Mr. Aydelotte: Do you think the United Nations or some other outside authority should force the Arabs to allow unlimited immigration into Palestine, or do you think they should take the Arab point of view into consideration and close off immigration? Just what do you think should be done with Palestine by whoever power has the trusteeship over it?
Einstein: There is a great difficulty with the refugees. Of course, there should be something done about them. I believe it is natural to bring the bulk of them to Palestine. In Palestine the Jews who are already there will take care of the ones that are brought in. I believe that such kind of action should not be taken from a political standpoint but from a human standpoint. It would be best for the people of Palestine to feed those people and take care of them. I believe it is quite natural that they can take into their homes people who have no place to stay.
Mr. Aydelotte: What would you do if the Arabs refused to consent to bringing these refugees to Palestine? Suppose the Arab population were prepared to resist it by force; would you compel them by force to receive the refugees?
Einstein: That would never be the case if there were no politics. But there are not only Arab politicians but Jewish politicians as well.
Mr. McDonald: would you eliminate the Jewish and Arab politicians both?
Einstein: No, you cannot eliminate them. If you eliminate one, ten others grow up in their place.
Mr. Aydelotte: An Arab was talking this afternoon before you came in, and he is a man who has lived in Palestine the greater part of his life. He contends that the Arabs are afraid and they need no instigation to resist Jewish immigration. They are afraid that the Zionists are trying to develop a majority in Palestine so that they will have political control. Of course, the Arabs are in the majority now, but they fear that the Jews may attain a majority and then they would be in the minority
Einstein: But who has created that mentality? If the people work together, they will not care anything about the idea of who has the biggest number. The number doesn’t count if it is not politically activized. Nobody is interested in how many people in the United States speak French, German, English or Italian. It is all in the minds of the people.
Mr. Grossman: Do you believe that what you have complained about has been caused by the British in Palestine?
Einstein: I do not say that is the the British alone.
Mr. Grossman: No, but you feel that the state of mind to which you refer is not there?
Einstein: I do
Mr. Grossman: And do you think the state of mind is currently there to produce people who are willing to accept each other?
Einstein: No.
Mr. Grossman: but they are shooting each other.
Einstein: yes,
Mr. Grossman: Is it a figment of the imagination of newspaper editors or is it a fact?
Einstein: Yes, they are shooting each other over there.
Mr. Grossman: then the state of mind is sufficient for shooting
Einstein: No, you see, what is happening now in Palestine is that , of course, they see their mother and father and brother being sent out of Europe and the government takes over their country, and there is no place left for them to go.
Mr. Grossman: But from the point of view of the British, the motive does not affect you. Suppose you were to reverse the situation and allow unrestricted immigration into Palestine, and allowed the Jews to come in, is it just a British imperialistic fiction that suggests to you that the Arabs might shoot?
Einstein: No it not a fiction.
Mr. Grossman: It is not a fiction, it is a fact. But if you were to recommend sending the Jews there to Palestine despite the danger of the Arabs shooting ..
Einstein: i believe that danger is not so great as some people think it is.
Mr. Grossman: Then, under this terrible British imperialism, this terrible British realism, the people in Palestine will be stimulated to further shooting …
Einstein: Oh, no, it will not be bad.
Mr. Grossman: Oh, it not going to be so wicked from now on?
Einstein: No. There is an enmity between nationalities, but it is not enough to make them shoot each other
Mr. Grossman: But in the past, you think that the British have aroused such hatred that he Arabs will now continue to hate the Jewish immigrants but will not shoot them
Einstein: Yes.
Mr. Grossman: You think the British are so clever that they can control to a degree the hatred of the Arabs for the Jews, but that th Arabs will not shoot them?
Einstein: Oh, now –
Mr. Grossman: You are certainly a great admirer of my country. Another question: Since the British are, according to your point of view, completely incompetent to rule in the various parts of the world where they have ruled –
Einstein: No, oh, no.
Mr. Grossman: Well, at least in Palestine – you say they should not rule Palestine. Would you be prepared to advocate publicly that the American people should take over the mandate and assume full military responsibility for unlimited Jewish immigration, and thereby prove –
Einstein: No, I would not do that. I would be King of Palestine if I did that . God forbid.
Mr. Grossman: Your point of view is that you wish to blame the British, and you are not prepared to suggest that the other great democracies, since we have failed, should take responsibility for carrying out the job which we have failed to do . We have failed, according to you. Why shouldn’t you take the responsibility and show how wrong we are?
Mr. McDonald: When he says “you,” he means the United States.
Mr. Grossman: Yes, the United States.
Einstein: It should be done under an international regime.
Mr. Grossman: Well, what soldiers should go there to Palestine to carry out the American policy?
Einstein: there should be be a mixed organization.
