DEBATE ON ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSALS TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT REGARDING THE PROPOSED PARTITION OF PALESTINE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE OPENED TONIGHT AT A CLOSED SESSION OF THE TWENTIETH BIENNIAL WORLD ZIONIST CONGRESS.
THE CONGRESS, WHICH HAD EARLIER DECIDED TO HOLD SECRET MEETINGS ON ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN ZIONIST HISTORY, HEARD DELEGATES SUPPORT AND ATTACK THE SUGGESTION OF DR. CHAIM WEIZMANN, PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD ZIONIST ORGANIZATION, THAT THE ZIONIST EXECUTIVE BE AUTHORIZED TO UNDERTAKE NEGOTIATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
RABBI MEIR BERLIN, OF JERUSALEM, OF THE MIZRACHI ORGANIZATION, DEMANDED COMPLETE REJECTION OF PROPOSALS TO PARTITION THE HOLY LAND, WHILE DR. M. KLEINBAUM, OF POLAND, A LEADER OF THE GROUP A GENERAL ZIONISTS, AND DAVID REMEZ, PALESTINE LABOR LEADER, BACKED DR. WEIZMANN.
MEANWHILE, A CONFERENCE OF THE LABORITES, THE PREDOMINANT FACTION AT THE CONGRESS, ADOPTED A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THAT THE CONGRESS AUTHORIZE THE INCOMING ZIONIST EXECUTIVE TO NEGOTIATE WITH BRITAIN FOR CLARIFICATION OF ITS PROPOSAL TO FOUND A JEWISH STATE AND THAT THE EXECUTIVE THEN SUBMIT ITS OWN RECOMMENDATION TO A NEWLY-ELECTED CONGRESS FOR SANCTION.
THE DECISION TO DEBATE PARTITION IN SECRET, CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 285 TO 115, WAS REACHED AFTER HEATED DEBATE LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING. MR. REMEZ AND OTHERS WHO SPOKE IN FAVOR OF CLOSED SESSIONS WARNED THAT OPEN DISCUSSION MIGHT LEAD TO A SPLIT IN THE ORGANIZATION, WHILE MEIR GROSSMAN, LEADER OF THE JEWISH STATE PARTY, AND OTHERS OPPOSING SECRECY, HELD THAT AFTER DR. WEIZMANN’S AND M. M. USSISHKIN’S SPEECHES THERE WERE NO SECRETS LEFT.
OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUES WILL BE ISSUED TWICE DAILY ON THE SECRET PROCEEDINGS, IN ADDITION TO THE DAILY PAPER PUBLISHED FOR THE CONGRESS, IT WAS ANNOUNCED.
A REPORT THAT THE ZIONIST EXECUTIVE HAD ALREADY SENT A MEMORANDUM TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATES COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BRITISH PARTITION SCHEME AS THE BASIS OF NEGOTIATIONS AND SUBJECT TO MODIFICATIONS WAS PUBLISHED TODAY IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF A DAILY BULLETIN OF THE JEWISH STATE PARTY.
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.
