4

Doctor SHATARA. I do not think the Zionist colonies are mainly private property. I think they are mainly owned by or the plan is to have them sort of State property. I do not think it is a private-property plan.

Mr. COCKRAN. Then what would you think would be the use of issuing circulars against a plan of which they were a part; that they would circulate those incendiary documents inciting violence against the system of which they were themselves part?

The CHAIRMAN. A paragraph in this report will give you the facts. I will read it into the record, because we do not want to print the whole report. It reads as follows:

66

During October and the beginning of November, 1920, there were outbreaks of labor trouble among the Jews in Jaffa. There was at this time a considerable amount of unemployment among recently arrived immigrants, and the M. P. S., who were able to work upon the feelings of these dissatisfied men, aggravated the trouble where they did not originate it."

Who are the M. P. S.?

the to M P. with

to tk

of cit of tac

Work

Sa

PC

the .

M

D

r SHATARA. The Socialist Labor Party.
CHAIRMAN (continuing):

ere able to work upon the feelings of these dissatisfied men, aggravated
ble where they did not originate it. On the 7th of November the
had become so emboldened that they placarded Jaffa and Tel Aviv
ally printed posters in which they called upon all laborers in Palestine
part in social revolution, to have nothing more to do with the slaves
British bayonet,' and to celebrate the 7th of November, the anniversary
stablishment of soviet rule in Russia, with a half day's abstention from
The poster ended with the following sentiments."

antially as quoted by the witness.

or SHATARA. About the question of whether Zionism would trespass upon ats of Palestinians or not

XENNEDY (interposing). Have you been in Palestine recently?

or SHATARA. I have been in this country since 1914.

KENNEDY. Not in Palestine since then?

or SHATARA. No, sir. But we get these reports constantly from Palesand I might mention that we have now in London a delegation of native Palestinians who have been protesting to the British Goverment against the Palfour declaration, and I might say that sentiment in England is greatly anging in our favor. Several members of the House of Commons and of the British Government who previously had come out in favor of the Balfour declaration are coming out against it now, and I might say that it has been urged in England now to send a committee to make an impartial inquiry regarding Palestine. Neither the British Parliament nor the French Senate have as yet ratified the Balfour declaration which is included in the mandate. / I have here a cable from a French Senator, Senator Dominique Delahaye, that they are opposed to a mandate which ignores France, and I really am surprised that the United States, which has kept aloof from foreign entanglements should take this step in indorsing the Balfour declaration, and demanding steps that neither Great Britain, nor France, nor the League of Nations has yet taken. They are waiting, maybe, to send a committee of inquiry into the conditions before the Parliament takes this matter up, and if the United States Congress goes on record as indorsing this, they would have taken steps which neither the British nor the French have as yet taken.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.

Doctor SHATARA. I would also, while talking on this point, mention that during the Wilson administration

Mr. COOPER (interposing). Did not the English Government in substance approve the Balfour declaration at the time it was issued?

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COOPER. And they approved it in the darkest hour of the war for the British Government.

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COOPER. So the British Government did approve the Balfour declaration. You said a moment ago that neither the British nor the French Government approved it.

Doctor SHATARA. May I finish that?

Mr. COOPER. Did not the British Government when the Balfour declaration was issued approve it?

106932-22-11

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COOPER. They did it in the darkest days of the war?

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COOPER. Now, after the Jews of the world relied upon that and many of them entered the war, many of them were killed in battle. Now, they propose to repudiate what they promised in the dark days of the war. Is that the idea? Doctor SHATARA. May I answer that?

Mr. COOPER. That is one of the suggestions that comes to me as I heard the statement.

Doctor SHATARA. I did not say the British Government. I said the British Parliament. I distinguish between the British Government and that. The coalition government is not in fulll sympathy with Parliament, and the Parliament and the British Government are two entirely different bodies.

Mr. COCKRAN. No.

