The agitation for a Jewish State and unrestricted immigration in Palestine. British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Historical Summary, Period IX: November, 1942 - December, 1945. Volume I - Page 65

CHAPTER II.

From April to July, 1942, the Jewish official organizations made great efforts to revive recruiting, especially for the ancillary services of the British army and for local defence organizations. Thi* campaign was accompanied by renewed demands for a Jewish army, demands which now found support in the United States. Jewish recruiting figures gradually improved and reached a peak in July. The announcement in August of the formation of a Palestine Regiment, consisting of Jewish and Arab battalions, was met with a cool reception from the Jews and was criticised by the Arabs as a first step in the direction of a Jewish army. From August onwards there was a decline in Jewish recruiting figures.

Period IX. November, 1942-December, 1945. The agitation !or a Jewish State and unrestricted immigration.

November, 1942.

Following the Allied successes in North Africa, local politics once again began to overshadow the war issue. The special prominence given in November, 1042, by the Jewish community to the Balfour Dav celebrations, the statements made in America by Mr. Wendeli Wilkie and others on this occasion and, in particular, the memorandum submitted on 3rd December to President Roosevelt by Senator Wagner on behalf of members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives aroused doubts in Arab minds as to the benefits to their cause of an Allied victory and caused a revival of Arab political activity. At Gaza there was a one-day strike of protest.

During November the "Biltmore programme" was accepted by the Inner Zionist Council, the Jewish Agency and the majority of the Jewish political parties, including the Revisionists. In December a Jewish publicity campaign, stressing the persecution of Jews in Nazi Europe for whom Palestine was claimed to be the only possible place of refuge, was accompanied by demonstrations of mass mourning, and caused disquiet among all classes of the Arab community.

1943.

With the removal of the Axis threat to the Middle East there developed a feeling among prominent Arabs that it was time to turn attention to their own post-war future. Renewed demands for the return to Palestine of Jamal Eff. Husseini and Amin Elf. Tamimi, the leaders who were still held in detention in Southern Rhodesia, were accompanied by attempts, led by Rashid Effendi

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