A re-unification of Palestine Jewry was effected at the closing meeting of the second annual session of the first legally recognised Palestine Jewish Elected Assembly (Assefath Hanivcharim), which was concluded at Tel Aviv at six o’clock this morning, after an all-night sitting, following an agreement between all the parties represented on the Palestine Legislative Council project and the proposal to hold an Arab-Jewish Round Table Conference.
The Revisionists, who are with 16 members, the second largest Party in the Assembly, have in consequence decided now to join the Vaad Leumi, the Executive body of the Assembly, which conducts its work between its annual sessions. (At the last annual session the entire Revisionist bloc walked out of the Assembly as a protest against its adoption of a resolution to join in the negotiations conducted at the time by the Jewish Agency with the British Government on the Passfield White Paper, and they refused to accept the seats on the Vaad Leumi to which they were entitled according to their numbers. Dr. von Weisl, who was then the leader of the Revisionist bloc, declared at the time that the Revisionists would try to establish a separate council, although the withdrawal from the Assembly did not mean secession from the Kenesseth Israel, because the Revisionists were ready to return as soon as participation in the negotiations with the Government was renounced by Palestine Jewry).
The re-entry of the Revisionists necessitates a reshuffling of the membership of the Vaad Leumi, which will now consist of 10 Labour representatives, 5 Revisionists, 2 General Zionists, 2 Mizrachists, 1 Sephardi, 1 Yemenite, and one Women’s representative.
On the question of a Palestine Legislature, the Assembly has reaffirmed the resolution adopted by the last session a year ago, which is a repetition of the resolution adopted by the previous Vaad Leumi in October 1930, declaring that “the Yishub will not recognise and will not take part in any Parliamentary institutions calculated to arrest the development of the Jewish National Home”, with the additional statement that “the political situation does not warrant any change in this attitude, but the reverse”.
The Revisionist resolutions against the Round Table proposals, the Pan-Islamic Conference, and the Arab Federation and urging non-co-operation with the British Government have been tabled, as well as a motion introduced by the General Zionists against the idea of the cantonisation of Palestine into Jewish and Arab districts.
PALESTINE JEWRY WILL OPPOSE ANY SCHEME IGNORING JEWISH DEVELOPMENT AND RESTRICTING JEWISH IMMIGRATION AND LAND PURCHASE: RESOLUTION ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY BY ASSEMBLY: SESSION MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN LAST YEAR’S VAAD LEUMI LEADERS TELL J.T.A. ATTITUDE OF REVISIONISTS HERALDS BETTER SPIRIT THEY SAY
A resolution has been adopted unanimously by the Assembly on the question of the Palestine Development Scheme, declaring that Palestine Jewry will oppose any scheme in which Jewish development is ignored, and which restricts Jewish immigration and land purchase.
The leaders of the Vaad Leumi have expressed themselves in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the conclusion of the Assembly as gratified with the results of the session, which they describe as more successful than the first session which was held last year.
This is due, they say, to the fact that the session carefully deliberated on the political and economic problems, and decided on the taxation system and the budget, while the attitude of the Revisionists at this session heralds a better spirit.
The Jewish Farmers’ Federation is officially still abstaining from participation in the Assembly, but individual colonists attended the session and took part in the discussion, though they were not entitled by the abstention of their organisation to vote on the questions before the Assembly.
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.
