• M - 
 
 The United Nations 
 
 at Lake Success, New York 
 May 8 and 12, 1947 
 by 
 
 Br. Abba Hill el Silver, of Cleveland, Ohio, President of 
 the American Section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine; 
 
 Mr. Moshe Shertok, Head of the Political Department 
 of the Agency 
 and 
 
 Mr. David Ben-Gurion, Chairman of the Executive Com- 
 mittee of the Agency 
 
 Printed in tlie Congressional Record of May 16, 1947 
 
 Not printed 
 at Government 
 expense 
 
 United States Government Printins Office, Washington : 1947 
 745246—21234 
 
The Palestine Problem 
 
 EXTENSION OP REMARKS 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. J. HOWARD McGRATH 
 
 OF RHODE ISLAND 
 
 IN THE SENATE OP THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Friday, May 16 (.legislative day of 
 Monday, April 21) , 1947 
 
 Mr. McGRATH. Mr. President, at the 
 recent special session of the United Na- 
 tions General Assembly called to consider 
 the Palestine problem, three splendid 
 statements were made by the spokesmen 
 for the JeVi'ish people. 
 
 These arguments, presented by Dr. 
 Abba Hillel Silver, of Cleveland, president 
 of the American section of the Jevifish 
 Agency for Palestine; by Mr. Moshe 
 Shertok, head of the political depart- 
 ment of the agency and by Mr. David 
 Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the execu- 
 tive committee of the Jev/ish Agency, set 
 forth fully the historic right and justifi- 
 cation of the Jewish people to establish 
 a homeland and a Jewish state in Pales- 
 tine. 
 
 The three statements comprise a mag- 
 nificent presentation of the Jewish case 
 and a splendid review of the historic 
 American support of this great cause. 
 
 I commend these statements to the 
 attention of all fair-minded people in- 
 terested in a just solution of one of the 
 world's most pressing problems, and I 
 request their publications in the Con- 
 GRESsiONAL RECORD for the Information 
 of the Congress and the country. 
 
 There being no objection, the state- 
 ments were ordered to be printed in the 
 Record, as follows: 
 
 * • » * • 
 
 745246—21234 (2 
 
 Statement by Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, ' 
 May 8, 1947 
 
 I should like to say at the outset that were 
 Mx. David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the 
 Jewish Agency for Palestine, here this morn- 
 ing, he would be making this statement. 
 Unfortunately, the arrival of Mr. Ben-Gurion 
 has been delayed. He will be here tomorrow, 
 and I hope that in the course of the delibsra- 
 tlons he will have an opportunity to partici- 
 pate here. 
 
 Permit me to thank the Assembly of the 
 United Nations for granting the Jewish 
 Agency for Palestine a hearing on the ques- 
 tion which is before this committee. We are 
 grateful for the opportunity to take counsel 
 with you in the matter of constituting and 
 instructing a special committee of this body, 
 which is to study the problem of Palestine 
 and to bring in recommendations for the 
 future government of that country. We 
 trust that our participation in these de- 
 liberations will be helpful and will prove to 
 be a contribution to the Just solution of this 
 grave international problem which this In- 
 ternational community is now earnestly 
 seeking. 
 
 Such a successful solution v/ill prove a 
 blessing not only to Palestine and to all Its 
 inhabitants, to the Jewish people, to the 
 cause of world peace, but it will also enhance 
 the moral authority and prestige of this 
 great organization for world Justice and 
 peace upon which so many high hopes of 
 mankind now rest. 
 
 PLEASED OVim OUTLOOK 
 
 We are pleased that the Palestine problem 
 will now be reviewed by an international 
 body and that the thought and conscience 
 of mankind will now be brought to bear on a 
 situation v/hich heretofore, and for some 
 years now, has been made extremely diffi- 
 cult by unilateral action and by decisions 
 made, presumably within the terms of a 
 
mandatory trust, but actually without the 
 sanction or supervision of the international 
 body which established that trust and which 
 defined both its limits and its purposes. 
 
 The administration of Palestine has, since 
 the outbreak of the war, been conducted by 
 the mandatory powers as If it were vested 
 with the sovereignty of Palestine; whereas It 
 Is assumed to administer that country, of 
 which it was not the sovereign, as a trustee 
 for carrying out the purposes of the mandate, 
 which clearly defined its rights and its obli- 
 gations. 
 
 The problem of Palestine is, of course, of 
 paramount Importance to the Jewish people 
 and that fact, I take it, motivated the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the United Nations to extend 
 an invitation to the Jewish agency of Pales- 
 tine to present its views. We thank all those 
 who so warmly urged our admission for their 
 good will and their gallant action. The Jew- 
 ish agency, you will recall, is recognized in 
 the mandate for Palestine as a public body 
 authorized to speak and act on behalf of the 
 Jewish people in and out of Palestine in 
 matters affecting the establishment cf the 
 Jewish national home. 
 
 It is the only recognized public body in 
 the mandate. It is recognized as such, to 
 quote article 4, "• • ♦ for the purpcse of 
 advising and cooperating with the adminis- 
 tration of Palestine in such economic, social, 
 and other matters as may affect the estab- 
 lishment of the Jewish national home and 
 the interests of the Jewish population in Pal- 
 estine and, subject always to the control of 
 the administration, to assist and take part 
 in the development of the country." 
 
 Under article 6, the Jewish agency is en- 
 titled further to cooperate with the admin- 
 istration in permitting "• • • close set- 
 tlement by Jews on the land"; and, by article 
 11, It is given a preferred status In respect 
 to the construction and operation of public 
 works and the development of the natural 
 resources of the country. 
 745246—21234 
 
 The Jewish agency, which we have the 
 honor to represent, therefore, speaks not 
 merely for the organized Jewish community 
 of Palestine, the democratically elected Na- 
 tional Council of Palestine Jews, who are to- 
 day the pioneering vanguard in the build- 
 ing of the Jewish national home; it speaks 
 also for the Jewish people of the world, who 
 are devoted to this historic ideal, for It was 
 charged, by the same article 4 of the man- 
 date, • * to secure the cooperation of 
 all Jews who are willing to "ssist in the estab- 
 lishment of the Jewish national home." 
 
 I have spoken of "the Jewish people" and 
 "the Jewish national home." In defining the 
 terms of reference of the committee of In- 
 quiry which you are to appoint, and in all 
 the committee's future investigations, these, 
 In my judgment, should be regarded as key 
 terms and basic concepts. They were the key 
 terms and the basic concepts of the Balfour 
 Declaration and of the mandate undsr which 
 Palestine is, or should be, administered 
 today. 
 
