IV. The Zionist Position

The resolution of the Basel Zionist Congress of December 1946 demanded:

a)      that Palestine become a Jewish ‘commonwealth of nations’ and a home for the Jews;

b)      that full control of Jewish immigration to Palestine be given to the Jewish Agency.

The Congress rejected the plan for the partition of Palestine into Arab, Jewish and British zones.

  The Zionist organizations in Palestine are implacably opposed to the Arabs. Only two organizations, the ‘League for Arab-Jewish cooperation and

2. Handed to Gromyko on the same day. For Russian translation, see Avp RF,f.o18, op.8, p.7,d.92,l.16.

3. The Arab League of National Liberation was founded in late 1943 in the wake of the break up of the Palestine Communist Party. Although communist in its ideology and parlance, it had certain Arab nationalistic undertones. Most of its members were Christian Arabs. Its most prominent members were Abdallah al-Bandak and Emil Habibi (see also Doc.15).

  178页

Rapprochement’ 4 and the Communist Party of Palestine, have come out for the creation of a bi-national Jewish-Arab, state based on the full equality of Jews and Arabs, for the complete independence of Palestine and for working out a genuinely democratic constitution for Palestine.

V. A Possible position for the USSR in Discussion of the Palestine Question at the United Nations.

The USSR’s position in the Palestine question can be formulated briefly in the following points:

1.      The British Mandate must be annulled.

The British Mandate for Palestine must be annulled since it is al..insuperable and fundamental obstacle to a satisfactory solution of the Palestine problem.

  When the British government accepted the mandate for Palestine in 1922, it took on the obligation to promote the development of the state towards the goal of local self-government and local autonomy. The mandate gave Great Britain full legislative and administrative rights in Palestine, including control of foreign policy and the judicial system. Britain also obtained the righ to station its troops in Palestine. The absolute ruler of the country is the British high commissioner, who enjoys full legislative and executive power.

  In spite of this, Britain, which has ruled Palestine for almost a quarter of a century, with all the wide-ranging powers mentioned above, with an enormous state and military apparatus, has failed in its duty as the mandatory power, and has been unable to estalish order in the country or to prevent almost continuous bloodshed. This is a threat to security in the Middle East.

2.      British troops must be withdrawn from Palestine.

British troops must be withdrawn from Palestine in order to create a normal situation there. Their immediate withdrawal is necessary in order to create a situation which would make it possible to lay the groundwork for the organization of self-government in Palestine, since the presence of British troops does nothing but create disorder and sedition not only in Palestine itself, but also in neighbouring countries. Palestine, which has one of the main concentrations of British troops in the Near East, is included by Britain in its general plan of British military measures in this part of the world. These are meant to create a military-strategic bridgehead, which is not only superfluous at present but also threatens to make trouble for all the countries of the Near East.

  3. The United Nations must draw up a constitution for a single, independent and democratic Palestine, which will ensure that all the peoples living there will enjoy equal national and democratic rights.

  We must support the demands of progressive social groups for the creation of a single, independent and democratic Palestine, which will ensure that all the people living there enjoy equal national and democratic rights.

3.      See Soc.15,n.4.

179页

  The United Nations must, within a fixed time period,lay the foundations for the creation of an independent, democratic Palestinian state, and together with representatives oof the population of Palestine must draw up a constitution for that state. The United Nations must also act as guarantor for the implementation of its own prerequisites for an independent and democratic Palestine state.

  The independent and democratic Palestinian state will be a member of the United Nations.

  4. The Jewish question in Western Europe cannot be solved simply by means of immigration to Palestine. Only a complete eradication of all the roots of fascism and the democratization of the countries of Western Europe can ensure the Jewish masses a normal existence.

  Attempts to solve the Jewish question in the states of Western Europe only through Jewish immigration to Palestine are doomed to failure, since nothing short of the complete eradication of all the roots of facism and the full democratization of the countries of Western Europe can give the Jewish masses a normal existence in any country.

Any attempts by any state to get the right of individual trusteeship over Palestine from the United Nations cannot be accepted. There can be no doubt that Britain, claiming the right to retain the mandate or to be given trusteeship, would continue the same policy in Palestine as under the mandate.

  It would be more fruitful to discuss the establishment of a collective protectorate over Palestine under the United Nations, although it should be remembered that the population of the country (both Arabs and Jews) is mature enough to be given full independence, and the creation of, respectively, a Jewish or an Arab state.