Evening star., 1947-07-04
Jews Will Consider
Palestine Partition,
Leader Informs u. n.
Bv the AsSoeioted Press

By tn. Asseeioted Press
JERUSALEM, July 4.-David
Ben-Gurion, chairman OF the
Jewish Agency Executive. today
demanded a Jewish state in Pal
estine and gave the first official
Jewish expression of possibility
that Jewish leaders might con-
slider partition of Palestine.
Referring extemporaneously to the
federation plan in testimony before
the United Nations special COM
mittee on Palestine. Mr.. Ben
Gurion said: 49,.
I'VE are ready to consider the
question of viable Jewish state
Ia state capable of self-support
within Palestine)."
Cites Murders of Jews.
Referring to the Peel Commits
sion which first recommended partl-
tion. Mr.. Ben-Gurion said:
THE majority (of Jews) opposed
the concrete proposals of the COM
mission mainly because Negev, the
unsettled, uncultivated part OF
Southern Palestine, was excluded,
as we'll as Jerusalem" ~-
Speaking. calmly, he asserted to
the commission that "a third of
our people, almost as many as the
whole population of Sweden, were
murdered in Europe during the
war. He sobbed, and his voice
faltered.
We are against continuation OF
the mandate. whether a British
mandate or United Nations man.
date" Mr. Ben-Gurion declared,
The Russian-born Zionist leader.
told the commission. which is seek
ing solution to the problem of
the Holy Lands future:
You'll achieve your mission sue
cessfully when you restore freedom
to Palestine, give justice to the Jew
ish people and stability, progress
and prosperity to the Middle East.
These three objectives can be ac-
complished by immediate abolition
OF the white paper (Which restricted
Jewish immigration and land sales
to jews, establishment of a Jew
ish state and promotion of a JEWISH
Arab alliance"
| Mr.. Ben-Gurion was the first wit
ness at hearing of the Jewish case.
He traced Zionist efforts to achieve
Jewish homeland and statehood
in Palestine
Twenty seven years ago England
undertook, and ! believe sincerely
undertook, the task of settling large
numbers of Jews in Palestine suf-
flclent to rebuild a Jewish state" he
asserted. She failed in her task"
Such task, he said, was diff
cult adding that the mandatory
tBritain refused to make these eff
forts and to surmount these diff
culties.
Cites Jews Handicaps.
The Jewish agency, he continued,
encountered even greater difficult
ties than the mandatory. We met
not only with Arab opposition
we were handicapped by lack OF
experience and lack of means"
What single mandatory can
not do. joint trusteeship will be
able to do far less" Mr.. Ben-Gurion
declared. Intensive development
and large-scale immigration require
dynamic administration An
administration taking directives
from different governments can
hardly perform a task OF this ma
ture"
Nor can you settle the problem
by setting up binational state
he continued, adding that such a,
state can mean ony parity-eithe-
parity of population or parity Of
government"
One delegate said the u N. COM
mittee. which yesterday completed
a 2000-mile act-f1nding tour of the
Holy Land, still has not decided
what its main problem is"
THE committee is being moved
so fast" he said, that We
probably won't get the problem
sorted out until after we go to
Geneva to write our report"
He said the two-week trip had
left the committee members men
tally and physically exhausted