⁨⁨The Palestine Post⁩, 25 ספטמבר 1946⁩ — IN THE WAKE OF VICTORY _^ IKE _ffi _TP _TP " _^^ i JEWISH YEAR 5706 [⁨כתבה⁩]

IN THE WAKE OF VICTORY _^ IKE _ffi _TP _TP _^^ i JEWISH YEAR 5706

_k Illegal _Immigrants Ships in Haifa Port K . H . Photo On the other hand , _ths new Government , almost overwhelmed by its gigantic tasks in the fields of Home and Foreign affairs , had failed to realize the argen t need for a Palestine policy . Yet , there was no valid excus i for this delay in re-defining the position . The logic of it , said an English political writer , is inescapable ; we are , _whera we are in Palestine , solely to carry out a Mandatewe have no other title fo be there . Are we in ; fact carrying it out ? Do we in fact pre nose to carry it out ? Or are we in fact doing _somjthing else ? The confusion becorr es more evident when one recalls that at the Conference of th > Labour Party in December 1944 , the Prime Minister himself ( then Deputy P . M . in Mr . Churchill s Government ) had moved a special resolution on post-war policy where it was said : Here we have halted half-way , irresolute between conflictingpolicies . But there is surely neither hope nor meaning in a Jewish National Hom p * unless we are prepared to let Jews , if they wish , enter this tiny land in such numbers as to become a majority . There wa _t a strong case for this before the war . There is an _irresistible case now . This resolution was _reaffirmed in April , 1945 , by the Executive Committee of the Labour Party . Then came Mr . Bevin , the Foreign Minister , and stated , inter alia , on November 13 , 1 ! 45 , when announcing the appointment of an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry , that in order to ensure immigration at the present monthly rate , the Arabs should be consulted , that the Committee s recommendations and other temporary arrangements would have to be considered , and that a t solutioli would later be . submitted to Uno . permanen This tendency towards delaying political action became more and more apparent _throughout the year . It recalls that the Fabians , the spiritual j parents of the Labour Party , choose their name deliberately alfter the famous Roman Consul Quintus Fabius whose tactics ofl masterly inactivity earned him the niame Cuwctator , the _Ipe-layer .

SE : OND EXODUS The lack of policy , not to speak of vision , is all the more striking when one consid > rs the desperate plight of the remnants of who mad witnessed the murder of six million European Jewry of their people . in The trial of the Ber _^ en-Belsen criminals September , 1945 , was the first answer to unprecedented bestiality , but only the Nuremberg trial of Nazi leaders which opened on November 21 , unfolded the story of tl e extermination in all its horrible details . Yet . the survivors were detained * and told to wait . In the meantime , . lews were attacked in Buenos Aires ; early in November grav _i anti-Jewish riots swept Tripoli where Over 100 Jews were killeiand 219 woundedon November 2 — , ; Balfour — riots brdke out in Cairo and Alexandria where Day schools anc stores were smashedand lootedin synagogues , , ; November we learned that Jews fled from Afghanistan to India from Moslem _persecution ; in December , there were pogroms in Ruthenia ; in _February , 1946 , 500 foreign Jews were expelled from Belgium ; in Apri , the outbreak of a pogrom wave in Hungary was reported ; in the same month ( as already before in other camps ) there were clashes between Jews and Germans in Bavaria . In Poland , where 80 , 000 Jews remained , organized antiJewish terror continued . In 1945 alone 3 o 3 Jews were murdered ; the _po-rrom of Kielce in in July , 1946 , with 45 victims , shocked th _^ world . And this a count ry where the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto , of whom 56 , 000 perished , had won legendary ame . The number of _displaced Jews is estimated ! at at least 300 , 000 in Central and Eastern _Europe , apart from some 150 , 000 PolishJewish refugees still ir the USSR , or on their way back to Poland . All of them loo 1 1 for freedom , and the result is a continuous migration , a s ; cond exodus , this time from Europe , as General Sir F . Mori an said , or — in the words of Moshe Shertok — an uprising against dispersion .

