ZIONISM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21197, 1 December 1930, Page 14

ZIONISM.

RETURN. OF THE JEWS TO PALESTINE. The Gospel Hall in Station street (adjacent to the railway station) was crowded to the doors on Saturday night, when Mr J. W. Clapham delivered an address on Zionism and the return of the Jews to Palestine. Mr Clapham, who is engaged in missionary work in Palestine, said that if they were to discuss fully the return of the' Jews to their land they had to start from the beginning—they would have to go to U& of the Chaldees. There it was that God had picked out Abraham, the father of the Jewish race—this was long before the Ten Commandments had been given out. Recent excavations at Ur had shown that there was not much alteration in the architcture of the Ur of thousands of years ago and that of the .houses of to-day. The excavators found layers of sand and dust over the towns or villages as they were destroyed or abandoned, and they therefore had to work through, strata to discover towns of varying ages. The sand formed a mound over the destroyed cities, and on these mounds the new cities were built. Jaffa, for instance, had been built on a mound, and there were other cities under this town. Mr Clapham, who quoted freely from the Scriptures in' tracing the history of the Jewish race, said he felt really sorry for those who professed to believe in Christ, and yet tried to find flaws in the scriptural teachings. The fact, remained, however, that the Bible was the inspired word of God. He was very glad to see the great interest being shown in Dunedin in Palestine. God’s promise that the Jews would return to Palestine must be carried out. He was amazed that sane people could consider that it would not be carried out. Mr Clapham dealt with the journey of Abraham to Palestine; he told how the Jewish race had grown and developed and spoke of the troubles and trials and wanderings which befell it.. Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, he said, was considered to have cost £200,000,000. Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the first temple, as a punishment of the Jews by God. The Jews had wandered about the earth for 2000, years At the present time their numbers were about 14,000,000, and they were increasing. The first movement to place the Jews back in Palestine was made by Lord Rothschild, some 50 years ago, The Turks were then in possession. Two or three colonies of Jews had been formed, and they had progressed wonderfully, and there were now six colonies in this particular locality. There were two types of Jews, the orthodox and the unorthodox, the latter of whom were mostly arriving from Russia. The unorthodox Jews had very little respect for the writings of the Scriptures. The Jews were proving themselves great workers in the land of their fathers. The Zionist movement, said Mr Clapham, had received its greataest impetus after the war. Some 110,000 Jews had been settled in. Palestine since the war. Dealing with the trouble which had arisen between the Jews and the Arabs, the speaker said that the Jews had picked out the eyes of the land and had purchased thousands and thousands of acres from the Arabs before the latter had been thoroughly aware of what was happening, to them. Now the Arabs were wanting their land hack. There were 120 colonies in Palestine to-day. There were three kinds of colonies. There were the individual property owners, and he thought this system the • best; there was the Communistic colony, and there was the half-and-half system as between- the two other systems. Mr Clapham, in quoting from the Scriptures to make his points regarding the prophecies in the Bible and how they were bem" fulfilled, emphasised the fact that on no fewer than 333 occasions was it prophesied in the Old Testament that the Jews were to return to Palestine, and that he believed the last great struggle of the world was coming. Mr Clapham concluded- his address by referring to the fighting which had occurred in Jerusalem between the Arabs and the Jews, and said that the actual starting of the riots was the killing of a Jew boy by an Arab. The boy had kicked a football into an Arab’s garden and the Arab had threatened to kill him if he came into the garden. The boy went in to get the football, and the Arab then stabbed him. In the actual fighting the Jews had the advantage as they were armed with Mills bomba and revolvers, whereas the Arabs relied mainly on sticks and stones. For three days Bntain had a very difficult task, but the 3000 soldiers came marching into Jerusalem, the band playing lively tunes, and that ended the trouble for the time being. The worst incident took place at Hebron, where 03 Jewish ?T U<^i? ts . were filled iu the synagogue. Mr Clapham said he would ask them to B l ritisll rU, ° in Pale ßtine. The British had a very difficult task today in holding the balance between Jew and Arab. The troubles which befell all God "for 0 ™ "’T- tl,e Punishments of God for wrongdoing. The Jews had sinned when they had their home in Palestine 2000 years ago. and God I.ad theiiMamk 161,1 * drivin » out of

+l.J 1 ™ 0 *1 ? cl ? hvcml an address in the concert chamber of the Town Hall last night on the Crucifixion