 To proceed without relation to them would 
 be to detour into a political wilderness as far 
 as Palestine is concerned. To treat the Pal- 
 estine problem as if it were one of merely 
 reconciling the differences between two sec- 
 tions of the population pressntly Inhabiting 
 the country, or of finding a haven for a cer- 
 tain number of refugees and displaced per- 
 sons, would only contribute to confusion. 
 
 B.ALFOUR DECLARATION CITED 
 
 The Balfour Declaration, which was issued 
 by His Majesty's Government as a "• • • 
 declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist 
 aspiration," declares: 
 
 "His Majesty's Government view with 
 favor the establishment In Palestine of a 
 national home for the Jewish people." 
 
 The mandate, in its preamble, recognizes 
 "• * * the historical connection of the 
 Jewish people with Palestine" and "• • • 
 the grounds for reconstituting" — I call your 
 
attention to the word "reconstituting" — 
 "their national home in that country." 
 
 Those international commitments of a 
 quarter of a century ago, which flowed from 
 the recognition of historic rights and present 
 needs, and upon which so much has already 
 been built in Palestine by the Jewish people, 
 cannot now be erased. You cannot turn 
 back the hands of the clock of history. 
 
 Certainly, the United Nations, guided by 
 its great principle, proclaimed in its Charter, 
 "to establish conditions under which justice 
 and respect for the obligations arising from 
 treaties and other sources of international 
 law can be maintained," can never sanction 
 the violation of treaties and of International 
 law. 
 
 Having this and similar situations in mind, 
 a speciflc provision, you will recall, was writ- 
 ten into the chapter of the Charter of the 
 United Nations which deals with territories 
 which might become trusteeship territories, 
 and which is therefore especialiy applicable 
 to territories now under mandate. This is 
 article 80 of the Charter, which reads: 
 
 "Except as may be agreed upon in indi- 
 vidual trusteeship agreements, made under 
 articles 77, 79, and 81, placing each territory 
 under the trusteeship system, and until such 
 agreements have been concluded, nothing 
 in this chapter shall be construed in or of 
 Itself to alter in any manner the rights 
 whatsoever of any states or any peoples or 
 the terms of existing international instru- 
 ments, to which members of the United Na- 
 tions may respectively be parties." 
 
 It is the perspective of your committee of 
 inquiry on the entire problem which, in our 
 judgment, will prove decisive. It will give 
 direction and will greatly expedite its work, 
 and its conclusions will prove of construc- 
 tive significance, if It will keep the proper 
 perspective always in view. 
 
 A generation ago the international com- 
 munity of the world, of which the United 
 Nations today is the political and spiritual 
 74524e— 21234 
 
 heir, decreed that the Jewish people should 
 be given the right, long denied, and the op- 
 portunity to reconstitute their national 
 home in Palestine. That national home is 
 stm In the making; it has not yet been fully 
 established. No international cormnunity 
 has canceled or even questioned that right. 
 The mandatory power, which was entrusted 
 with the obligation to safeguard the oppor- 
 tunity for the continuous growth and de- 
 velopment of the Jewish national home, has 
 unfortunately in recent years grievously in- 
 terfered with and circumscribed it. That 
 opportunity must now be fully restored. 
 
 When will the Jewish national home be 
 an accomplished fact? The answer to that 
 question may well be given by the man who 
 was Prime Minister of Great Britain at the 
 time when the Balfour Declaration was is- 
 sued. I am quoting the testimony of Mr. 
 Lloyd George, given before the Palestine 
 Royal Commission in 1937: 
 
 "There would be no doubt," he said, "as 
 to what the Cabinet then had in their minds. 
 It was not their idea that a Jewish state 
 should be set up immediately by the peace 
 treaty. On the other hand, it was contem- 
 plated that, when the time arrived for ac- 
 cording representative institutions to Pales- 
 tine, if the Jews had meanwhile responded to 
 the opportunity afEorded them and had be- 
 come a definite majority of the inhabitants, 
 then Palestine would thus become a Jewish 
 commonwealth." 
 
 "The notion that Jewish immigration," he 
 continued, "would have to be artificially re- 
 stricted in order to insure that the Jews 
 would be a permanent minority, never en- 
 tered into the head of anyone engaged in 
 framing the policy. That would have been 
 regarded as unjust and as a fraud on the 
 people to whom we were appealing." 
 
 This same answer could also be given by 
 Mr. Winston Churchill, who was an impor- 
 tant member of the Government which Is- 
 sued the Balfour Declaration; by General 
 
5 
 
 Smuts, who was a member of the Imperial 
 War Cabinet at the time and who foretold 
 an increasing stream of Jewish immigration 
 Into Palestine and "in generations to come, 
 a great Jewish state rising there once more"; 
 by Lord Robert Cecil, and by many others. 
 
 QUOTES WOODEOW WILSON 
 
 American statesmen shared this view of 
 the Jewish national home. Thus, President 
 Wilson, on March 3, 1919, stated: "I am per- 
 suaded that the Allied nations, with the 
 fullest concurrence of cur own Government 
 and people, are agreed that in Palestine shall 
 be laid the foundations of a Jewish com- 
 monwealth." 
 
 That the Government of the United States 
 does not now consider the Jewish national 
 home as already established is clearly stated 
 in the letter of President Truman to King 
 Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia, dated October 23, 
 1946. He wrote: 
 
 "The Government and people of the United 
 States have given support to the concept of 
 the Jewish national home in Palestine ever 
 since the termination of the First World 
 War, which resulted in the freeing of a large 
 area of the Near East, Including Palestine, 
 and the establishment of a number of in- 
 dependent States which are now members of 
 the United Nations." 
 
 "The United States," wrote President Tru- 
 man, "which contributed its blood and re- 
 sources to the winning of that war, could 
 not divest itself of a certain responsibility 
 for the manner in which the freed territories 
 were disposed of or for the fate of the peoples 
 liberated at that time. It took the position, 
 to whicl. it still adheres, that these people 
 should be prepared for self-government, and 
 also that a national home for the Jewish peo- 
 ple should be established in Palestine. 
 
 "I am happy to note, declared the Presi- 
 dent, "that most of the liberated peoples are 
 now citizens of independent countries. The 
 Jewish national home, however, has not as yet 
 been fully developed." 
 74S246— 21234 
 
 It should, of course, be clear — and I regret 
 that statements made by certain representa- 
 tives in recent days have tended to confuse 
 what should be clear — that when we speak of 
 a Jewish state, we do not have in mind any 
 racial state or any theocratic state, but one 
 which will be based upon full equality and 
 rights for all inhabitants without distinction 
 of religion or race pnd without domination 
 c- subjugation. What we have in mind by 
 the Jewisli state is most sxxcinctly stated 
 in a resolution adopted by the British Labor 
 Party in 1945 — now represented by the pres- 
 ent Government of the United Kingdom, 
 which requested this special session of the 
 United ITations. I am quoting: 
 
 "Here we halted halfway. Irresolutely be- 
 tween conflicting policies. 3ut there is surely 
 neither hope nor meaning in a Jewish na- 
 tional home unless we are prepared to let 
 the Jews, if they wish, enter this tiny land 
 in such numbers as to become a majority. 
 There was a strong case for this before the 
 war, and there is an Irresistible case for it 
 now.' 
 