Yet , on October 27 , ] 945 , the last group of immigrants under the White Paper quota arrived in Haifa , 997 in number , and not before January 30 , 1946 , was a new , temporary , schedule announced : 1500 a m < _rnth in all . Nine months had elapsed since V-Day . and 7 % mpnths since the Jewish Agency had applied for 100 , 000 _certificates . To complete the pi _< ture : On September 14 , 1946 , the Secretariat of Uno announced that of 48 states queried in May as to to the number of ref u _^ ees they were ready admit , only 23 replied at all . Answers were partly blunt refusals and partly evasive , the only encoi raging reply being that of the United States . This is the backgr mnd of illegal immigration . It is , to a certain extent , also tl e background of other illegal activities .

VIOO . ENT REACTIONS It was not to be ( expected that the Yishuv or , for that matter , the majority df Jews in the Diaspora , would accept this policy of evasion . Jt was not to be foreseen , however , that the reaction of certain small , if well organized , groups would take the form of wanton murder . Here again , it is not sufficient to deplore what every man to whatever camp he may belong , must wholeheartedly c < ndemn . The views of the _t ewish on acts of terrorism are Agency known . The Agency ha 1 repeatedly declared that they repudiated recourse to violenc > as an instrument of political struggle . And the Agencys _protelst after the bank robberies in Jaffa and

_SUHVIVOfcS GPIM PLIGHT — WORLDS INDECISION — BRITAINS DILEMMA — UNREST IN PALESTINE — YISHUVS DETERMINATION

Tel Aviv early this month did not mince words when it condemned these abominable outrages as acts of gangsterism . Violence , however , was one of the salient features of last year . In October , 1945 , attacks on the railways ; In November , riots after protest meetings , attacks om coastguard stations , and armed robberies ; On December 27 , attacks on police buildings in Jerusalem and Jaffa , and on a military installation in Tel Aviv ; In January , a train was derailed near Hadera , and the railway payroll of LP . 35 , 000 robbed ; in the same month an electric transformer was wrecked in Jerusalem ; In February ; attacks on a police post on Mt . Canaan , on an Army camp near Tel Aviv , attempt on the life of a police officer in Haifa ; bombing of a RAF Radar Station on Mt . Carmel , and raid on a camp at Sarona ; In Marcharms theft at Sarafand , ; In April , five railway bridges blown up near Rehovoth , attacks on camps at Nathanya , on a police station at Ramat Gan , and on a W . D . car park at Tel Aviv ; In June , trains were wrecked , railway workshops in Haifa Bay attacked , and eight frontier bridges blown up ; five officers were abducted but later released ; A most dastardly act of violence made July 22 a black-letter day when a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem . was blown up causing the death of 91 persons , Jews , Christians , and Moslems , mostly members of the staff of the Secretariat , and injuries to 45 persons ; In September , the Area Security Office in Tel Aviv was wrecked , a British CXD . Sergeant was murdered , andi branches of the Ottoman Bank at Jaffa and Tel Aviv were raided . Not all these attacks caused loss of life , and in more than one case the raiders themselves paid a heavy toll .

GOVERNMENT IN ACTION Government and the military took drastic measures of retaliation . Prolonged curfews , widespread searches , mass arrests and deportation became an almost daily occurrence . In November , the coastal villages of Rishpon , Shefayim and Givat Haim were cordoned , and : about 10 , 000 troops operated in the plains of Sharon and Samaria , killing eight unarmed settlers , and woundinabout 75 . g On January 28 , new draconic emergency regulations were enacted . In March , the farmstead of Birya was occupied ! by troops , but ten days later , some 4 , 000 settlers from the Jordan and Jezreel valleys and from Galilee established in one night a new settlement in the neighbourhood . ¥ s _^ _MMS £ _X _^ W / f 7 _& h _rK r : f _$ -. ¦ * ¦ *¦ . J _»« -. * _- * _Hf * _4

