THE RETURN TO PALESTINE

Evening Star, Issue 16663, 20 February 1918, Page 8

THE RETURN TO PALESTINE

MORE FACTS FOR.ZIONISTS. (By a correspondent of the 'London Chronicle.') The second objection to the Zionist acheme iY concerned with the plan of administration hitherto favored by the Zionists. I say "hitherto," because it is quite possible that wiser counsels may now prevail, though nothing has been publicly •aid to warrant this assumption. What tie-Zionists propose is to establish themselves in Palestine by means of a Chartered Company. This in an ingenious device for enabling them to obtain a preponderance in the country more rapidly than by the natural growth of the Jewish population, or by their economic success in free competition with the Mohammedan and Christian inhabitants. Before - the war the Jews formed only about 12 •per cent, of the population of Palestine—roughly, 100,000 against) 600,000 Mohammedans and 200,000 Christians—and when the war is over this proportion will probably be much diminished. In these conditions it would obviously take years to obtain a numerical and economic preponderance on ,any democratic basis. Accordingly the Zionists have imagined a Chartered Company, composed entirely of Jews, which would be empowered to deal with Palestine as a sort of Nigeria or Rhodesia, unfitted for democratic institutions, and would be entrusted—besides their own administrative autonomy . ~-with the economic exploitation and development of the country on a more or less monopolistic basis. In this way they . would be able to offer such attractions to Jewish immigrants as to ensure a Tapid Increase in the Jewish population, while at the same time they would acquire a hold on the land and on public works which would guarantee their economic and political preponderance. Among the privileges contemplated are preferences in the acquisition of Crown lands and the construction of railways and ports (Gaster, in, the 'Pall Mall Gazette,' April 3, 1917), and facilities for the expropriation of the Arabs (Zangvvill : 'Emancipation Juive,' January, 1917). When, in this way, the necessary Jewish preponderance has been secured, normal political conditions might te restored, and Palestine would be ripe for Jewish self-government, either as a dependency of the British Crown or as an independent State. AN UNACCEPTABLE SCHEME. Whether Palestine is quite in the same social and political category as Rhodesia, or even Nigeria, and thus nnsuited for the ■forms of a free democratic government need not be discussed. It should, however, be noted that under the present Ottoman constitution those forms exist more or less nominally in the country, and no annexing State could abolish them or modify them without risking very serious odium and creating a precedent which might have lamentable consequences in the reconstruction of En rone. However that may be, it is certain that the Jews cannot afford to have anything to do with so sinister a scheme. Any action of this kind for their benefit would, indeed, prove a veritable calamity for the whole Jewish people. In all the countries in which the Jews live the principle of equal rights for all religions denominations is vital jor them. WeTe they to set an example in Palestine of disregarding this principle they would not only convict themselves of having championed it for purely selfish motives, and thus justify the lowest antiSemitic estimates of their civic character, but they would forge a weapon which anti-Semiticism everywhere would endeavour to use against them. In the countries in which, they are still struggling for equal rights they would find them" selves hopelessly compromised, while in otheT countries where those riVhfcs have been secured they would nave difficulty in defending them. The Jews cannot have it both ways. If in and America they demand equal rights, as an act of justice they cannot refuse these Tights to Mohammedans in Palestine «o plea of expediency can avail them, lne precedent would be especially deadlv m Poland, where the future of 2,000.000 Jews wat stake, and where the dominant population would be glad of any excuse to secure their own preponderance by refusng equal rights to so powerful a minority. Taken in conjunction with the Zionist theory of the perpetual alienage ot the Jews in non-Jewish countries the proposed Palestinian Charter would render the .situation of the Jews all over the world intolerable, and might even, in some countries, as, for example, Germany and Austria, lead to a revival of Jewish disabilities. . LNTER-RACIAL AD RELIGIOUS FEUDS. In Palestine itself it would create the bitteresfi inter-racial and religious feuds I he Suzerain Power would, moreover have no small difficulty in explaining itself to the Mohammedans of Egypt and India and more particularly to *the Arabs of •Mesopotamia, who were assured by the late General Maude that one of the main purposes of Great Britain and her Allies in the present war was to'liberate the Arab race from alien rule, and to cause it to rise once more to greatness and renown among the peoples of the earth." Nor is the scheme necessary for the Zionists iloly Land is as great as they gay it is they cannot require the bribes of political privileges and economic concessions to induce them to flock into the country in . large numbers, and to work their hardest for its prosperity. If they have the qualities to fit them to give a ne w life to Palestine they will prevail over other races without any artificial aids; if they have not these qualities, the privileges 7 - an a will be, in a material sense, injurious to the country. A third objection remains to be mentioned. As I have already said, all Jews hope that Palestine may now have a chance of becoming the seat of a flourishing Jewish community, a model of Jewish life, and a spiritual reservoir for the whole of Jewry. But if this hope is to be realised the new settlement must be iept free from the larger political controversies which now agitate the world. Tt would be deplorable if the return of the Jews to Palestine were onlv to plunge the country and the Jews themselves, into fresh, troubles This, however, is very likely to be the result of the scheme of free Jewish immigration on a nationalist ' • T lS ' m, ls contemplated by the Zionists I he danger is that, by a free immigration on a nationalist basis, German influence m Palestine would be immensely strengthened for the whole intellectual leadership of Zionism-eapecially of political Zionism—is German (Zangwill, ' Daily Chronicle,' July 22, 1915). The majority of the members of the governing bodies ot the movement are German; the headquarters beiore the war were always either Austrian or German • the bulk of Zionist teratnre and the whole of its official literature are German; the skilled administration in Palestine itself is under German management. Indeed, without German Zionist aid very little could bo "done by the new settlers In these circumstances, L lB ./t rfeCt i y t' lear that the immigration would have to be carefully controlled, and could vnot be managed on a purely nationalist basis. It is idle to sav that German Zionists would leave their demon sympathies behind them as soon as they joined a Jewish nationality in Palestine. Jewish patriotism is not of that flexible kind, and, if the conditions were reversed it is certain that English Zionists would not so easily abandon their British sympathies. The German Zionists, indeed, already assure their Government that German interests would be served by their settlement in Palestine (Treitschke,' Juden und Deutsche,' 1915). But the danger is not merely from the German Zionists, but from German Jews generally. Once Jewish _ immigration is admitted on a Jewish nationalist basis only, there would be nothing to prevent an influx of German Jews who were only concerned to serve the political interests of their Fatherland. There are in Germany far more German-Jewish patriots than there are Zionists, precisely as there .are in England, immeasurably more British Jews, who regard the interests of Great Britain as their first political care, than there are Zionists. • There is, however, no reason -why any of these objections should prove insuperable obstacles to a combined Jewish effort to , «ive practical effect Jo the scheme out-

lined by His Majesty's GoverameaA. They cannot mature for a very long time yet. The main thing is for the Zionists to abandon their claim that the Jews constitute everywhere a homeless and separate nationality. Let them claim this for themselves if they please; but to claim it for those who repudiate it is surely unreasonable. It can only perpetuate discords and controversies, which must prove fatal to t(he substance of all their hopes. G.S.E.