If time permits I believe you will wish to note the attached
memorandum prepared in the Division of Near Eastern Affairs relative
to the probable attitude of the new Labor Government in England
toward the Palestine question.
You will note that in 1939 many Labor members of Parliament,
including several influential members of the present Cabinet, were
strongly opposed to the White Paper on Palestine setting forth the
Chamberlain Government’s
policy on Palestine, which is still in force but which will
presumably require some modification in the near future.
You will also note that while the Labor Party is definitely committed
to a pro-Zionist policy, there is some question as to the extent to
which it will find it feasible to put this policy into
operation.
[Attachment]
Memorandum
Subject: The Probable Attitude of the Labor
Government of Great Britain With Respect to Palestine
The leaders of the Labor Party, the rank and file of Labor Party
members of the House of Commons, and the powerful labor unions
among which are found a considerable number of the members of
the Labor Party have consistently given their support to the
Balfour
Declaration.1
In 1939 the Labor Members of the House of Commons voted
overwhelmingly against the White Paper of 1939. In the debate on
the White Paper2 Laborite members argued that with its
restrictions on immigration and land transfers the White Paper
was contrary to the terms of the Mandate3 and a
repudiation by the Government of its promises to the Jews. Of
the 179 members who voted against the White Paper of 1939, 137
were members of the Labor Party. Among
[Page 1404]
the outstanding Laborites who voted
against the White Paper were the following:
| Rt. Hon. C. R.
Attlee |
Age 62; Deputy Prime Minister in Coalition
Cabinet; Prime Minister,
July, 1945. |
| Mr. H.
Dalton |
President of Board of Trade since 1942; Minister
of Economic Warfare 1940–42; Chancellor of the Exchequer, July,
1945. |
| Rt. Hon. A.
Greenwood |
Deputy Leader and Acting Chairman, Labor Party
since 1942; Lord Privy Seal,
July, 1945. |
| Mr. J.
Maxton |
Chairman of the Independent Labor Party, 1926–31,
1934–39. |
| Rt. Hon. H.
Morrison |
Minister of Supplies, 1940; Lord
President of the Council and Leader in
Commons, July, 1945. |
| Mr. P. J.
Noel-Baker |
Joint Parliamentary Secretary to Ministry of
War Transport
since 1942. |
| Rt. Hon. F. W.
Pethick-Lawrence. |
Vice-Chairman of the Labor Party, 1944. |
| Mr. E.
Shinwell |
Member of National Executive of the Labor
Party. |
| Mr. G.
Tomlinson |
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Labor,
1941. |
In the debate on the White Paper of 1939, significant remarks
were made by three leading members of the present Labor
Cabinet.
Mr. Attlee, now Prime Minister, raised the
question as to whether the British Government has the right to
do as it wishes with respect to Palestine irrespective of the
League of Nations.
Sir Stafford
Cripps, now President of the Board of
Trade, stressed the inconsistent and conflicting nature of the
promises made to the Arabs and the Jews. After describing the
Palestine problem as essentially an economic one and mentioning
the obligation on the British Government to make a very large
economic contribution to the people of Palestine, particularly
to the Arabs, in order to raise the standard of living of the
Arab peasants, he referred to the obligation of the British
Government to protect the Jewish population of Palestine. He
proposed that a Jewish enclave be set up, temporarily, in which
Jewish self-government be allowed to operate, while at the same
time leaving Arab self-government to be developed in the rest
[Page 1405]
of Palestine
during the temporary “period of partition”. Cripps was of the opinion that
through economic development Arabs and Jews would learn to
cooperate. He stated that “…4with a
view to an independent Palestine, we must partition the country
temporarily in order to safeguard the interests of the Jewish
people”.
Mr. Herbert
Morrison, now Lord President of the
Council and Leader in Commons, declared that the White Paper was
not in words or in spirit in harmony with the Balfour Declaration and the
Mandate. He maintained that the British Government had no right
to deliberately create a Jewish minority and that the Government
should not be committed to a policy “as to which grave doubt
exists as to its consistency with the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate”.
Mr. Morrison asserted that
the Labor Party was friendly to the Arabs and regarded it as a
duty of the Labor movement and of the British Government to
raise “the economic, social and political status of the Arab
masses in Palestine, Trans-Jordan and the other Arabian
countries without in any way prejudicing the development of the
Jewish National Home”.
Mr. Morrison said in part:
“…4I think it ought to be known by the House
that, this breach of faith, which we regret, this breach of
British honour, with its policy, with which we have no sympathy,
is such that the least that can be said is that the Government
must not expect that this is going to be automatically binding
upon their successors”.
Labor Party
Resolution
In December, 1944 the Labor Party at its 43d annual conference
adopted the following resolution with respect to Palestine:
“Here we have halted half way, irresolute between
conflicting policies. But there is surely neither hope
nor meaning in a ‘Jewish National Home’, unless we are
prepared to let 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. There is an irresistible case now,
after the unspeakable atrocities of the cold and
calculated German Nazi plan to kill all Jews in Europe.
Here, too, in Palestine surely is a case, on human
grounds and to promote a stable settlement, for transfer
of population. Let the Arabs be encouraged to move out,
as the Jews move in. Let them be compensated handsomely
for their land and let their settlement elsewhere be
carefully organised and generously financed. The Arabs
have many wide territories of their own; they must not
claim to exclude the Jews from this small area of
Palestine, less than the size of Wales. Indeed, we
should reexamine also the possibility of extending the
present Palestinian boundaries, by agreement with Egypt,
Syria, or Trans-Jordan.
[Page 1406]
Moreover, we should seek to win
the full sympathy and support both of the American and
Russian Governments for the execution of this
Palestinian policy.”
The Probable Attitude of the
Labor Government
In the near future the Labor Government will be faced with
important decisions with regard to Palestine. The remaining
quota of Jewish immigrants will be exhausted within a few weeks.
A situation will then arise which will probably oblige the Labor
Government to reconsider the terms of the White Paper of 1939
with respect to immigration. Likewise, the Labor Government will
be obliged to formulate its general policy towards the future
status of Palestine under the United Nations Charter5 within a few months
time.
With the assumption of responsibility for the British Empire, it
does not seem likely that the Labor Government will attempt to
implement the resolution passed at the 43d Annual Conference of
the Labor Party of December, 1944. It does, however, appear
likely that the Labor Government will modify or repeal the White
Paper policy of 1939, especially with respect to Jewish
immigration. The Labor Government may be expected to consult the
governments of the Soviet Union and the United States before
putting into execution a new policy with respect to the future
status of Palestine.
W[illiam] Y[ale]
[
Washington
,] 7/30/45.
