(Signed) Imperiali.
M. Nahum Sokolow,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
In [♦]President Wilson’s address to Congress of January 8th, 1918, a speech commonly regarded as a complete statement of the objects for which the Allied Powers were fighting, the twelfth of the articles in the programme of the world’s peace was stated thus:—
[♦] “President’s” replaced with “President”
“The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.”
This statement was regarded by Zionists as signifying the sympathetic attitude of the American Government, and especially of its President, to the Zionist movement. President Wilson is regarded as the spokesman of the Entente principles, and it is well known to Zionists that his attitude is favourable to the realization of Zionist aims, because the latter are in complete harmony with the principle of justice to small nationalities, of which President Wilson is the clearest and most outspoken exponent. His address makes no specific reference to the Jewish question or to Palestine, but his intention is perfectly clear.
In August, 1918, President Wilson wrote the following letter:—
“I have watched with deep and sincere interest the reconstructive work which the Weizmann Commission has done in Palestine at the instance of the British Government, and I welcome an opportunity to express the satisfaction I have felt in the progress of the Zionist Movement in the United States and in the Allied countries since the Declaration by Mr. Balfour on behalf of the British Government of Great Britain’s approval of the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and his promise that the British Government would use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of that object, with the understanding that nothing would be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in other countries. I think that all Americans will be deeply moved by the report that even in this time of stress the Weizmann Commission has been able to lay the foundation of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem with the promise that that bears of spiritual rebirth.”
