Repeal the White Paper!
ZARITSKY, MAX
Repeal the White Paper! Balfour's Promise and Britain's Betrayal By Max Zaritsky ON April 1, the admission of Jews inUi Palestine will be prohibited. The gates of Palestine will bear the same...
...Not only were their living standards raised...
...They weie the ones to whom the New Palestine was anathema...
...The exploitation they endured would be inconceivable to an American...
...Before the Jews began colonizing and building up Palestine, great masses of the Arab people, mostly tenant farmers, were practically indentured slaves to a small but powerful group of Arab landowners...
...elsetrnWd the conmtry-nhte, and tovehnjg the mineral rsasarrr...
...The situation in which the Jews of Eastern Europe found themselves because of the disabilities and restrictions under which they were laboring, frightful aa that situation was, became a hundred times worse with the riae of Hitler to power in 1933...
...It has become the center of the country's cultural and social activities...
...Meanwhile, the dispute t_,m»m two of the United Nations—Russia and Poland seaj Russia's territorial claims has become acute and tnsssMSjns to disrupt completely the unity achieved at llnnr and Teheran...
...Though not intended for very wide circulation, some of these studies have already had wide influence...
...3. The United States was not consulted, contrary to the treaty which provides that there was to be no mollification of the mandate without consent...
...We fully realize, further, that the close cooperation of the Great Allied Powers, which togethei represent as unprecedenUil concentration of military, economic sad political power, would be the best way to build up the world organization as a secure guarantee of lasting peace...
...Pieuient, I in led Hot, Cap and Millinery Werkers, AFL Not only did the achievements ef the Jews, and the Jewish labor movement, of Palestine, fail to appeal te the Arab leaders, but they did not appeal to the Tory Government ef England...
...It is hoped that these and the further studies to follow in the series will bf of material assisUnce to the leaders of Ameiicsn labor in formulating their policies on Irading pott-war issues...
...Before the Balfour Declaration, when it was under Turkish rule, Palestine had a Jewish population of 60,000...
...Is this callous, brutal and heartless decision -virtually a death sentence to hundreds of thousands of Jews-to stand, without a reprieve, or commutation of sentence...
...So far, no adequate m„tu<nry has been created...
...To these must be added the money lenders, who thrived on the people's misery...
...What is, however, of particular importance and significance—because it indicates our own country's re»-sponsibility for what happens—is that our country l>e-came one of the contracting parties, and insisted that no modification should be made in the mandate without < ii i consent...
...That Government, therefore, lent a very willing ear to the "protests" of the Arab upper classes...
...Do the masses like it...
...By the consent of all of the nations which recognized the validity of the mandate, tireat Britain became the mandatory power...
...FINALLY, in May, 1939, the Chamberlain Govern-* ment issued the so-called White Paper...
...The Otraammi I'm/* is are memoranda prepared fer snrciaW <tca»iens...
...Studies in f...
...They are undoubtedly the most scholarly studies which the American labor movement has rvcr produced in the field of international affairs...
...The popular expression of opinion such as we know in democracies is non-existent...
...The American labor Conference has also launched two publications of mate general interest, a quarterly magazine, International Poet-War Problems, and s bi-weekly news service, the AJ..C...
...The American I-alnir Con-fesens* has accordingly made public a resolution •defied by its Political Committee railing for the naaaodiate creation of a Council of the United Nations to tea* charge of the occupation and administration ef enemy territories...
...In June, 1922, the Congress of the United States, by joint resolution, approved "the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people...
...In this declaration the British Government stated that it favored "the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and would use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this objective...
...Anil there are few things more important to the peace anil security of the world than the close and continued cooperation of the American and European labor niovemo nts...
...The Balfour Declaration, as subsequently incorporated in the Mandate for Palestine, was recognized and accepted by all the Allied Powers and indeed by fifty-two nations constituting the community of nations...
