דיוני ועדת הסוכנות להעברת אוכלוסין 1937-1938 (פרק בהכנות הסוכנות היהודית לביצוע החלוקה)

In July 1937 the report of the 'Royal Commission on Palestine' was issued, with its central conclusion being a recommendation for the partitioning of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. In anticipation of the impending application of the commission's recommendations, the political division of the Jewish Agency established a number of committees charged with examining these recommendations and formulating the Agency's response. One such body was the Committee on Transfer of Populations. This committee was to take up all the implications for the transfer of lands and populations, which served as a proviso for implementation of the commission's program. The committee was active from November 1937 to June 1938. Its deliberations were secret, and dealt primarily with the practical aspects involved in the transfer of the Arab population from those parts of Palestine designated for the Jewish state, while eschewing almost any ideological considerations. The committee's inspiration, as well as that of the Royal Commission, derived primarily from the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923. But the committee could not formulate a program for the transfer of the Arab population and the consignment of the vacated lands to Jewish ownership. The reasons for this failure were the committee's inability to demonstrate even in part the moral propriety of such a plan, as well as the recognition that the transfer was not practically feasible, as neither Great Britain nor any other international body would be willing to undertake such a project. The committee ceased to function without presenting a final report.