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Illegal Immigrants march into detention camp NYT Photo The climax of Governments action came on June 29 , when , with a statement on the situation by the ; High Commissioner , a carefully prepared plan of operations ( details of which had become known beforehand ) led to the arrest of four members of the ; Jewisih Agency and occupation ! of its offices ; , as weill as of other premises in the country , to searches of twenty-five agricultural settlements , to mass arrests , and the tightening of precensorship of the Press . The arrest of thousands of people made the establishment of a new detention at Rafa . camp necessary Military operations at Yagour on July 3 resulted in the discovery of large quantities of arms . The Agency offices were vacated on July 11 , after thorough searches and removal of numerous files . On July 23 , the Briti » h Government published ! a White Paper purporting to prove a connection between members of the Jewish Agency and illegal organizations , and cooperation between the Haganah and the two terrorist groups . The Agency denied these charges . On July 30 , Tel Aviv was cordoned off , with nearly 20 , 000 troops and police engaged in searches and identification of some 192000 of whom 787 were detained for further interro- , persons gation . The operation was terminated on August 2 , after the 200 , 000 inhabitants of the city had been kept under complete curfew , except for two hours on the second and third ! days . Beginning on August 1 . several buildings housing , banks , law offices , shops and flats in the centre of Jerusalem were requisitioned , as well as private houses neighbouring the requisitioned residence of General Barker , the G . O . C . This measure which turned the most modern business centre of the city into a desert — since bitterly named Bevingrad — was explained by the High Commissioner as the direct result of the King David Hotel outrage , as an essential and minimum security measure . The new Post Office Building and the Municipal Offices were likewise evacuated . Similar measures were taken in Haifa .

The hunger strike of 15 leaders of the Yishuv in April had at last resulted in the admission of the refugees stranded at Spezia in Italy , but it did not prevent the sad spectacle of other wretched vessels being shadowed by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force ; nor did it prevent the deportation of those illegal passengers to a camp in Cyprus on board Liberty ships . This new policy was inaugurated on August 13 by Operation Igloo when , with the help of an infantry division , tank destroyers , two cruisers and several destroyers the first deportation took place . This operation followed a decision taken in London on the recommendation of the Palestine Administration that no further illegal immigrants should be allowed to land . During the operation , 3 Jewish curfew breakers were killed and 7 injured . One of the transport ships was damaged by limpet mines . _,

INQUIRIES The Anglo-American Commission of 12 members arrived in Jerusalem on March 31946 . A voluminous had been , survey prepared by Government with considerable skill but not without revealing more than was intended . The case for the Jews was opened by Dr . Weizmann , followed by a number of leading personalities of the Yishuv . The public hearings were closed on March 26 , and two days later the Commissioners left for Lausanne . The findings of the Commission were made public on May 1 . The most immediately important of its ten recommendations were : admission of 100 , 000 Jews this year ; repeal of land sale restrictions , and Uno trusteeship for Palestine . Whatever hopes these recommendations may have raised , they were quickly frustrated by the Prime Ministers statement in the Commons that the admission of the 100 , 000 was conditional upon the dissolution of the illegal armies and surrender of their armsand that Britain could not be expected to shoulder , commitments single-handed . A further period of indecision followed , until , on July 31 , Mr-i Herbert Morrison outlined a new Federation Plan . As these lines go to press , another conference Is sitting to seek a way out of the impasse . On October 24 , 1945 , an Education Commission appointed to investigate the Jewish school system opened its sessions . Its report , which was submitted on March 26 , is a model of careful and constructive analysis .