...That Tory Government, headed by Neville Chamberlain, preferred to maintain the status quo in Palestine, rather than witneaa the social and economic revolutioa which Jewish immigration had brought about there...
...two papers on the White p)«n for currency stabilization and two on the plan for a world bank, by Albert Ha lasi also a comprehensive -Survey of Educational Planning in the United Staff and Various Other Countries, by Werner Wille...
...They have son red k*U Patent**'* saM their energy, their labor, their -kill- and their *Vv*4im...
...Harry P. Howard, Mark Viahniak and J. Kay...
...We whserbeartedly approve the Senate Resolution of November 5, endorsing the active participation of the Halted States in creating such a world organization, which is to usher in a new era of international cooperation after the final victory over the Axis forces...
...social Justice and iknmm...
...They did all this mi »h* strength of th* assurances given them and the Jew* of the world that they would he able to eabsy th* f.ait...
...l#t us remember specifically these violations of agreements and covenants and treaties: 1. The Balfour Declaration, with its unqualified approval for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine...
...The gates of Palestine will bear the same inscription that msy be found on some private botala and resorts in our own country—"Select Clientele — Restricted" But there is this vital distinction to be made: while the privste hostelrie* which bar Jews in our country are private property, the gates that are to be closed to the Jews on April 1 are being closed in violation of the most solemn obligations ever entered into between nations...
...The Histadruth is building a cooperative commonwealth on Socialist and labor principles...
...It gave them, at long last, a haven of refuge, a land to which tbey coald tarn when all other gates were abut, and when hep* fer relief elsewhere seemed all but extinguished...
...It marked the beginning, as it was th* cause, of the opposition of the Arab leaders to the Jewish settlement...
...Each Commission sought to whittle down a few more of the rights of the Jews...
...of their labor, and permit ether Jews te ¦hare in the building ef the reentry...
...ham amis' th* water...
...That, of course, aroused the ire of th* landowners...
...Thus this promised land, Ihe land of hope, at present the only hope, of escape from extenmina-tion, has been closed to the thousands of Jews wb* today and every day fare Aring squads and lethal chambers in all parts of Nazi-dominated Europe...
...American Labor Conference Calls for Council of United Nations By Varian Fry Execulu'* Secretary, American Labor Conference on International Affairs...
...Post-War Planning Committee and incorporated in its new pamphlet, As We Win...
...Where, after April 1, are the homeless, defenseless, uprooted Jews to go...
...They •nab a aegtrrted rmaatry and jaaajaamj m has* a thriving BMstera and neagreanls* hsdantriaJ ami agricultural country...
...They nave seen binding engagements entered into with great solemnity broken almost before the ink with which they were signed was dry They have witnessed nation after nation treat the commitments they had made with the utmost contempt...
...The first is Safeguards Against Oppressive Labor Conditions in Backuard Countries, by Alficil Brsun-thal...
...THE Bslfour Declaration, and the universal as-* sent with which it met, and which was later incorporated in the terms of the mandate by SI other nations, became the Magna Carta of the Jewish people To Ihe Jews in Eastern Europe particularly, who for generations had been deprived of civil and political rights, and who were frequently the victims of cruelty and persecution, it was a Proclamation ef Emancipation...
...Not only did the Jew ish settlers rebuild Ihe country and give it a flourishing industry and agrirul-ture, but they built, also, one of Ihe most progressive labor movements in the world...
...Palestine did not, by virtue of the mandate, become a British possession...
...e • lltJLL, Eden and Molotov announced that the Moe-H ,.„ conference had agreed "to set up machinery far iasuriag the closest cooperation between the three |riafDm«nt in the examination of European questions ^rteHttj as the war develops...
...No more heartening beginning of close and friendly cooperation between these Inn labor movements could be found- or hoped for...
...the second is rn International Access to Ro* Materials, by Albert Halasi...
...It*, Htcemstrnctien, arc bow on the •res...
...They provoked the bitterness which lias kept the country agitated...
