The Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry on Palestine 1946

The Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry was set up by the British and United Staes governments in 1946 to examine - amongst other things - the “political, economic and social conditions in Palestine as they bear upon the problem of Jewish immigration…and the well-being of the peoples now living [in Palestine]” 

Speaking to the committee Sir Edward Spears said that “A Jewish state in Palestine would be a permanent cause of unrest” and that the Zionist movement had many of the “undesirable features which characterised the Nazi movement in Germany” Describing Zionism as “not a religious movement but a national one” he said “I believe the Arabs would accept the continuance of the Jewish national home provided the Zionists abandoned their political aims, incitement to violence, illegal immigration, and pressure to achieve their objective of a Jewish majority in Palestine” For more of what Spears said click here

Also speaking was Suffragist and Christian Preacher Dr Maude Royden who said that Jews cannot claim that God promised them Palestine because “the best work being done there is by communist Jews who do not believe in God”. The Zionist leaders are leading Jews “into a land where they are deeply hated and will need a standing army to prevent massacres and pogroms as dreadful as the horrors already inflicted on them……There is no country in the world that would not fight mass immigration when it has the avowed intention of creating a majority in the country to which the people are to be taken......If Jews have rights in Palestine because it is their holy land so have Christians. It is their holy land also”. 

Labour MP Thomas Reid said “European Jews should be offered refuge in various countries. Once the idea is abandoned of setting up a Jewish state in Palestine, something can be done to get peace in that country. It is unwise, utterly impracticable and unjust for pressure to be brought on Arabs to leave Palestine to make room for Jews”