¹ Speech of Moshe Shertok, Head of Political Department of Jewish Agency, to Political Committee of Mapai, July 28, 1936, Political Diary for 1936 (Tel Aviv, 1968), pp. 248–249.Google Scholar

² The Balfour Declaration (1917) favored the establishment of a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. But Jewish immigration into Palestine assumed large proportions only in 1925, as a result of the economic crisis in Poland in that year. Immigration reached 14,000 in 1925, but in 1926 there was a net emigration of 2,000 from Palestine. Immigration from then on did not exceed 10,000 annually until 1932, when the persecution of the Jews of Poland and Germany began to make an impact.

³ Judah Magnes: President of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1922–1948. David Ben-Gurion: Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency. George Antonius: A Christian Arab and Secretary of the Supreme Moslem Council in Palestine.

⁴ For minutes of the first meeting on April 17, 1936, see Central Zionist Archives (CZA) S25/10.093. The establishment of a Legislative Council was first proposed by Lord Samuel, the first High Commissioner of Palestine, in 1922. The proposal, then rejected by the Arabs, was revived by Sir Arthur Wauchope (High Commissioner; 1931–1938) in 1935. According to the latter's proposal, the Jews would be in a minority to the Arabs on the Council, but together with the “official” British members of the Council, they would be able to outvote the Arab members. Furthermore, there were to be “reserved” subjects—the Council would not be allowed to question the validity of the Mandate; the High Commissioner would retain the right to legislate by Ordnance in certain cases, and to determine the level of immigration.

⁵ Speech to Jewish Agency Executive, June 9, 1936, Weizmann Archives (W.A.).

⁶ Minutes of Jewish Delegation's Discussion Committee, February 12, 1939, CZA Z4/10.092.

⁷ Meeting of 04 22, 1936, CZA S25/10.093.Google Scholar

⁸ Minutes of third and last meeting, April 29, 1936, CZA S25/10.093.

⁹ Musa Alami: formerly private secretary to the high commissioner, and later senior as sistant to the attorney general, Palestine. He joined the Mufti when the latter fled from Palestine in 1937. He helped prepare the Arab case at the St. James's Conference in 1939, where he appeared as the personal representative of the Mufti. For minutes of meeting of May 28, 1936, CZA, S25/10.093.

¹⁰ The five were Magnes and Smilansky, Novomayesky (founder of the Phosphates plant at the Dead Sea), Frumkin (a native of Jerusalem, the only Jewish High Court Judge during the period of the Mandate), and Rutenberg (who received the British concession for all the electric works in Palestine).

¹¹ Shertok report to Jewish Agency Executive, June 2, 1936, Political Diary, pp. 142–147.Google Scholar

¹² Minutes of meeting of June 1, 1936, in ibid.

¹³ See text of Rutenberg telegram to Ben-Gurion of June 5, 1936, in Ben-Gurion, Jewish Agency Executive of June 9, 1936, W.A.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Minutes of meeting of June 21, 1936, CZA S25/3435.

¹⁶ For following, see minutes of meeting of June 24, CZA S25/10.093.

¹⁷ Cohen, M. J., “Politics and Policies in Palestine,” unpublished Ph.D. diss. (London, 1971), Chapter 2.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Peel Commission Report, Foreign Office Papers, Cmd. 5479, of July 7, 1937.

¹⁹ Norman Bentwich (1883–1971), attorney-general to Palestine government, 1920–1931, and professor of international relations at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1932–1951.

²⁰ Report in Bentwich-Lourie, , 07 22, 1937, CZA S25/2960.Google Scholar

²¹ Ibid.

²² Minutes of Mufti's evidence to Peel Commission, January 12, 1937, CZA S25/4590.

²³ Memorandum by DrJoseph, B., 07 25, 1937, CZA S25/3052.Google Scholar

²⁴ Memorandum of 07, 1937, CZA A113/14.Google Scholar Kalvarisky had evidently left the Jewish Agency Executive owing to a difference in approach on the Arab question. In October, 1939, he was to found the League for Affinity and Jewish-Arab cooperation.

²⁵ Joseph's speech to Mapai Central Committee, September 18, 1937, CZA S25/10.475.

²⁶ Albert Hyamson was Jewish head of Palestine Immigration Department, 1920–1925. Col. S. F. Newcombe served in the Egyptian Army from 1901 to 1911, and during World War II he was involved in Arab Revolt in the Hijaz. Later he was one of the founders of the Palestine Information Bureau in London, an accredited representative of the Arab Higher Committee.

