Speakers at the third day’s sessions of the 21st biennial World Zionist Congress today condemned use of violence in opposing Britain’s Palestine policy but demanded continuation of Jewish immigration land buying and self defense in the face of British restrictions. Representatives of all factions from the extreme left to the extreme right urged that the Congress proclaim three defiant slogans’.
“Immigration under all circumstances”
“Colonization under all circumstances”
“Increasing Jewish self defense under all circumstances.”
Loud applause greeted speakers demands that the Congress condemn any attempt at Jewish terrorism in Palestine and declare the terrorists to be traitors to the Zionist cause.
Leading today’s debate David Ben Gurion Chairman of the Zionist Executive and head of the predominant laborite faction asserted in a two hour speech that the Jews would behave just as the British would if they were in danger. He said he did not see how the Jews could compel England to retain the Palestine mandate if she did not wish to do so but held that the Jews with all their forces which he believed to be stronger than the British could annul the stoppage of Jewish immigration and could not be kept from acquiring some of the 19,000,000 dunams of waste land.
Britain’s new legislation for Palestine is expected to be tantamount to putting the Palestine Jews in a ghetto and leaves the Jews no choice but to fight with un precedented vigor Ben Gurion declared. While bitterly criticizing the British policy the laborite leader said that despite the conflict over Palestine the Jews would remain alongside England in international problems especially in the event of war. Others participating in the debate were Dr. M. Kleinbaum of Warsaw and a number of Palestinians.
The moderate policy advocated by Dr. Chaim Weizmann and other Zionist leaders was strongly criticized during last night’s general debate following his political report Meir Grossman leader of the Jewish State Party urged civil disobedience as the best method to prevent carrying out of the British policy Joshua Suprassky of Palestine spoke in similar vein.
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.
