Opposition to the reported plan for the creation of a joint American-British commission to study the situation of Jewish survivors in Europe and the possibilities of their emigration to Palestine and other countries was mined in a memorandum submitted to President Truman by the American Zionist Emergency Council, it was announced here today.
The memorandum termed the establishment of such a commission at this late date “a new evasion of the Palestine problem by the British Government.” It emphasized that the contemplated appointment of such a body would be nothing but “an unacceptable substitute for positive action.”
Pointing out that no inquiry can be acceptable which does not base itself on the internationally recognized right of the Jewish people to reconstitute their national home in Palestine, the Zionist Emergency Council proposed the following four-point program for the implementation of a joint Anglo-American policy on Palestine:
“1. Immediate admission into Palestine of 100,000 displaced Jews of Europe is requested by President Truman.
“2. Immediate abandonment or revocation by the British Government of the White Paper of 1939, which was a unilateral act of the British Government in violation of international obligations, contrary to the opinion of the Mandate’s Commission of the league of Nations and without the approval of the United States. That abrogation is a responsibility resting upon the British Government alone.
“3. A joint reaffirmation by the British and American Governments of their intention to pursue a Palestine policy in keeping with the original purpose and intent of the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate.
“4. Establishment thereafter of a joint commission to determine how both countries may cooperate in the implementation of that policy with due regard to their respective interests and responsibilities. The opening of Palestine to Jewish immigration and its re-establishment as a free and independent Jewish Commonwealth should be accompanied by a program for the economic development of the whole of the Middle East which would benefit all the peoples of that undeveloped and poverty-stricken area.”
The Council statement emphasized that within the last three years several major intergovernmental groups have dealt unsuccessfully with the question of Jewish refugees and Jewish emigration. “Each ended in failure because they based their deliberations upon the fallacious assumption that the doors of Palestine, unlawfully barred to Jewish immigration by the Chamberlain White Paper of 1939, must of necessity remain barred,” the statement said. Any such further study, it pointed out, will not bring the solution one step nearer, but will only complicate the situation, making for interminable delays and leading to greater confusion.
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.
