Photo ofThe London Round Table Conference (1939)

Book Description

London, 1939. Good. The Appeasers of Munich Renege on the Balfour Declaration(THE WHITE PAPER) The London Round Table Conference. Original black and white photograph showing Jews at the Conference together with British representatives. Image of more than 50 people seated at oval shaped table-arrangement. London, England, February 7, 1939 [Photo dated February 16]. Measures 6 1/2 inches x 8 1/2 inches. Press photograph with description on verso. Good condition.The conference opened on February 7, 1939 at St. James Palace at which time Britain had severely restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine. The Jewish delegation was led by Weizmann, Ben-Gurion, and Ben-Zvi, Rabbi Stephen S. Wife (America), and Lord Reading (Anglo-Jewry’s distinguished representative). In addition to these men and other Jewish representatives, also seen in the photograph are Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, chairman of the conference, and members of the British delegations: Lord Halifax, and Malcolm MacDonald (Colonial Secretary). The failure of this St. James conference led to the publication of the infamous British White Paper of May 1939, reneging on the tact promises of the Balfour Declaration and curtailing Jewish immigration even more dramatically to the point that “expansion of the Jewish National Home by immigration (would take place) only if the Arabs are prepare to acquiesce in it.”The White Paper was regarded by the Zionist movement as the final betrayal of Britain’s obligations to the Jewish people under the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. 

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.