An international bill of rights, to be adopted at San Francisco, measures to guarantee that refugees and deportees may resume life anew in the countries from which they fled or were driven and an international trusteaship for Palestine which would allow free immigration of Jews, were urged today by former Under-Secretary of State Summer welles, addressing the donor luncheon of the New York chapter of Hadassah at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, attended by 1,500 persons.
Mr. Welles also supported the formation of a Pan-Arab League under the surpreme authority of an international organization, provided such a league would concern itself with furthering the legitimate political, oultural and economic interests of the people of the Arab States, However, if the league were to be used as a means of exercising greater pressure against a Zionist solution of the Palestine problem, it must inevitably result in hostility “in this already distraught world,” Mr. Welles said.
“If, however,” he continued,” the international organization exercises a trusteeship over palestine during a transitional period, until all outstanding international problems in the Near East can be equitably solved, and the Commonwealth of Palestine can be propared to enjoy its independence, I would regard the entrance of Palestine during that transitional period into some form of economic federation with her neighbors, such as Syria, the Lebanon and Trans jordania, as a development which would be wholly wise and wholly desirable.”
The former Under-Searetary of State declared that if an international trustee ship for Palestine is created, “the number of Jewish immigrants permitted entry into Palestine should be limited sclely by the capacity of the land prefitably to take care of them.”
Mr. Welles paid tribute to judge Joeoph Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, for the initiative undertaken in urging that the San Francisco Conference designate three international commissions to frame an International Bill of Rights.
Other speakers were Mrs. Moses F, Epstein, national president of Hadassah, and Mrs, Maxwell Goldman, chapter president, both of whom paid tribute to President Roosevelt, a black-framed photograph of whom hung over the dias.
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.