 When your committee of inquiry will 
 come to consider proposals for the future 
 government of Palestine, this inescapable 
 and irreducible factor — the International 
 obligation to insure the continuous develop- 
 ment of the Jewish national home — should 
 be kept, in our Judgment, constantly In 
 mind. I believe it would be extremely help- 
 ful to the committee of Inquiry if the man- 
 datory government would present the ac- 
 count of its stewardship of the Palestine 
 mandate to it rather than wait for the next 
 assembly of the United Nations. It would 
 assist the committee in thinking through 
 the problem and at arriving at helpful rec- 
 ommendations for the future government of 
 Palestine. 
 
 It is illogical, I fear, to ask the committee 
 of inquiry to consider the future govern- 
 ment of Palestine without flrst making a 
 thorough study of the present government 
 
to discover what was faulty In the present 
 administration, what neglect and what de- 
 viations occurred to have brought about a 
 condition so dangerous and explosive as to 
 necessitate the convoking of a special ses- 
 sion of the United Nations to deal with it. 
 
 I believe that the committee of Inquiry 
 should most certainly visit Palestine. Writ- 
 ten documents are important, but infinitely 
 mere instructive are the living documents, 
 the visible testimony of creative effort and 
 achievement. In Palestine they will see 
 what the Jewish people, inspired by the hope 
 of reconstituting this national home after 
 the long weary centuries of their homeless- 
 ness, and relying upon the honor and the 
 pledged word of the world community, has 
 achieved in a few short years against great 
 odds and seemingly insurmountable handi- 
 caps. 
 
 The task was enormous — untrained hands, 
 inadequate means, overwhelming difficulties. 
 The land was stripped and poor, neglected 
 through the centuries. And the period of 
 building took place between two disastrous 
 world wars when European Jewry was shat- 
 tered and impoverished. Nevertheless, the 
 record of pioneering achievement of the 
 Jewish people in Palestine has received the 
 acclaim of the entire v/orld. And what was 
 built there with social vision and high hu- 
 man idealism has proved a blessing, we be- 
 lieve, not only to the Jews of Palestine but 
 to the Arabs and to other non-Jewish com- 
 munities as well. 
 
 That the return of the Jews to Palestine 
 would prove a blessing not only to them- 
 selves but also to their Arab neighbors was 
 envisaged by the Emir Feisal, who was a 
 great leader of the Arab peoples, at the 
 Peace Conference following the First World 
 War. On March 3, 1919, he wrote: 
 
 "We Arabs look with the deepest sympathy 
 on the Zionist movement. Our deputation 
 here in Paris is fully acquainted with the pro- 
 posals submitted yesterday by the Zionist 
 74524&— 21234 
 
 organization to the Peace Conference, and 
 we regard them as moderate and proper. We 
 will do our best. Insofar as we are concerned, 
 to help them through. We will wish the 
 Jews a most hearty welcome home. I look 
 forward, and my people with me look for- 
 ward, to a future in which we will help you, 
 and you will help us, so that the countries 
 in which we are mutually interested may 
 once again take their places in the commu- 
 nity of civilized peoples of the world." 
 
 Your committee of inquiry will conclude, 
 we are confident, that if allowed to develop 
 uninterruptedly the standards of life which 
 have been developed in Palestine, the con- 
 cepts of social justice and the modern scien- 
 tific method will serve as a great stimulus 
 to the rebirth and progress of the entire 
 Near East with which Palestine and with 
 which the destinies of the Jewish national 
 home are naturally bound up. 
 
 Your committee of inquiry should also con- 
 sider the potentialities of the country, which, 
 if properly developed, can, according to the 
 expert testimony of those most qualified to 
 speak on the subject, sustain a population 
 much greater than the present one. Many 
 more projects which will result in great eco- 
 nomic and social improvement, not alone in 
 Palestine but in all the neighboring coun- 
 tries, are awaiting development pending a 
 satisfactory political solution. 
 
 WOULD INVESTIGATE VIOLENCE 
 
 The committee of inquiry should, while In 
 Palestine, also look into the real, the funda- 
 mental causes of the tragic unrest and Vio- 
 lence which today mar the life of the Holy 
 Land to which our Jewish pioneers came, 
 not with weapons but with tools. They will 
 inquire, I am sure, why a peace-loving com- 
 munity, whose sole Interest was in building 
 a peaceful home and future for themselves, 
 and their children, is being driven to the 
 pitch of resentment and tension and lamen- 
 tably driving some of its members to actions 
 which we all deplore. 
 
They will ask themselves, I am sure, why 
 shiploads of helpless Jewish refugees — men, 
 women, and children who have been through 
 all the hells of Nazi Eurcpe — are being driven 
 away from the shores of the Jewish national 
 home by a mandatory government which as- 
 sumed, as its prime obligation, to facilitate 
 Jewish immigration into that country. 
 
 They will also investigate, I hope, how the 
 mandatory government is carrying out an- 
 other of its obligations, which was to encour- 
 age also settlement of the Jews on the land; 
 when, in actual practice, it is today severely 
 restricting free Jewish settlement to an area 
 less than 6 percent of that tiny country, and 
 is enforcing today in the Jewish national 
 home discriminatory racial laws which the 
 mandate, as well as the Charter of the United 
 Nations, severely condemns. 
 
 By way of digression let it be said — if it 
 need be said at all — that we are not engaged 
 nor shall we be engaged in any criticism or 
 condemnation of the people of the United 
 Kingdom. We have no quarrel with them. 
 On the contrary, we have the highest regard 
 and admiration for that people and for its 
 monumental contributions to democratic 
 civilization; and we shall never forget that it 
 was the United Kingdom which, first among 
 the nations, gave recognition to the national 
 aspirations of the Jewish people. It is only 
 a wrong and unjustifiable policy which con- 
 tradicts and tends to defeat the far-visioned 
 British statesmanship of earlier years which 
 we condemn. 
 
 We hope most earnestly that the Commit- 
 tee of Inquiry will also visit the displaced 
 persons camps in Europe and see with their 
 own eyes the appalling human tragedy which 
 mankind is permitting to continue unabated 
 2 years — it is exactly 2 years tQday since 
 VE-day — after the close of the war in which 
 the Jewish people was the greatest sufferer. 
 
