- Passfield white paper
The Passfield White Paper, issued October 1, 1930, by colonial secretary Lord Passfield, was a formal statement of British policy in Palestine previously set by the
Churchill White Paper of 1922. It resulted from the Hope-Simpson Commission's investigation into the deeper causes of theWailing Wall disturbances of 1929. Thewhite paper limited official Jewish immigration to a much greater degree. The paper's tone was decidedly anti-Zionist since several of its institutions were severely criticized, including theHistadrut (General Federation of Labor) and theJewish Agency , which both promoted Jewish employment of only Jewish labor. Like the Hope-Simpson Report, the Passfield White Paper found this policy damaging to the economic development of the Arab population.Zionists claimed it backtracked from what they felt were commitments in the Balfour Declaration and, if implemented, would limit Jewish immigration toPalestine . Contrary to these claims, the White Paper states that the development of a Jewish National Home in Palestine is a consideration, which would enjoy continued support, but it was not central to mandate governance. The paper states that the British intend to fulfill their mandate obligations to both Arabs and Jews, and they would resolve any conflicts that might surface as a result of their respective needs.Zionists organizations worldwide mounted a vigorous campaign against the document. In Britain it led to
Ramsay MacDonald 's clarification of the white paper in front of theBritish House of Commons and in a letter toChaim Weizmann in 1931 (see below).ee also
* [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/bbaa033c46a9aa8b8525712c0070b943!OpenDocument The MacDonald Letter, February 13, 1931]
*Peel Commission , 1937References
Cleveland, William L. 2004: A History of the Modern Middle East, Oxford: Westview Press.
Jewish Virtual Library [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/passfield.html]
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