ZIONISM TO-DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19031, 30 May 1925, Page 1 (Supplement)

ZIONISM TO-DAY.

ITS AIMS AND TASKS. r.Y KOTAiIE. The future of Palestine lies in the hands ot Britain; that is about the only thing certain among the welter of confusion that represents politics in tho Near East today. Our official adoption of Zionism, in a moment of idealistic blindness, may prove to bo one of our greatest blunders since tho obtuse obstinacy of a Teutonic monarch sent the American Colonies 011 the path of their destiny. And what, in Heaven's name, are we doing in this galley 1 The position can best be understood if we clearly envisage what Zionism is aiming at, and at whoso expense its goal is to be reached. A Hebrew exile, two and a-lialf millenniums ago, gave expression in deathless poetry to that love of country without which the Jew would long have perished from the face of the earth. More or less consciously the Jew' has sung this song iu his heart all along the \ia Dolorosa of his race's pilgrimage. The national aspiration became the individual s hope, the only hope left to him in the dark night of persecution. \ott might, say that through nearly 2000 years of submergence, the best, elements in Jewry marched to the music beaten out of the soul anguish of that ancient exile in BabylonBy tho rivers of Babylon. There wo sat down, wept, Wheu wo remembered Zion, Upon the willows iu the midst thereof We hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive required of us songs. . And they that wasted us required of us mirth: „ " Sing us one of the songs of /ion. liow shall we sing the Lord's song Jll a strange hind. If I forget thee. O Jerusalem. liet my right, hand forget her cunning; Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If 1 prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. There is nothing finer in the whole history of patriotism than this incessant longing for tho old homeland. Generation after generation has tended the altar lire. That is all to the good. We admit that sentiment is far more powerful in moulding human destiny than ever pure intellect can be. The statesman that tries to guide a nation according to the dictates of pure reason is not likely to get far; and lie doesn't deserve to get far. We can't rule out a great national proposal because it is based ou sentiment. The British Empire is built partly 011 sentiment and partly on self-interest; but the sentimental foundation carries the bulk of the weight of the superstructure. Religious Zionism. But it does not follow that any proposal based 011 sentiment is necessarily sound and wise. Every such proposal must bo j carefully investigated in the light of the facts as' we know them. , And this is what we find holiiricl thc sentimental conviction that the Jl. should return to their old homeland. Let me onote a modern Jew of high standing, Morris Jastrow. " Orthodox Judaism may thus be said to rest upon lour pillars lithe belief in one God the heliet that the Jews are his people, belief m the Messiah as God's messenger to be sent to redeem his people and all mankind and belief in the return of the Jews to then native land." , , This is religious Zionism. Ihe leinplc is to be re-established in Jerusalem, the ancient Jewish priesthood is to take its plae.J again at the heart, of the renewed nation, the chosen people are to be gathered from the cutis of the earth, and under the Messiah, Israel shall go forth to bring the whole world into tho Jewish Oddly enough, a section of Christian supporters of Zionism, putting thcii own j interpretation on the ancient documents, arc trying to hasten the day when the Jews arc back in Palestine; it is their firm conviction that the Jews are then to disappear as Jews, to lie converted to the Christian faith, or the second advent of the Christian Messiah. Very few Jews of the orthodox type have any faith in Zionism. Not through propaganda or organisation will the consummation come, but as of old by the direct act of God. Nor can man hasten or delay tho great event; it will be in God's way and in God's time. But their faith has communicated itself to a large number of their co-religionists that have no mind to wait the slow working out of some hypothetical divine plan. And there is no doubt that the religious aspect of Zionism litis done much to commend it to the widely-scattered Jews who have given it their support and tho Christians who have bestowed upon it their blessing. Political Zionism. But the fact remains that the only Zionism worth taking into account to-day is almost purely political and economic. It aims frankly at the, establishment of a Jewish state based on Jerusalem. Circumstances in Palestine since the war, and a hostile report presented to the French Government, and probably the determination of English statesmen not to be rushed into anything, have led to a very severe curtailment of Zionism's immediate aims. But the movement must be judged by its ultimate goal. The Jewish nation is to have a homoland of its own after 2000 years; it is to be a nation among nations, its flag on the seas, its ambassadors at the councils of the nations. If every present non-Jewish occupant of Palestine is cleared out, there will be room for one tenth of the total Jewish population in the world; and unless tho Jewish state sets out to enlarge her territory, there will be no room for expansion; her population must remain stationary. And this tenth of the Jewish race will havo tho power to commit the Jewish stale to this position or that in any matter of international dispute. The Jewish state may be lined up with England's enemies, and every Jew throughout the Empire become an alien enemy. A very serious complication this; we have gladly welcomed into our citizenship a large number of Jews. By force of character and ability they havo risen to the highest stations in the Empire. A Jew was ouce Prime Minister of England; a Jew to-day is Viceroy of India. We don't want the trouble America had with her hyphenated citizens during the war. No man can belong to two countries. The great majority of Jews aro content with their present equality of citizenship in most lands, and would rather spend their energies 'in improving tho status of their' brethren in Russia, Poland and Roumania. And what of Palestine. Here are the holy places of three great religious. There are Christian communities and Mohammedan communities that have been in uninterrupted occupation of Palestine for longer than over the Jews possessed it. Close to the Mosque of Omar, the Mohammedan's holy shrine is the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and but a short distance away, the last remnant of the wall of Herod's temple, where the Jews mourn daily for Jerusalem's overthrow 1850 years ago. There are 500,000 Mohammedans in Palestine, 150,000 Christians, and less than 100,000 Jews. There is the hopeless barrier to Zionism. Even British complacency can hardly alienate the whole Mohammedan world, outrage the holiest sentiments of large sections of Christian Europe, for a pretty piece ot sentimental idealism that appeals to only a small minority of the Jews themselves.