Einstein on Zionism: He is for a Jewish Homeland, But Not a Separate State

January 21, 1946

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Einstein on Zionism: He is for a Jewish Homeland, But Not a Separate State
Typed Letter Signed
1 page | SMC 392

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      Background

      Having appeared as a witness before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, established in 1945 to consider the issue of Jewish immigration to Palestine, Einstein reviews and explains his testimony.  He went solely to act “in favor of our just cause,” he says. He believes in Palestine as a Jewish homeland but not as a separate state. He feels the Zionists, by asking for more, are taking an intransigent position, which will only “damage our cause.” What he would like to see is a “secured bi-national status in Palestine with free immigration,” adding that it defies common sense to “ask to be given the political rule over Palestine where two thirds of the population are not Jewish.”
       Typed Letter Signed (“A. Einstein”), 1 page, quarto, on his personal embossed letterhead, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey, January 21, 1946. To Henry J. Factor in Indianapolis.
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      A. Einstein,
      112, Mercer Street
      Princeton,
      New Jersey, U.S.A.

      January 21, 1946

      Mr. Henry J. Factor
      P.O.B. 1273
      Indianopolis [sic], Indiana

      Dear Sir:

      I have served as witness before the Anglo-American Inquriy [sic] 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 for 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 Zionists are taking such an intransigent position which can only impair our cause.

      Very truly yours,
      A. Einstein [in autograph]
      Albert Einstein.