²⁷ For the following, see Ben-Gurion, , Speech to the Jewish Agency Executive, W.A., pp. 152–159.Google Scholar The Hyamson-Newcombe scheme, and the negotiations surrounding it, are dealt with briefly in, Esco Foundation for Palestine, Palestine: A Study of Jewish, Arab, and British Policies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947), 2 vols.Google Scholar, and more thoroughly in Parzen, Herbert, “A Chapter in Arab-Jewish Relations during the Mandate Era,” Jewish Social Studies, 29 (10, 1967), 203–233Google Scholar, which treats the subject from Magnes's viewpoint. The various drafts of the Hyamson-Newcombe scheme can be found in Esco, pp. 882–884.

²⁸ President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

²⁹ Joseph, to Lourie, , 11 26, 1937, CZA S25/2960.Google Scholar

³⁰ See Newcombe's interview with Sir Cosmo Parkinson on November 12, 1937, C.O. 733/333, 75156/33, Public Records Office.

³¹ Minutes of Press Conference of December 21, 1937, CZA S25/2960.

³² See Parzen, , “Arab-Jewish Relations,” p. 219.Google Scholar

³³ Shertok to Jewish Agency Executive, 01 11, 1938, CZA S25/1831.Google Scholar

³⁴ Meeting of December 14, 1937, CZA S25/1831.

³⁵ Report in Shertok-Brodetsky, January 28, 1938, CZA S25/891.

³⁶ The British White Paper, published on January 5, 1938, announced the terms of reference and the members of the new Partition Commission. The Paper laid great stress on the length of time which must elapse before a final decision could be taken, and was generally thought to reflect British hesitancy and “second thoughts” about Partition.

³⁷ Shertok-Brodetsky, , 01 28, 1938, CZA S25/891.Google Scholar

³⁸ For further details of Nuri Said's activities at this juncture, see Parzen, , “Arab-Jewish Relations,” and F.R.U.S. for 1938, Vol. 2 (Washington, 1955), pp. 903–925.Google Scholar

³⁹ For this and following, see Sasson, E. (Arab affairs department of the Jewish Agency)Google Scholar; Shertok, , 12 19, 1937 CZA S25/2966.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Secret report of Nuri Said-Mufti meeting of February 4, 1938, CZA Z4/17.312.

⁴¹ For the following, see Nuri Said-Cranborne interview of January 21, 1938, Foreign Office 800/296, Public Records Office.

⁴² Minutes of Nuri Said-Mufti interview, February 4, 1938, CZA Z4/17.312.

⁴³ See Ben-Gurion, , op. cit., p. 176Google Scholar, which cites Shertok to Jewish Agency Executive of February 20, 1938.

⁴⁴ Magnes-Ben-Gurion, , 03 3, 1938, CZA S25/2960.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Leo Kohn (1894–1961), Political Secretary to the Jewish Agency, 1935–1948: Political Secretary at the Israeli Foreign Office during the 1950S, and also Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University.

⁴⁶ For the following, see Kohn-Rev., Dr. Hertz, of 02 10, 1938, Israel State Archives (ISA) L.K. 21.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ For the following, see note of Magnes meeting with Jewish Agency Executive on April 24, 1938, in Ben-Gurion, , op. cit., p. 210.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Dr. Tannous: a close friend of the Mufti, head of the Arab Political Office in London. Amin el-Attouna: Head of the Arab Political Organization in America.

⁴⁹ Shakib Arslan: a Druze from the Lebanon; Deputy in the Ottoman Parliament, 1913–1918; lived in Switzerland, 1918–1946, and received money from the Italians, whose expansion in the Middle Elast he vocally supported.

⁵⁰ See, for instance, F.R.U.S. 906.

⁵¹ See Hyamson-Parkinson, interview of August 8, 1938, C.O. 733/369, 75156/33, P.R.O.Google Scholar

⁵² Minutes by Downie (First Secretary in the Middle Eastern Department of the Colonial Office), August 15, ibid.

⁵³ See memorandum, which was forwarded to the Colonial Office on October 28, 1938, ibid. Newcombe's emphasis.

⁵⁴ Macdonald-Foreign Office of November I, 1938, ibid.