 While committees of Investigation and 
 study are reporting on their sad plight, and 
 while Intergovernmental discussions and ne- 
 745246—21234 
 
 gotlations are going on, these war-ravaged 
 men and women are languishing in their 
 misery, still waiting for salvation. They ask 
 for the bread of escape and hope; they are 
 given the stone of Inquiries and investiga- 
 tions. Their morale is slumping terribly. A 
 spiritual deterioration, I am afraid, is setting 
 in among them. It is only the hope that to- 
 morrow — perhaps tomorrow — redemption 
 may come that keeps their spirit from break- 
 ing utterly. 
 
 Most of them are desperately eager to go 
 to the Jewish national home. I hope that 
 the conscience of mankind, speaking through 
 you and through your committee or inquiry 
 will make it possible for these weary men 
 and women to find peace at last and healing 
 in the land of their fondest hopes, and that 
 their liberation will not be delayed until 
 the report of the committee is finally made 
 and the action of the Assembly is finally 
 taken, but that, pending ultim.ate decisions 
 and implementations, these unfortunate 
 people will be permitted forthwith to mi- 
 grate in substantial numbers to Palestine. 
 
 There is a desperate urgency about this 
 tragic human problem, my friends, which 
 brooks no delay. An immediate relaxation of 
 the restrictive measures on immigration into 
 Palestine and a return to the status which 
 prevailed before the white paper policy of 
 1939 was imposed will not only be a boon 
 to these suifering humans, but will greatly 
 relieve the present menacing tensions in 
 Palestine, will wash cut much of the bitter- 
 ness and will enable the deliberations of ycur 
 committee of Inquiry and of the next Assem- 
 bly to be carried on in a calmer spirit, in an 
 atmosphere of moderation and good will. 
 We are all eager for peace. We must all make 
 a contribution to achieve it. But the deci- 
 sive contribution can only be made by the 
 mandatory government. 
 
 I hope that 1 have not abused your pa- 
 tience, Mr. Chairman, and the patience of 
 the representatives of the United Nations 
 
here assemWed. Permit me to conclude 
 with this observation: 
 
 The Jewish people place great hope upon 
 the outcome ol the deliberations of this 
 great body. It has faith In its collective 
 sense of Justice and fairness and in the high 
 Ideals which inspire it. We are an ancient 
 people, and though we have often, on the 
 long, hard road which we have traveled, been 
 disillusioned, we have never been disheart- 
 ened. We have never lost faith in the sov- 
 ereignty and the ultimate triumph of great 
 moral principles. 
 
 In these last tragic years, when the whole 
 household of Israel became one great hostelry 
 of pain, we could not have built what we 
 did build had we not preserved our un- 
 shakable trust in the victory of truth. It Is 
 in that strong faith and hope that we wish 
 to cooperate with you in this task which you 
 have undertaken. 
 
 The Jewish people belongs in this society 
 of nations. Surely the Jewish people is no 
 less deserving than other peoples whose na- 
 tional freedom and independence have been 
 established and whose representatives are 
 now seated here. The Jewish people were 
 your allies in the war and joined their sac- 
 rifloes to yours to achieve a common victory. 
 The representatives of the Jewish people of 
 Palestine should sit in your midst. The 
 representatives of the people and of the land 
 which cave to mankind spiritual and ethi- 
 cal values inspiring human personalities and 
 sacred texts which are your treasured pos- 
 sessions — we hope that that people, now re- 
 jsjiUding again its national life in its ancient 
 homeland, will be welcomed before long by 
 you to this noble fellowship of the United 
 Nations. 
 
 Statement by Mr. Moshe Shertok, May 
 12, 1947 
 
 I am here to reply to the questions which 
 were put to Dr. Silver after the conclusion 
 of his address to the committee. In so do- 
 ing, I hope I may be permitted also to clear 
 745246—21234 
 
 up some of the underlying Issues, In order 
 to bring out the meaning of my replies a 
 little more clearly. 
 
 I would begin with a question asked by 
 the representative of Poland as to the or- 
 ganization, composition, and functions of the 
 Jewish Agency for Palestine. In the man- 
 date, it was the Zionist organization which 
 was recognized as the Jewish agency, with 
 powers to advise and cooperate with the 
 mandatory administration in matters con- 
 cerning the Jewish national home and to 
 take part in the country's development. 
 
 At the time, the World Zionist Organiza- 
 tion, founded 50 years ago, was already 25 
 years old. Subsequently, certain non-Zionist 
 groups joined in forming an enlarged Jew- 
 ish agency, but the Zionist organization has 
 remained the main driving force. The World 
 Zionist Organization has today local organi- 
 zations in more than 60 countries — with a 
 few exceptions, in every country where 
 Jews live. 
 
 Within the Zionist movement, as In any 
 democratically organized society, there are 
 parties: the labor party and other labor 
 groups, the center or general Zionists, the 
 Mizrachi or the orthodox religious Zionists, 
 and the revisionists. This party division is 
 reflected in our congresses, which are held 
 once in every 2 years after a general election 
 In all countries. The congress elects our ex- 
 ecutive, the present executive was elected 
 by the 360 delegates to the twenty-second 
 Zionist congress In Basle last December, who, 
 In turn, were elected by nearly 2,000,000 Zion- 
 ist voters throughout the world. The execu- 
 tive has headquarters in Jerusalem and 
 branches with resident members in New York, 
 London, and Paris. 
 
 agency's duties OUn-INED 
 Two things must be stressed. First, the 
 agency is the spokesman, not merely of Jews 
 already settled In Palestine but of all Jews 
 throughout the world who are devoted to 
 the idea of the Jewish national home. The 
 entire Jewish people, I might say, hold the 
 
Jewish agency responsible for the success of 
 that great enterprise. Secondly, the agency 
 is not merely an organ of national representa- 
 tion, but an instrument of nation-building, 
 an institution of immigration, development, 
 and settlement. It mobilizes the energies 
 and resources of our people for national re- 
 construction, and in Palestine it directs 
 large-scale practical development work. 
 
 It has been responsible for bringing hun- 
 dreds of thousands of Jews to Palestine and 
 settling them there. It has carried out an 
 extenslvS program of settlement on the land. 
 It has stimulated major Industrial develop- 
 ment. It has supplied guidance and coordi- 
 nation to the vast volume of free initiative 
 and enterprise in the work of Jewish set- 
 tlement. Our Jerusalem headquarters is 
 divided into departments : political, financial, 
 immigration, agricultural settlement, trade 
 and industry, labor, etc. 
 
 During the war the Jewish agency acted, 
 in a way, as a recruiting authority. It mo- 
 bilized the Jewish war effort in Palestine in 
 the cause of the United Nations. It has sup- 
 plied 33,000 volunteers for armed service 
 within the British forces. They defended 
 Palestine, served in most middle eastern 
 countries and fought in the campaigns of 
 Africa and Europe. All Industrial, technical, 
 and scientific resources of Jewish Palestine 
 were harnessed to the war effort. 
 
