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Settle German Jews in Palestine, is Cry Uniting Leaders in Fight for 4-point Plan

May 14, 1933
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Widespread approval was manifest yesterday in Jewish circles for the four-point proposal that the Jewish Agency for Palestine compel international consideration of the problem of the Jews of Germany by seeking the establishment of a League of Nations commission to finance and execute a comprehensive plan for the settlement of Jews in Palestine.

The proposal, as it now stands, is in the form of a resolution unanimously adopted by the American representatives of the Jewish Agency at a meeting at the Hotel Astor here last week. Oswald E. D’Avigdor Goldsmid, chairman of the Council of the Jewish Agency, who is visiting in this country and attended the meeting at which the resolution was adopted, is to confer with other members of the Council on the proposal on his return to England. Dr. Maurice D. Hexter, American member of the Agency’s executive at Jerusalem, is to acquaint other members of the administrative body with the details of the plan.

The plan itself is expected to receive much consideration at the next Zionist convention and to occupy an important place on the agenda of the session.

MOVE WARMLY APPLAUDED

It originated with the Zionist Organization of America and was proposed to the American branch of the Jewish Agency by Morris Rothenberg, president of the Zionist Organization and chairman also of the American Administrative Committee of the Agency. It was warmly supported by Dr. Cyrus Adler, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Samuel Schulman, Judge William M. Lewis, Louis Lipsky, Abraham Goldberg and others present.

“The principal advantage of this resolution,” Dr. Adler pointed out, “is that it will be thrown into international discussion where it properly belongs. It is a demonstration of our serious feeling on the subject to the Mandatory Power (Great Britain) and to the great court of the world (the League of Nations), where even the German representatives will have to listen.”

The plan, in brief, calls for the Jewish Agency to memorialize the Mandatory Power to make possible immediate admission into Palestine of as many refugee Jews as possible. It would further have the Mandatory Power submit the facts of the present situation to the League of Nations and request the appointment of a commission on which the United States would be invited to have a representative, “with power to undertake the execution of a plan for the settlement in Palestine of as large a number of Jews as Palestine may be placed in a position to absorb; and that such commission be given authority by the League of Nations, in cooperation with the Mandatory Government and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, to find the means to finance the operation.”

FOR INTERNATIONAL LOAN

That funds for such a sweeping proposal would be forthcoming was strongly asserted by Dr. Wise and Mr. Lipsky, who declared that flotation of an international loan under League auspices, would meet with an overwhelming response.

The text of the resolution, as adopted by the American branch of the Jewish Agency, follows in full:

“In the light of the present emergency creating a condition of homelessness for large numbers of our brethren fleeing from persecution in Central Europe, the American Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Palestine calls upon the Executive of the Jewish Agency:

“First: that it approach the Mandatory Government, which has shown evidence of a deep understanding of the problem that confronts the Jewish people at this crucical hour, to make possible the immediate admittance into Palestine of a maximum number of Jews fleeing from persecution;

“Second: that it appeal to the Mandatory Government to submit to the League of Nations the facts in the present Jewish situation, and, in cooperation with it, to formulate a program of international action in line with such precedents as have been created by the League of Nations for dealing with expatriates and their settlement in territories in which they may be able to live in freedom and equal opportunity;

APPEAL TO UNITED STATES

“Third: that it appeal to the Mandatory Government to call upon the League of Nations to organize and establish a commission, on which the United States be invited to be represented, with power to undertake the execution of a plan fo the settlement in Palestine of as large a number of Jews as Palestine may be placed in a position to absorb; and that such commission be given authority by the League of Nations, in cooperation with the Mandatory Government and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, to find the means to finance the operation;

“Fourth: bearing in mind the support given to the cause of the establishment of the Jewish National Home on various occasions by the American Government, and especially through the joint resolution adopted by the American Congress, and subsequently expressed in a special treaty entered into between the United States and the Mandatory Government for Palestine, the American Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Palestine appeal to the American Government to give its support and cooperation to such plans as may come though the joint action of the League of Nations, the Mandatory Government and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, for the solution of the pressing problem arising out of present conditions in Jewish life.”

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