Byrnes Disturbed by Arab Pogroms on Jews in Tripolitania

Secretary of State James F. Byrnes is very gravely disturbed by the anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania, a delegation of the Agudas Israel said today after being received by the Secretary.

The three-man delegation, headed by Jacob Rosenheim, of New York, world president of the Agudas Israel, called on Mr. Byrnes for a discussion of Jewish settlement in Palestine and the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Clement Attlee to the United States.

Meier Schenkolewski, executive member of the organization, and Michael Tress, chairman of the Agudas Israel Youth Council, told the press, after seeing the Secretary, that they had submitted a proposal for a round table conference of Arabs and Jews looking primarily toward admission into Palestine of the 100,000 Jewish refugees now in Germany. They said that the Secretary, while expressing no opinion on the proposal, looked favorably upon it and will submit it, together with a statement from the delegation, to President Truman.

The delegation stated that Mr. Byrnes feels that now is the time to take a completely new approach to the treatment of the Palestine problem and to find a peaceful solution. They gained the impression from the Secretary that he felt the United States should take a more definite interest in the question.

The proposal for the round table conference suggests “peaceful pressure” on the Arabs from the United States and Britain, the delegation said. Declaring the ad- mission of the 100,000 Jews the urgent question, they said that the problem of a Jewish state could be settled later. The Secretary. according to the delegation, feels that the problem of the Jewish refugees must be solved quickly and that the United States should share in the solution. He is reported by the delegation to believe that their condition in Germany is still bad, although improved since issuance of the Harrison report.