Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

The Royal Technical Commission of Inquiry was charged with examining the Partition Plan in detail, and was given the freedom to suggest modifications, but I. Galnoor cites: Woodhead may also have received secret instructions to find Partition to be impractical, since, if Britain went to war, she could not afford to face Arab hostility in Palestine and in neighbouring countries.
The terms of reference of the Technical Commission of Inquiry were announced in the White Paper on Policy in Palestine, Command #5634.
The members of the Woodhead Commission included:
* Sir John Woodhead, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., Chairman
* Sir Alison Russell, K.C.
* A. P. Waterfield, C.B.
* S. E. V. Luke, Colonial Office, Secretary

in April, 1938, the members of the Royal Commission arrived in Palestine, to research the issues.
In their report, they proposed two separate plans for partition of Palestine into two states and a British Mandatory Zone,
Time Magazine, in the November 21, 1938 edition, cites: "the Woodhead Commission issued its conclusions. A Babel of contradictions and reservations, this report submitted two new partition schemes and in the same breath admitted it was impossible to divide the country into satisfactory economic, political, racial units. His Majesty's Government there on abandoned partition as "impracticable," announced it would try another timehonored, time-stalling method used successfully when Indian nationalism flared up."
Plan A: was a modified version of the Peel Commission's plan.
Plan B:
Plan C: was supported by the majority of the Commission, which recommended:
* A Jewish state of 1,250 km[3], less than 5% of the area of Palestine, which would consist of a coastal strip of land, no more than twenty kilometers in width, extending from Rehovot רחובות to kibbutz Nachsholim קיבוץ נחשולים, adjacent Zichron Yaakov זכרון יעקב.
* An Arab state to occupy nearly 35% of the remaining territory of central Palestine, south of a line extending across from the northern edge of the Jewish state, and north of a line running approximately from the south end of the Dead Sea ים המלח to Gaza غزة‎.
* The remainder of Palestine, south of the Gaza غزة‎-Dead Sea ים המלח line; north of the Jewish and Arab states; and an enclave around Jerusalem ירושלים, would remain a British Mandatory Zone.

On November 9, 1938, the Woodhead Commission's report was presented to Parliament and published.
The British Gvernment issued a Statement by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, Command # 5893, that "the political, administrative and financial difficulties involved in the proposal to create independent Arab and Jewish States inside Palestine are so great that this solution of the problem is impracticable."