Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, 1946 (PDF)
Unsure how to manage Palestine’s future, British and American governments collaborated in forming the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. The Committee’s objective was to find some middle ground between the status of European Jewish refugees and the growing tensions between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. There was Great Power discord on how to reconcile these tensions. It is unclear why the committee thought it should reconcile the matter of European Jewish displaced persons with Palestine’s Arab-Jewish conflict. American President Truman wanted to assist Jewish displaced persons in Europe and the British government particularly Foreign Secretary Bevin was unalterably opposed to allowing more Jews to immigrate to Palestine because he both opposed the Jewish national home idea, and he was terribly afraid of major Arab and Muslim reprisals against British presence in the Middle East if he caved into American overtures for Jewish immigration to Palestine. Singularly important for the future of the Palestinian National Movement, its leaders refused to give testimony to the inquiry committee to join any debate or discussion by the two powers about Palestine’s future. The boycott by Palestinian Arab leaders about discussing Palestine’s future “marked the completion of the expropriation of the Palestinian Arab case from the Palestinians themselves.” (Amicam Nachmani, Great Power Discord in Palestine – The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry into the Problems of European Jewry and Palestine 1945-1946, Cass, 1987, p. 261.
The report suggested that Jewish immigration to Palestine should be increased, specifically suggesting that 100,000 Jewish refugees be allowed to go there. The report recognized deep Arab state anger to additional Jewish immigration. The report did suggest a political resolution to the conflict in Palestine that would include self-governing, independent political entities necessary for both the Jews and Arabs. The committee suggested further exploration of a binational state, but also hinted while not saying so specifically, that a partition might be a potential solution if a political settlement in Palestine could not be reached.
The British did not allow an additional 100,000 Jews to immigrate to Palestine; appeasing Arab views was most important for London. The Committee’s hinting of geographic political partition did give voice to this idea when the UNSCOP Committee met in August 1947, to debate the merit of two states. Ultimately creating two states with an economic union between them was suggested at the UN in November 1947.
The committee made several other frank assessments about the current status quo in Palestine. The report noted that Arab national feeling among the Palestinians was less developed than Jewish national feeling there, and the Report criticized Arab leadership in Palestine, noting, “that The Arabs are divided politically by the personal bickering of the leaders, which still center round the differences of the Husseini’s and their rivals; and socially by the gap which separates the small upper class from the mass of the peasants—a gap which the new intelligentsia is not yet strong enough to bridge. Consequently they have developed no such internal democracy as have the Jews. That their divisions have not been overcome and a formally organized community developed is in part the result of a less acutely self-conscious nationalism than is found today among the Jews. It is, however, also the outcome of a failure of political responsibility. The Arab leaders, rejecting what they regard as a subordinate status in the Palestinian State, and viewing themselves as the proper heirs of the Mandatory Administration, have refused to develop a self-governing Arab community parallel to that of the Jews. Nor, so far, have they been prepared to see their position called in question by such democratic forms as elections for the Arab Higher Committee, or the formation of popularly based political parties.” (p.36). View the pdf of the Committee report here.
Ken Stein March 25, 2025