JEWISH NATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 150, 26 June 1943, Page 5

JEWISH NATION

HOPE AND HOMELAND

AN URGENT PROBLEM "The greatest slaughter in history!" That wa,s how Dr. Michael Traub, Official Representative of the Jewish Agency in Palestine, described the set j object of the extermination of the Jewish people—his own people. He lias come to New Zealand, as he went to Australia, to tell of the hopes and aims of his people for their deliverance from their Nazi oppressors, and of their return to and settlement' in theii* own land of Palestine. In the course of an interview with "The Post" Dr. Traub made it quite clear that the earnest desire, the burning hope of the Jewish people was the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish commonwealth within the framework of the British Commonwealth of, Nations. He did not dwell on the agony of the Jews, their fiendish tortures at the hands of Hitler and his Nazis, but he made it perfectly clear that Hitler's solution of the Jewish problem was the extermination of the Jewish people, "for (lie added) it is easier to murder Jews than to take Stalingrad." That solution, that policy Hitler was putting into execution with unbridled lerocity. Dr. Traub referred to Mr. Anthony Eden's declara- | tion in the House of Commons on Dej cember 17, expressive of sympathy and indignation over the Nazi atrocities perpetrated on Jews "but (he added) deeds, surely, must follow sympathy." The problem now was to save as many Jews from Europe as it was possible to save—while there; was yet time. Describing the Jewish situation in Europe, Dr. Traub pointed out that 2,500,000 Jewish men, women, and children had already been slaughtered in Nazi Europe. Out of the , total Jewish population of 7,000,000 who! lived in those countries on the eve of the wafl, only 4,500,000 remained alive. "We do not know,'' he went on, "what will happen to them, but we still hope that millions will survive. "Where shall these pepole go after the war?" he asked. PALESTINE THE ONLY PLACE. "Overseas countries will be con- j fronted with their own post-war problems, and we Jews are afraid that the difficult task of enabling millions of returned soldiers to re-enter economic life will prove a popular argument against a liberal immigration policy. A great part of the world will thus be closed, and we know from all experience that the only lasting solution of the Jewish immigration problem will be Palestine." Dr. Traub described how the Jews had their chance of establishing a flourishing nation in Palestine under the Balfour Declaration; but under the terms of the White Paper of 1939 Jewish immigration into Palestine was

limited to 75,000 during the following five years and it was to cease in 1944. The implementing of this policy, said Dr. Traub, would frustrate the hopes of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people, refugees from the Nazi and Fascist tyranny. "There were 50.000 Jews in Palestine at the beginning of settlement there: today there are 550,000, a modernised Jewish society, enterprising, industrious, cultured people, x*eady to defend their homeland, as they have proved in this present war. There is no reason why 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 Jews should- not be able to enter Palestine during the first decad& after the war." LAND OF AMPLE RESOURCES. "Can the country carry them?" Dr. Traub was asked. He replied that it could well do so, under modern scientific conditions of development of the land and its resources. "In that sense," he said, "Palestine has been barely scratched. The absorptive capacity of the land is at least 6,000,000. It is for us Jews to develop Palestine-along tile lines we have followed during the past 20 years. A Jewish commonwealth within the framework of the British Commonwealth of Nations will serve the interests not only of the j Jewish people but also of Great Brii tain in the Near East." When asked about relations with the Arabs in Palestine, Dr. Traub said he was confident that Jews and Arabs possessed a community of interests in Palestine and that they could live amicably together. "There is room enough in Palestine," he said, "for the million Arabs and for those millions of Jews who will enlarge its absorptive capacity by their labour and constructive work. "We know," he said, "that the Arab riots were the result of German and Italian propaganda, but once that is eliminated from Berlin and Rome after the war there will be peace in Palestine. We Jews as a constructive factor are called upon to play .an important role in the development of Palestine and the surrounding countries." Dr. Traub concluded by saying that the New Zealand soldiers who had served in the last war in Palestine and in this war were the best judges of the progress achieved by the Jewish community in Palestine during the last twenty-five years. Thousands of New Zealand and Australian soldiers were guests in the Jewish settlements, and "we Palestinian Jews," he said, "were glad to have them in our midst. I am sure that, appreciating our achievements, they understand our problem and will extend to us their sympathy and good wishes for the solution of that problem."