Rep. Jacob K. Javits, Republican of New York, in his maiden speech today, called for implementation of Congressional resolutions and the Republican Party platform favoring the establishment of “a democratic commonwealth in Palestine” and suggested “as a first step” the dispatching of a special U.S. mission to Palestine to aid the British in supervising “increased immigration and land settlement and the resumption of land purchase by Jews.”
Javits declared that although the majority of the Jews whom he had met on a recent trip to Palestine agreed that partition is “probably the only practical answer” to the dispute, he believed that it must be preceded by a settlement which would open Palestine to immigration and land settlement, and by removal of land purchase restrictions. He said that the London conference “will not be realistic if it fails to realize the essentiality” of these points.
He asserted that partition will take time for agreement on a number of political issues and “in the meantime, Jewish land settlement is urgently needed and with it, greater Jewish and Arab participation in internal administration.” Insisting that there were no basic disagreements between Jews and Arabs “at the grass roots level,” Javits pointed out that “the social tensions in Palestine are now largely between the Jews and the British.”
Commenting on terrorism, he said that it must be recognized that “this terror which ends in political crime, begins in political frustration.” He added that he was “convinced that a policy of justice” is the “necessary moral basis for ending the terror.” Rep. Javits estimated that Palestine can support twice its present Jewish population, and said that at least 600,000 of Europe’s Jews want to go there.
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.
