Newspaper Page Text
Joe Tonkin
Southeastern representative
for
%
ROCHESTER BUTTON
CO.
6075 Roswell Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Ga. 30327
255-0471
Every City has an out
standing shop; Atlanta
now has two.
• • •
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JJS REACMTREE AND LENOX SQUARE
W. E. BROWNE
DECORATING COMPANY
Antiques — Interiors — Reproductions
♦ ♦
OFFICES
443 Peachtree St., N.E.
Atlanta 8, Ga. TR. 4-4416
STONE MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES, Inc.
“Manufacturers of Wood-Dinette-Furniture”
2101 Tucker Industrial Rd.
Stone Mountain, Ga.
Phone 938-6676-Area Code 404
war, been conducted by the
mandatory power as if it were
vested with the sovereignty of
Palestine, whereas it has as
sumed to administer that
country of which it was not
the sovereign, as a trustee for
carrying out the purposes of
the Mandate which clearly de
fined its rights and obliga
tions.
The problem of Palestine is,
of course, of paramount im
portance to the Jewish peo
ple, and this fact, I take it,
motivated the Assembly of the
United Nations to extend an
invitation to the Jewish Agen
cy to present its views. We
thank all those who so warmly
urged our admission for their
good will and their gallant ac
tion. The| Jewish Agency, you
will recall, is recognized in
the Mandate for Palestine as
a public body authorized to
speak and act on behalf of the
Jewish people in and out of
Palestine in matters affecting
the establishment of the Jew
ish National Home. It is the
only organized public body in
the Mandate. It is recognized
as such, to quote Article 4,
“For the purpose of advising
and cooperating with the Ad
ministration of Palestine in
such economic, social and oth
er matters as may affect the
establishment of the Jewish
National Home and the inter
ests of the Jewish population
in Palestine, and, subject al
ways to the control of the Ad
ministration, to assist and take
part in the development of the
country.” Under Article 6 the
Jewish Agency is entitled fur
ther to cooperate with the Ad
ministration in permitting close
settlement by the Jews on the
iand; and by Article II it is
given a preferred status in re
spect to the construction and
operation of public works and
the development of the na
tural resources of the country.
The Jewish Agency, whom
we have the honor to repre
sent, speaks, therefore, not
merely for the organized Jew
ish community of Palestine,
the democratically elected
National Council of Palestine
Jews, who are today the pio
neering vanguard in the build
ing of the Jewish National
Home. It speaks for the Jewish
people of the world who are
devoted to this historic ideal,
for it was charged, by the same
Article 4 of the Mandate, “to
secure the cooperation of all
Jews who are willing to as
sist in the establishment of
the Jewish National Home.”
I have spoken of the Jewish
people and the Jewish Nation
al Home. In defining the terms
of reference for the commit
tee of inquiry which you are
to appoint and in all their fu
ture investigations, these in
my judgment should be re
garded as key terms and basic
concepts. They were the. key
terms and the basic concepts
of the Balfour Declaration and
of the Mandate under which
Palestine is, or should be, ad
ministered today. To proceed
without relations to them
would be to detour into a
political wilderness as far as
Palestine is concerned. To
treat the Palestine problem as
if it were one of merely re
conciling the difference be
tween two sections of the
population presently inhabit
ing the country, or of finding
a haven for a certain number
of refugees and replaced per
sons, will only contribute to
confusion. The Balfour Dec
laration, which was issued bv
His Majesty’s Government as
“a declaration of sympathy
with Jewish Zionist aspira
tions,” declares that “His Ma
jesty’s Government view with
favor the establishment in
Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people.” The
Mandate, in its preamble,
recognizes “the historical con
nection of the Jewish people
with Palestine and the grounds
for reconstituting their na
tional home in that country.”
I call your attention to the
word “reconstituting.” The in
ternational commitments of a
quarter of a century ago,
which flowed from the recog
nition of historic rights and of
present needs, and upon which
so much has already been built
in Palestine by the Jewish
people, cannot now be erased.
You cannot turn back the
hands of the clock of history.
Certainly the United Nations,
guided by its great principle
proclaimed in its Charter, “to
establish conditions under
which justice and respect for
the obligations arising from
treaties and other sources of
international law can be main
tained,” can never sanction
the violation of treaties and
of international law. Having
this and similar situations in
mind, a specific provision, you
will recall, was written into
the chapter of the Charter of
the United Nations which
deals with territories which
might become trusteeship
territories, and, therefore, es
pecially applicable to terri
tories now under mandate.
This is Article 80 of that
Charter which reads “except
as may be agreed upon in in
dividual trusteeship agree
ments, made under Article 77.
79 and 81, placing each terri
tory under the trusteeship
system and until such agree
ments have been concluded,
nothing in this Charter shall
The Southern Israelite
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