867N.01/1755½
The British Minister (Butler) to the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
Ref. 555/31/41
Washington, May [June] 4,
1941.
Dear Mr. Under-Secretary: You may recollect that on May 8th you passed to the Ambassador a message from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise containing a request that the Jews in Palestine be permitted to form regiments and a Home Guard. We have now received from London a statement of His Majesty’s Government’s attitude in this connexion. They realise of course that the Jewish desire for the means of self-protection in Palestine is natural, and have been considering how best to meet it.
- 2.
- We have now been authorized to inform you in confidence that
they have approved the following proposals submitted by the High
Commissioner:21a—
- (1)
- Expansion of the Jewish settlement police to its former strength during the disturbances, with the possibility of future expansion if this is successful.
- (2)
- More intensive training of the special rural constabulary.
- (3)
- Expansion on a more restricted scale of the urban special constabulary.
- (4)
- Continued equal opportunity for enlistment into the Palestine Infantry battalions for both Jews and Arabs, and completion of the accepted recruiting programme on the Jewish side irrespective of the rate of enlistment of Arabs.
- 3.
- In addition, the possibility is not excluded, provided
equipment and assistance are available, of expanding the above
on the following lines:—
- (1)
- Conversion of Jewish settlements into strong points.
- (2)
- Training Jewish settlement police (a) to deal with parachute troops and minor air borne landings (b) to engage in tank hunting (c) to adopt guerilla tactics against enemy detachments and lines of communication (d) to protect without assistance from British troops or police the Jewish settlements against rebellious Arab bands.
- 4.
- The above have been communicated in strict confidence to Dr. Namier of the Jewish Agency, who has expressed much satisfaction. It is not however intended to make any public announcement, since apart from giving valuable information to the enemy this might have the worst possible effect upon Arab opinion in the Middle East. It will be appreciated that with the present situation in Iraq and Syria any precipitate arming of the Jews might lead to deterioration in the internal security in Palestine, which could only be restored by the diversion of the British troops from more vital operations.
- 5.
- Even if arms were available for general distribution, such action would not in the judgment of His Majesty’s Government contribute to local security and would have little military value against trained troops. They feel that the military authorities must be left full discretion to use the equipment available to them to the best advantage.
- 6.
- We are arranging to inform Rabbi Wise orally and in confidence that the question of the Jews forming regiments and a Home Guard has been under active consideration by His Majesty’s Government who have approved certain proposals for action submitted by the High Commissioner, and that the gist of these steps has been communicated in strict confidence to Dr. Namier in London and Mr. Shertok21b in Jerusalem, both of whom have expressed their satisfaction. The details of the proposals are not being disclosed to Rabbi Wise.
Yours very sincerely,
Nevile Butler