Mr. COOPER. I thought on the contrary, that if the British Parliament did not sustain the policies of the Government, the Government immediately resigned. Doctor SHATARA. I think this is a matter of record that the British Parliament has not yet ratified the mandate or the Balfour declaration, the same as the French senate. As regards this promise being given in the dark days of the war, I can do no better than to quote Sir Abraham Powell published in the London Times of December, in which he said that he did not regard the Balfour declaration as a contract, that he thought that many people thought that it was a contract, but that since all contracts were bilateral, the public, the British public were entitled to know for what value received the Balfour declaration was given if it was a contract, and every contract was bilateral and if the British Government gave them a pledge for their value received.

Mr. COOPER. Did they have a contract with Egypt when they returned Egypt if she put her soldiers in to protect the Suez Canal, made by many of their most prominent men, including the King himself in a letter. Was that a promise which the British Government ought to keep when the peace had been declared as they have kept it, and established a kingdom in Egypt. Do you think that was what they ought to do in the case of Egypt.

Doctor SHATARA. I am not prepared to speak about that.

Mr. COOPER. They gave Egypt no more of a promise than the Palestinians. Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir; but I might also mention that there were promises made in regard to Palestine, which I can quote both prior to and after the Balfour declaration.

Mr. COCKRAN. What were they?

Doctor SHATARA. I will read them from the Edinburgh Review of January, 1922, volume 235, No. 479, page 7, from an article written by Vivian Gabriel, financial secretary in Palestine, as follows:

Mr. COCKRAN. Is that an official document?

Doctor SHATARA. No, sir; but he quotes an official document.

Mr. COCKRAN. Tell us the official document.

Doctor SHATARA. I am quoting the official document from this.

"It was at a very early stage of the hostilities that special efforts were initiated to detach the Arab population from its suzerains, the Turks, and, largely through the instrumentality of Lord Kitchener, who knew Palestine and Syria as no other living Englishman, negotiations were opened with his friend, Sherif Husain of Mecca. In a letter to the high commissioner in Egypt in July, 1915, the sheriff asked, before taking up arms for the Allies." That was two years before the Balfour declaration.

Mr. COCKRAN. Which is an official document.

Doctor SHATARA. What I am reading now is quoted from an official document. Mr. COCKRAN. What official document?

Doctor SHATARA. A letter from the Sherif to the British high commission, Henry McMahon

"That England should acknowledge the independence of the Arab countries bounded on the north by Adana and Mersina up to the thirty-seventh degree of latitiude, on the east by the frontiers of Persia up to the Persian Gulf, on the south by the Indian Ocean with the exception of Aden, and on the west by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean up to Mersina.'"

"Replying in October, 1915, the high commissioner wrote:

"I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances: Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories included in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif."

Palestine is included in these limits proposed by the Sherif. There was another statement issued that those boundaries that are given here include Palestine.

Mr. COOPER. He says he is authorized by the English Government. Is there an official document which was official authorization there?

Doctor SHATARA. This is just quoted from the document.

Mr. COOPER. It is not even quoted. He says he is authorized, but does not quote the authorization.

Doctor SHATARA. There are two quotations. This is a quotation from Sir Henry McMahon :

"Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories included in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif."

This is from the letter.

Mr. COOPER. This is from the letter. He was an official in Palestine?

Doctor SHATARA. In Egypt.

Mr. COOPER. Exactly. But he was not authorized himself.

Doctor SHATARA. No; he was empowered by the Government of Great Britain to issue this.

Mr. COOPER. Where in that article, if anywhere, appears the Government document it quotes from or quotations from it?

Doctor SHATARA. There are quotations here.

Mr. COOPER. This is an English official in Egypt.

Doctor SHATARA. There is another quotation. He wrote and he also quoted from a letter.

Mr. COOPER. Your impetuosity has got the better of your clearness.

Mr. LINTHICUM. Now, you want to interject all these questions, when before you suggested for a statement to proceed without interruption.

Mr. COOPER. The gentleman from Maryland is entirely mistaken in that; nothing of the kind. What I said was this, that when a man is making a prepared speech the interruptions should be germane to the point which he is making a speech upon or discussing. I interrupted yesterday two or three times, but each time I questioned the witness on a point which he brought out? I did not intend to interrupt except to ask questions concerning a particular point which he then was discussing, and if this is to make it appear anything else it indicates a lapse of memory or I will not say what else.

