotel Pennsylvania here with 1,000 delegates from all parts of the country in attendance.

Emphasizing that the declaration was issued on behalf of 40,000 members of the labor Zionist movement in the United States, the convention urged the United Nations to do “all they can to stop Hitler’s plan to eradicate the Jewish people.” The declaration also demanded that “England forget the White Paper of 1939 and open the gates of Palestine.”

A request that the Jews be given the right to rebuild Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth and that equal individual and group rights be guaranteed to Jews in all other countries were other demands voiced in the declaration. The United Nation were urged “to outlaw all forms of anti-Semitism after the war and to permit the Jews of Palestine to fight during the war “as a recognized Jewish body under a Jewish flag.”

The convention also extended “a friendly hand to the Arabs,” pointing out that “the development of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine will lead to political progress by Jews and Arabs and will play a great part in the awakening of the Middle East, to the benefit of both peoples.” It demanded that the Jewish Agency be given authority to regulate immigration to Palestine under international supervision. Also that the Jewish Agency be authorized “to settle Jews on lands including Government lands” and to develop Palestine’s natural resources. The convention is expected to close on Sunday when a number of important resolutions on post-war Jewish problems will be adopted.