[Enclosure]
Memorandum Submitted to the Under Secretary
of State (Welles) by the Emergency Committee for Zionist
Affairs
1. It has been generally assumed that British policy with regard
to Palestine would undergo no important modification during the
progress of the war. In Zionist circles it was hoped that no
further steps would be taken toward implementing the White Paper
of 1939 and it was believed that there would certainly be no
basic change in the status of Palestine or of the Palestine
Mandate.
2. A recent address delivered by the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, Mr. Anthony Eden, made specific reference to a
coming change in the status of Syria and Lebanon and promised
support by the British Government for a scheme of federation in
the Middle East as yet undefined.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Dr. Nahum Goldmann25a conferred with you shortly thereafter, and
you were kind enough to state that in your view it was extremely
improbable that the British Government would take any steps
involving the status of Palestine either by the inclusion of
Palestine in a federation or otherwise, without prior
consultation with the Government of the United States; and
furthermore, that if proposals affecting the status of Palestine
or of the Jewish National Home were forthcoming, the American
Government would accord the representatives of American Zionism
adequate opportunity to present their views before taking any
position on such questions.
We take this occasion to express our profound appreciation of
these statements made by you at the time to our
representatives.
3. Since the interview referred to took place, signs have been
multiplying that the question of new political dispositions in
the Middle East has been occupying the attention of important
British circles following the termination of the Syrian
campaign. There is in our considered judgment reason to believe
that the possibility of effecting a political reorganization in
the Middle East is being considered in British official
quarters. This has given rise to a certain apprehension lest
under the pressure of war and of military developments in that
region, steps may be taken or commitments made which involve the
status of Palestine and of the Jewish National Home in a manner
and direction we can not foresee or judge at this distance. Such
steps or commitments, if made either publicly or privately, may
conceivably lead to the result that the Mandate for Palestine
would be materially affected at a time when neither the League
of Nations nor its permanent Mandates Commission are in a
position to function. A further consequence would be that such
international settlement as may be
[Page 619]
expected to take place at the end of the
war may be prejudged by such commitments or by the creation of
accomplished facts.
4. We would therefore respectfully suggest that it would be most
helpful if the American Government would elicit from the British
Government authentic information on this subject as well as an
assurance that it does not intend to carry on negotiations or
make commitments involving a change in the legal and political
status of Palestine or a derogation of the position of the
Jewish National Home, whether by promoting a union between
Palestine and other territories, or otherwise; and that no steps
will be taken without previous consultation with the government
of the United States.
We wish to record our gratitude to you for so kindly offering to
act promptly in this matter, and to express the hope that we may
be informed of the result in due course.
