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Robert Rockaway is former associate professor in the Dept. of Jewish History at Tel-Aviv University. His most recent books are, Words of the Uprooted: Jewish Immigrants in Early 20th Century America (Cornell University Press, 1998); and But He Was Good to His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters (Gefen, 2000).
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By Robert Rockaway
December 25, 2002
In December 1942, a week after the U.S. state Department confirmed that the Nazis had embarked on a plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe, President Franklin Roosevelt met with his Treasury Secretary Hans Morgenthau. After discussing the nation's monetary situation, the president surprised Morgenthau by saying he had a plan that would lead to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. That evening Morgenthau recorded this conversation in his diary. The entry is dated December 3, 1942.
Morgenthau and Roosevelt were long-time New York neighbors and friends, and when Roosevelt entered the White House, he appointed Morgenthau as his Secretary of the Treasury. Morgenthau held this post from 1933 to Roosevelt's death in 1945. Morgenthau and Roosevelt met on a regular basis and Morgenthau kept a record of these meetings in his diary.
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"I actually would put a barbed wire around Palestine, and I would begin to move the Arabs out of Palestine.... Each time we move out an Arab we would bring in another Jewish family." - former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as quoted by Treasury Secretary Hans Morgenthau
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Morgenthau writes that after discussing financial matters, Roosevelt broached the subject of Palestine. Roosevelt said the he had pretty well made up his mind on what he was going to do. "What I think I will do is this. First, I would call Palestine a religious country. Then I would leave Jerusalem the way it is and have it run by the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, the Protestants, and the Jews -- have a joint committee to run it. They are doing it all right now and we might as well leave it that way."
Then the president went on and said, "I actually would put a barbed wire around Palestine, and I would begin to move the Arabs out of Palestine."
Morgenthau asked the Roosevelt how he would do that, saying, "Would you have the Jews buy up the land?"
Roosevelt answered, "No, but I would provide land for the Arabs in some other part of the Middle East, and I know there are plenty of places. Each time we move out an Arab we would bring in another Jewish family."
Morgenthau asked Roosevelt, "Would you propose that the majority should be Jews in Palestine?"
Roosevelt said, "Yes, 90% of them should be Jews, but I don't want to bring in more than they can economically support."
Morgenthau asked, "Well, what kind of place would it be?"
Roosevelt said, "It would be an independent nation just like any other nation -- completely independent. Naturally, if there are 90% Jews, the Jews would dominate the government." He added, "There are lots of places to which you could move the Arabs. All you have to do is drill a well because there is this large underground water supply, and we can move the Arabs to places where they can really live."
Morgenthau ends this entry by writing, "I was surprised to find that the President was studying this thing with so much interest and had gone as far as he had in making up his mind on what he wants to do. It was most encouraging to me and most heartening."
Roosevelt did not live long enough to act on his plan. But it is interesting to speculate about what would have happened if he had.
Morgenthau's diary entry can be found in: Robert H. Abzug, America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945: A Brief Documentary History (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999), 134-135; "Concerning Placing Jewish Refugees, Morgenthau Diaries, December 3, 1942, in America and the Holocaust: Responsibility for America's Failure, vol. 13, ed. David S. Wyman (Garland Publishing, 1991), 8-9.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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