Mr. LINTHICUM. I think we ought to let him finish his quotation.

The CHAIRMAN. The difficulty is this.

Mr. COOPER. The gentleman does not understand my questions.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is not a lawyer, and therefore does not realize the importance of some authorization to this British agent to make this agreement. As a matter of fact, I suppose you did not have any such written authorization to this British agent? That is the point of Mr. Cooper.

Mr. COOPER. Yes.

Doctor SHATARA. This is a quotation from that.

Mr. COOPER. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. You have no way of proving it.

Doctor SHATARA. Yes.

Mr. MOORES. He not only says it but undertakes to quote from his authority. That drew Mr. Cooper's attention to the point of the authority quoted in his letter.

Mr. COOPER. Let us see. I want to get this clearly before the witness. I was not attempting to take any advantage of the witness at all. He did not seem to understand what I mean. In a letter to the high commissioner of Egypt, in July, 1915, the sherif asked:

"Before taking up arms for the Allies," now comes the inside quotation:

66 6

That England should acknowledge the independence of the Arab countries bounded on the north by Adana and Mersina up to the thirty-seventh degree of latitude, on the east by the frontiers of Pers a up to the Persian Gulf, on the south by the Indian Ocean with the exception of Aden, and on the west by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean up to Mersina.'

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COOPER. The article continues-this was the article in October, 1915, that the high commissioner wrote:

I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances :

Doctor SHATARA (interposing). There is a colon and a dash.

Mr. COOPER. It is quoted. It is a colon and a dash, but no quotation.
Mr. COCKRAN. Equivalent to it.

Mr. COOPER. I will read it.

"Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories included in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif."

He says, "I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances." He expresses it from the same document which he has received as empowering him to give those assurances. Where is the document of authorization from the Government signed by the Government officially authorizing him, the high commissioner, to make those assurances? The CHAIRMAN. The witness says he knows of no such document. Mr. MOORES. The high commissioner is certainly authority. Doctor SHATARA. I have no such document at all.

Mr. COCKRAN. It seems to me the question before us is what the equity of this situation demands. I do not think it is very important what England promised. It is what we should do that should concern us. I think it is important that this gentleman should finish and give us his idea of the status of Jerusalem and Palestine.

Mr. FISH. I think so, too; but we want to be fair to the witness, and the witness wants to be fair to the authorities. He mentions, and I think in writing, his denial of that statement. That is what has brought about this argument. I think it is much better to let him present his case.

The CHAIRMAN. I was speaking only for myself. I regard this as a valuable piece of testimony.

Mr. COOPER. One thing more, and then this ends it as far as I am concerned. The high commissioner wrote the sheriff that he was empowered by the Government to make certain assurances. That is his interpretation of the authority which has been granted. I want to see the document which he so interpreted that gives him the authority to make those assurances.

The CHAIRMAN. We would all like to see it, but the witness is not able to produce it.

Mr. COOPER. He did not catch my idea.

Doctor SHATARA. I have not any official document at all. May I just read one more quotation? I have no official documents here at all. This is on the 7th of November. It is on page 12 of the Edinburgh Review, from which I have already quoted. I will read it:

66

On the 7th of November, 1918, therefore, the British Government issued a proclamation, which was published in every village throughout Palestine, declaring that the object of England and France in carrying on in the Near East the war let loose by Germany's ambition is to assure the complete and final liberation of the people so long oppressed by the Turks and the establishment of governments and administrations deriving their authority from the initiative and free choice of the native populations. They are far from wishing to impose any form of government on the people against their will and only desire to insure, by their moral and material assistance, the proper working of those governments and of the forms of administration which shall be adopted by the people themselves. Their task in the liberated regions is to secure an administration of justice based on impartiality and equality, the economic development of the country by encouraging and promoting local initiative, the spread of education, and the termination of those internal dissensions which have so long been exploited by the Turks.'"

