IHUD (Unity) And League For Jewish-Arab Rapprochement & Agudath Israel in Palestine before 1948 (Nakba),British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 961. Chapter XXIII: Section 2: The Jewish Political Parties: E.

CHAPTER XXIII.
has recently professed "to fight for the abolition of the White Paper and for the free development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine", (manifesto of May, 1945). The party took part in the elections to the Elected Assembly and' polled 3,948 votes, slightly under 2% of the total. Its members were recently admitted to the General Federation of Jewish Labour.

E. IHUD (Unity) and the League for Jewish-Arab Rapprochement.

45. These two organizations are not political parties in the accepted sense and take no part in elections. They are rather in t he nature of political clubs. Thud is opposed to a maximalist Zionist policy and aims at the inclusion of a bi-national Palestinian entity in the framework of a Middle Eastern federation. The membership of the group is small, but it, includes personalities of standing such as Dr. J. L. Magnes, President of the Hebrew University. The League for Jewish-Arab Rapprochement includes Ihud and a number of members of the Hashomer Hatsair (vide paragraph 35 above) and the Poole Zion (vide paragraph 37 above). The League also leans towards a bi-national solution of the Palestine problem, but the members who do not belong to Ihud are opposed to the restriction of Jewish immigration implied in the policy of numerical parity advocated by Ihud. The League has little influence among the general public.

F. Agudath Israel.

46. This is an ultra-religious organization whose members hold the belief that the re-establishment of the Jews in Palestine, following the teaching of the Old Testament, will be accomplished by God in His own time without help from man. Some latitude in the interpretation of this concept is displayed over the immigration question. The organisation consists largely of religious functionaries whose families have been living in Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safad for generations: devoted to religious observances, and supported by co-religionists abroad for their livelihood. Only recently the organisation has begun to support Zionist policy on free immigration and improved facilities for the settlement of Jews in Palestine. There are no accurate figures for the membership of Agudat Israel in Palestine; it is estimated that between 6,000 and 7 ,000 voters participated _in the elections to the all Palestine conference of the organization in 1945. Working class members have formed themselves into a body called Poale Agudath Israel. The organisation is part of a world organisation of orthodox Jews called the Central Agudat Israel (see also section 5 of Chapter XXlI).

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