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 141

141 quiry, and that for the time being little eould, or should, be undertaken in London. This attiude was reflected in a Debate which took place in the House of Commons on February 22, 1937, in connection with the Supplementary Estimates, when although there was some criticism from Members of the manner in which the disturbances had been handled by the Government, the discussion was in general restrained and rather superficial in tone, and was marked by the feeling that (to quote one speaker) "perhaps the less one says in this Debate, in view of the sitting of the Royal Commission, the better." Following on the conclusion of the Commission's sessions'Tn Palestine, Dr. Weizmann, who had left London early in November to give evidence before that body (before which he appeared on no less than six occasions), returned to England, where he again addressed the Parliamentary Committee, as, too, at a later date did Lady Reading. The departure of the Royal Commission from Palestine saw a recrudescence there of acts of terrorism and intimidation on the part of the Arabs. In this connection the Executive in Jerusalem issued a statement on March 15, 1937, calling for firmer and more effective measures on the part of the Government in order to ensure security of person and property, and representations made in Jerusalem were supplemented by parallel action in London. At the same time, for a period of some weeks, the London Office had the advantage of the assistance of Mr. Shertok in its political work, Throughout the period under review the London and Jerusalem branches of the Executive were in the closest touch with one another, and frequent visits, to London, in particular during periods of special stress, of members of the Executive, and of other helpers from Jerusalem (in which connection the name of Mr. Dov Hos deserves special mention), were of the greatest value in maintaining the contact of the London Office with the realities of the situation in Palestine, and consequently in furthering our political work in London. The London Office kept in touch with different countries abroad, and, as in previous years, Dr. Brodetsky paid visits for Zionist political and propaganda purposes to various countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The Report of the Geneva and Paris Offices appears separately. The Annual Memorandum of the Jewish Agency to the Permanent Mandates Commission on the Development of the Jewish National Home during the past year was, in accordance with the usual practice, prepared and printed in London on the basis of material supplied from Jerusalem, and was formally submitted under cover of a letter to the High Commissioner under date May 4, 1937.