THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
Purely
Commentary
Ghost Fleets to Palestine
The 'Story of 'Illegal Floating Coffins'
By ALFRED WERNER
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
POLITICS AND JUSTICE
Mediocre newspaper correspondents and
columnists have contributed towards con-
fusion on the Palestine and other issues
affecting Jews. Some of them have seen
fit to speak of a "Jewish vote" as in-
fluencing the position of our government,
and this cry was picked up with a cer-
tain measure of audacity by newspapers
in England.
Fortunately, men like the Mowrers,
Maj. Eliot and others recognize the exist-
ence of another element: the human issue.
Perhaps those belonging to the category
of the confusers will one day appreciate
that even if a voting power is involved,
it is a force for good, and not for evil.
It would be better for those who are
tools of destructive interests to look into
the background of the entire situation-
and to realize that the death of 6,000,000
Jews is chargeable not alone to Nazi
brutality, but also to the democratic
powers who could have saved Many of
them and who now continue to keep
PaleStine's doors closed to the remnant
of homeless and' dispossessed who had the
courage to resist death and to survive.
The issue is a challenge to justice. But
an element of politics also is involved.
The Zionist movement always based its
success upon the approval of the nations
of the worldan endorsement that .has
come forth consistently, and to which we
demand adherence.
Since the 'element of practical politics
does exist, it is imperative that American
Jews should exercise their rights to make
their representatives in Congress aware
of our anxiety to have pledges adhered
to, to assure the prompt admission of 100,-
000 Jews into Palestine, to make the Con-
gressional Resolutions - on Palestine_ and
the planks in the PartY Platforms real-
ities, and not 'shams.
* *_
MYTH OF• ARAB OPPOSITION -.
Copyright, 1946, Independent Jewish Press Service, Inc.
Several years ago, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, discussing the issues of Palestine's
"absorptive capacity" and of the so-called "illegal" immigration, dismissed the prob-
lems by asserting that "there is always room in mother's house."
Yet the Tories in London continued to appease the Arabs, or, more precisely,
the Effendis, who were opposed to Jewish immigration.
Some day the story of these "ghost ships," crowded with homeless .Jews, which
haunted the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, will be written as a chapter in
the Golden Book of Jewish Renaissance. That kind of "illegal" immigration existed
even before the White Paper of May, 1939, virtually closed Palestine to the Jews.
The most famous cage then was that of the steamer Velos, in 1934. Three hundred
and eighteen German and east European refugees were marooned in that ship. The
Palestine authorities refused to admit these immigrants, for they were .uncertifi-
cated; the captain tried his luck on other shores. When the refugees' meagre funds
were exhausted, they were kept below- deck like cattle for weeks, until they were
given temporary asylum in Poland.
In 1938 when the Nazis marched into Austria, the number of immigrants enter-
ing Palestine increased greatly. During the summer of the next year, three tiny
ships, crowded with Jews, limped into Beirut, Syria. For weeks they had cruised
along the shores of Palestine. Whenever they entered territorial waters, British de-
stroyers and patrol boats turned their away. An epidemic had broken out in two
of the ships; they were allowed to dock.
In November, 1939, a - few weeks after the outbreak of World War II, the tiny
Salvador, a "floating coffin," left the Romanian port of Constantza with 500 Jewish
passengers. In the Sea of Marmora, between the Bosporus and Dardanelles, this
unseaworthy craft sank. Half of her passengers were drowned. The survivors were
picked up by the Darien, which, with 800 other Jewish refugees from Bucharest
pogroms, reached Palestine in March, -1940. Happily for the passengers, their ship
was about to sink, and they had to be taken . ashore.
Shortly after the Patria disaster, the Atlantic, a 400-ton ship, reached Pales-
tine in a sinking condition. The 1,800 passengers were moved first to the Atlith
internment camp. Police entered one night and ordered them to be ready for trans-
portation to Mauritius. The desperate men,, women and children lay on the floor,
nude, and refused to obey. They were removed by force and shipped to the island
of Mauritius.