Mr. Grossman: So, the officials could be of 54 nations or 6 or 5 or 2?
Einstein: I think it should be arrange.
Mr. Grossman: But you would not advise the US to do it alone
Einstein: No.
Mr. Grossman: You think it is too much for one nation to do?
Einstein: No, I believe that any enterprise that is not too difficult , if successfully done, could be done by an international organization.
Mr. Adelotte: What is your attitude toward the idea of a political Zionism, a political Jewish state, as versus a cultural center? There are two conceptions of Palestine. You understand them.
Einstein: Yes, I was never in favor of a state
Judge Hutcheson: It has been told to our committee by the Zionists that the passionate heart of every Jew will never be satisfied until they have a Jewish state in Palestine. it is contended, I suppose, that they must have a majority over the Arabs. It has been told to us by the Arab reps that eh Arab are not going to permit any such condition as that, that they will not permit having themselves converted from a majority to a minority.
Einstein: yes
Judge Hutcheson: I have asked these various person if it is essential to the right or the privilege of the Jews to go to Palestine, if it is essential to real Zionism that a set up be fixed so that the Jews may have a Jewish state and a Jewish majority without regard to the Arab view. Do you share that point of view, or do you think the matter can be handled on any other basis?
Einstein: Yes, absolutely. The state idea is not according to my heart. I cannot understand why it is needed. It is connected with many difficulties and a narrow-mindedness and a narrow-mindedness. I believe it is bad.
Judge Hutcheson: Isn’t it spiritual and ethical – I do not mean this particular Zionist movement, i do not mean the idea of insisting that a Jewish state must be created – isn’t it anachronistic?
Einstein: In my opinion, yes, I am against it – but not for the same reasons that Mr. Rosenwald has stated.
Judge Hutcheson: No. Well, I am obliged to you.
Mr Buxton: Professor, in your general impeachment of British colonial rule, you did not quite explain why it is to the interest of the British to stir up strife over a country where the responsibility of governing the country rests with them. Why should they make their own task more difficult?
Einstein: If people are united with each other and they come to the idea that they do not need the foreign rule, then they want to make themselves independent. Evey country with a decent standard of living will have, of course, its idea and will strive forward. So an enduring rule is not impossible if you keep down the burden of the people. That is my thesis.
Mr. Aydelotte: What you are saying is not very convincing because the British nation has for a long time specialize in bringing independence to other nations, and has given independence to a large number of colonies which they formerly ruled. Of course, the British do not rule Palestine. They have a Mandate –
Einstein: Unhappily.
Mr. Aydelotte: But, after all, they have to make an annual report. i do not quite get your idea of why the situation in Palestine is maintained as an advantage to the British.
Einstein: At the present time the whole situation makes for trouble. A little enmity is good for everybody but much it not.
Mr. Crum: I should like to have you accept my statement on the basis of personal experience with this Commission. Our British and American colleagues are doing everything in their power to find a speedy solution to the Palestine problem. I for one think it wrong for you, as citizen of the world, to say that this committee is a smokescreen because, believe me, sir, it is not.
Einstein: How can you know it is not?
Mr. Crum: I know it from my own activities.
Einstein: Yes, but you estimate it is not a smoke-screen. I believe the Colonial Office makes it that.
Mr. Crum: May I suggest, Doctor, that you judge us by the actions following the recommendations of the committee.
Einstein: I would be glad to be wrong. Nobody would be more elated than I.
Letter from Maurice Dunay – January 13, 1946
My dear Dr. Einstein:
There can be no greater harm done to any man’s life than to be betrayed by one who is supposedly one’s friend. Your statement in opposition to a Jewish homeland in Palestine at this tragic moment in Jewish history fills me with a certain horror and sincere doubt as to your mental processes. In view of the overwhelming number of Jews who are for it and for whom there is no other hope, would it not have been better to remain silent? Or is the thinking of the soil of Naziland too deeply ingrained for any logic to be used on the Jewish question? What terrible damage you have done to the haunted Jews of Europe! And also to your prestige!
Letter to Maurice Dunay from Einstein
January 19, 1946
Dear Sir:
I have served as a witness before the Anglo-American Inquiry Commission on Palestine for the sole purpose to act in favor of our just cause. But it is, of course, impossible to prevent distortion by the press. I am in favor of Palestine being developed as a Jewish Homeland but not as a separate state. It seems to me a matter of simple common sense that we cannot ask to be given the political rule over Palestine where two thirds of the population are not Jewish. What we can and should ask is a secured bi-national status in Palestine with free immigration. If we ask more we are damaging our own cause, and it is difficult for me to grasp that our own Zionists are taking such an intransigent position which can only impair our common cause.
Sincerely yours,
Albert Einstein
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