The French Cabinet, at a meeting today, is reported to have decided that the Exodus refugees would be allowed to land if they so desired, but would not be forcibly disembarked if they refused to leave the vessels. Under any circumstances, the French authorities will provide them with food.
Immediately after conclusion of the meeting, which was held at Rambouillet, the summer residence of the President, Foreign Minister Goerges Bidault met there with British Ambassador Alfred Duff-Cooper, who made a special trip from Paris to discuss the disposition of the refugees.
(Official British quarters refused to comment today when informed that the French had decided to allow the refugees to remain aboard the deportation transports if they refused to disembark. It was indicated that the British and French are deadlocked on the question of who is to assume responsibility for the deportees. Meanwhile the British Zionist Federation has called a mass protest meeting for Sunday.)
The Socialist newspaper Populaire said today that “France would be going back on all its traditions” if it made any attempt to force the refugees to land.
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.
