The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-11

tary of .he American Jewish Con-
 ference, which was established in
 194S to speak for the majority of
 American Jews on problems of
 in Europe and Palestine.
 y I. L. KENEN
 Written for NEA Service)
 The Labor landslide in the British election is expected to spill into the Near East and batter down the Tory-built walls that now bar Jew ish immigration into Palestine.
 By resolution of the Labor Par- tvs Executive Committee adopted last December, the Attlee Govern ment is committed to a program which would permit Jews to enter Palestine, become majority, and establish a Jewish National Home in that country. That would sharp ly reverse British policy since 1889, when the Chamberlain government issued It's Palestine White Paper.
 Under the terms of that docu- mer1t, Jewish immigration into Pal estine between 1889 and 1944 was limited to 75,O00, and the sale of land to Jews in much the greater part of Palestine was prohibited. The White Paper also provides that 3 Palestine State would be estab- nshed by 1949. This would be an Arab state, since the Jewish popu- lation, frozen by immigration re- strictions, would be about one-third.
 Ever since the White Paper was issued it has been under bitter at tack from the Labor Party, which has characterized it as an act of Chamberlain appeasement.
 AID HOMELESS
 Opening of Palestine's doors would enable hundreds of thousands Of homeless and dispossessed Jews of Europe to rebuild their lives there.
 More than 100000 of the 1,250,- O00 surviving Jews are estimated to be stateless many of them still in former concentration camps. Great numbers of Jews in liberated countries are also eager to go to Palestine because their prospects for restoration to their former status are not bright.
 One of the paradoxes of the present situation is that former Prime Minister Winston Churchill had always been staunch Zionist sympathizer. Tn 1899, from the op- position benches in Parliament. he denounced the White Paper as a re- pudiation of England's pledges un- der the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its obligations under the Pales- tine Mandate. In the Balfour Dec- laration, England promised to aid in the establishment of National Home for Jewish people in Pales- tine.
 The belief that the Labor Party will now act is promised on its dec- laration on the subject which have been repeated, emphatic and recent. The resolution adopted last Decem- Der proposed that the Arabs be en- couraged to move out of Palestine as the Jews move in. It called for re-examination of the possibility of extending present Palestine bound- aries by agreement with Egypt. Syr- ia and Trans-Jordan. (Trans-Jor- dan was separated from Palestine by the British White Paper of 1922).
 The United States has always been sympathetic to the building of a Jewish National Home. Presi- dent wilson and every President since his time has affirmed U. s. support. Both political parties adopt cd favorable resolutions ill 1914.
 The Labor Party proposal for transfer of populations is not as drastic as it may sound. A number of statesmen in Europe now favor transfer of populations as the solu- tion of minority problems. The Big Three. for example, proposed the transfer of the German population from Czechoslovakia.
 Moreover, in the 25-year period between the first and second World Wars, the Arab population in Pales- tine increased greatly. for no bar riers were placed against Arab im- migration. while, ironically. the doors of the Jewish homeland were being closed to Jews. Today it is estimated that the Arab population in Palestine has more than doubled since 1918 and now stands at 1.100.- 900, while the estimated Jewish pop ulation is 600,O00. Soil and conser- vation experts predict that Palestine will be able to accommodate four million people if an irrigation and power project, similar to the IVA,