(ZIONISM)

With the passage of time, the attitude of the British Government toward the Zionist enterprise worsened, as the Arabs became increasingly vocal and extremist in their demands. While the Peel Commission of 1936 recommended partition of the Land and the establishment of two independent states, one Jewish, the other Arab - the notorious White Paper of 1939 scuttled the partition plan and instead, effectively closed the doors of Jewish immigration to the Land. According to the terms of the White Paper, over the next five years (1939-1944), a total of 50,000 Jews would be allowed entry into the land, after which time "no further Jewish immigration will be permitted unless the Arabs of Palestine are prepared to acquiesce in it." This draconic legislation was designed to ensure that the Jews remain a minority in Palestine and the Arabs an overwhelming majority. Coinciding with the approaching European Holocaust, the White Paper spelled a death-knell not only for the Zionist enterprise, but for Europe's Jews, who denied sanctuary, were doomed for destruction