Speech #840112156

Zionists acted upon the assumption that the Balfour Declaration was a promise of a political as well as a spiritual homeland for the Jewish people. At the time of the Balfour Declaration Arabs in Palestine outnumbered Jews 10 to 1. Between the 2 wars. especially under the impetus of the horrors of Nazi persecution. immigration swelled the Jewish population so that by 1938 the ratio of Arabs to Jews had decreased to 2 to 1. Arab fears and resentment grew as the Jewish population multiplied. From 1933 to 1939 Arab unrest exploded in a series of rebellions. The British. to assuage Arab misgivings. issued the white paper of 1939 which rejected the idea of a Jewish state. put a stop to the extension of Jewish land purchases. and stipulated that after 5 years further Jewish immigration would depend on Arab agreement. With the outbreak of World War II. Jewish protests against the white paper came to a temporary halt in favor of united action against Germany. When the end of the European conflict brought release to the pitiful remnants of Hitlers concentration camps. widespread humanitarian sentiment sympathized with the Jewish refugees in their efforts to break through Britains antiimmigration policy. Britain turned the problem over to the United Nations. On November 29. 1947. the General Assembly by two votes more than the necessary twothirds resolved to adopt a partition plan for Palestine that established an Arab state. a Jewish state. and an international regime in Jerusalem. the British were to withdraw their troops by August 1. 1948. while the three new entities were to come into being on October 1. 1948.