Uwarunkowania działalności Anglo-Amerykańskiej Komisji Badawczej (Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry) w 1946 roku

Abstract

In 1939 the British government published the so-called "White Book". This document proposed the creation of a binational, Arab-Jewish federal state after a five year interim period in Palestine. It also limited the Jewish immigration into Palestine. In the time of the Holocaust, Jewish immigration to Palestine was illegal. The Zionistic movement looked for leverage against the British policy of 1939 White Book. The leaders of the movement saw a great chance in activation of American Jewish society to provoke pressure on the American government. Such pressure would cause the official American objection against the British standing in the Palestine Problem. In 1942 in the Biltmore hotel in New York, a conference of American Zionistic organizations took place. In the "Biltmore Declaration" they not only rejected the 1939 White Book but also proclaimed that the ultimate aim of the Zionistic movement would be the cessation of the British presence in Palestine and the creation of the Jewish state there. After the Biltmore Conference, the Zionists sought cooperation with the American political establishment. Unfortunately, despite the fact that many American politicians, both from Republican and Democratical Parties, showed sympathy for the Zionistic aims, the Roosevelt's administration refused to give clear and full support. This situation changed after F. D. Roosevelt death. The new president Harry S. Truman sent to the British prime minister C. Attlee the cable in which he demanded free entrance to Palestine for 100.000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. In his response, the British prime minister, proposed the creation of a common committee whose aim would be the dissolving of the problem of Jewish refugees. The American president agreed but stressed that the committee should also make recommendations regarding the future of Palestine. After diplomatic preparations the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry inaugurated its work in December of 1945. After four months of work, the members of the Committee assembled in Lozanne in Switzerland, prepared a final paper of recommendation. It was published on 20 April 1946. The Commission recommended that there should be a free passage for 100.000 Jewish immigrants from Europe to Palestine. The Report also said that there should be a single state in Palestine with international guaranties created. Neither Jews nor Arabs should dominate in such state. The Report was not well received. Only Americans gave it their full support. Both Arabs and Jews refused to give their acceptance because they wanted the creation of a single one-national state in Palestine. So the first post-war international innitiative for dissolving the mounting conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine collapsed. But for the Americans it was the first, serious contact with this item. From that time, the U. S. became one of the most active sides in all phases of the Arab-Jewish conflict.