Consequences+of+failed+negotiations

Izzy Esler __The Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry (1945)__ Like the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry itself, the negotiations following were unproductive, contradictory, and acceptable to none of the parties involved. No satisfactory solution was reached, largely due to counterproductive acts from the Jews, and uncompromising stances from the Arabs, with equally stubborn third parties whose goals were incompatible. America supported a refuge for Jews; the British tended towards the Arabs and limiting Jewish immigration. Without a reliable plan, Arabs, Jews, the British and Americans were left to hash out particulars. The result was further disintegration of the tenuous situation in Palestine, and further outbreaks of violence. Frustrated and still dogged by anti-Semitism, the Jews were angry that they still had not been guaranteed a national state. Americans and Europeans were alarmed by the volume of displaced Jews flooding refugee camps in West Germany, suspecting a Zionist plot to favor the allowance of Jewish immigration into Palestine. The underground Jewish railroad and Ben-Gurion’s inflammatory remarks about Jewish independence at all cost only made such concerns worse. Clashes between the Jewish and British military increased in frequency and severity, dissolving into brutal acts of back and forth retaliation. The Arabs continued to fear that a Jewish state would affect Palestine economically and demographically, threatening their way of life. In October 1946, they requested a unitary Arab state in which Arabs were the permanent majority. Presumably due to lack of solution, the British Foreign Secretary in Palestine, Bevin, considered handing the whole state over to the UN. President Truman took the opportunity to play it neutral so as not to jeopardize America’s access to oil in the Middle East. His Day of Atonement speech suggested Americans would support the partition of Palestine. It backfired; Arab leaders were angry that Truman had supported the allowance of 100,000 more Jews into Palestine. Zionists continued to pressure him to take a stronger pro-Jewish stance. In the following congressional elections, Republicans (Truman’s opposing party) won both houses of Congress.
 * Chapter 3**
 * 5. Consequences of failed negotiations**