Since the liberation of Europe by the Allied armies "ghost ships" crowded
with survivors of Dachau, Buchenwald, Belsen and Maid- anek again crossed the
eastern Mediterranean. But there was- a marked 'difference to previous landings.
Whenever a "ghost ship" landed near a beach, the Jewish Resistance Movement
engaged the police in that section in order to divert their attention froth the landing.
The latest and possibly the last "ghost ship" . -was. the Fede, with 1,014 refugees:
On April 17,. 1946, . the High Commissioner of Palestine announced that the
refugees detained in the Fede would be granted entry into Palestine. A week later,
the Anglo-American Inquiry Cothmittee recommended that 100,000 Jews frOm
Europe be admitted -to Palestine as quickly as possible. Should the United Nations
act in accordance with this advice, we should see the end of the "floating coffins,"
of the "ghost ships" carrying human cargo to the land of Israel.
By
LEVIN
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
Most unfortunate of all the misrepre-
(Copyright, 1946, Independent Jewish
Copyright, 1946, Seven Arts
sentations volving around ,the Pales-
--
Press Service. Inc.)
Feature Syndicate, Inc.
tinian problem is the malicious myth re-
We present to you this 'week as our
garding Arab opposition to. Jewish efforts EXECUTIVE
He's a power In the office of what we'll guest columnist Albert David Butler .. .
in Palestine. •
call,
for • the sake of secrecy, the Amer-
We feel that his poem is more timely
Responsible , leaders have established
the fact that the Arabs in Palestine wel- ican Jewish • Non-Sectarian Advisory than ever . . . Now as the Nuremburg
Emergency
Aid
committee„-
and
he's
•
come Jewish immigrant and that they
Trials approach their final phase .
appreciate the blessings that have been totally unaffected by his-eRalted position.
IN MEMORIAM
brought to the land "by the Jewish set- "Don't kid me," he - told his assistant.
tlers. Also, it is common knowledge that "Don't • be afraid to tell the the truth. I Dedicated to the Judges of the Nuremburg Trials
Arabs from neighboring countries have want you to tell me what you really
By Albert David Butler
been clamoring to settle in Palestine and thi,tik . , even if it costs you your job."
*
thereby gain the advantage that comes
There's a Monument in Germany
to those who share in the progress created COLOSSAL IRONY
surpassing all the rest
by the Halutzim.
"Faced with . . . deepening man-power For its horrible significance
Clay Gowran, Chicago Tribune corre- shortage, military government has now
Which left the world aghast!
spondent in Jerusalem, interviewed a turned over responsibility for de-Nazifi-
number of leaders, both Jews and Arabs, cation to the Germans themselves . . . It
after the inquiry committee made public is only a year since V-E day. But the Like a huge immortal Monument
marking every little grave
its report. In a cable to his newspaper on memory of the corpses at Buchenwald
May 7, Mr. Gowran pointed out that the, has been dissipated by too much German Filled with broken twisted bodies
Of - Humanity—betrayed!
"siinple, common people," Jews and brandy and double talk."—Donald B.
Arabs, "could live and work peaceably Robinson in the May • "American Mer-
There were Gentiles and Jews
side by side if it were not for these dis- cury."
• for whom Nazis had no use;
turbing facts:
Undesirable—because
of
"FIRST—About a dozen Arab families, who
the same sentiments—provided the British
different views . . .
dictate the thoughts and politics of tens of
would
take
the
necessary.
action•
to
pre-
thousands of clansmen, fear the peaceful inter-
mixing of Arabs and Jews eventually would
vent the dozen Arab families injecting Or because of their Religion,
destroy the virtual feudal system they have
enjoyed so long. Therefore. they deliberately fright - into the hearts of their people.
or because of different Race,
attempt to inflame their followers against the
* * *
In the new and mighty "order".
Jews.
"SECOND—The British colonial administration
quietly supports these Arab overlords in their
inflammatory activities so that it can prove that
British presence in the mandate is necessary.
Thereby the continued existence of British bases
and exploitation is assured.''