...First of all, the Great Powers must themselves accept, not only in theory but in practice, the lame procedure for settlement of their own controversies and conflicts with other Stales as is envisaged in the Atlantic Charter...
...What Chamberlain had done the year before to Cherk*-slovakia at Munich, he now proposed to do te Palestine It was the same appeaaement technique...
...They embedy the Conference's considered recommendLtions on long-rnnge problems...
...American and European scholars, and refugee representatives of European labor movements are also active in this group...
...Health centers were created for their benefit, as well...
...Out of a population of almost 600,004, the Jewish Federation of Labor of Palestine, or the Histadruth, has a membership of about 140,000, or close to 25 per cent of the entire population...
...They have eatasmVmed and wahslsnstd kssmatriin...
...Ik* American Labor Confernre believes that (hie giissStan, and all other questions of a political rhaiacter which may arise between the United Nations during the eearse of the war, ran and must be settled by a United Nations Council if the promises held forth to lb* peoples of the world by the leaders of the Gieat freest arc to be fulfilled...
...That brings us up to date...
...a i us set the facts down in the briefest (oim: In November, 1917, the British Government, through I/ord Balfour, then British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, announced a policy with respect to Palestine that has since come to be known as the Balfour Declaration...
...It lias become part of the fabric of international law...
...II is the only country where the people are willing to have them, where opportunities for their rehabilitation are available, where they can contribute to their own salvation...
...They drained Ma awanjn*, reforested Ma hill-, planted ireal >trrlc*e* of orange graves and wheal Man...
...They include a paper cm Th* Disposal of Government-Owned Plants After the Bar, by Abba P. Lerner...
...What had been a need had become indispensable if hundreds of thousands of Jews, first in Germany, and then in the occupied countries, were to escape extermination under the most horrible conditions...
...It represents an unequivocal position on a crucial current issue, worked out ami agreed upon by representatives of the American labor movement und of almost all the independent labor movements of Europe, gathered together in the Political Committee of the American Labor Conference en International Affairs, it, therefore, reflects in a very real sense the policy of the American and European labor movements on the issue...
...Comrafe-tion after Commission was sent to Palestine to investigate complaints made, not by the Arab masses, but by the exploiters of those masses...
...No leader speaks for them with any authority from Ihe masses...
...We further hold that all the measures which may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace pending the re-eatablishment of law and older in the transition period should be undertaken, not by a single power, but by joint action of the Great Powers in agreement with the Council of the United Nations and after consultation 'with one another and as occasion requires with other members of the United Nations,' as envisaged in the Moscow Declaration Such measures should be undertaken not only 'on behalf of the community of nations,' as pledged in the Moscow Declaration, but also in the sole interest of the community of nations" The significance if this resolution should not be lost Bight of...
...These leaders are self-constituted...
...News Letter...
...Let ug remember what the nations of the world, on whose solemn promises tht Jews have relief, are now doing...
...The Studies in Post-War Reconstruction are more ambitious documents...
...But it is doubtful whether in the long series of violations and betrayals which have characterised the relations between nstions during the past two decades ther* has been a violation more flagrant than the one which the aign that is to be posted in a few days on the gatea of Palestine denotes...
...war problems of special interest te organise*) sz| TW March issue includes articles by Joseph B. Milt John T~ Childj' George Denicke, Carter Good...
...The Histadruth has not confined its activities to the raising of wages and labor standards...
...The extent to which the Jews sought refuge in Palestine may be gauged by the growth of its Jewish population...
...One of these conditions, I repeat, was that the terms shall not be modified without the consent of the United States...
...Jewish agricultural effort* offered employment to these pauperized slaves at wage rate* they did not believe possible...
...Thus Professor Lerner's recommendations on the disposal of government-owned plants have been adopted by thr C.I.O...
...The one gate that hits been opened to them is now to lie closed...
...The living standards of these Arabs were incredibly low...
...Each one proposed a stricter limitation on th« development of the Jewish homeland...
