Evening star., 1939-01-16
$20,000,000 for Palestine


$20,000,000 for Palestine
Washington was the weekend
scene of the National Conference for
Palestine. Its purpose was to launch
the Nationwide 1889 campaign for
the raising of $4,000, 900, to be de-
voted to ameliorating the plight Of
Europe's oppressed Jews in general,
and to facilitating emigration to
Palestine.
In this inspiring humanitarian eff
fort American Jewry presents a
united front. 1t represents both
zionists and non-Zionists, for the
campaign for funds is sponsored by
the United Palestine Appeal and the
Joint Distribution Committee. It
will find them working hand in hand
to combat, and, if possible, meet the
graveSt crisis ever to threaten the
Jews of the world, regardless of ma
tionality-how to succor several mil
lions of their coreligionists in Central
and Eastern Europe, suddenly face to
face with persecution which in some
respects outstrips in cruelty and
mercilessneSS the intolerance and
savagery of the middle ages.
Jews themselves, especially the
Jews of the United States, are pre-
pared to do, and are capable of doing,
their own full part in ministering to
the needs of their helpless brethren
across the Atlantic. They are not
prepared, and rightly not, to ransom
the impoverished Jews of Germany
Austria on the monstrous terms of
the Schacht plan, whereby their lib
GRAFTON from Nazi bondage would
have to be bought through cynical
plan to aggrandize' German exports.
The humanitarian record of the
American Jewish community, with
respect not only to their own flesh
and blood, but to distressed peoples
OF any race or creed, is an enviable
one. That the Jews of the United
States will live up to their reputa-
ton on the present critical occasion
is not to be doubted.
Solicitor General Robert H. Jack
son, who addressed the Palestine
Conference Sunday, did not exag-
gerate in describing "the plight of
the Jews in the world today" as "a
challenge to the Christian conscience
to make good the promise of a Jew
ish National Home in Palestine" He
recalls to the American people that
the United States recognized the
mandate by which Great Britain be-
came an international trustee Of
Palestine" The Solicitor General
rightly implies that there rests upon
this country an obligation to do all
that lies within its power to see that
Jewish hopes in Palestine are real
lied, particularly because "other
lands, like our own, have all but shut
their doors or have rationed their
hospitality on a quota basis,' and
further, as Mr.. Jackson points out,
because there is "in Palestine today
room for more refugees than in any
other country in the world"
There will shortly be assembled in
London a round-table meeting of
Arabs and Jews to discuss means Of
preserving the National Home ideal.
According to the message sent to
the Washington conference by DR..
Chain Weizmann president of the
Jewish Agency for Palestine, that
country "is ready and willing to alb
sorb many thousands of additional
victims of European prosecutions,
Immediately official permission is
granted" That Britain, with it's vast
Moslem empire and corresponding
necessity to respect Arab sensibili-
ties, is astride a dilemma in grap-
pling with the Palestine problem,
now essentially one of immigration,
is undeniable. But to craftsmanship,
in presence of the emergency pro-
voked by the anti-Semitic policies of
Germany, Italy, Poland, Rumania
and Hungary, the dilemma should
not prove insurmountable.
While the search for a solution pro-
ceeds, American Jews march shoul-
der to shoulder, as they are wont to
do when their kith and kin are in
misery, in great crusade of mercy
and relief. 1t cannot and will not
fail.