PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11632, 6 September 1918, Page 5

PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS.

SETTLEMENT AFTER THE WAR. The immportance of !British conquest in Palestine, and the capture of|Jerusalem in particular, was emphasised by Rabbi Katz in the course of a lecture at the Y. M. C. A. recently on the subject of “The Future of Palestine and tne Jewish Race. ’’ There was a large attendance. Mr T. U. Wells presided. The rabbi said the declaration by the British Foreign Minister that Great Britain would use its best endeavours to r establish the members of the Jewish race in their Rational home had been received with the greatest enthusiasm |and thanksgiving by Jewish people all over the world By this declaration Great Britain had reaffirmed the principle that small nations must he allowed to develop along free racial and notional lines without molestation. The policy of a Jewish Palestine was of political importance, as fthe country would act as a buffer State in protecting the Suez Canal from attack by Eastern Powers. Tbe speaker said the Jewes had a moral and legal claim to Palestne. They had been exiled for 18 centuries, and they had never ceased to hope that one day they ?would return to their ancient land. Most people imagined tnat Palestine was|a barren land, hut, although deserted, the country was by no means a desert. It had suffered neglect under “Turkish rule, hut under a proper system of cultivation, it could be restored to its original fertility. Rabbi Katz said he considered that a large number of Jews would be willing to go back to Palestine to settle after the war. America had sent a Jewish Legion, known as the Judeans, and these would remain in tbe country after the war. There were three German colonies in Palestine, and the largest and most important had recently been sold to the Zionist Society at a low price. This was significant of the German realisation that ths Allied conquest of Palestine was permanent.