867N.55/200
The Consul General at Jerusalem ( Wadsworth ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that Jewish immigration into Palestine in 1939 showed remarkable increase in spite of having been governed by regulations especially designed to keep it under control on a quota basis. The purpose of this despatch is to give a brief preliminary report on immigration during 1939—to be followed by the usual annual report when more detailed information is available—and to assess the significance of the figures given. Advantage will also be taken of the opportunity to bring up to date the chronology of events in the field of illegal immigration left off with the Consulate General’s despatch No. 1096 of September 21, 1939.4
Before giving the 1939 figures, it will be helpful to review, at the risk of too-frequent repetition, the regulations and conditions governing immigration in that year. During the first three months, immigration was controlled by a schedule published on October 27, 1938, relating to the period October 1, 1938 to March 31, 1939. Under this last of the schedules based on the temporary expedient of political high level, 7,788 Jews entered the country during the first quarter or registered as immigrants after arrival as visitors. A new chapter in Palestine’s ever-changing immigration problem was inaugurated with the publishing on June 15, 1939, of the first quota, which provided for the issuance of 10,350 immigration certificates to Jews for the period April 1st to September 30. This quota, designed to replace the former schedules based on the traditional policy of economic absorptive capacity, gave effect to the immigration phase of the British White Paper of May 1939 which provided for the entry of 50,000 Jewish immigrants over a period of five years and for the admission of 25,000 Jewish refugees. For a discussion of this new policy and of Jewish and Arab reaction thereto, the Department is referred to despatch No. 978 of June 26, 1939.5
Jewish immigration during the second quota period, October 1, 1939 to March 31, 1940, was completely suspended as a result of the widespread entry of Jews into the country illegally. The determination of the British Government to suspend immigration for six months, or even longer if conditions warrant, was reported in despatch No. 1018 of July 21, 1939,6 and the translation of this intention into legal act in a telegram of October 23, 1939.7 It should be emphasized [Page 833] here that Palestine’s immigration quotas represent immigration certificates to be issued and not persons to be admitted during the periods covered. Jewish immigrants presently arriving in considerable numbers thus bear certificates issued before September 30 and not, as many persons fall into the error of believing, during the present quota period.
Turning now to the main theme of this despatch, some 16,000 to 16,500 Jewish immigrants entered Palestine legally in 1939, which estimate includes, in addition to immigrant arrivals, temporary visitors given permission to remain permanently. (It may be observed here that this practice of registering visitors as immigrants has been discontinued). These figures are based on statistics of the Department of Migration showing the entry for the first 10 months of 14, 161 Jews and on a semi-official estimate of immigration of about 2,000 for November and December. This compares with legal Jewish immigration of 12,868 in 1938 and 10,536 in 1937, the only years with which comparison is possible as arbitrary numerical restriction of immigration was not imposed until mid-1937. Figures for 1939 are much smaller, of course, than those of 29,727 for 1936 and 61,854 for 1935, when immigration, restricted only by the test of economic absorptive capacity, reached its peak.
This small increase in legal immigration as compared with 1937 and 1938 has, in itself, little political significance for an even greater increase was to be expected under the new policy based on the White Paper. In fact, had the quota for the present period not been suspended, more than 20,000 Jewish immigrants would probably have entered legally in 1939. The Government’s intention, as indicated in the White Paper and as carried out in the first quota based on it, was—and apparently still is—to admit Jewish immigrants at the rate of 10,000 a year for five years, plus (during the early part of the five-year period) as many of the specially authorized 25,000 refugees as the country may be able to absorb. Obviously, however, the number of refugees to be admitted will depend on political and psychological as well as economic factors. It would appear, therefore, that, such factors permitting, the Government has contemplated the admission of some 20,000 Jews a year for the next two years; hence, the entry of 16,000 in 1939 seems to be in keeping with present policy.
The immigration picture is not, however, complete unless we look behind the figures on the legal entry of immigrants and see how they are affected by illegal immigration. It is in this field that we find much of political importance in 1939 and it is here that much of the battle of Zionism versus White Paper must be fought. It is estimated that some 14,000 to 15,000 Jews entered Palestine illegally in 1939. [Page 834] Of this estimated number, some 10,200 are by actual count, having arrived on the 19 illegal immigrant ships listed in the Consulate General’s despatches of May 3,8 June 26, July 21, September 21 and in this despatch. A further four to five thousand may be estimated to have entered, as during the preceding year, singly and in smaller groups or to have stayed illegally after arrival as temporary visitors. Thus, during 1939, almost as many Jews entered the country illegally as legally, bringing the total of Jewish immigrants for the year to at least 30,000. This is double the entries for 1938 and 1937, even if we add to the figures for the two previous years the generally accepted estimate of illegal immigration at the rate of several thousand a year.
More important, however, than the mere figures is the fact that the Government appears to have been powerless to prevent the illegal flow, in spite of apparently sincere efforts to do so. Clearly, the problem is one of considerable magnitude, particularly since the Government is deprived, for obvious humanitarian reasons, of its most effective means of combatting the traffic—that of deportation.
