Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, was received today by President Truman. He was accompanied by British Ambassador Lord Halifax. Before the conclusion of the conference, which lasted thirty minutes, Secretary of State Byrnes also joined in the talks.
Upon leaving the White House, Dr. Weizmann told newspapermen that he would have something to say for publication on Friday or Saturday at the conclusion of his visit to Washington.
Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, also called on President Truman this morning and left with him a seven-point memorandum, as a basis “for a fair and peaceful settlement” of the Palestine problem. The seven points are:
“1. A United Nations declaration that Palestine shall not be a Moslem, Christian or a Jewish state, but shall be a country in which people of all faiths can play their full and equal part, sharing fully the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
“2. All official declarations on Palestine in any way discriminating for or against a segment of the population shall be formally repudiated; in their place there shall be a renewed pledge of full freedom of religious expression and equality for all in Palestine.
“3. Palestine, as a ward of the civilized world, shall receive financial help for the expansion of its economy and the enlargement of its immigration opportunities.
“4. Immigration into Palestine shall be maintained on the basis of absorptive capacity and without privilege or discrimination.
“5. Immigration procedures shall be controlled by representative bodies of all the inhabitants of Palestine, in association with properly instituted international commissions.
“6. Institutions of home rule for Palestine shall be progressively and rapidly instituted under the aegis of an international commission.
“7. The problem of the displaced Jews in Europe shall be treated separately, in the following way: (a) The above policy on Palestine shall be made known to them; (b) On the basis of such knowledge, a poll shall be taken in which the displaced persons would list, in order of preference, the lands of their choice for their individual resettlement; (c) Based upon these findings, an international displaced persons committee shall, with the cooperation of the United Nations, bring about the resettlement of the displaced on a basis corresponding as nearly as possible to their preferences, with countries of the United Nations cooperating to take in a fair number of the displaced. Action by the United States Government to make available unused and current immigrant quotas, and the necessary consular and visa machinery for the immigration of displaced persons of all faiths, would set a high moral example to the rest of the world of our determination to contribute to the solution of world problems and would, in fat, bring about the rapid solution of the refugee problem.”
Rosenweld urged that “so-called promises made or implied decades ago, ambiguous and mutually contradictory, and variously interpreted by various parties, must no longer be determinant in the face of a new and grave situation.” He declared that world peace demands “a workable and peaceful solution” of the Palestine question.
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.