The question of preference in Palestine I can do no better than to quote from the Zionist leader, Doctor Eder, who is acting chairman of the Zionist commission in Jerusalem. This is a quotation from Dr. Eder:

"There can only be one national home in Palestine, and that the Jewish one, and no equality, no partnership, between Jews and Arabs, but a Jewish predominance, as soon as the numbers of that race are sufficiently increased." This statement was by Doctor Eder, chairman of the Zionist Commission in Jerusalem. I could go ahead and say a whole lot about what we think about the question of preference in Palestine, but those words are from Doctor Eder, and Doctor Weizmann said he wanted to make Palestine as Jewish as England is English. There can be no question of equality there if Palestine is to be made as Jewish as England is English. Palestine is only a small part of the world. According to the estimates it has about 10,000 square miles.

Mr. FISH. What would be the objection? Suppose the Jews came in and by their efforts brought wealth to the country. I assume that in England all

people are equals, that I as an American may live and have property there which would be protected in England, and I do not see that if it became a Jewish state, and the Jews became a majority that they would not take care of the Arabs and give them the same right to hold property and live in peace with the rest of the community.

Doctor SHATARA. Doctor Eder states that if the Jews are to become predominant there will be no equality between the Arabs and the Jews.

Mr. COCKRAN. When their numbers predominate.

Doctor SHATARA. We are a majority now, but we do not want any people to come into Palestine and become a majority. This is our national home, the national home of the Palestinians, and I think those people are entitled to priority as the national home of the Palestinians and not aliens who have come in and have gradually become a majority.

Mr. COCKRAN. Suppose they do come in. You do not object to them coming in and buying land and settling.

Doctor SHATARA. I would summarize the demands of the Arab delegation in London. They have touched upon that point.

Mr. COCKRAN. That is an important point.

Doctor SHATARA. I have here some demands submitted to the British Government and I will summarize them. Palestine has about twice as many people per square mile as has the United States. This summary shows that no country has more people per square mile than Palestine and there is more justification for admitting immigration into this country and into Texas than admitting immigration into Palestine, because the Palestinians are there, and Palestine is pretty well populated.

Mr. COCKRAN. Carrying that out, the Indians would have the right to object to the coming here of the whites.

Doctor SHATARA. If you carry that out, you will notice you will allow the Arab to claim Spain.

Mr. COCKRAN. Let us have the report.

'Doctor SHATARA. Those demands have been submitted by the Palestine Arab delegation in London. The Arab people of Palestine ask, first, that a national government shall be created that will be responsible to a parliament elected by those inhabitants of Palestine who live there-Christians, Mohammedans, and Jews. Second, the abolition of the present policy in Palestine to regulate the immigration, which is to be controlled by this national government according to the capacity of the country to support new immigrants. Those people say, We are judges of the capacity of our country. It is for us to say who we shall admit and refuse from coming into our country."

66

The CHAIRMAN. Applying the same rule that the United States applies? Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir. The majority want to have a say in the question of immigration, and I do not think anybody would deny that.

Third, the holy places for all religions to be left to the entire control of present guardians, but no national parliament or any other authority be allowed to effect any changes therein.

Fourth, that a local gendarmerie be greated for policing purposes, the expenses of this body to be met by the Palestine government. This would save the British taxpayer the huge amount he is now expending on the country.

They finally asked:

"Let Parliament send out a commission to Palestine to inquire into the question and report."

They are willing to abide by the report of any neutral commission to the country reporting about Palestine. We are all willing to abide by the report of a neutral commission into the affairs of Palestine prior to settling this question, and I would again urge that you gentlemen look over the report of the commission which was sent there.

Mr. FISH. Do you belong to any organization? Do you represent any organization?

Doctor SHATARA. I represent the Palestine National League.

Mr. FISH. Did you say you had a telegram from a French senator?

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. FISH. In reply to some communication you sent to him?

Doctor SHATARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. FISH. You have been in touch with the French ambassador? Did you send any telegram to any other senators?

Doctor SHATARA. In France?

Mr. FISH. Yes.