Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. [Seite]

INTRODUCTORY The period of two years for which account is here rendered was a momentous one in the history of the Zionist movement and of the Jewish National Home. It was ushered in by the impact on Palestine of the Italo-Abyssinian war, which had an incalculable effect on the development of the internal situation. When the last Congress and Council held their sessions the political horizon was clouded by the prospects of a new European or world conflict. While these gloomy prospects have so far happily failed to materialise Palestine itself experienced a most violent concussion. The disturbances which broke out in April 1936 and held the country in their grip for half a year — a grip which again tightened several times in the ensuing months —■ are the dominanl feature of the period under review. They constituted the severest trial which the Jewish population of Palestine has ever had to face. As a result of the disturbances a Royal Commission was sent to Palestine, whose report is awaited at the time of writing. There can be little doubt that the conclusions of the Royal Commission and the decisions to be adopted by the British Government in the light of its recommendations will open a new chapter in the post-war history of Palestine and mark a turning point in the evolution of the Jewish National Home. ISSUES OF GENERAL POLICY 2. The Executive elected by the last Congress and Council found itseif faced with a situation which urgently demanded an acceleration of the pace of development of the Jewish National Home. On the one hand, the progressive economic deterioration and the state of insecurity of large masses of Jews in the Diaspora called for the widest possible opportunities of immigration into Palestine. On the other hand, the gathering clouds on the world's political horizon and the unrest which had been produced in Palestine by the Abyssinian crisis made it imperative to strain all efforts in order to bring the Jewish National Home within the shortest possible time to such a position of strength as would enable it to