Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1920. THE NEW ZION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15316, 11 September 1920, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1920. THE NEW ZION.

! Interest in the . Zionist .movement will be by the r visit lio^tew Zealand, o£ Mr Israel;? Coh^n, emissary from the brgdmsatiok -in.liOnilbn, I who was officially received at the Wel- | lington Town Hall' thei other,, day and welcome"^ by ttie Adniihistrator-Cfener^!, . the. Prime 'Minister^ and others. : v The most interesting TespbiisJfcility'whicK ; Great Britain has undertakesn. under the peace treatieV is ; " probably, the mandate over Palestine, and it may* prove the most difficult, but with wise statesmanship and ■ sympathetic 'cdn^id^eraiionfrjiim I' the people of .the Empire it•hbispoteHtialities ior great" and beneficent "work. The'^vyorld has assumed that -the Holy i Land is , again to be ~ made exclusively the home of the Hebrew^ ' This r;ia quite ; £|wsconcepi^n,-_f^ sent -is ociiupieoV ->by^ o£ : various"* races, ; Ahfttys i p're'dd^ii&iiing^' ;'mth less than' 3.0 per •cent" Je'wsV. There is no' mandate dispossess these pttfer races; • on the contrary itJias been proclaimed that ihejcofintry will; be aitoimstered- to £Hd advantage of the it^abitaMs'of all I races and t faiths. :'mis- ; rule. |here was cpnstaniti turnipi!; and»oppreasibn over, this ancient land; wit.fi British control ifc, is hoped, €o restore ■ peaceful .conditions; -and"' t& give every man. woman,; and child an even chance ; thereby' enabling. Palestine .'Jbo'. bo'iile--yelbped^^. and^«to have festpred'to it soma ■ 6f, t its byjfbhe greaiiieas. 'A^ GiireThHorise on tho^ Mount of ; Olives, a fevr wee^ ago rthe British : High. Coiamissiomrfr,' w'r Herberfc SaniueL ,; read^hs m,essage of His'Majesty the Kingto t-lie p^Qple of Palestine andVexplained; tfie kind of, justibe- which? . it is - -iio^ißii-' ' tty substitute for the anarchy that hns ? pieviiled arince the remnants <?f the Mosaic law and t,Roman: law disappeared. -Jo • us," remarks ; the Dail^ : Chi x«ucle; Herbert .nSamuers^high4spunding phrases • about religious freedom^ tfqtlar justice/ equitable- taxation, and punishment of qdrruptiqn iii^y aqnnd^format a^d ■ unnecessary. B-ut not'.-ao to^thfl people" of Palestine. • Judder Tiirkish* rule thtey -hafe. seen tjie Mtoslenv -religion .privileged, 'jlistice*. bought 4?4' .'fex- , ation a name for spoliation \\rhich .ithrbltied the productive?^^ energy' ! bf: the country:' :: -These 'abuses : - undoubtedly ft will c6^6 to 1 an, eiid." The ?ri^isn start under ; a legal; obligation ■incufi'eici! under the Peace: treaty to: put . into p'rao- ; iice !t the old Britnsh' i 'thTeory of ■govepnmeM. m ; the. .interest of tpe, gdyerned, ahd^jjvery detail of yie administration will ■be closely watched by friends of Palestine all over $he world. Whilsti the policy to be- adopted ' includes tho encouragement, ol Jewish : colohigatirtri there is no idea of displacing the Arabs. The jjomppsitioh of % the newjy-appointed Oounoil for the Qomm'uhity.of Jerusalem \' ahows the spirit in; which the author i - , ties approaching ; their * The President is a Moslem ; the Vice-Presi - dent is a Jew. Of the i six members, tyro are Moslems, two are Jews, anci twoare Christians./ It is no part ot* British policy to^irappse/a minority rule. * But at the ,same time it is definitely' intended that , Palestine^should become ?i ' home foi^ theVJeWisft rac6, and thai immigration should be fdsfered. Pale>. tirie contains only a fraction, of the population which it is capable of .'supporting. The Arabs are not ail agricultural race, and there are immense opportunities for the; development of agriculture, bb well as ?or those 'man^ branches of industry and commerce in which Jews excel: 'Jewish communitie'? in various ' cduritries are^ already "Bestirring themselves, raising fun|& for tb»> / restoration of Palestine, anfl the 'organisation of a stream of imniigration-. Pr«fessor Patrick CJeddes is already at wort; on a town-planning, scheme in Jerusalem, and a Pro- Jerusalem Society i& working for the industrial^improvement b| the ci *y. Mr Cohen explained in his speech at Wellington # what plans were being, prepared by the movement lie represent^ The country,, which" Sir Robert Stout had explained was not larger -than;. the provincial district of Wellington, he contended was capable of carrying a population of six millions, instead of 600.000. and it Vas to tho . interest of Great Britain that it B honld be peopled as thickly as ; possible. The Zionist Organisation had, studied tho whole question, and hoped (o bvinsj in 36,00D people in the, first year, and "60,000 in the next year*. The . conditions would have to be very carefully arranged, and the immigrants carefully, aeledted to suit the conditions of settlement — useful ynifa; each capable- of renderinff sam» important service in 4he great tewk^i reconstruction-. The Jews all >over v "the ' world would surely itaS'a^greSfc pnviloge to assist in the: -frilfilment roff the great ideaTT 6f :*he now-^Zjlon^-Jews were determined Ithake-Palestiijef a model 1 comtoumty^^ under the Tbeßj^re Btatish ■■•■' Administration; they brtnc aU the mbval, material^ and'itfteUectual vesources of their ■> race' fraifii • all' parts of the world.; >lt "was intended ; that thore should be th* hig^iast 's£andard of; development : in . civilisation, in \hb new Palestine. Education 1 * would

receive the coping-stone of tr.s Hnbrorr University on the slopes of Sao -^ oVI. n" of Olive3. The urgency of the Zioni.-.i caU3e T«3 th© tragic condition of the Jewish race in Central and Eastern Europe, and the necessity for the redemption cf the miserable survivors of the Triasacre3 and outrages- in the restoration of Palestine. > The declaration of Mr Balfour recognised the moral^ and historical .right of the Jewish people to Palestine, and that famous letter made a tremendous chancre of feeling among the Jews in. Central and Eastern Europe. Those Jews had been exposed to a double fire from the armies of the 'belligerents on either side. Hundreds of Jews were shot for charges jrhich were never investigated. It was a revelation to them that there was one Power among all. which recognised the ideals of the Jewish race. It-will be a ■ great tribute to British administration and British idoals if the measures proposed for the restoration of Palestine." succeed. Sir Herbert Samuel seems to be going about his task ?n a practical way. Steps jire immediately to be taken to survey the land and fix titles to property. OrecHt banks are .to bo established*, roads, railways, and telegraphs developed, drainage and afforestation schemes started, the disease of malaria sj-stematioally attacked, and A 'beginning; made with education. So far as the Jews are, concerned it wilt rest with themselves .as to what they make of the New Zion. With the immense resources, cleverness, and racial enthusiasm that the Hebrews of the world have at their disposal, there is no reason why they should not soon come to be the most numerous and bv far the best organised element in. Palestine, •bringing on to Asiatic soil the benefits and comforts of Western civilisation. Never has an undeveloped country had the promise of so swiftly. developing a prosperous future.- As Mr Massey pointed out in h;s welcome to the Zionist emissary, New Zealand has a, special interest in the restoration' of Palestine because of the part her sons took in its conquest from the Turk, a/nd ; further he believed that in the developments now taking place in the Holy. Land we should see the fulfilment of prophecy —the Word of God would ■ come to pass.