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 28

28 ing pressure was brought to bear on the Executive in this direction. It was urged that since violence was bound to continue as long as immigration went on, the only means of stopping the former was to suspend the latter. 36. The Executive resisted this pressure with all the strength at its command. At the meeting of the Palestinian members of the Zionist Actions Committee which was convened in Jerusalem on June 22, 1936, the spokesman of the Executive explained the reasons which actuated this resistence in the following terms: "Immigration into Palestine is to us as much a matter of right as citizenship of Palestine to its present inhabitants. We shall never take any step which would signify a renunciation of this basic right. This is the first consideration. The second is that for us to suspend immigration now would be to submit to violence. Such a submission would turn our conduct of self-restraint from an expression of strength into one of self-effacement. We require great moral courage to maintain this attitude of forebearance which we have imposed on ourselves. We can only succeed in maintaining this attitude by feeling strong. But if we ourselves submit to violence then our self-restraint becomes a demonstration of weakness and this, by inevitable reaction, will lead to the opposite of self-restrâint. And the third consideration is this, immigration will have to be renewed. How will it be renewed? If it is necessary to interrupt it in order to stop murders, can we be sure that its resumption will not bring about the renewal of murders?" At a session of the Elected Assembly of Palestine Jews, held in Jerusalem on August 17th, the spokesman of the Executive said on the same subject: "Is it not outrageous that our immigration and the murderous attacks carried on by others should be placed on the political scales as balancing each other? Suppose we had indulged in an orgy of murder and arson just as the others have done. Then it would have have been logical to appeal to both parties to stop violence. Is it because there has been no provocation or violence on our part that our immigration is to rank as a crime, counterbalancing the crimes of murder on the other side? We shall never endorse the revolting travesty implied in such a juxtaposition." 36. During the course of the disturbances it was suggested on a number of occasions from various Arab quarters that if only the Jewish Agency would agree to interrupt Jewish immigration, nego-