One festering problem in 1946 was the issue of Palestine. The horrors of the Holocaust had given immediacy to the call for the creation of a Jewish state. Arab Palestinians were adamantly resistant to continued Jewish immigration. Zionist groups within refugee organizations were organizing clandestine, illegal immigration of European Jews to the British Mandate. The British colonial administration was caught in the middle.
Before the rise of the Nazis there had been much debate within the Jewish community about the need and desirability of a Jewish state and over the political and moral questions about establishing it in Palestine, even among those who were in favor of the idea. Now positions were hardening and fewer people were open to debate. After centuries of persecution in Europe culminating in Hitler's murderous rampage, to most Jews there was nothing to discuss. The Arabs were equally intransigent. They were infuriated over the continued disregard for their sovereignty. And what did the Palestinians have to do with the Holocaust? For more than a millennium a religiously mixed population had lived there in relative, although not perfect, harmony. And what about the fate of the Arab residents of Palestine? Contrary to the emerging myth, many agricultural families had occupied the same piece of ground for generations, even centuries, raising olives and oranges for export. Jerusalem was a holy city for Muslims and Christians as well as Jews and had been Arabic in language and culture for 1200 years, almost as long as London had been English or Paris French. So for the Arabs, too, there was nothing to discuss, no reason to negotiate.
The Overseas Press Club had organized a Town Hall debate on Palestine in Manhattan in the mistaken belief that a civil discussion was possible. The panel included Dr Kalil Totah of the Institute of Arab American Affairs; Rabbi Elmer Berger of the American Council for Judaism, who opposed Zionism; Rabbi Baruch Korff, later known as Nixon's rabbi, of the Political Action Committee for Palestine, Khloussy Khairy of the Arab League and Louis Lipsky of the American Zionist Council, the most militant supporter of the creation of a Jewish state among the speakers. Also on the program as commentators were Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, writer Frank Gervasi and Henry Nobel Hall, secretary of the Overseas Press Club. The speakers, carefully chosen to be balanced, were met with loud, disruptive heckling from both sides. It appears from the story in The Sunday Times that the supporters of the Jewish state were the most numerous and disruptive. Both Totah and Hall, who spoke in opposition to a Jewish state, were drowned out by the howling crowd and were unable to complete their speeches. A policeman patrolled the aisles to keep the protesters in their seats.The Times reported that the greatest applause was garnered by Lipsky in support of a Jewish state and Gervasi and McGill, who supported unlimited immigration of European Jews to Palestine. The heated arguments continued on the street outside the hall. So much for reasoned debate.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Jewish crowds gathered to cheer on thirteen Zionists who were fasting to force the British authorities to admit a boatload of 1,100 refugees that had been detained in La Spezia, Italy. Among the fasters mentioned in the story was Golda Meyerson, identified as a labor leader and former resident of Milwaukee. She would become better known as Golda Meir. prime minister of Israel. Meanwhile, a report from Rome said that the ship's passengers had called off their own fast
At the same time, the Arab League was concluding its meeting in Cairo. In their final day they had approved a resolution asking for the creation of a unified Arab nationality as proposed by King Farouk of Egypt. Under this plan, all citizens of the individual Arab states would also hold a pan-Arab citizenship that would allow them to move freely between the states. The proposal would be submitted to the Arab states for ratification. Lebanon, the smallest of the member states, was said to be wary of the proposal. The story reported that outside observers said that a free interchange of populations between the states already occurred and that there was little sense of national identity among Arabs since most of the states were a creation of World War One. It was not uncommon to find a citizen of one Arab state serving in the government of another.The Times reported that no major political decision were made during the meeting. The League did form an Arab bank to help Palestinian landowners, took measures for the return of Arab exiles and refugees to their homelands, and set up a liaison system between the Arab states, the League and UN cultural agencies. Discussion of the contentious British-Trans-Jordan treaty was dropped in the interest of harmony.