ROUND THE YEAR On November 2 , 1945 , ten days after he had sent a cable oi greeting to the Hadassah Convention in Chicago , the High Commissioner , Field Marshal Lord of Gort , V . C ., found himself ill few compelled to resign for reason _^ health . A months later , on March 31 , Lord Gort passed away , deeply and genuinely mourned by all communities . Few High Commissioners enjoyed more confidence than this great soldier and devoted friend of Palestine . The new High Commissioner , Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham , of Libyan and Abyssinian fame , assumed office on November 11 , It may be said that none of his predecessors has had to face greater demands on both his judgment and his human sympathy . * * * Tn June , a Palestine contingent and a Jewish Brigade Group Squad took part in the Victory Parade at Londpn . Demobilization meant also the end of the Jewish Brigade Group . Its commander , Brigadier E . F . Benjamin , was awarded a C . B . E ., in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy . Fifteen hundred trees planted in Palestine in the name of Brigadier Benjamin perpetuate this glorious chapter in Jewish history . The father of the brigade , Moshe Shertok , was inscribed by its men in the Golden Book . * * * Other events of importance include , in chronological order : October : New Habimah building opened in Tel Aviv . — 207 dunams of Sarona land allocated for municipal housing scheme of Tel Aviv .

November : British Council opened School of Higher Studies in Jerusalem . — Government announced appointment of three committees for the speeding up of 27 , 000-room housing scheme . — Elected Assembly of Palestine Jews unanimously rejected Bevin statement . — Chief Justice proposed abolition of distinction between British and Palestinian District Court Judges . December : Organized by Jewish Agency , first relief teams left for welfare work in D . P . in . — P . B . S . instalcamps Germany led second transmitter . — Electricity supply in Jerusalem rationed . January : Arab boycott of Zionist industries begins . — Colonial Secretary stated that steps have been taken to inform the Governments concerned of H . M . Governments views . — High Commissioner signed concession for Saudi-Arabia pipeline to cross Palestine territory . — Jerusalem District Court dismissed claim of Sultan s heirs for ownership of 4 , 500 dunams of State domain in Gaza distict . February : Jamal eff . . El-Husseini returned after eight years exile . — Elected Assembly of Palestine Jews voted new budget of LP . 707 , 000 , and elected Council of 42 members . March : Telephonic communication with Great Britain was restored . — Treaty between Great Britain and Trans-Jordan establishing the latter as Independent State was signed . ( Coronation of King Abdullah took place on May 25 . ) April : Strike of 3 , 000 postal employees , followed by walk-out of 20 , 000 Second Division officials paralysed communications ; it ended in compromise after a fortnight . May : New Government Department for Trade and Industry set up , and War Economic Advisory Council wound up . — Symposium on Trends in Modern Science opened at Rehovoth ; laying of cornerstone for Weizmann Research Centre took place on July 3 , in presence of eminent scientists from abroad . June : Government Committees report on diamond industry published . — Jewish police officer put in charge of Tel Aviv Division . • ¦ • _r---- •¦¦ : • :- ¦ _ , _T _^^ _- _^ _ggggggK

1 _~* _JW _^^ _nw _^ n gv _^^^^^ S - _ % 4 ** J _? - £ _r < _^ i i _^ N 1 _^ * * 1 _% f : r- ^ , ABOVE : Arab _Neighbours wel- 0 m : _? 0 * : _- .. - j - 4 • come Settlers | at newly founded _y _. t . - _^ r- _-Vr yyX \ Kfar Kisch ( July 18 ) . RIGHT : | New Settlement comes into ¦ ( being at Regba ( August 18 ) . j ( i- i J \ KKL Photos . roIiOs . : Xf ! > o _? f f { so ¦¦ rrr . .... si July : Rabbi Fishman , one of the detained members of the Jewish Agency , was released on medical grounds . — Yishuv stopped work on July 17 , in protest against detention at Rafa of 1650 men taken from their settlements 19 days ago . — Mr . Herbert Morrison , speaking in the House of Commons , dissociated Government with the tone of a recent letter by the G . O . C . regarding attitude to Jews . August : It was announced that Sir John Shaw , Chief Secretary , will leave on promotion and will be replaced by Mr . H . L . G . Gurney , Colonial Secretary of the Gold Coast . — Death sentence of 18 youths for sabotaging railway workshops commuted to life imprisonment . — In attempt to detect three swimmers who damaged deportation ship , Sdot Yam , 150 soul settlement near Caesareawas cordoned offall men were removed to Rafa , ; whence they had returned a fortnight ago . — Dorot and Ruhama , two small settlements near Gaza , cordoned and searched ; siege lasted six days . September : Joint relief team left for Cyprus . — London Palestine Conference opened at Lancaster House by Prime Ministerin absence of Jewish and Palestinian Arabs . , Agency

