Mr. Chairman. after repeated statements by the President of the United States that this country desires the admission to Palestine of the Hebrew refugees now in the displaced persons camps in the western zones in Europe. and after resolutions by innumerable American organizations. both major political parties. and editorials in most newspapers to the same effect. a group of American citizens have been arrested by the British for trying to do their part in implementing that American policy. Eighteen American seamen. members of the crew of the refugee ship Ben Hecht. are now in a Palestinian jail after having been seized last week end. The ship. American property. owned by the Tyre Shipping Co.. of New York. has also been seized. It had been under charter from the Tyre Shipping Co. to the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation which conducts repatriation activities via the underground railway from Europe to Palestine. The crew. consisting of both Jewish and nonJewish American volunteers. is charged under local legislation with "abetting persons illegally" to immigrate to Palestine. The American League for a Free Palestine. which raised the funds with which the ship was purchased. has contended that there has been no violation of either American or international lawexcept by the British in their blockade of the Palestine coast. Prof.
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immigrate refugee refugees