To prove his point, Mr. Gowran inter-
viewed, among others, George Nassar,
secretary of the Palestine Labor League,.
a federation of more .than 5,000 Arab
workers who are interested in cooperat-
ing with the Jews. Said Mr. Nassar: -
"I am convinced at least 80 per cent of the
Arab population and most Jews could live peace-
ably together but for these factors. Overlords
rule great masses of workers and villagers as in
ancient times. They are mainly interested in
maintaining huge estates which can be worked
only with cheap Arab labor. Naturally, they are
afraid of the influence the Jews, with their high-
er standard of living, may have on Arab workers,
so they try to create antagonism against the '
Jews.
"The British government, which should pro-
mote cooperation between Jews and Arabs, does
the opposite. The British know that the Jews,
if given an opportunity, would transform Pales-
tine into a modern state, thereby smashing the
colonial shell now surrounding it. There are
many reasons why the British are eager to
maintain the shell. They want to retain bases
here. but, further, it is to the - interest • of ,
English capital invested here that the standard
of living and wages of the population be kept low
in order that the English can realize big profits.
"That's why the British support the Arab
overlords who have the same desires. It's a case
of an imperialist nation using as a tool im-
perialist families.
- In other countries immigrants are rivals • of
the local population and endanger living stand-
ards. Here the Jews, by creating work, raise
the Arabs' way of life and make the country a
better place for both."
`IF ARABS REVOLT, BLAME BRITAIN'
Another eminent correspondent, Rich-
ard Mowrer, in a cable from Cairo to. the
New York Post, places blame for the
entire "Arab scare" at the doorstep of the
British. He maintains, as the heading
over one of his latest cables indicates,
that "if the Arabs revolt, you can blame .
the British", and he points especially to
the danger involved in the possible re-
turn to Palestine of the arch-war criminal,
the former Mufti. To quote Mr. 1Vlowrer's
conclusions:
"If the British say the Mufti is not a war
criminal and enemy of Britain ; if they've kept
his post. vacant; if they permit the Mufti's
friends to return from exile and parade the
Mufti's picture in Palestine villages, then. rea-
son the Palestine Arabs, Amin el Husseini is
going to stage a comeback duly approved by the
British. The last time there was a revolt, the
war cry of the Arabs was 'El Dawla Mannar—
'The government is with us!'
"Will • it be the same war cry if there is a
next time?"
Put two and two together, ladies and
.gentlemen, . and you have your answers
to all the problems affecting the - false
scare regarding an Arab-Jewish rift.
Will the British government do any-
thing abOut it? -
Will OUR OWN government do some-
thing about the threats of the Husseinis
and the Abdullahs and the Ibn Sauds?.
Perhaps we can force the issue 'by using•
our political influence. In any event, none
We present this as important evidence, of us should hesitate to make use of our
gathered by a non-Jew from an Arab power as American citizens to see that
spokesman, and we maintain that the justice is done to our people in Palestine
average Arab in Palestine would echo and that pledges are not broken.
this "rabble" had no place!
They "scrapped" the Ten Commandments;
lost all human Decency.
The "new order" had no use
For Justice, Love, or Sympathy.
Friday, May . 17, 1946
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1946, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc. )
STRAWS IN THE WIND
If you care to bet that the World Zionist
Congress, scheduled to open .on Aug. 7,
will not take place this year, you may
win some money . . . There is a good
deal of bargaining going on behind the
scenes concerning postponing the congress
. . • And there is not Much opposition to
this idea . . . Those advocating postpone-
ment argue that there is much political
work to be done this summer in con-
nection with the recommendations of the
Anglo-American inquiry committee . .
They consider it harmful to split the
Zionist forces by conducting election
campaigns for delegates to the 'congress
when Zionist leadership will have its
hands full, fighting for the .admission of
100,000 Jews to Palestine . . . They also
believe that the World Zionist Congress,
if held 'before the 100,000 Jews are ad-
mitted to Palestine, may face difficulties
in formulating its political policy.