ANNIVERSARIES The 50 th anniversary of HerzJ s Judenstaat , the 25 th anniversaries of the Histadrut , the Keren Hayesod , and the settling of Ein Harod and Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley and the defence of Petah Tikva were celebrated bthe Yishuv . y — The P . B . S . was ten yars old . — The 75 th birthday of Abraham Shapira , veteran watchman of Petah Tikvawas , celebrated by Jewish and Arab friends from all over the country . 1 OBITUARY Diaspora Last year s death roll in the Diaspora is headed by The Very Rev . Dr . J . H . Hertz , Chief Rabbi of the British Empire since 1913 , who passed away in London on January 14 , 1946 . Other Jewish personalities who died during the year include ( in chronological order ) : Dr . Otto Abels , former director of the Keren Hayesod : in the Netherlands , at Bergen-Belsen . — Maitre Leon Babany , Cairo , an authority on French Law . — Felix Salten , writer , author of Bambi . — Richard Beer-Hofmann , author of Jacob s Dream and other plays . — Rabbi J . Rubinstein , New York , formerly of Vilna , one time Polish senator . — Jerome David Kern , New York , composer of light music . — Morris Alexander , K . C . M . P ., Capetown . — Major William Schonfield , T . D ., London . — Ezra Rodrigue , Cairo communal worker . — Hersh Orland , Soviet Jewish writer . — Dr . Simon Flexner _, New York , leading pathologist . — Prof . Isaac Grunewald , Stockholm , foremost Swedish painter . — Maitre A . Alexander , Cairo , prominent member of the Egyptian Bar . — Judge Irving Lehman , New York . — Felix Green , Cairo , Municipal Councillor . — Alice Brandeis , New York , widow of Justice Louis Brandeis . — Leopold Jessner , Hollywood , famous German producer . — Franz Ullstein , New York , one of the founders of the important German publishing house . — Dr . Mortimer Epstein , London , editor of the Annual Register and The Statesmans Yearbook . — Moshe Padova , Paris , one of the delegates to the first Zionist Congress . — Arnold Rose . Lon

don , violinist , and Moritz Rosenthal . New York , pianist , both aged 83 , and last representatives of the great Vienna tradition . — Sidney Hillman , _^ _iuenciin labour leader . — Elkan N . Adler , London , scholar and authority on Hebrew book-lore . — A . J . Stybel , New York , outstanding publisher . Yishuv The dead of the Yishuv include several of iti pioneers and of the old Zionist guard : Rehovot lost in Yehuda Gorodissky tihe chairman of its Council , and early settlers like E . M . Slutzkin , Shimon Greenberg , Gussy Dondikow , and Judith Levin-Epstein . M . H . Slor and Sara Novik belonged to the founders of Petah Tikvah . Rahel Rokach and Yechezkel Danin were associated with the foundation of Tel Aviv . Ephraim Ish-Kishor recalls Theodor Herzl s first visit to London , and Joseph Bregman the early work of Weizmann at Pinsk . One of the great figures of the Yishuv disappeared with Joshua Hankin who had come to Palestine an 1882 with the Bilu group and devoted his long life to the redemption of the soilhe was buried at Ain Harod . ; Mrs . Ruth Hacohen , a director of Solel Boneh . — Anita Pinczover , and A . M . Brachyahu , veteran teachers . — Dr . Michael Traub ( at New York ) , a noted Keren Hayesod representative . — Zvi Vardi , a leader of Hashomer Hatzair — M . Arisohn _. trustee orf the Tel Aviv Museum . — Dr . J . Naria . chairman of the veterinary surgeons association . — Dr . Uri Rosenblatt , a former member of the Polish Sejm . — Sandor Wolf , formerly of Eisenstadt , well-known collector of art and antiques . — Sh . Aboulafia , leading member of the Sephardic community . — Dr . K . Bernfield and Dr . M . Salzberger , noted medical practitioners . — Leon Recanati , founder of the Palestine Discount Bank . — M . Greidinger , prominent businessman and philanthropist , — Baruch Tchemerinsky , of Habima . — Dr . A . J . Agranat , veteran Zionist and former president of the dentists association .

