White Paper of 1939

The White Paper of 1939' (also known as Macdonald's White Paper) or by its official name "Palestine, a Policy Statement", is a policy document presented to the British Parliament by Colonies Minister Malcolm MacDonald in May 1939, issued to severely limit the immigration of the Jews and significantly limit the purchase of land Arab owned, in the hands of Jews.

White Paper of 1939

It is the "infamous 1939 White Paper, which limited Jewish immigration to just 75,000 souls for the next five years. This onerous and draconian policy, coming as it did on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, was a death blow to millions of Jews attempting to flee extermination by Nazi Germany."

It came after a bloody Arab terror campaign, especially 1936-9, whereby various groups, more predominantly of genocidal Grand Mufti of Jerusalem al-Husseini, his gangs, waging a jihad against: (1) British police, (2) moderate Arabs and (3) racist-Arab attacks against any Jews.

The British government decided the Peel Commission’s partition plan was no longer feasible and determined that a unitary state should be created in Palestine with a limit to Jewish immigration and land acquisition. The Jewish Agency for Palestine issued a scathing response to the White Paper, saying the British were denying the Jewish people their rights in the “darkest hour of Jewish history.”

The document was published on May 17, 1939 and approved by the House of Representatives on May 23 of the same year, with a majority of 281 against 181.[3] The document was received with fury by the Jewish community in Israel who saw it as a betrayal of the British and a violation of their commitments as expressed in the Balfour Declaration. The document received the derogatory nicknames Sefer HaMa'al - The 'Fraud Paper' or the Black Book.

At the May 23, 1939 discussion, Winston Churchill ended his remarks by saying

I end upon the land of Palestine. It is strange indeed that we should turn away from our task in Palestine at the moment when, as the Secretary of State told us yesterday, the local disorders have been largely mastered. It is stranger still that we should turn away when the great experiment and bright dream, the historic dream, has proved its power to succeed. Yesterday the Minister responsible descanted eloquently in glowing passages upon the magnificent work which the Jewish colonists have done. They have made the desert bloom. They have started a score of thriving industries, he said. They have founded a great city on the barren shore. They have harnessed the Jordan and spread its electricity throughout the land. So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population. Now we are asked to decree that all this is to stop and all this is to come to an end. We are now asked to submit—and this is what rankles most with me—to an agitation which is fed with 2179foreign money and ceaselessly inflamed by Nazi and by Fascist propaganda.

It is 20 years ago since my right hon. Friend used these stirring words: A great responsibility will rest upon the Zionists, who, before long, will be proceeding, with joy in their hearts, to the ancient seat of their people. Theirs will be the task to build up a new prosperity and a new civilisation in old Palestine, so long neglected and mis-ruled. Well, they have answered his call. They have fulfilled his hopes. How can he find it in his heart to strike them this mortal blow?

The restrictions on the purchase of the land were anchored in the Land Law published by the High Commissioner on February 28.