The 910 visaless refugees captured aboard the schooner Enzo Sereni on Jan. 18 will be released from the Athlit clearance camp, the Palestine Government announced today, following its decision to admit 1,500 Jews monthly to Palestine, until the Anglo-American inquiry committee makes its recommendations. High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham pointed out yesterday that “illegal” immigrants would be subtracted from the 1,500 quote.
The Jewish National Council, in a manifesto to Britain and the United Nations issued today, declared that while the issuance of the new quota “removes the special insult–consultation with the Arabs on even this pitifully small quota”–three demands of the Jews remain unfulfilled; completely free immigration into Palestine, abrogation of the land laws, and vesting the Jewish Agency with control over immigration and colonization.
Appealing to the Arabs in Palestine and neighboring countries to recognize the Jews’ sincere desire to assist them in developing the Middle East, the council statement said: “The Jewish nation will not accept a fate of eternal wanderings. We demand the right to establish our independence, guaranteed by the nations of the world, and we will defend our right with all our strength.
BRITAIN CHARGED WITH VIOLATION OF PALESTINE MANDATE
“The invocation by His Majesty’s Government of its mandatory obligations as a reason for its course of action,” it continued, “only serves to accentuate the violation of the Mandate. Under the Mandate His Majesty’s Government is obliged to facilitate Jewish immigration, with economic absorptivity as the only criterion. Under the mandate the Government is not required to consult the Arabs on the size of Jewish immigration.
“Such reference to the Arabs is an infringement of the principle solemnly accepted by the Government that Jewish immigration into Palestine is as of right and not of sufferance. The Government now authorizes immigration despite the absence of Arab consent, but arbitrarily limits it to a pitifully small figure, which does not bear any relation to the possibilities of absorption in Palestine, and is in glaring contrast to the acute needs in Europe and elsewhere.
“The immigration quota laid down in the White Paper, and the monthly rate fixed in accordance with it, were designed to crystalise the Jewish population of Palestine at its present relative strength. The fact that the monthly rate continues to be applied after exhaustion of the White Paper quota makes it all the more imperative that Jews redouble their efforts to secure complete abrogation of that iniquitous policy and restoration of their fundamental rights.”
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