Rabbi Moshe Blau ( at Messina ) , and Dr . Isaac Breuer , leaders of Agudath Israel . — Dr . Joseph Kastein , historical writer . - — Captain H . R . Windmueller , chairman of Jewish Masters , Officers , and Seamen s Union . — Dr . Egon Rosenberg ( at _Chicago ) , veteran Zionist , radium research worker . — E . M . Lifschitz , principal of Mizrahi teachers college . — Prof . Sofie Gezowa , Hadassah pathologist . — Dr . Hermann Lelewer . head of Maccabi World Union . Enzo Sereni , one of the founders of Givat Brenner , died at the hands of the Nazis in 1944 , but the news of his death reached Palestine only this year . With other Jews from Palestine , he was parachuted into enemy territory to assist Allied operations . Not of them returned . many The first anniversary of Henrietta Szold s deatrf was comirnemoratedi on Mt . Scopus on February 3 . A distressing feature of this year s Obituary are the victims of the King David Hotel outrage on July 22 . They belonged to all communities and their names are still fresh in our minds . It is only fitting to mention a few of the Gentiles whose names arein one or otherconnected with Palestine : Prof . , way , S . A . Cudmore , who died at Quebec , and , as first Government Statistician from 1936 to 1939 , made our Office of Statistics a model for the Empire dependencies . — Eleanor Rathbone , MP ., a . staunch supporter of the cause of Zion . — Sir Charles Tegart , responsible in the disturbances of 1936 / 38 for the construction o-f many fortress-like police stations and the Northern frontier _fence known as Tegart Wall . — Mrs . J . W . Maclnnes , widow of the late Anglican Bishop , and for many years president of the University Women s Association . — Major J . D . Doran . killed in a Tel Aviv bomb outrage ; that this gallant officer who , as British passport officer in Bucharest , had been helpful to many Jews , should have lost his life in this way , is a melancholy reflection on the confusion of our times .

DISTINCTIONS Professor Ernest Chain , one of the three discoverers of Penicillin , was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine . - — Sir Lionel Cohen , chairman of the committee on Company Law , was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal . — Sir Leon Simon was elected chairman of the Hebrew University Executive . — Dr . _Lise Meitner , refugee scientist , who first split the uranium atom , was appointed professor at the Catholic University , Washington . Local recipients of distinctions in New Year and King s birthday honours included , among others : Mr . Shabetai Levi , Mayor of Haifa : O . B . E . ; Mr . D . Auster , former acting Mayor of Jerusalem : O . B . E . ; Mr . N . I . Mindel , Acting Director of Migration _rO . B . E . ; Mr . J . Saphir , Mayor of Petah Tikvah : M . B . E ., and Mr . S . SofferA . S . P . Police Medal . , ; EPILOGUE The calendar , it has been said , is the JeWs catechism . Its importance for both public and private life is reflected in th © vast literature devoted to it from ancient times to this day . In their classical period , the Jews had no fewer than four New Year Days : one for the king s reign and the three pilgrims feasts , another for tithe from livestock , a third for chronology and a fourth for the trees . Two of these are observed proper , iin our times : the first of Tishri inaugurates the calendar year , and the 15 th of Shevat the new of the trees . year The latter has become a great national festival , in particular for schoolchildren . Last with the Yishuv in the throes year , of an unprecedented crisis , Arbour Day took on a significance of its own when three new villages were founded in the North , and a new grove was planted in the South , on Wingate Hill near Dorot . Whatever the calendar have in storethe of the year may , year trees , of new saplings , new villages , of redemption and construction , will remain a symbol of hope for the Jews and a lesson for the outside world . INTERIM ,

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