Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry

The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was a joint British and American attempt in 1946 to agree upon a policy as regards the admission of Jews to Palestine. The Committee was tasked to consult representative Arabs and Jews on the problems of Palestine, and to make other recommendations 'as may be necessary' to the British and American governments. The Committee's recommendations addressed the matter of immigration and the future government of Palestine. Although one of many committees of inquiry which examined the situation in Palestine, the Anglo-American committee was the only one to also examine the conditions of Jews in Europe.

Background

In 1917, Britain drafted the Balfour Declaration, becoming the first Great Power to support Zionist demands for a 'Jewish National Home' in Palestine. Shortly thereafter, Britain conquered Palestine, and defeated the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The Balfour Declaration was recognized by the Great Powers and incorporated into the Treaty of Sèvres. The Great Powers once again incorporated the declaration into the draft Mandate for Palestine that they submitted to the Council of the League of Nations.^[1] The US Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and as a consequence the United States never joined the League of Nations. The House and Senate passed a non-binding Joint Resolution, HR 360, June 30, 1922 favoring the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. On 21 September 1922, President Warren G. Harding also signed the resolution. A commission had been proposed by the United States at the Peace Conference as an international effort to determine if the region was ready for self-determination and to see what nations, if any, the locals wanted to act as mandatory powers. The report of the King-Crane Commission was not made public until after the Congress had voted on their Joint resolution. Public opinion was divided when it was learned that the Arab majority had requested that the mandate be administered by the United States, and that they intended to establish a democratically elected constituent assembly.^[2]

The rise of Nazism and the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine led the British to reverse the Balfour Declaration in the 1939 White Paper. This policy allowed a further 75,000 Jews into Palestine (by 1949) after which Jewish migration was to be terminated. An independent state in Palestine with an Arab majority was to be established by 1948. Anyone defined as "a Jew" was banned from purchasing land in 95% of Palestine.

The end of World War II and the Holocaust left Europe with hundreds of thousands of displaced Jewish refugees. American public opinion supported a Jewish Homeland in Palestine, but Britain persisted in opposing Jewish immigration, fearing the instability of Arab nations. Jews in Palestine waged an underground war against the British occupation, the refugee situation was critical, the British Empire collapsing, the Soviet threat growing, and British and American policy was at loggerheads.

The British government suggested the inquiry in the belief that it would agree with their decision to halt Jewish migration into Palestine and thus disarm American pressure. To this end the British agreed to abide by the committee's findings, but made sure that British committee members had a record of supporting Palestinian-Arab aspirations.

The Committee

Members

The committee comprised six Americans and six British. Judge ‘Texas Joe’ Hutcheson was the American Chairman. He was joined by Frank Aydelotte, William Phillips, Frank Buxton, James G. McDonald, and Bartley Crum. The group was a diverse group of diplomats, scholars, and politicians, most in favor of the proposal that 100,000 displaced persons be admitted to Palestine. The British contingent was comprised by Lord Morrison, Sir Frederick Leggett, Wilfrid Crick, Reginald Manningham-Buller, and Richard Crossman, and headed by Sir John Singleton.

Journey

The Committee visited Washington, D.C. and London to gauge the official policies and position of the two nations. They proceeded to Vienna to view a displaced persons camp of Holocaust survivors, and then Cairo to discuss Arab sentiments. The Committee then visited Palestine. They finally retired to Switzerland to debate and draft their findings.

During their stay in Vienna they surveyed Jewish Holocaust survivors as to their preferred destination. 98% said Palestine.

"In Poland, Hungary and Rumania, the chief desire is to get out, to get away somewhere where there is a chance of building up a new life, of finding some happiness, of living in peace and in security. In Germany also, where the number of Jews has been reduced from about 500,000 in 1933 to about 20,000 now, and most traces of Jewish life have been destroyed, there is a similar desire on the part of a large proportion of the survivors to make a home elsewhere, preferably in Palestine. In Czechoslovakia, particularly in Bohemia and Moravia, and in Austria, the position in regard to the reestablishment of the Jewish populations is more hopeful. The vast majority of the Jewish displaced persons and migrants, however, believe that the only place which offers a prospect is Palestine." (Anglo-American Committee of inquiry, chapter 2 paragraph 12)

Findings

In April 1946, the Committee reported. Miraculously its members arrived at a unanimous decision, despite the vast range of their opinions. The Committee recommended the immediate admission of 100,000 Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. It also recommended that Palestine remain a mandated territory, that facilities be put in place to ensure Jewish migration and that the 1940 Land Act which banned Jews from purchasing land in 95% of Palestine be rescinded.

Excerpts from the recommendations are as follows:

Recommendation No. 3. In order to dispose, once and for all, of the exclusive claims of Jews and Arabs to Palestine, we regard it as essential that a clear statement of the following principles should be made:

I. That Jew shall not dominate Arab and Arab shall not dominate Jew in Palestine. II. That Palestine shall be neither a Jewish state nor an Arab state. III. That the form of government ultimately to be established, shall, under international guarantees, fully protect and preserve the interests in the Holy Land of Christendom and of the Moslem and Jewish faiths.

Thus Palestine must ultimately become a state which guards the rights and interests of Moslems, Jews and Christians alike; and accords to the inhabitants, as a whole, the fullest measure of self-government, consistent with the three paramount principles set forth above.

Recommendation No. 4. We have reached the conclusion that the hostility between Jews and Arabs and, in particular, the determination of each to achieve domination, if necessary by violence. make it almost certain that, now and for some time to come, any attempt to establish either an independent Palestinian State or independent Palestinian States would result in civil strife such as might threaten the peace of the world.

Recommendation No. 6. The administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions.

Recommendation No. 7. We recommend that the Land Transfers Regulations of 1940 be rescinded and replaced by regulations based on a policy of freedom in the sale, lease or use of land, irrespective of race, community or creed.

Effects of the Committee

Within several days of the release of the Committee’s findings, its implementation was in jeopardy. U.S. President Harry S.Truman angered the British Labour Party by issuing a statement supporting the 100,000 refugees but refusing to acknowledge other aspects of the finding. The British government had asked for US assistance in implementing the recommendations. The US War Department had issued an earlier report which stated that an open-ended U.S troop commitment of 300,000 personnel would be necessary to assist the British government in maintaining order against an Arab revolt. The immediate admission of 100,000 new Jewish immigrants would almost certainly provoke an Arab uprising.^[3]

In response a new committee, the Morrison-Grady Committee was proposed, which shortly negated many of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry’s chief proposals.

From October 1946 1,500 Jews were allowed into Palestine every month. Half of these came from the Cyprus internment camps which held illegal immigrants to Palestine. this allowance was designed to go someway to meet the promise made that the committee's findings would be binding, it also helped reduce pressure from the Jews of Palestine and fears that the growing numbers of Jews being held in Cyprus would destabilize British rule on the island.

References

External links

• Anglo-American Committee of inquiry text
• Immigration into Palestine - Statement by President Truman, October 4, 1946