840.48 Refugees/16115
The Consul General at Jerusalem (Wadsworth) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 16.]
Sir: The promulgation on April 17, 1939, of an amendment to the Palestine Immigration Ordinance prescribing drastically heavier penalties for offences involving the aiding and abetting of illegal immigration into this country, I have the honor to report, marks the end of a chapter in the history of this complicated problem. Its general background was reviewed in the Consulate General’s despatch No. 672 of August 6, last.54
Under the new amendment, British Navy vessels are to be used as patrols. Owners of vessels engaging in the traffic are made liable to fines up to £.10,000 and imprisonment up to five years. The offending vessels, if under 1000 tons, may be confiscated. And for other persons aiding illegal entries fines up to £.1,000 and imprisonment up to two years are provided. Details are given at the end of this despatch.
The striking increase in this traffic during recent months, an estimated monthly average of 1,000 Jewish refugees being admitted even in local Jewish circles, was held by British officials to constitute ample reason for drastic repressive action. Further and of more immediate importance, the problem was complicating Anglo-Arab negotiations for political appeasement in Palestine.
[Page 745]As indicated in the despatch under reference, illegal immigration of Jews into Palestine at the rate of a few (probably not more than three) thousand a year had become so accepted a condition that the British authorities, prompted by humanitarian considerations, did almost nothing to apprehend and deport offenders. Local estimates put their total at between 25,000 and 50,000. It is now commonly known in well-informed local circles that at the recent London Conference on Palestine the British Colonial Secretary, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, put the figure officially at approximately 40,000.
In Parliament on April 25 and 2655 Mr. MacDonald described current developments. At question time on the first of these days he announced that during the two months ended April 15, 1220 illegal Jewish immigrants had been prevented from entering the country. On March 21, he said, the SS. Sandu was apprehended with 269 illegal immigrants on board and forced to return to Constanza; on April 2, the SS. Astir, with 698 on board, was prevented from landing; and on April 4 the SS. Assimi, with 250 on board, was arrested and required to set out to sea again. On April 15 the Greek schooner Panagiya Correstrio was apprehended and brought to Haifa after endeavoring to land its 182 illegal immigrants.
In answering a further question on April 26, Mr. MacDonald indicated that illegal immigration into Palestine was continuing at the rate of about 1,000 a month, and that, while the British Government had great sympathy for Jewish refugees, he took a serious view of illegal immigration and was forced to take special measures to stop it. To this end, the coast guard service was being strengthened, marine police were being organized, and an amendment to the Immigration Ordinance to strengthen the government’s hands would be enacted. He added the further pertinent information that the High Commissioner was being authorized to deduct from future quotas the number of illegal immigrants apprehended in the country.
Public interest in Palestine, fully aroused by this time, was fanned by the partisan press and by the occurrence of a number of incidents. The fourth ship mentioned by Mr. MacDonald, the Panagiya Correstrio, provided a crowning cause célèbre. Jewish reaction was one of disillusionment and bitterness against the British Government, that of the Arabs one of irritation and apprehension. The former apathy of the British authorities was transformed into a determination to enforce the law, a resolve made more difficult by their natural pity for the plight of the refugees.
The Panagiya Correstrio was a small Greek schooner with literally no proper accommodations for its 182 Jewish refugees from Europe. [Page 746] Although at first Insisting that the ship put out to sea after being provisioned, the authorities finally permitted it to land its human cargo on April 24 but instituted proceedings against the ship and its passengers. Their decision was clearly prompted by the obvious un-seaworthiness of the ship, its lack of provisions, the pitiful plight of the passengers and the extremely bitter feeling in Jewish circles.
In addition to these cases, the Jewish press played up the case of two women and three children who were apprehended on April 17 at Rosh Pinah after a trek of four months from Bokhara. These persons were alleged to have been set free and told to cross into Syria but, having got lost, they returned again to the police post. They are understood then to have been sentenced to one month imprisonment.
To aggravate the situation further, 218 Jewish refugees were found on the beach near Ashkelon on April 23, having been left there by an unknown ship after thirty-six days at sea. They were interned, suffering from hunger and exhaustion, at the military camp at Sarafand. Together with those from the Panagiya Correstrio they will, it is understood, be interned in a special camp near Mt. Tabor.
[Here follows editorial reaction of the Jewish and the Arab press.]
Thus, we find the stage set for the special measures promised by Mr. MacDonald. These took the form of the amendment to the Immigration Ordinance referred to in my opening paragraph. This enactment, published in Supplement No. 1 to Gazette Extraordinary No. 884 of April 27, 1939, strengthened the hands of the authorities by:
- (a)
- Increasing maximum penalties for aiding and abetting persons in contravening immigration laws from £P. 200 and/or up to one year in prison, to £P. 1,000 and up to two years in prison;
- (b)
- Extending the existing provisions relating to the forfeiture of ships engaged in the transport of illegal immigrants to include vessels up to 1,000 tons, the previous law having put such figure at 250 tons;
- (c)
- Increasing the maximum fine on ship-owners from £P. 1,000 fine to £P. 10,000 fine and/or imprisonment up to five years.
- (d)
- Permitting the stopping and bringing into port and detention on suspicion of vessels suspected of harboring illegal immigrants; and
- (e)
- Permitting the use of force against vessels which do not stop when signalled. Such vessels may be fired at after the firing of a warning shot.
It is not unlikely that the energy, speed and determination of the Government in taking measures to stop illegal immigration will act as a greater deterrent than the enactment itself. It is understood, too, that more care is being used in the granting of temporary visitors’ visas for Palestine to prevent refugees finding permanent haven here in the guise of visitors. I am aware that this latter practice has been [Page 747] prevalent, for this office has received several hundreds of applications for immigration visas for the United States by such persons whose names will not be reached on the quota waiting list for many years.
The measures adopted will probably result in curtailment of illegal immigration. Without such action, local British official circles believe, the solution of the Palestine problem will be difficult, if not impossible. They welcome particularly the attitude adopted in this regard at the London Conference. There, I am reliably informed, Mr. MacDonald stated categorically to the Arab delegates that he realized the Arabs were above all anxious to be rid of uncertainty with regard to immigration and fear of domination by the Jews but that he was persuaded a five-year period ending in a definite maximum for Jewish population would afford the desired assurance.
Respectfully yours,