The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

esettlement within Palestine and Transjordan. British Zionists called upon the Home
Government to immediately admit large numbers of German and Austrian Jews into the
Mandate. When it became clear that Britain did not intend to alter its policy on
immigration into Palestine and would not broach the subject at the Conference the Zionist
delegation at Evian announced that it would not be considered “worthwhile” for Chaim
Weizmann to appear before a sub-committee “as one of fifty representatives of other
private organizations.” 93
A number of private organizations dealing with the refugee problem submitted
to the British Home Secretary a memorandum on June 15, 1938 regarding the treatment
of émigrés who had been allowed entry into the United Kingdom. A deputation, chaired
by the Archbishop of Canterbury called upon the Government to exert the utmost degree
of international cooperation at the conference. 94
It soon became clear at the Conference that territories with sizable Muslim
minorities would be excluded from consideration as possible sanctuaries for stateless
Jews. The colonial powers feared that Muslim-Jewish discord would lead to instability
within their possessions. The importance of maintaining Arab support for Britain in the
Middle East and elsewhere was summarized in statements made by Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain on April 20, 1939 (before the issuance of the May White Paper
severely curtailing Jewish immigration into Palestine): It was of “immense importance”
strategically “to have the Moslem world with us…If we must offend one side, let us
93 Davar, July 14, 1938. Ibid., 146.
94 Adler-Rudel, “The Evian Conference,” 240. The delegation included Lord Sempill, the Bishop of
Chichester, Otto Schiff, Brigadier General Sir Wyndham Deedes, Lord Cecil, Sir Frederick Kenyon, and
A.G. Brotman and other experts.
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