There has been a lull in the arrival of illegal immigrant ships during the last few months, only two having discharged their human cargoes on the shores of Palestine since the Consulate General’s despatch of September 21. These were the Bulgarian SS Rudnitchan, which landed its illegal immigrants, approximately 500 in number, in small boats near Tel Aviv on November 14 and an unnamed “auxiliary motor schooner” which landed 502 near Haifa on January 8, 1940. Excluding this latter vessel which arrived after January 1, our record shows that 19 ships landed some 10,200 illegal immigrants from the beginning of the first quota period on April 1 to the end of the year. The illegal immigrants were in all cases arrested but released shortly thereafter. The ships were, when it was possible to apprehend them, detained pending sequestration proceedings; most were confiscated by the Government but some were released on technical grounds. The crews were, also when they could be found, arrested; some were sentenced, others released for various reasons.
It is not to be supposed that the present lull in the arrival of shiploads of illegal immigrants indicates that the traffic has voluntarily ceased or that the Government has been successful in stopping it. It may, I believe, be attributed to three factors. First, the war has temporarily disrupted arrangements and made it difficult to obtain ships. Secondly, I am confidentially informed by an official of the Jewish Agency that that body is giving at present no active encouragement to the illegal traffic, as the arrival of thousands of penniless refugees has seriously hampered Jewish unemployment and relief work and has had disagreeable political consequences. Thirdly, the British [Page 835] Government is known to be putting pressure “behind the scenes” on the Governments of those European countries where illegal immigrants embark to obtain cooperation in preventing the departure of ships. That the British Government, however, does not believe the threat of further mass illegal immigration has passed is evident from the following statement reported by Reuters to have been made by the Foreign Office on January 8, 1940:
It is reported that certain shipping agencies are engaged in organizing the transport of emigrants from Danubian countries to Palestine.
There is reason to believe that intending emigrants do not know that they will not be admitted into Palestine unless they possess immigration certificates issued by the Palestine Department of Immigration and that if they arrive in Palestine without these certificates they will be liable to serious penalties and deportation under Palestine laws.
Furthermore, it is alleged that the ships, on which the immigrants travel at great expense to themselves, are small and unsanitary and unseaworthy.
The captains and crews of these ships do not appear to know that if they carry passengers who are not legally entitled to land in Palestine they are themselves liable to arrest and heavy fine.
A high official of the Palestine Government has confidentially informed me that this statement was issued primarily as a warning to official and shipping circles in southeastern European countries rather than to prospective immigrants or Jewish organizations. Local officials, too, have recently received specific information that certain ships—apparently, I gathered, of Greek or Rumanian registry—are making arrangements to transport further illegal immigrants to this country.
In summary, the considerable increase in Jewish immigration in 1939 may be attributed almost entirely to the mass entry of illegal immigrants in especially chartered ships although a smaller increase was to have been expected as a result of the new policy based on the White Paper. Although ship-load traffic in illegal immigrants has fallen off greatly in the last few months, it is not unlikely that it will pick up again in 1940.
As to the immediate future of legal immigration, no prediction is possible. It would appear, however, that at least a small quota for the period beginning April 1 will be established, providing that illegal immigration does not increase in volume prior to that date. This belief is based on two considerations—one statistical and one political. The first is that Jewish immigration for the two semi-annual quota periods, April 1, 1939, to March 31, 1940, will probably amount to only some five to eight thousand more than the 20,000 or so the Government apparently intended to admit under the new policy. Thus, it would seem that further total suspension of the issuance of immigration [Page 836] certificates will not be justified in the light of the present policy and the decreased volume of illegal entries. The other, political, consideration is that the Government may wish to appease Jewish opinion which was hurt and outraged at the suspension of immigration at a time when the European refugee problem was so acute.
The Chief Secretary, in an after-dinner conversation last week, made a remark in discussing the possibility of a quota after April 1 which throws some light on this latter aspect of the matter and at the same time approaches the illegal immigration problem from a somewhat new and interesting angle. “There is a very good case,” he said, “for a refugee quota after April 1, if only the Jewish Agency and leading Zionist organizations would come out into the open and declare that they disapprove of illegal immigration.” By this he implied, in the light of preceding remarks, that although such organizations are in fact opposed to illegal immigration because disruptive of orderly development of the National Home, they hesitate openly to express themselves in that sense because of the unfavorable effect any such expression would have on world Jewry’s support of the Zionist cause, faced as Jewry is with constant harrowing accounts of German persecution and as constant appeals for refugee relief contribution. A major element of strength in Zionism’s current appeal is, of course, that Palestine still offers a place of asylum for many thousands of refugees from Central and Eastern Europe.
I venture to recall, in concluding, an observation made in my despatch No. 1018 of July 21, 1939, reviewing developments in this field following publication of the May 17 White Paper. It was to the effect that two contending forces, the Government and Zionism, were drawn up to do battle over Jewish immigration into Palestine. It would appear that the first round in this conflict has gone to the latter. Unless the Government can stem the flow of illegal immigrants, realization of the immigration phase, and indeed all, of the White Paper policy will be seriously prejudiced.
Respectfully yours,