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 16

16 terms of the Prime Minister's letter to Dr. Weizmann of February 13, 1931, no measure restricting the growth of the Jewish National Home would be justified, unless it could be proved that without such restrictions actual harm would be caused to the non-Jewish population of Palestine. In actual fact, the Jewish national institutions, in purchasing land, had made it a matter of policy not to leave landless, or otherwise unprovided for, those Arabs who were previously deriving their livelihood from the land acquired. Furthermore, the Prime Minister's letter to Dr. Weizmann had laid down that such control of land transfers as might be imposed under the terms of the White Paper of 1930, would be "regulative and not prohibitory," and would be definitely connected with a development scheme and operative only during an interim period. The legislative measure now proposed would not be linked up with any development scheme and would be prohibitory and not regulative, hence definitely contrary to the spirit and letter of the Prime Minister's letter. So far from benefitting the fellah, the measure would act to his detriment in as much as it would restrict the supply of capital to the fellah class as a whole, the main source of which was from the sale of land which could be spared. The letter further urged that instead of embarking on the proposed restriction and arresting further progress, the Government should pursue an active policy of development and close settlement for the benefit both of the Arab peasants and of the Jewish settlers. Finally, attention was drawn to the results of the Displaced Arabs Enquiry, carried out by the Government in 1932-33, which had exploded the legend that Jewish colonisation had displaced the Arab tenantry from the land. If such was the position in regard to the tenants' class, how much less was there a case for the imposition of restrictions on the sale of land by small owners, who were their own masters? The proposed measure would be regarded by Jews and non-Jews alike as a slur on the good record of the Jewish people in Palestine, when in actual fact Jewish settlement had been conducted with studious regard for the well-being of the Arab cultivators of the soil. 17. On the 26th of January, Dr. Weizman, Dr. Ruppin, Mr. Ben Gurion and Mr. Shertok had a lengthy interview with the High Commissioner on the subject. Dr. Weizmann attacked the proposed legislation as a flagrant violation of the Prime Minister's