Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The Near East and Africa, Volume IV

867N.00/628

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Alling)

[Washington,] March 30, 1943.

The Egyptian Minister called today and handed me the attached copy of a note and memorandum,³¹ the original of which he proposed subsequently to hand to Mr. Welles. The Minister observed that I would notice that it was again a question of Palestine and the possible entry of a large number of Jews there from the Balkan area. The Minister said he hoped that we would not gain the impression that his country or his people were anti-Jewish. The fact was, however, that the immigration of large numbers of Jews into Palestine created resentment among the Arabs of that country and brought about an unstable situation which had repercussions in his own country. He added that as I knew Jews and Christians, as well as Moslems, had for generations held high offices in Egypt. In this connection he pointed out that one of the Ladies in Waiting to the Egyptian Queen was a Jewess, namely, Madame Cattaui.

The Minister went on to say that in his own view after the war had been won by the United Nations and democracy and fair play re-established in Europe, very few Jews would want to leave Europe for Palestine. As a matter of fact, he was inclined to believe that the movement would be in the other direction—that is, from Palestine to Europe. I said that I was inclined to agree with him and that in this general connection, we had just had word of the formation in Tel-Aviv of a group of Austrian Jews who were already making their plans to return to Vienna. I said to the Minister that it seemed to me that the Jews were afforded a much better chance and livelihood through the development of decent institutions in Europe than they would have through a precarious situation in Palestine.

The Minister remarked that he had not received any acknowledgment of the note which he had left with the Secretary of State on February 2. I told the Minister that we thought the Secretary’s oral comments were a sufficient acknowledgment but that if he desired a written acknowledgment, we should be glad to prepare one. The Minister said that one acknowledgment covering the note of February 2 and the note of today would be adequate.

[Annex]

The Egyptian Legation to the Department of State

Memorandum

The persecution of the Jews by the Axis Powers having been just marked by a recrudescence of arrests and executions in Germany and its satellites, it seems that the governments of Great Britain and the United States of America, accordingly, decided to conjointly take such steps as may remedy the situation, and ask neutral nations to facilitate the migration of thousands of these Jews from Europe.

Whilst sympathising with this humanitarian action, Egypt, having always taken interest in a fair and equitable settlement of the Palestinian question, wishes to emphasise once again and call for the maintenance of the status quo in Palestine, recommending that the proposed fresh migration of Jews be diverted to lands other than Palestine, better equipped with natural resources and possibilities of production. Besides, it would be contrary to high moral principles, when trying to alleviate the sufferings of the Jews, indigenous inhabitants of Palestine would suffer as a consequence of such process.

Moreover, Palestine is already overpopulated, and a fresh influx of émigrés cannot but tend to accentuate even further an already acute food problem, her possibility for the absorption of fresh arrivals having already surpassed her capacity for such. In fact, the bitter experiences of the immediate past tend to show the unwisdom and perils of a continuation of Jewish immigration into Palestine.

For under whatever guise or pretext such immigration is tolerated and countenanced, such activities cannot but prove detrimental to the Arabs, who have repeatedly and justly complained of the Zionist activities.

At the moment that the United Nations proclaim the necessity of the Arab peoples to unite in evolving and contributing to a new order of civilisation, it would be most unfortunate, indeed, to lose sight of the fact of Palestine seeking to have the question of her independence transcend all other issues.

Moreover, all fresh immigration into this land cannot but give rise to troubles and difficulties at a period when the maintenance of peace and tranquility in this part of the world is most essential and indispensable.

Washington, March 29, 1943.

31. Note not printed.