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 147

147 the Mandatory Governmentand of the situation in Palestine, a debate on Palestine took place in September in the Sixth Commission of the Assembly. Representatives of Poland and of the countries of the Little Entente again stressed their interest in the development of the Jewish National Home, and urged the importance of the continuation of Jewish immigration. At this meeting, too, the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs participated for the first time in a debate on Palestine, and expressed the hope "thät a happy settlement would be reached through the strict and equitable application of the Balfour Declaration, taking into account the legitimate rights of the Arabs and the security of the Jewish race in Palestine." At the autumn meeting of the Permanent Mandates Commission, by which time the disturbances had nominally ceased, it was decided after some debate to convoke an extraordinary session of the Cojnmission for an examination of the question of Palestine, to begin "not later than in the first week of the month of April, 1937." But at the request of the British Government, the report of the Royal Commission being as yet not available, the date of the extraordinary session was again postponed, first to May 31st, 1937, and later to the end of July. It was stated further, that the report of the Mandates Commission would probably go to the Council for discussion at the end of September, 1937. PARIS OFFICE: A special office of the Jewish Agency, under the direction of Dr. N. Goldmann, was established in Paris in December 1935 at 17 Rue de la Bienfaisance. Mr. Jarblum co-operates in the work of this office. The Association France-Palestine has been revived and reorganised along the lines originally laid down by the late Dr. Victor Jacobson, under the presidency of Senator Justin Godart. M. Henri Hertz, its former secretary, has been re-appointed in that capacity. The Association does useful work in maintaining contacts with various influential circles in French political life, and with the French press. New members of the Association since the last Congress (representing widely differing views) include, among others, MM. Delbos, Bastid, Reynaud, Flandin, Guernut and Dahamel, and Baroness Rothschild. Meetings of a literary and social character have been organised by France-Palestine at which well-known French writers have spoken; the Association has also undertaken the publication of French translations from a number of Zionist authors. France-Palestine has also been responsible for the foundation of the Chambre de Commerce Franco-Palestinienne, with M. Zalkinde as secretary, and this body has done useful work in strengthening the commercial relations between France and Palestine.