 So much for the Jewish agency as such. 
 Politically, its primary function has been 
 to uphold and defend Jewish rights under 
 the mandate. Immlsration is the crux of the 
 problem and several of the questions put to 
 Dr. Silver bear on that issue. In answering 
 these questions, I must make one basic 
 point clear by way of background. 
 
 If it is granted that the Jewish people are 
 in Palestine as of right, then all the implica- 
 tions and corollaries of that premise must 
 be accepted. The foremost Is that Jews 
 must be allowed to resettle in Palestine In 
 unlimited numbers, provided only they do 
 745246—21234 
 
 not displace or worsen the lot of the exist- 
 ing Inhabitants who are also there as of 
 right. If that basic premise is not granted, 
 then there is very little to discuss. 
 
 It may sound quite plausible to argue 
 that if the right of the Jews to return 
 to Palestine is admitted on the grounds of 
 ancient history, then the whole map of 
 the world would have to be remade and 
 chaos would ensue. But does the question 
 really arise? Do the descendants of the 
 Romans, for example, claim entry into Eng- 
 land? Do they need England? Does their 
 future, their very existence, depend on set- 
 tling there? Or do the Arabs, for tliat matter, 
 press to return to Andalusia in Spain? Is it 
 a matter of life and death for them? The 
 analogy is fallacious and misleading. 
 
 JEWISH POSITION UUnQUE 
 
 The great historic phenomenon of the 
 Jewish return to Palestine is unique because 
 the position of the Jewish people as a home- 
 less people, and yet attached with an un- 
 breakable tenacity to Its birthplace, is 
 unique. It is that phenomenon that has 
 made the problem of Palestine an issue in 
 intfcinational affairs, and no similar issue 
 has ever arisen. 
 
 Were it not for the presence in Palestine 
 today of over 600,000 Jews who refuse to be 
 left in the minority position under Arab 
 domination; were it not for the urge to set- 
 tle in Palestine, of hundreds of thousands 
 of homeless and uprooted Jews in Europe, 
 in the Orient, and elsewhere; were it not for 
 the hopes and efforts of millions of Jews 
 throughout the world to reestablish their 
 national home and build it up into a Jewish 
 state, then the United Nations would not 
 be faced with the problem of Palestine as it 
 is now. The problem is real and pressing. 
 It cannot be made to disappear by con- 
 juring up nonexistent difficulties alleged to 
 be involved in its solution. 
 
 When the distinguished representative 
 from India asks how many Jews from outside 
 
there were In Palestine at certain dates— 
 the operating words being "from outside" — 
 I must confess I am somewhat baffled. I 
 can give him the round figures for the 
 Jewish population In those years — 50,000 in 
 1800, 165,000 in 1930, 475,000 in 1939. Now 
 It is about 630,000. Incidentally, there are 
 more Jews in Palestine today than there 
 were Arabs at the end of the First World War. 
 But as to "Jews from outside," I cannot 
 say. In a way, they are all from outside; 
 they are practically all Immigrants. 
 
 There was but a tiny Jewish community 
 In Palestine prior to 1880. In the early 
 1880's, the return started, almost simul- 
 taneously from Russia and Rumania, from 
 Morocco and southern Arabia, and since then 
 it has been practically continuous. It start- 
 ed because the Jews had always believed It to 
 be their Inalienable right to resettle Pales- 
 tine. That right was subsequently interna- 
 tionally recognized and enshrined in the 
 mandate. But quite apart from the man- 
 date, nothing will eradicate, from the hearts 
 of Jews, the conviction that it Is their right 
 to return. So in that deeper sense, they are 
 from not outside at all but sons of the 
 country. 
 
 By the way, my Arab countrymen malie 
 much of the fact that Palestine has already 
 taken In so many immigrants. These immi- 
 grants, they said, were received by the Arabs. 
 We are very sorry, but we cannot concede 
 them that credit. Conversely, they say that 
 the Jews have settled in Palestine at the 
 expense of the Arabs. That debit item, too, 
 we cannot admit. There has been no re- 
 ceiving of Jewish immigrants by Arabs nor 
 any settlement of Jews at the expense of the 
 Arabs. 
 
 The Jews did not come as guests of any- 
 one. They came In their own right. They 
 received themselves and their brothers; and 
 they did so by their own efforts and at the 
 expense of no one else. Every acre of land 
 we tilled was bought and had to be wrested 
 745246—21234 
 
 from wilderness and desolation. Nothing was 
 taken away — not one house, not one job. 
 A tremendous amount of work, wealth, and 
 well-being was presented to the Arab popu- 
 lation. • 
 
 The honorable representative from India 
 also asked what was the age of the Jewish 
 communities in Europe; and whether, since 
 the Hitler regime had been crushed, the Jew- 
 ish displaced persons would not be better 
 advised to stay In Germany. 
 
 As to the age of European Jewry, it Is on 
 the whole quite venerable, but age has not 
 made for security. Three-quarters of that 
 Jewry — 6,000,000 people — are no. more. But 
 let us go back into the past. Jews had lived 
 in Spain for a whole millennium when. In 
 1492, they were dispoiled and expelled, and 
 only those who gave up their Jewish Identity 
 and became Christians were allowed to re- 
 main. Jews have lived in Poland since the 
 eleventh or twelfth century, but in the seven- 
 teeth they were the victims of ferocious mas- 
 sacres. Then there were pogroms under the 
 Russian czars in the nineteenth and twen- 
 tieth centuries; and in the last war, as we 
 have just heard, came the final catastrophe. 
 Nearly all of Polish Jewry — 3,000,000 men, 
 women, and children — were wiped out by the 
 Nazis. 
 
 In Germany, the beginnings of Jewish set- 
 tlement are traced back to the fourth cen- 
 tury. But just six centuries ago, most of 
 the Jews In Germany were destroyed In a 
 wave of frenzied persecution which swept 
 Europe. Then, by the twentieth century, 
 German Jews had reached the pinnacle of 
 emancipation and were largely assimilated. 
 Yet they were hurled down into the abyss 
 of degradation and death. Even converts to 
 Christianity were not spared. 
 
 ANTI-SEMITISM SURVIVES HTTLEE 
 
 It is true that Hitler is gone now, but not 
 anti-Semitism. He was the product, not 
 the source of German Jew-hatred. Antl- 
 
11 
 
 Semitism in Germany and In many other 
 parts of Europe is as rife as ever and poten- 
 tially militant and fierce. Some governments 
 tried their best to keep it down, but they 
 have a very hard Job In doing so. The very 
 age of European Jewry serves only to accentu- 
 ate the basic historic Insecurity of Jewish 
 life in the dispersion. 
 
