The British Government will not feel itself obligated to follow the plans for implementation of the Anglo-American Palestine report which are to be drafted by the joint U.S.-British committee of experts which began meeting here yesterday, it was reported here today.
The committee members, whose deliberations will be surrounded by secrecy, plan to meet twice daily to expedite their work as much as possible. The British members are expected to be in constant contact with the appropriate Cabinet members on different sections of the recommendations.
What is likely to be one of the chief stumbling blocks in the discussions is the question of U.S. military aid in Palestine. It is common knowledge that Britain desires such assistance, although it has not yet officially asked for it.
A five-point resolution was adopted at a special meeting today by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, by a vote of 155 to 14, which urged the British Government to recognize that its only means of obtaining security in the Middle East was the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The resolution expressed deep concern at the repressive measures carried out by the Palestine Administration against members of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Council and the Jewish settlements and expressed confidence in the Agency despite the action taken against its leaders, which was characterized as an infringement of the international status of the Agency.
It also reaffirmed the Board’s statement of policy of November, 1944, which declared that the restoration of Jewish nationhood in Palestine was an indispensable basis for the solution of the Jewish problem and the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine was the only means of affording security for homeless Jews the world over; urged the Government to carry out without delay the recommendations of the Anglo-American inquiry committee regarding the immigration of 100,000 European Jews to Palestine and expressed confidence that British public opinion would recognize justice in the Jewish cause.
CHARGES BRITISH ARRESTED FIRMEST OPPONENTS OF TERROR
Prof. Selig Brodetsky, president of the Board, reiterated his condemnation of terrorism in Palestine, but emphasized that there was no justification whatever for the Government’s actions. He added that the very men who had consistently opposed terrorism had been arrested by the authorities.
He pointed out that the Board was the only representative body of British Jewry and statements approving the Government’s actions in Palestine were issued by individuals and small groups which comprised an insignificant minority. Brodetsky urged the immediate release of the leaders of the Jewish Agency so that they might participate in coming discussions on Palestine’s future.
The Board rejected overwhelmingly a Communist-sponsored proposal asking that the Palestine problem be handed over to the United Nations.
An article in the Sunday Pictorial by Lord Vansittard today gives a “friendly hint” to American Jews, warning that they have organized an “excess of Anglophobia.” He said that American Jewry can become a “liability for Jews,” adding that “it is in their power to make more anti-Semites than the Arabs.”
The former British Minister in Syria, Major-General Sir Edward Spears, in an article in the Sunday Chronicle declared that the admission of 100,000 Jews to Palestine would end peace and security in the Middle East. He urged the Government to issue a declaration against a Jewish state and further immigration until self-governing institutions were set up with a constitution that protected the languages, religions and customs of the Jews and Arabs.
The diplomatic correspondent of the Observer, commenting on the Anglo-American talks, declared that Britain will adopt the proposals of the Anglo-American inquiry committee only if all of its recommendations are found to be workable.
Prof. Lewis B. Namier, one-time political secretary of the Jewish Agency, and noted British historian, disclosed in a letter to the London Times yesterday, that only a month ago British intelligence officers were in contact with the Jewish Agency, asking its assistance in some undisclosable matters. He recalled the invaluable assistance given the British forces in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iraq, by members of the Haganah and the Irgun.
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.
