British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 83

CHAPTER II.

Inquiry. Mr. Bevin's statement was criticised by the Arabs for omission to reaffirm the policy of the White Paper and on account of the proposal that the monthly rate of immigration should be maintained; but on the whole it gave satisfaction to them. The Jewish press stigmatized it as a device to postpone a decision on mass immigration and on their political status. Mr. Ben Gurion attacked it in a speech on 28th November to the Jewish Elected Assembly. in which he said* that "the statement was one of contradictions and ambiguities and was intentionally obscure" and "was composed so as to mislead public opinion both in England and America". He affirmed the readiness of the Yishuv "to be killed for the right to come to Palestine and build and for the right to independence in their own country". The Elected Assembly passed a resolution which, as reported in the press, contained the following :--

"The Yiahuv regards the policy enunciated by the Bevin Statement as maintaining the spirit and letter of the White Paper. It changes the right of Jews to return to their homeland into sufferance dependent on the will of others, and bars the way in the face of the survivors from the charnel houses of Europe. It retains the Land Laws which constitute racial discrimination, thus paralyzing the efforts of the Jews in their national homeland. It disavows the Jewish Zionist aspirations, recognised and incorporated in the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate ............................ The Yishuv in Palestine, firmly conscious of its pioneering mission in redeeming its people from exile, and faithful to the memory of the millions of its nation, denounces this policy with a feeling of injury, indignation and anger. The Yishuv challenges this policy and the Jewish people wherever they may be will oppose It".

On 15th and 16th November there were demonstrations of protest in Tel Aviv culminating in looting and mob violence, during which Government offices were severely damaged and the District Office rendered unusable. Curfews were imposed and the mobs dispersed by troops and police. On 15th November the Officer Administering the Government issued a solemn warning in the form of a Proclamation reminding "all citizens that it is their duty to obey the Law and to proceed with their private affairs, under the Law, in an orderly fashion, with good sense and self-discipline". The Proclamation reminded the public of the consequences of the unlawful possession of firearms, bombs, etc., and notified them that unruliness and attempts to disrupt the peace would be punished with the utmost rigour and that armed resistance to the Government and acts of violence against the Government would not be tolerated.
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* As reported in the local press.

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