...Under this White Paper the harrassed and per aerated Jews of Europe were told that only 75.*** additional Jews would be permitted to enter Palestine for the Sve-year period ending March 31, 1944...
...Many minds are already at work upon the solution of these problems...
...2. The issuance of the White Paper, in violation of the pledge, issued without the consent of the league of Nations which never approved the White Paper...
...Organised labor everywhere must join in this preparatory woik in order that, when the time comes, it may not be overwhelmed, because of unprrparedness, by forces which have nothing in common with the ideals of Id < it.v...
...Each Commission came back with new recommendations...
...Ever since World War I, when the Germans designated treaties they had decided to violate as "scraps of paper," the peoples of the world have become more or less callous to the breaking of treaties...
...The full text of the resolution "He endorse the general principles of an over all international organization of all 'peace loving Stater,' lanj* and small, with the aim of securing an enduring pose*, as proclaimed by the Moscow Conference...
...There is no mass organizations among the Arabs...
...Great Britain was acting in the nature of a trustee, and was obligated to discharge its functions in accordance with the trust, which were the terms of the mandate...
...It has established agricultural rooperstives, cooperative industries, and wholesale producing and distributing organizations on a (operative basis...
...In the year which has gone by since its fi undation, the American Labor Conference has published eight Oec*eien*l Pmpmrt, and two papers in a aew aeries...
...Do the so-called leaders of the Arabs—the landlords, the clergy, the money \ent\ers—like it...
...The new organization will study the problems of the war and the future peace from the point of view of organized labor," the original announcement said, "and (will) attempt to formulate policies on which the free American and European labor movements ran agree...
...THE American Labor Conference on International Affairs, the principal post-war research organization of the Ameiican labor movement, was created Just one year ago by various leaders of unions in both the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, as well as in the Railroad Brotherhoods...
...As an essential first step toward the establishment of such an international organization, we hold that a Council of the United Nations, including both the Great Powers and adequate representation of the smaller Allied Powers, should be immediately created, and that this Council should be empowered with the supervision and coordination of the inter-Allied occupation and administration of enemy territories, in order to prevent the division of these territories into spnerei of influence...
...m0ti Welsh...
...Just now it is close to 600,000...
...These leaders did not relish the economic emancipation the Jews hsd brought to their depressed and exploited slaves...
...What about them...
...The quarterly piovides an open forum for the discussion g asst...
...Will an around woild, filled with indignation and resentment fail to listen to their plea in the hour of their greatest anguish...
...But this goal can lie achieved only undei reitain conditions...
...The /V**v* Letter ia supplied to labor „jnj*T— throughout the United States and Canada...
...After that the gates should be completely shut...
...The rule of international law, which excludes any unilateral action by four, nest be recognized and accepted by the Great Powers If the International organisation headed by them to to create a now world order which, in the words of Use Teheran Declaration, 'will command good will from the overwhelming masses of the peoples of the world.' "In order to ensure the effective cooperation of the Great Powers and the smaller nations," the over-all international body should combine in its organisational structure the participation of all member States on terms of equality, si outlined in the Joint Declaration of the Moscow Conference, and a governing body in which the representation of the Great Powers will correspond to the special responsibilities they will have to assume in maintaining peace and preventing aggression...
...Eratwhile trailers, who had been denied in their own land* an opportunity t« develop along th.- lines they preferred and to serve in th* h« 1.1- they wished, I* to corstruct a commonwealth which haa challenged the admiration of all who saw it or became familiar with its achievements...
...They speak their own minds—and their own economic interests—not the mind or the interests of the masses, who have forever remained silent and inarticulate Besides the large landowneis, the leadership consisted of the clergy, who had never lifted a finger to improve the material conditions of their people...
...In Palestine, the Jewish people found an outlet for thm Intent talents and energies...
...THK question invariably crops up, But what about * the Arabs...
Vol. 27 • April 1944 • No. 14
