Dr. Emanuel Neumann, president of the Zionist Organization of America, today termed the reported decision by the British Cabinet to accept the majority recommendation of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine an “encouraging development.”
The Zionist leader, however, was careful to indicate that it is not clear from the London reports whether the acceptance by the British Cabinet is tied to conditions, and pointed out that “everything will depend upon the nature of such conditions.” He added that if true, the decision of the Cabinet affords an opportunity for all Big Five Powers to act in unison to solve the Palestine problem once and for all. (Dr. Neumann spoke at the first meeting of the recently-elected national Zionist Administrative Council, the ruling parliamentary body of the Zionist Organization of America between conventions.)
He said that “there are indications which warrant the belief that a substantial majority of the United Nations would favor the early establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine and the immediate transfer of all displaced and distressed Jews who wish to go there. Moreover, in view of this crystallization of world opinion which has taken place, it may not be too much to hope that even the British Government may be led, at long last, to abandon a position which has become ##rally and politically untenable, by bowing gracefully to the judgment of mankind.”
U.S. ASKED TO PRESS FOR DECISION FAVORING JEWISH STATE
The all-day council session, which was attended by 500 Zionist representatives from all over the country, unanimously adopted a resolution appealing to the United States Government to grasp the present opportunity when the Palestine problem is being resolved before the United Nations, to make good its intentions and declarations in favor of the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The resolution states that “the time has come for the U.S. Government to use all its power and influence in the United Nations Assembly and various bodies there of to achieve adoption and implementation of an immediate solution of the political status of Palestine in conformity with the U.S. policies and declarations laid down time and again in Congress resolutions and presidential pronouncements for the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state in fulfillment of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate for Palestine.” The resolution notes with satisfaction that the UNSCOP report has recommended the early establishment of a sovereign Jewish state and admission of Jewish immigrants into Palestine on a substantial scale.
The council also adopted resolutions decrying the forcible return to Germany of the Exodus refugees and urging ZOA members to redeem 12,500 acres of land in Palestine in the next two years to mark the organization’s 50th anniversary, and to raise a $1,000,000 American Zionist Fund to finance nation-wide education and public relations activity, as well as other projects aimed at securing the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The meeting was addressed by Rabbi Irving Miller, council chairman, Dr. Israel Goldstein, former president of the Z.O.A.; Mark Sugarman, treasurer of the Z.O.A.; Jacques Torczyner, member of the national executive of the Z.O.A.; Dr. Sidney Marks, Z.O.A. executive director; Mendol Fisher, executive director of the Jewish National Fund, and others.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
