501.BB Palestine/7–2147
The Consul General at Jerusalem (Macatee) to the Secretary of State
No. 128
Subject: UNSCOP in Palestine—the Fifth and Final Week.
Sir: I have the honor to report that the final week in Jerusalem of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was marked by the assiduity with which the Committee continued to apply itself to the long and arduous schedule of hearings it had laid down; by the mounting tempo of terrorist activity; and by growing anxiety and uneasiness in Jewish Agency circles.
The Department will recall from the previous despatch in this series that the Committee’s fourth week again found the terrorist element expressing its disregard for the will of the United Nations by the kidnapping of two British army sergeants at Nathanya on July 11. As thousands of troops combed the area of that township on the following two days, it was made clear by the authorities that if the two men were not released, martial law, of which this country had had a taste earlier in the year, would be imposed on the environs of that well-known summer resort.
At 7 p. m. on Monday, July 14, the military sealed off 20 square kilometers of land, in the center of which lay the town of Nathanya. At the same time, the following communiqué was issued:
[Here follows text of communiqué No. 123 of July 14.]
This communiqué is presented at length to give the Department some idea of the atmosphere in Palestine at this time. Those who had hoped that terrorist activities would abate from week to week as UNSCOP got further immersed in the problem were to be disappointed.
On July 14, the Committee listened at length to Dr. Judah L. Magnes, long-time advocate of the binational state based on political parity.
[Here follows an account of the hearing of Dr. Magnes; see UNSCOP , volume III, pages 164–180 and 183–187, passim.]
On Monday, July 14, it became known that the Committee would visit Beirut to hear such testimony as the Arab States might care to offer. Acceptances to give testimony had been received from the Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq. Saudi Arabia and Syria accepted two days later.
[Page 1129][Here follows an account of the hearing on July 15 of the Franciscan order in Palestine; see UNSCOP , volume IV, pages 13–19.]
The leaders of the Sephardic sect of Judaism are said to have concentrated on the plight of Jews in the surrounding Arab countries and to have implored the Committee to take measures to relieve their condition either by making their migration to Palestine possible, or by setting up a Jewish state in this country.1
[Here follow accounts of the hearings on July 15 of the Communist Party of Palestine and of the League for Jewish-Arab Rapprochement and Cooperation and of the hearings on July 17 of the Jewish Federation of Labor; see UNSCOP , volume III, pages 187–205 and 209–218.]
Following Mr. Rubashov, Mr. Shertok summed up the case of the Jewish Agency, and took occasion also to answer questions which had been previously put by Committee members to his colleagues. Among these was that concerned with 21 Arab villages about which the Indian member had inquired, as it had been alleged that they had been wiped out by Jewish land purchases and settlement. Mr. Shertok concentrated during the first part of his speech on data calculated to refute that allegation, and then moved on with considerable emphasis to deal with the present immigration and land transfer regulations. At one point, when describing the reaction of certain persons in England to the promulgation of those regulations—among them that of the present Lord Chancellor—Mr. Shertok declared that the laws were believed then to have been barbarous and savage. Mr. Shertok then passed on to give details of Jewish land acquisitions since the regulations have been in effect. The Department will note that even in the forbidden zones, there has been a considerable transfer of land from Arab to Jewish hands. Since 1940 the Jews had bought, according to Mr. Shertok,
- 38,000 dunums in the Prohibited Zone.
- 23,500 “ in the Regulated Zone.
- 45,000 “ in the Free Zone.
All acquisitions in the “Prohibited Zone”, Mr. Shertok assured the Committee, had been in accordance with the law. Persons who expected some Committee members to go into that aspect of the matter were disappointed, as no questions concerning it were put to him.
Mr. Shertok then went on to criticize the Palestine Government at length, particularly with regard to its failure to clear up the swamplands in the Huleh basin, and as no conclusion appeared in sight, it [Page 1130] became apparent that he would have insufficient time that day to finish his testimony. At 1:20 p. m. the Chairman intervened to ask him how much more time he wanted. Judge Sandstrom added that if Mr. Shertok needed but a minute or two longer, he could continue, but if more time than that was essential, they would adjourn and hear the rest of his testimony on the following day. Mr. Shertok indicated he needed a good deal more time, whereupon the meeting adjourned.
Mr. Shertok opened the hearing the next morning, July 18th. During the two hours he consumed in presenting the remainder of the Agency’s case “for the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish State”, Mr. Shertok went into the “impractical” character of Dr. Magnes’ bi-national state, and of the federal state which the Committee had heard suggested. These state forms, he insisted, would solve nothing as
“… what had to be realized was the extent of and the intense determination of Jews all over the world to achieve statehood in Palestine … . There could be no permanent stability in Palestine or in the world unless and until the elemental Jewish craving was satisfied … .”
In conclusion, Mr. Shertok urged UNSCOP not to wait until its report, which should recommend in his opinion the creation of a Jewish State, could be implemented. It was most essential that they urge, as an interim recommendation, that the White Paper be entirely eliminated so as to permit the exodus of Jewish DPs from Europe to Palestine.
It was the general expectation among the audience that many questions would be put to Mr. Shertok when he concluded his address, and it therefore came as something of a surprise when only the Guatemalan and the Uruguayan members, who have gained the local reputation as being strongly pro-Zionist, had questions for him. These were concerned with educational matters, mainly with the advisability of educating Jewish and Arab children in the same schools. Mr. Shertok did not think that would be constructive. He said, “I believe a race so educated would be culturally sterile and not creative.”2
[Here follows an account of the hearings of the Palestine Communist Union; see UNSCOP , volume III, pages 234–240.]
Thus terminated the public hearings in Jerusalem. Judge Sandstrom said to reporters later that he was glad they were over and done with, “but the next stage would be harder”.
At about this time news was received that the S.S. Exodus 1947, formerly the President Warfield, was nearing Palestine with 4500 illegal immigrants aboard. She was reported as having sailed from [Page 1131] Philadelphia on March 29, but had been delayed in picking up her human cargo in Europe due to refusal of oil facilities in various ports. In one way or another, however, she had been fueled and finally sailed from the French port of Cette, near Marseille, a port supposedly under the control of French Communist organizations.
As UNSCOP prepared to leave, the British were transshipping the illegals. Terrorist elements were also getting into action, and the toll for Friday, July 18, was two dead and eighteen injured—all British military. The sirens were sounding with monotonous regularity in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine, and prospects for the near future were somewhat grimmer than usual.3
Respectfully yours,