 The honorable representative of India has 
 also asked whether the Jewish displaced per- 
 sons would be assimilable in Palestine. The 
 answer is "Yes." They would be perfectly 
 assimilable In the Jewish community there — 
 the one Jewish community in the world with 
 a self-contained economic system and an in- 
 dependent cultural life which is eager and 
 able to receive and absorb them. He asked 
 whether they would not be better assimilable 
 In Germany. The answer Is "No." You can- 
 not settle in a graveyard, nor can you build 
 a dwelling out of heaps of rubble. 
 
 Actually, most of the Jewish displaced per- 
 sons are not from Germany itself, but from 
 other countries. They are today In camps, or 
 they otherwise continue as refugees because 
 they cannot be resettled in Europe. They 
 have now waited for 2 years, and in all this 
 time no one has come forward with a solu- 
 tion to their problem. The clear recom- 
 mendations of the Anglo-American Commit- 
 tee have remained on paper, and, to them, 
 they have proved a mockery. 
 
 No one has offered an alternative to Pales- 
 tine. But even If there were an alternative, 
 they refused to be treated as mere chattels. 
 They appeal to the world to realize that they 
 form part of a people which has a national 
 will of Its own. They want to go to the only 
 country where they will feel at home, both 
 individually and collectively. Their problem 
 is Inseparable from the problem of Palestine. 
 It is the problem of Palestine. 
 
 To treat the issue of Palestine in isolation 
 from the Immigration issue would make as 
 much sense as to study the beating of a heart 
 in disregard of blood circulation. A solution 
 745246—21234 
 
 for the. problem of Palestine which would 
 Ignore the Jewish claim and the need for im- 
 migration would solve nothing. Whoever 
 undertook to Implement such a solution 
 would be driven back by the sheer impact of 
 reality to face the problem of Immigration. 
 
 I may perhaps Interpose here an answer 
 to the question put by the honorable repre- 
 sentative of the Union of South Africa. He 
 asked whether we wanted the question of 
 the DP's In Europe examined solely in con- 
 nection with Palestine, or in Its general 
 aspect. Our answer is that we believe that 
 only in Palestine can the problem of these 
 people be permanently and constructively 
 solved, for only there can their lives be re- 
 built on secure foundations and their homes 
 become part of the home of the entire people. 
 
 The immigration Issue is not confined to 
 that of the Jewish displaced persons and un- 
 settled refugees in Europe. Various Jewish 
 communities In Europe are Involved, as well 
 as the Jews of the Arab and oriental coun- 
 tries. With regard to these, members of the 
 United Nations have heard during the pres- 
 ent session idyllic accounts of the conditions 
 of complete equality and true brotherhood 
 under which they live. The Jewish agency 
 is naturally very intimately acquainted with 
 the position, and the picture as we know 
 It is totally different. 
 
 In most of these countries Jews are treated 
 as second- or third-rate citizens. They live 
 in perpetual fear of eruptions of fierce 
 fanaticism, of which there have been tragic 
 examples both in recent years and in the 
 more remote past. Their lot ranges from 
 precarious sufferance to active persecution. 
 All formal statements under duress not- 
 withstanding, their hopes and dreams are 
 centered on Zlon, and their youth has no 
 other Idea but to join its builders. 
 
 INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNITIES URGED 
 
 We very strongly urge . that the position 
 of these communities should form a part of 
 the committee's investigations. But the 
 
12 
 
 most urgent problem Is, of course, that of 
 the displaced persons In Europe who are now 
 on the brink of despair. 
 
 The present political crisis in Palestine is 
 nothing but a clash between the dire needs 
 of Jewish immigration and the current antl- 
 Immigratlon policy of the mandatory power. 
 We were asked by the representative of 
 India why public servants of the British 
 Government in Palestine are today the vic- 
 tims of terrorist activity. The answer is 
 because the white paper of 1939 Is still in 
 force. Terrorism is a pernicious outgrowth 
 of a disastrous policy. 
 
 The Jewish agency has unreservedly con- 
 demned terrorist bloodshed, and in that atti- 
 tude it is supported by the large majority of 
 the organized Jewish community. Its harm 
 to the Jews and to the Jewish future is far 
 graver than to the government and people 
 of the United Kingdom. But Jewish efforts 
 to resist and check terrorism are continually 
 frustrated because government action, in 
 pursuance of the white paper, adds fuel to 
 the lire. Our efforts will continue, but the 
 representative of India will no doubt agree 
 that Palestine is not the only country which 
 has been afflicted with this most hateful 
 disease. 
 
 Another question was why, in contradic- 
 tion to the Emir Faisal's (Arab leader at 1919 
 peace conference) attitude, the Palestine 
 Arabs were now opposed to Jewish immigra- 
 tion. Since that question was put, we have 
 heard a very able exposition of the Palestine- 
 Arab case which fully covered the point. All 
 I would add is that the uncompromising 
 opposition to immigration now voiced does 
 not invalidate the broader conception and 
 bolder vision expressed in the Feisal-Weiz- 
 mann agreement, which indicated a way of 
 harmonizing Jewish and Arab aspirations 
 within a wider framework, fully taking into 
 account the Independence then promised and 
 now achieved by the Arabs In vast territories. 
 While 1 am on the point of promises, may 
 745246—21234 
 
 I be permitted to recall that Sir Henry Mc- 
 Mahon (British High Commissioner in Egypt 
 during World War I) himself stated that 
 Palestine was never included in the promises 
 made by him to the Arabs, and that this was 
 well understood at the time by the late King 
 Hussein (King Hussein of Hedjaz, Sherlf of 
 Mecca in 1915); also that Trans-Jordan, 
 which was originally Included in the Balfour 
 Declaration, is today an Arab state. 
 
 Finally, the distinguished representative of 
 India asked whether we recognized the dis- 
 tinction between a Jewish state and a Jewish 
 national home. The answer is that we do, 
 but perhaps not quite In the sense in which 
 the question was meant. The establishment 
 of the Jewish national home is a process. 
 The setting up of a Jewish state is its con- 
 summation. That such consummation had 
 been Intended by the authors of the Jewish 
 national home policy and that a way was 
 definitely left open for its achievement was 
 conclusively proved by the Palestine Royal 
 Commission. The point was fully under- 
 stood by those responsible for the 1944 state- 
 ment on Palestine of the British Labor Party 
 executive. 
 
 The Indian representative drew attention 
 to the use in that statement of the term 
 "Jewish national home" and not "Jewish 
 state." But may I recall the words of Mr. 
 Hi:gh Dalton, the present Chancelor of the 
 Exchequer, when reporting on that state- 
 ment of the executive to the Labor Party 
 Conference. He urged common support. In 
 consultation with the United States and 
 Soviet Governments — and now I quote — "for 
 a policy which will give us a happy, free, 
 and prosperous Jewish state in Palestine." 
 That was only 2 years ago. 
 
