Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, last night attacked immigration restrictions as the cause of Palestine’s economic difficulties, while Dr. Stephen S. Wise, president of the Zionist Organization of America, urged Britain to implement its Jewish National Home promise.
Addressing a reception for Zionist leaders gathered here from many parts of the world for a meeting of the Zionist General Council, Dr. Weizmann declared that the present low immigration quota was “purely arbitrary, unwarranted and unjustified by any economic fact.”
The entry curbs have not deterred nor satisfied those defying the constituted authorities in Palestine, Dr. Weizmann said. The more that is surrendered to the destructive forces, the more they grow, he asserted, adding that the Arab peasant was sick of the situation and heartily desired peace, but that there were so-called spontaneous movements carefully organized and well financed.
While destructive forces have slowed down the development of the country, the Zionist leader said, “they have not stopped it and won’t stop it.”
Dr. Weizmann referred to Jewish restraint despite the “in human provocation,” and added: “We bear our share in defense of the country and if a greater opportunity were given we could take our place in tens of thousands to join the forces of law and order.”
Dr. Wise, declaring he was speaking on behalf of American Jewry, referred to the proposed partition of Palestine and said that “Britain dare not make a proposal to us the acceptance of which by Zionists would constitute a betrayal of the Jewish past and a surrender of the Jewish future.”
He urged Britain to implement its promise to establish a Jewish National Home and not to give the world reason to believe that the mandate was a clever substitute for British annexation of Palestine.
The Jews, Dr. Wise added, ask only of England what England is bound to grant, the possibility of a Jewish National Home on terms making possible immigration “dictated by the bitter necessities of Jewish life in Eastern Europe.”
Herbert Morrison, laborite and leader of the London County Council, and Capt. Victor Cazalet, Conservative Member of Parliament, urged that if Palestine is partitioned, the Jewish State be given boundaries making it possible to support and defend itself. Mr. Morrison asserted that the boundaries should be adequate for defense and economic development and compatible with the magnitude of Jewish distress in Eastern Europe. He stressed the need of firmness on the part of the Palestine Government and urged that immigration be governed by the principle of economic absorptive capacity.
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.
