The White Paper of 1939 -- otherwise known as the MacDonald White Paper -- was named for the then British colonial secretary. It stated that as the Balfour Declaration had called only for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and as there were over 450,000 Jews in Palestine, Britain had met its responsibility under the declaration. Therefore, in the future, Britain would work towards the establishment of an independent State in Palestine, over a ten-year period. It stated that over the next five years, it would only admit another 75,000 Jews, and any Jews who arrived illegally would be deducted from the that quota. It also forbade further Jewish purchase of land. The Jews of Palestine and the rest of the Jewish world were outraged at this apparent betrayal by the British. The White Paper also sealed the fate of European Jewry, who now had nowhere to flee.