 The matter has a most vital bearing on the 
 question of Palestine's Independence. Un- 
 like other mandates of category A, the de- 
 clared object of which was to prepare the 
 country for independence, the Palestine man- 
 date has no such clause. Its primary pur- 
 
13 
 
 pose, in the words ol the Royal Commission, 
 Is the establishment of the Jewish national 
 home. But, of course, the ultimate goal 
 must be Independence and the mandate 
 must be terminated. 
 
 So if, upon the termination of the Palestine 
 mandate, Its original purpoce is to be ful- 
 filled, If the future of the Jewish National 
 Home is to be permanently secured, if the 
 national Interest of the Jewish people is to be 
 harmonized with other interests and not 
 sacrificed for their sake, then a Jewish State 
 must come into being. A home, in the words 
 of a British statesman, in the debate on the 
 white paper for Palestine, is a place to which 
 one is always free to come back. How is the 
 national home to fulfill its primary functions 
 of being open to Jews in need of it, if it is to 
 remain forever subjected to non-Jewish sov- 
 ereignty? 
 
 WOULD SECURE ARAB MINORITY 
 
 An Arab minority in a Jewish state will be 
 secure, if for "no other reason, because the 
 state will forever remain surrounded by Arab 
 countries with which it will be most vitally 
 Interested to be at peace; also because there 
 will always be Jewish minorities in other 
 lands. 
 
 But a Jewish minority in an Arab State 
 will have no such security at all. It will be 
 at the mercy of the Arab majority, which 
 would be free from all restraints. To pro- 
 vide boldly, if I may put it that way, for the 
 independence of Palestine as a country, with- 
 out placing an equal emphasis on safeguard- 
 ing the independence of the Jews as a peo- 
 ple, is to tear the problem out of its real 
 context and load the dice heavily against the 
 Jews. The whole issue is likely to be vitiated 
 in advance by such an approach. 
 
 The question of our living with the Arab 
 peoples and the relationship of a Jewish State 
 with them is, of course, the dominant ques- 
 tion of the future. The distinguished rep- 
 resentative of Poland has asked, in his second 
 745246—21234 
 
 question, whether there have been attempts 
 at collaboration between Jews and Arabs. 
 The answer is, yes, there have been, on both, 
 sides. Arabs and Jews have cooperated and 
 are cooperating successfully in the wide and 
 varied fields of municipal, commercial, and 
 labor affairs. 
 
 Arabic is taught in all Jewish secondary 
 schools and in a large number of primary 
 schools. The Jewish agency is particularly 
 active in spreading knowledge of Arabic in 
 the Jewish settlements and promoting 
 friendly relations between them and their 
 Arab neighbors. From personal observation 
 and direct experience accumulated over a 
 period of 41 years' residence in Palestine, I 
 can afarm that there is nothing inherent in 
 the nature of either the native Arab or the 
 immigrant Jew which prevents friendly co- 
 operation. On the contrary, considering the 
 admitted great difference of background, they 
 mix remarkably well. 
 
 By mixing I do not mean assimilation, for 
 the Jew does not come to Palestine to as- 
 similate to the Arab, but to develop his own 
 distinctive individuality. Kor does he expect 
 the Arab to assimilate to himself. What I 
 mean is cooperation between a self-respecting 
 Jew and a self-respecting Arab, and between 
 the two communities. 
 
 Today the issue is overshadowed and prac- 
 tical cooperation is hampered by the politi- 
 cal conflict over the country's future. The 
 present official leaders of the Arab States, 
 having achieved practically all they wanted 
 with so little sacrifice, refuse to admit the 
 legitimacy of the national aspirations of an- 
 other people. At the head of the Arab 
 Higher Committe of Palestine stands a man 
 who, apart from other well-known aspects of 
 his activity, was directly involved during the 
 war in the Nazi policy of extermination of 
 the European Jews. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Jews do not lose heart. 
 They come to Palestine not to fight the Arab 
 world, but to live at peace with it. They are 
 
not an outpost of any foreign domination. 
 Their ambition is to integrate themselves 
 into the modern structure of reviving Asia. 
 They are an old Asiatic people returning to 
 their home. At the same time, they are anx- 
 ious to mal5e their contribution to the great 
 work of bridge building between modern 
 Asia and the rest of the world. 
 
 PAETNEESHIP OP EQUALITY ASKED 
 
 Their Intense experience In development 
 within the narrow confines of Palestine is 
 yielding results which may be of value to 
 all who are interested in social and eco- 
 nomic progress in the Middle East and be- 
 yond. But their true partnership with their 
 neighbors can only be based upon equality 
 of status and mutual respect. They claim 
 what is the natural right of any people on 
 the face of the earth — that as many of 
 them as possible should live together in 
 their own country, freely develop their civ- 
 ilization, make their contribution to the 
 common stock of humanity, and be self- 
 governing and independent. They cannot 
 possibly surrender that claim, and for its 
 attainment they appeal for the assistance 
 of the entire family of nations. 
 
 In conclusion, may I answer the question 
 of the distinguished delegation from Co- 
 lombia on cur views regarding the composi- 
 tion of the special committee. We wcu!d not 
 differentiate between big and small powers, 
 nor would we suggest the exclusion of any 
 government merely because it happens to 
 have or may develop a policy on Palestine. 
 Having a policy does not necessarily mean 
 being directly concerned as an interested 
 party. But we believe that parties directly 
 concerned should not serve on the commit- 
 tee. That should exclude the United King- 
 dom, for reasons put, if I may say so, with 
 unanswerable cogency by the distinguished 
 representative of the United Kingdom him- 
 self. We would also definitely exclude the 
 Arab States, unless it were agreed that the 
 745246— 21C34 
 
 14 
 
 committee should contain one Arab and 
 one Jewish member. 
 
 Statement by Mr. David Ben-Gurion, 
 May 12, 1947 
 
 I am grateful for the opportunity afforded 
 to me to make a few supplementary remarks 
 to the statement made by my colleague. Dr. 
 Silver, on behalf of the Jewish Agency for 
 Palestine. 
 
 First of all, I would like to try to clarify 
 further the nature of the problem which the 
 mandatory power has placed before the 
 United Nations, as this is essential for de- 
 fining properly the tern-.s of reference of the 
 special committee. Last Friday, the repre- 
 sentative of the United Kingdom, on behalf 
 of his Government, declared that they tried 
 for years to settle the problem of Palestine 
 and had failed. They have, therefore, 
 brought the problem to you in the hope that 
 the United Nations would find a Just solu- 
 tion. 
 
