Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine : The question of Palestinian self-determination is complex due to Palestine's long history of occupation and administration by foreign nations. This question was further complicated when, in November 1917, U.K. Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour announced his support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. This Declaration increased tensions between Palestinians and Jews, which culminated in the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 against the British mandatory government of Palestine. In response to the Revolt, the British government issued the White Paper on Palestine in 1939, which reversed much of British foreign policy towards Palestine, placing quotas on Jewish immigration and giving the British administration the power to limit Jewish land acquisitions. Meanwhile, in June 1945, U.S. President Truman commissioned Earl G. Harrison to study the condition of European Jewish displaced persons (DPs) at the conclusion of World War II. Harrison released a report in August 1945, in which he recommended 100,000 European Jews be immediately admitted into Palestine. The British government denounced the Harrison report, partly because it was conducted without British input.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin responded in November 1945 by calling for further inquiry to be conducted jointly by American and British representatives. Six American and six British delegates were appointed to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry to "examine political, economic and social conditions in Palestine as they bear upon the problem of Jewish immigration" (Report of the Anglo-America Committee of Inquiry, 1946, p.1). The Committee faced three issues: one, what ought to be done with European Jewish DPs who survived Nazi persecution; two, how should Palestinian immigration policy be organized; and three, how should the Palestinian state be structured and administered in order to enact such an immigration policy?
The Committee convened in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1946 and held public hearings from January 7 to January 14. After concluding the January hearings, the Committee travelled to London, U.K. to examine the British government's policies towards Palestine. In February, they split into several subcommittees and travelled to various locations on the European continent to examine conditions of Jewish refugees and the positions of various European governments. They reconvened in Cairo, Egypt on February 28 and moved to Jerusalem, Palestine on March 6. Here, they presided over a second set of public hearings from March 8 to March 26. In total, seventeen public hearings were conducted.
The Committee heard testimony from a range of experts and interested parties to the economic and political questions in Palestine. They heard from Jewish and Arab organizations, as well as Christian organizations, humanitarian organizations, economists, demographics and public works experts, and a number of independent witnesses. On April 30, 1946, the Committee released a report with their recommendations to the American and British governments. The report included recommendations to issue 100,000 immigration certificates for European Jews to immigrate to Palestine and to continue the British Mandatory government pending the establishment of a United Nations trusteeship.
The British government largely rejected the recommendations of the Committee while the American government only endorsed the Committee's recommendation to open Palestinian immigration to 100,000 European Jews. In May 1947, the British government referred the question to the United Nations. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was formed on May 15, 1947.
