867N.01/4–3046: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of State, at Paris21
1970. From Acheson for Secretary Byrnes. The President has asked me to transmit urgently to you the following message which you may care to discuss with Mr. Bevin:
“Following is the text of a statement which I shall issue at 7:00 p.m. today, simultaneously with the release of the Anglo-American report on Palestine:22 [Page 589]
‘I am very happy that the request which I made for the immediate admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine has been unanimously endorsed by the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. The transference of these unfortunate people should now be accomplished with the greatest dispatch. The protection and safe-guarding of the Holy places in Palestine sacred to Moslem, Christian and Jew is adequately provided in the report. One of the significant features in the report is that it aims to insure complete protection to the Arab populuation of Palestine by guaranteeing their civil and religious rights, and by recommending measures for the constant improvement in their cultural, educational and economic position.
I am also pleased that the Committee recommends in effect the abrogation of the White Paper of 1939 including existing restrictions on immigration and land acquisition to permit the further development of the Jewish National Home. It is also gratifying that the report envisages the carrying out of large scale economic development projects in Palestine which would facilitate further immigration and be of benefit to the entire population.
In addition to these immediate objectives the report deals with many other questions of long range political policies and questions of international law which require careful study and which I will take under advisement. Harry S. Truman’”
Repeated to London. Adding following heading “Urgent repeat of telegram 1970 to Pariswhich follows should be conveyed at once to Mr. Harriman.”23
- Mr. Byrnes was attending the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers at Paris. On April 28, in telegram 2025, he advised Mr. Acheson of a communication from Mr. Bevin expressing the hope that the United States would not make a statement of policy on Palestine without consulting with the British Government. Mr. Byrnes noted he was willing to agree but requested Mr. Acheson to apprise President Truman. The President informed Mr. Acheson at their regular meeting on April 29 that he felt it necessary to issue a statement when the report was released on May 1. Subsequently the White House sent the President’s proposed statement to Mr. Acheson for communication to Mr. Byrnes. It was done in this telegram (1970). Mr. Byrnes, in a telephone conversation with Mr. Acheson on April 30, stated he did not object to the President’s making the statement and that he would mention it to Mr. Bevin. (740.00119 Council/4–2846.)↩
- The report of the Committee, dated April 20, 1946, was released by the Department of State in 1946 as Publication No. 2536.↩
- Telegram 1970 was repeated to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Harriman) as 3618 the same day. In telegram 3634, April 30, Mr. Acheson requested Ambassador Harriman to transmit the text of the President’s statement to the British Foreign Office (867N.01/4–3046).↩