 This statement is open to misunderstand- 
 ing. The mandatory power was not charged 
 with discovering a solution to the Palestine 
 problem and its failure was not in its inabil- 
 ity to find the right solution. The manda- 
 tory power was charged by the League of 
 Nations with the carrying out of a definite 
 settlement. That settlement was set out and 
 determined originally by the United King- 
 dom herself and subsequently confirmed by 
 all the Allies and associated powers in the 
 First World War, as well as by the Arabs 
 through Emir Feisal and the Syrian Arab 
 Committee. It was later embodied in the 
 mandate approved by 52 nations and made 
 internat' onal law. 
 
 The terms of that settlement, as decreed 
 by the conscience and the law of nations, 
 are common knowledge. It is the restora- 
 tion of Palestine to the Jewish people. 
 
 At the time the United Kingdom took over 
 the mandate, the problem of Palestine had 
 been clearly adjudicated and settled. The 
 
15 
 
 failure of the mandatory government, as ad- 
 mitted by the British representative, was a 
 failure to carry out the settlement agreed 
 upon and entrusted to It by the nations of 
 the world. The failure became manifest with 
 the introduction of a policy set forth in the 
 white paper of 1939, which violated the most 
 essential terms of the mandate and vitiated 
 its entire purpose. 
 
 The white-paper policy, as you know, was 
 condemned by th3 permanent Mandates 
 Commission of the League of Nations as in- 
 compatible with the mandate and with the 
 pledges repeatedly given by the mandatory 
 government Itself. It was also denounced by 
 the most eminent political leaders of the 
 United Kingdom itself. Including all the 
 prominent members of the present Govern- 
 ment of the United Kingdom, as a breach 
 of faith. Only recently the white paper was 
 again unanimously condemned by the Anglo- 
 Amerlcafi Ccmmittee of Inquiry. The white- 
 paper policy is responsible for the misery 
 and deaths of a large number of Jews and 
 for cruel acts of expulsion of Jewish refugees. 
 
 It is responsible for establishing in Pales- 
 tine a police state without parallel in the 
 civilized world. It is responsible for the in- 
 troduction in Palestine of racial discrimina- 
 tion against Jews in land legislation. This 
 is the real nature of the failure of the manda- 
 tory power. 
 
 Therefore, I venture to suggest that the 
 first problem facing the United Nations is 
 how to set right that failure and to Insure 
 that International obligations toward the 
 Jewish population in Palestine are faithfully 
 fulfilled. 
 
 The second point to which I would like to 
 invite the attention of your committee is the 
 fact that in Palestine you are faced not 
 merely with a large and growing number of 
 Jews, but with a distinct Jewish Nation. 
 There are Jews and Jewish communities in 
 many countries, but in Palestine there is a 
 new and unique phenomenon — a Jewish Na- 
 tion, with all the attributes, characteristic 
 resouvces, and aspirations of nationhood. 
 This nationhocd springs from a long history 
 and an uninterrupted connection for 3,500 
 years with its ancestral soil. 
 745246—212^4 
 
 CANNOT AEEEST PEOGRESS 
 
 Palestine, which for the Jewish people has 
 always been and will always remain the Land 
 of Israel, was in the course of centuries con- 
 quered and invaded by many alien peoples, 
 but none of them ever identified its national 
 faith with Palestine. The Jewish Nation in 
 Palestine is rooted not only in past history 
 but in a great living work of reconstruction 
 and rebuilding, both of a country and of a 
 people. 
 
 The growth of this nation and its work 
 of reconstruction must not and cannot be 
 arrested— and this, for two reasons. One is 
 the existence of large numbers of homeless 
 Jews for whom there is no other salvation 
 in the future except in their own national 
 home. The second is that more than two- 
 thirds of the land in Palestine is still 
 wasteland, uncultivated, unsettled, and be- 
 lieved by the Arabs to be uncultivatable. 
 The history of our settlement in the last 
 70 years has shown that this land can be 
 and Is being cultivated by us. 
 
 This is not because we are more skilled 
 or more capable than others, but b3cause 
 this is the only soil in the world which we 
 call our own. We are not, like our Arab 
 neighbors, in possession of vast underpopu- 
 lated territories, like Iraq, Syria, Arabia, etc. 
 We must therefore make use of every bit of 
 free land In our country, even desert land. 
 
 Another observation is this: We are told 
 that the Arabs are not responsible for the 
 persecution of the Jews in Europe, nor is it 
 their obligation to relieve their plight. I 
 wish to make it quite clear that it never 
 entered our minds to charge the Arabs with 
 solving the Jewish problem, or to ask Arab 
 countries to accept Jewish refugees. We are 
 bringing our homeless and persecuted Jews 
 to our own country and settling them in 
 Jewish towns and villages. There are Arab 
 towns and villages in Palestine— Nablus, , 
 Jenin, Ramleh, Narnucka, Libia, Terschicha. 
 You will not find a single Jewish refugee in 
 any of them. The Jews who have returned 
 to their country are settled In Petah Tiqva, 
 Rishon le Zion, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, 
 Dagania, the Negev, and other Jewish towns 
 and villages built by us. 
 
16 
 
 The return ol the Jews to their country Is 
 a work of self-liberation and self-reconstruc- 
 tion, which is contributing to the recon- 
 struction and liberation of the country as a 
 whole. 
 
 My fourth and last remark is this. We 
 have no conflict with the Arab people. On 
 the contrary, it is our deep conviction that 
 historically the interests and aspirations of 
 the Jewish and Arab peoples are compatible 
 and complementary. What we are doing in 
 our country, in Palestine is reclaiming the 
 land, increasing the yield of the soil, develop- 
 ing modern agriculture and industry, science, 
 and art, raising the dignity of labor, insuring 
 women's status of equality, increasing men's 
 mastery over nature, and working out a new 
 civilization based on human equality, free- 
 dom and cooperation in a world which we 
 believe is as necessary and beneficial for our 
 Arab neighbors as for ourselves. 
 745246—21234 
 
 A Jewish-Arab partnerehip, based on equal- 
 ity and mutual assistance, will help to bring 
 about the regeneration of the entire Middle 
 East. We Jews understand and deeply sym- 
 pathize with the urge of the Arab people for 
 unity, independence, and progress, and cur 
 Arab neighbors, I hope, will realize that the 
 Jews in their own historic homeland, can 
 under no conditions be made to remain a 
 subordinate, dependent minority as they are 
 in all other countries in the Diaspora. The 
 Jewish nation in its own country must be- 
 come a free and independent state with a 
 membership in the United Nations. It is 
 eager to cooperate with its free Arab neigh- 
 bors to promote economic development, so- 
 cial progress, and real independence of all the 
 Semitic countries in the Middle East. 
 
 I most earnestly suggest to your committee 
 that the real, Just, and lasting solution of 
 the problem before you is a Jewish state 
 and a Jewish-Arab alliance.