Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was a joint British and American attempt in
1946 to find a policy to resolve the growing conflict between
Jews and
Arabs in the
British Mandate of Palestine.
In
1917, Britain drafted the
Balfour Declaration, becoming the first Great Power to support
Zionist demands for a Jewish Homeland in
Palestine. Shortly after, Britain began a
de facto colonial occupation of Palestine following the
annexation of the
Ottoman Empire by the victors of
WWI. As
Jewish immigration to Palestine rose, the British realized the Balfour Declaration's promise of a Jewish National Homeland was incompatible with the wishes of the Arab majority in the region. Following a bloody three year
Arab Uprising, the British reversed the
Balfour Declaration in the
1939 White Paper, which capped Jewish immigration and promised a neither a Jewish nor an Arab, but an independent state to be established within ten years.
The end of
WWII and
the Holocaust left Europe with hundreds of thousands of displaced
Jewish refugees. American public opinion supported a Jewish Homeland, but Britain persisted in opposing Jewish immigration, fearing the instability of Arab nations. Jews in Palestine were waging an underground war against the British occupation, the refugee situation was critical, the British Empire collapsing, the Soviet threat growing, and British and American policy was at loggerheads. The Committee sought a solution in the face of impending disaster.
Members
The committee was comprised of six Americans and six British. Judge ‘Texas Joe' Hutcheson was the American Chairman. He was joined by Frank Aydelotte, William Phillips, Frank Buxton, James G. McDonald, and
Bartley Crum. The group was a diverse group of diplomats, scholars, and politicians, most in favor of the proposal that 100,000 displaced persons be admitted to
Palestine. The British contingent was comprised by
Lord Morrison, Sir Frederick Leggett, Wilfrid Crick, Reginald Manningham Buller, and Richard Crossman, and headed by Sir John Singleton.
Journey
The Committee visited
Washington D.C.,
London to gauge the official policies and position of the two nations. They proceeded to
Vienna to view a displaced persons camp of Holocaust survivors, and then
Cairo to discuss Arab sentiments. The Committee then visits
Palestine. They finally retired to
Switzerland to debate and draft their findings.
Findings
The Committee miraculously arrived at a unanimous decision, despite the vast range of opinions of the members. The Committee approved the American condition of the immediate acceptance of 100,000 displaced persons into Palestine. A binational state in Palestine, in which the interests of both communities were as carefully balanced and protected as under the British Mandate until a
United Nations trusteeship could be implemented. Most details of the plan were intentionally left quite vague in anticipatation of significant hammering out by the two governments.
Effects of the Committee
Within several days of the release of the Committee's findings, its implementation was in jeopardy.
Truman angered the
Labour Party by issuing a statement supporting the 100,000 refugees but refusing to acknowledge other aspects of the finding. A new committee, the
Morrison-Grady Committee was proposed, whose shortly negated many of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry's chief proposals.
*
AACI report*
Immigration into Palestine - Statement by President Truman, October 4, 1946*
What was the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry?
