UNREST IN PALESTINE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 29, 3 August 1923, Page 2

UNREST IN PALESTINE

THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT

BISHOP AVERILL'S OBSER-

VATIONS.

An interesting illustrated lecture on Palestine, its manifold interest to the world at large, and as the historical land administered under British mandate, was delivered to a large and appreciative audience at the Leys Institute, Ponsonhy, on Tueaday evening hy Ur A. W. A mill, Anglican Bishop of Auckland.

riie iJi»Jiop c.»i,l that thp. deliverance of I alentmt, frwn tha misrule of Turkey meant it n ,| e li'/ BW , c , : ;„,„ cen turies of BUignatiwi. Although 8. littl. ; country, of twelv<> iUm&swi u,iU-a muntu, \ "•» geographical positiwi, situated be ! twficri Lgypt anf / Syria, «, ».I, (: great caravan route, had made it to the Eaet what Lelgiurn had l fte! , v , the \V 6 «t. H had been the scene of mighty tonquratg m tlm P aH. Jcnmlttn heW ;m unportant „!»*<. amorist the cities if houth I'aiegtine 1400 years [i.C. It had been deitroycl hy Assyria,,*, Philistines, Arab*, Tersian.,, I'arthianß, Rom-' aria, Crugaf ers, and MoMemn. It had «■Hi.eM«| the rise and fell an d partial rwtwatlon and nu^equent rlfeintegtation of the J cwii ,h riatioll . Kor near] t hou« a nd yea,-5 ft had been tho Holy Lund to rnrilum* of ChriHtianH. and for many centum, one ot the sacred places of th« Mohammedans. ARABS SUSPICIOUS AXD BESENTFL'L.

Uith regard to the present position, it must be remembered that the city was captured by the Arabs. A.D 637 and with the exception of the interval h. imo W3S ,caP tured by the Crusaders 1099, to be ,-aaken by Turkomans i!ri VT" d half of tl)e olcve"Ui ««- tu y lale«t,n c had been more or less subject to the Turks up to the time of qi? urT° by °Cneral A»«iby in , <v i le Prtsent time, according 7filfid7 »St f"* 118 ' thf: Population is 761,647, of wblcll 77 « Mohammedans (Arabs); 11.5 p ei - CPnt . Lhnstians (var.ous); 10.6 per cent, Jews, and 0.9 per cent, other religions. It was only fair to point out that the Jews had not held Palestine since its capture by the Romans 8.C., and that they Had only had a very precarious hold M°JL c "COUlltry after the return r;f y,WJ of them from Babylon by the decree of Cyrus. In view of these facts, the lecturer pointed out that the Balfour Declaration, establishing in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people, was decidedly unpopular with the Arab population, who had for some twelve centuries regarded Palestine as part of their country, and who had assisted the British in delivering it from • . "« kt , The feelin S of suspicion was intensified by the unwise action of the Zionists, and simmering troubles culminated in the refusal of the Arabs to take part in the election of the Legislative Council, which only allowed them twelve out of twenty-five members, although they formed an overwhelming majority of the population. The lecturer enumerated the difficulties which stood in the way of a smooth and amicable working of the Constitution. JEWS UNWILLING TO OCCUPY THE LAND. .Although....he had. no.-.: anti-Semitic feelings, and-.-sympathisedl-, with the Jews in their desire for a national home, he thought the declaration was premature and not sufficiently considered (reports the "Auckland Star") lithe country was large enough to hold the Jewish nation, and if the Jews generally desired to. return and form a united Jewish nation, develop the country and the spirit of nationhood, he would have every sympathy with that desire, but the wording of the Declaration assumes that Jews generally will not leave their present lioiv.es, and there was a danger that the country may really be owned and controlled by absentee landlords in London and New xork. Hie-genius of the Jew at the present time is not pastoral pursuits but commerce and finance, and unless the Zionists are prepared tc develop indUhtrii* in Palestine ha .kubted if fcl lU settlement wou.'d he a success. So f-ir some 16,000 or 18/00 jews had returned under the Zionists' fi.-ig, hal many had left again, and reports as to ihb sitis faction of those remaining were very conflicting. If Palestine was an empty country, and did not contain places held .m sacred veneration by Christians and Mohammedans, one could have had more hope for the success of the movement but he anticipated many difficulties and much trouble unless the situation is handled with extreme tact and in a spirit of fairness and goodwill. In the lecturer's opinion, Britain should have retained the control af the country in her own hands until some real modus vivendi could have been arrived at between the various nationalities concerned, and afterwards it might have been possible to carry out with safety some such scheme -s Zionism. Personally, he would like to have seen Jerusalem, and perhaps Bethlehem, internationalised, and Jerusalem made the headquarters of the League of Nations. He quite agreed with all the Zionist said about tha possibilities of the country, but money must be poured into it like water—and there Hes danger—if it was to regain its well-nigh lost potentialities through the blighting influence and neglect consequent upon Turkish misrule.

Among tho benefits conferred by British rule in Palestine, Bishop Averifl stated, were the establishment of hospitals in Jerusalem and the introduction of a much-needed water supply. Bethlehem was referred to as the cleanest place in Palestine.

Tho speaker literally took his hearers en a sight-soeing trip, describing the main points of interest from Jaffa on to Jerusalem, which was shown pj- etorially on the screen from many aspects. The country in Palestine consisted of fertile valleys amid barren hills. The land was fertile, but there was great need of irrigation. Under cultivation it was capable of producing abundant crops, but the surface had only been scratched by the primitive tillage of the Arabs. ' '