ST. James Conference

1939 ST. JAMES CONFERENCE

Arab Delegates at the St James Conference

The British called a conference for the Jews and Arabs of Palestine. The conference accomplished nothing.

After the British government rejected the Peel Commission's plan for the creation of a Jewish and Arab state in Palestine, they decided to hold a conference between the Arabs and Jews to determine the future of the region. The Jewish delegation, led by Chaim Weizmann, and the Arab delegation, comprised of followers of the Mufti of Jerusalem and more moderate leaders from the Arab National Defense Party of the Nashshibis, met separately since the Arabs refused to recognize the Jewish Agency. The British proposed the establishment of an independent Arab state after admitting an additional 75,000 Jews as a basis for negotiation. However, the Jewish delegation rejected the proposal, viewing it as a negation of the Balfour Declaration, and the Arab delegation also rejected it. The conference lasted from February 7 to March 17, 1939, but broke up without any progress. The British announced that if they couldn't get the opposing sides to agree, they would unilaterally impose their own ideas, which they did through the subsequent White Paper.