The Hebrew Committee of National Liberation today announced a plan for the immediate establishment of a provisional government of Palestine which would make Palestine “a free democratic republic” and which, they assert, will be carried out “irrespective of the anticipated rejection of the plan by the British Government.”
The plan, which was announced at a press conference by Peter H. Bergeon, committee chairman, calls for the convening in 1946 by the Jewish National Council of Palestine and the Hebrew Committee, or either, of a “Hebrew Representative Assembly” composed of spokesmen for the Jews in Palestine, leaders of the Jewish partisans in Europe, representatives of Jewish displaced persons and other “Hebrew nationals” all over the world.
The assembly will remain in office until election, by general suffrage, of a representative government of Palestine, under United Nations supervision, to be elected no later than two years from the date of the creation of the provisional government. The government is to include citizens of Palestine “without reference to creed or descent.” The plan envisages the complete separation of church and state. A United Nations supervisory board will be asked to advise and assist the provisional government until the first general election can be held.
The plan will be submitted to each member of the United Nations and to the U.N. itself, Bergson stated. If it become necessary to establish a provisional government in exile, he said he knew of “at least ten” countries where the Hebrew national assembly could be convened. Asked how this plan would affect the Jewish Agency, Bergson said that it would eliminate the need for it.
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.
