Leaders of the Jewish National Council of Palestine, representing the entire Jewish population of the country, today passionately ap?ealed to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine to recommend the immediate opening of the gates of Palestine to Jews not only from Europe but also from neighboring Arab countries.
Speaking for the Council at the fifth day of public hearings were Isaac Ben##vi, president, David Remez, chairman of its executive, Dr. Abraham Katznelson and ?r. Mordecai Eliash, members of the executive. They emphasized that the Jewish National Council wholeheartedly supports the political line of the Jewish Agency as outlined before the U.N. committee by David Ben Gurion and Moshe Shertok.
Declaring that the Jews in Palestine “are ready to receive millions of their ?aved brethren from Europe,” Ben Zvi also told UNSCOP that the position of Jews in ?he neighboring Arab countries is rapidly deteriorating politically, culturally and economically. “For the past twenty years,” he declared, “the newly-established Arab states did not provide any chance for their non-Arab minorities, whether Assyrians, ?urds or Jews. The sole hope of the Jewish minority there is exedus.”
Remez appealed to the committee not to postpone its decision “and not to ?ring despair into the hearts of the displaced Jews and us.” He asked that it should ?ot recommend “a solution of the Palestine issue which is not a solution” nor guardi?nship. “We have arrived at a point where the building of the country, as well as ?ur relations with the Arabs depend upon ourselves,” he said.
PALESTINE EMERGENCY REGULATIONS CRITICIZED: TERRORISM BRANDED AS “CANCER”
Dr. Eliash, testifying on the legal aspects of the Palestine problem, denoun?ed the Emergency Defense Regulations. He asserted that under them a Jew may be sentenced to eight years imprisonment and a fine of $4,000 for harboring an “illegal” Immigrant, even if the refugee is his brother or the sole surviving member of his family. He labelled terrorism a cancerous growth on the Jewish community. “We wish ?to eradicate this cancer,” he said, “but we cannot under such conditions cooperate with the administration.”
Guatemalan delegate Dr. Jorge Garcia Granados questioned Eliash on a number of points of Palestine law and legal procedure. He asked him to explain how Palestinian laws are made. The legal expert replied that they are promulgated by an Order?in-Council and may not be questioned by the citizens.
When Granados asked him to explain how this procedure compares with lawmaking ?in other lands, Sandstroem broks in to halt the questioning as irrevelant. A short clash developed, the first open one between the two committee members. Granados ?rged that in committee meetings the delegates had adopted a “reserved” attitude legal problems prevailing in Palestine. He insisted that he wanted Eliash’s ex?t testimony and that anything pertaining to Palestine and the Mandate is relevant. ?dstroem yielded the point, but Eliash refused to compare Palestinian legislation ?th any other, including British laws, on the grounds that he was not an expert on international law.
TWO MILLION JEWS SEEK TO ENTER PALESTINE, KAPLAN TELLS COMMITTEE
More than two million Jews are now seeking entrance to Palestine, Eliezer plan, treasurer of the Agency executive, told UNSCOP today, answering questions on ?rious economic aspects of the country.
“Two years ago,” Kaplan said, “Earl Harrison, who was sent by President Truman investigate the conditions of displaced persons in Europe, reported that about a ?illion Jews would seek to enter Palestine. Today the number is probably more than ?o million; the number of the displaced Jews has been reduced, but the number of ?filtrees’ has increased since then.”
Replying to a question as to how prospective Jewish immigrants would be se?cted, and whether the Agency is taking into account the education, ability to work, ?st sufferings of the DP’s and other psychological factors when selecting immigrants, plan said that all such factors were weighed. He added that “agricultural training, ?man rehabilitation and the suocess of bringing children back to their childhood” ?re the major factors taken into consideration.
JEWS PRODUCE 50 PERCENT OF THEIR FOODSTUFFS, EXPERT TESTIFIES
David Horowitz, head of the economic department of the Agency, replying to ?estions from UNSCOP members, revealed that fifteen percent of the food used by Jews {SPAN}##{/SPAN} Palestine is bought from the Arabs, fifty percent is produced by the Jews themselves, and the remaining thirty-five percent is imported against equivalent exports, {SPAN}##{/SPAN} also cited in detail the manner in which Jewish capital is poured into the Arab economy “so that we not only help the Arab sectors here, but provide capitalization or the development of neighboring Arab countries.”
Karel Lisicky, Czechoslovak member of the inquiry committee, who for the first time took an active part in the questioning, asserted that the Jews were constantly stressing that they were bearing the greatest burden of taxation from which the Arabs ?hiefly benefited. “I think it is time once and for all,” he said, “that you and this line of argument, because it is a principle in all countries of the world that ?he rich pay the greater part of the taxes.”
Dr. Fritz Bernstein, head of the industrial department of the Agency, pointed ?ut that Palestine was an exceptional case because of the problem of colonization in?olved. He challenged the committee members to examine the taxes paid by the all?rab town of Nablus, where there are rich Arabs, with the taxes paid by any small Jewish village whose inhabitants are poor. He added that the Jewish costs of coloni?ation were less here than anywhere else where colonization was under way.
The most exoiting moments of the morning’s session came with the appearance of black skull-capped Rabbi Judah L. Fishman, Mizrachi leader, who was attacked with ? barrage of intricate theological questions by Indian delegate Sir Abdur Rahman. ?he rapid fire exchange went somewhat as follows :
INDIAN DELEGATE ASKS FISHMAN WHEN WILL MESSIAH COME
The Indian drew a breath and then continued: “When was this promise made?” Fishman: “God promised it to Abraham 4,000 years ago.” Rahman: “When was it confirmed?” Fishman: “It was confirmed to Moses.” Rahman: “Did not God promise the land {SPAN}##{/SPAN} Ishmael?” Fishman: “No, only to the descendants of Isaac. He gave Ishmael another ?nd. Rahman: “Will the Jews get the land before or after the Messiah comes?” Fishman: “The Jews will return to the land and when all the Jews are settled in Palestine, the Messiah will come.” Rahman: “How long after the settlement will he come?” Fishman: “I cannot tell. That is known only to a few.”
At this point Rahman entered into a discussion with Rabbi Fishman over Jews ##o had been converted to Christianity. When, in answer to one of his questions, Rabbi Fishman replied that he considered every Jew a Jew regardless of conversion, ##e Indian turned to him sharply and rapped out excitedly: “Then all Christians and ##slems are still Jews?” Chairman Sandstroem broke in and said with a smile: “If there are no more questions we shall dismiss Rabbi Fishman.”
While the testimony was being taken, an Agency spokesman expressed great concern over UNSCOP’s decision yesterday not to visit the Jewish detention camps on ?prus, particularly since that decision was taken at the same time that UNSCOP had ?ted to renew its appeal to the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine to appear before ##. The spokesman added: “We think it therefore most imperative for UNSCOP members ## visit those displaced persons on Cyprus in order to attain a full understanding ## that vital problem.”
Meanwhile, it is learned from reliable sources that Egypt and Lebanon have ?cided to accept the UNSCOP invitation, addressed to the seven Arab states, to pres##t their views to the inquiry body. Egypt’s acceptance is said to have been accom##nied by an invitation to UNSCOP to visit Cairo.
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.