It is known that President Truman is
most anxious to see action as soon as pos-
sible on the recommendations of the in-
quiry committee . . . And it is also taken
for granted that American ships will be
assigned by the -President for free trans-
portation of the 100,000 displaced Jews .
• • • American Zionist leaders are now
formulating suggestions to- be presented
to the President in connection with his
sincere - desire to see all the 100,000 dis- -
placed" Jews moved to Palestine before -
the end - of this year . • . A Zionist dele-
gation will ask the President to consult
Jewish leaders on setting up machinery
to carry out the recommendations of the
inquiry committee.
The State 'Department is concerned
about the fact that Jews from Poland and
Hungary are "infiltrating" the American
zones in Germany and Austria with the
hope of being among the 100,000 Jews to
be transpOrted to Pales-tine . . . Leaders
of Jewish Organizations have been called
to Washington by Acting Secretary of
State Acheson to discuss this subject.
FINANCIAL PROSPECTS
The U.; S. governmeirt is willing to
grant a huge loan for Palestine in order
to facilitate the carrying out of the recom-
mendations of the Anglo-American in-
quiry committee . . . This loan may be
granted through the Export-Import Bank •
. . . It will run into many millions of
dollars, and will not need . any ratifica-
tion by Congress . . . One of the stipula-
tions, I understand, will be that the loan
also be used by the Palestine government
for the benefit of neighboring Arab coun-
tries . . . This loan has nothing to do with
the possibility of the Jewish Agency re-
ceiving the largest share of the $25,000,000
which the Allied Reparation Conference
in Paris recently decided to allot to the
Intergovernmental Committee on Ref-
ugees for . the resettlement and rehabili. -
tation of displaced people . . . The Jewish
Agency is already negotiating with the
Intergovernmental Committee for this
sum . . . Zionist as well as non-Zionist
leaders in this country are- supporting
the demand of the Agency . . . The .State
Department considers that this .$25,000,000
constitutes a first and prior charge on
German external assets which the Allies
will get as reparations.
* 5• 5
WASHINGTON TALK
While the U. S. governthent is inclined
to comply with the request by British.
Prime Minister Attlee that . America
should provide financial assistance in
bringing :100,000 Jews from Europe to .
"We're the master race," they shouted, • Palestine, it will definitely give. a nega-.
"Pure" and "Noble braves!"
five reply on Attlee's demand that Amer-
"We" were born to be the Rulers,
ican troops be stationed in Palestine . .
All the rest were "slaves!"
The attitude of leading figures in Wash-
ington is that as long as Britain wishes to
There's a Monument in Germany
remain the sole trustee over Palestine,
that's fearful to behold
it is her duty to -maintain order there . .
For the countless deeds of infamy
Moscow is watching with utmost interest
that records do unfold.
for the American reply . . All indica-.
tions point to the fact that if American.
troops are stationed in Palestine, the
Nazi Concentration Camps
Soviet government would demand that
were filled from every Nation
Russian troops also be stationed there
Where the "master race" of Germany
In general, Moscow's attitude towards
displayed their evil passion! _
the PaleStine question becomes clearer
from day . to day . . . The Soviet govern-
Entire Families were Doomed
ment believes that the Palestine popula-
to shameful degradation. •
tion has the right to determine its own
They Raped, they Flogged, they Maimed,
future • . i , But if Palestine is to be placed
They Killed; Age had no consideration!
under temporary trusteeship, MogcoW
wants it ;to -be a British-Ameriean-Rus- •
sian trusteeship . . A clear Cut -Soviet
This visionary Monument
view on the Palestine issue will' be given
will be, 'till Judgment Day,
at the forthcoming session of the Gen-
A Shrine for all the Lives
eral Assethbly of the UN in New York
the Nazis took away.
in September . . . There is /id• reason
to fear that Russia will place -the Pales-
These Souls now sit in Judgment
tine question on the agenda Of the Secur-
unto Eternity ...
ity Council which - is now in session
And Judge the deeds of infamy,
which bears a frightful Penalty_!
4 Nor will the issue be raised by 'Egypt, I