Washington and London Report Progress in Negotiations on Palestine Report

The State and War Department technical experts who returned to Washington several days ago from discussions in London with the British Government on technical aspects of the movement of 100,000 Jewish immigrants to Palestine have reported progress, Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson said today.

Mr. Acheson pointed out to his press conference that while the group had no power to make decisions, it did considerable spadework in preparation for the forthcoming talks by Henry F. Grady and Goldthwaite H. Dorr, alternates to the Secretaries of State and War on the President’s Cabinet Committee on Palestine, to be held later this month in London. It is hoped that the alternates and their staff may leave for England before July 15, the date originally scheduled for their departure, Mr. Acheson said.

(In London a source close to Prime Minister Attlee said that preliminary discussions on Palestine between London and Washington are proceeding satisfactorily and that a decision “on the political level” is expected within a few weeks. The discussions with the members of the President’s Cabinet Committee are expected to take one to two weeks, this source said, after which the discussions would be transferred to a higher level. The JTA informant stated definitely that no change in the status of the Jewish Agency is contemplated.)

The United States Government has not lodged a protest with the British Government on the Palestine raids, Mr. Acheson said in response to a question. He reiterated previous State Department announcements that it was not informed by the British Government in advance of the raids.

Grady and Dorr today received Jacob Blaustein and John Slawson, executive committee chairman and executive vice-president, respectively, of the American Jewish Committee, who urged that there be no further delay in the transfer of 100,000 displaced European Jews into Palestine, as recommended by the Anglo-American Inquiry Committee.

The American Jewish Committee representatives pointed out that the present unrest in Palestine is due to the delay in implementing the immigration recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee, and that further inaction would aggravates the situation of the displaced Jews and make more difficult a peaceful solution of the Palestine problem. The Committee representatives stated that delay in opening the doors of Palestine makes it impossible for the moderate elements within the Jewish community to exercise restraint. They recommended the establishment of an international collective trusteeship, administered directly by the United Nations.