JEWS IN PALESTINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1925, Page 5

JEWS IN PALESTINE.

A GREAT EXPERIMENT, EARL OF BALFOUR'S VIEWS. “EXAGGERATED STORIES.” By Talegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright Received April 14, 9.10 p.m. Cairo, April 13. The Earl of Balfour, speaking at a dinner given by the British community at Alexandria, deplored the exaggerated stories of the protection given to him by the authorities in Palestine. He declared that Zionism was a great experiment, which w-as only affecting a very small proportion of Arabs in Palestine. It was necessary that the Jews and the Arabs should work together to add Palestinian civilisation to the world's progress. OTHER SIDE OF STORY. JEWS NOT DESIRABLE TYPE. HATRED OF EARL BALFOUR. “Oh, if only the British people would understand I Wouldn’t you New Zealanders complain if Britain tried to fill your country with Japanese? We love our country; it has been ours for countless generations; why shouldn’t we stick up for it?” The brown eyes of the pretty little lady flashed. She clenched her little fists and spoke very, very earnestly. “They are sending there Jews—horrid, dirty Jews—a great many of them, and they are overrunning our country. How can I help feeling angry about it? They are spoiling our beautiful country!” The speaker is the descendant of a family which ha’s lived in Jerusalem for .many centuries, a family representative of the great numlber of Christian Palestinians. She wanted the people of New Zealand to know the other side of the question of the agitation proceeding in Palestine against the visit of Earl Balfour. The lady is Mrs. A. L. Freeman, who lives in Riccarton. THE ZIONIST IMMIGRANTS. Recent, cables show, of course, that Earl Balfour is not the most popular man in the world among the people of Palestine. His “flight” from Damascus is still more recent. Palestine’s point of view was explained to a Christchurch Sun reporter by Mrs. Freeman. Many of the people are Christians, descendants of the old Jews, but they hate the new class of Jews who are being brought into the country under the Zionist scheme. These Jews, .she said, were nearly all from Russia, Poland, Austria and other parts of Eastern and Central Europe. They were nearly all atheists, not true Jews at alt and were disseminating Bolshevik propaganda right throughout Palestine. As a rule, the imported Jews taken to Palestine after the war were undesirables, lacking in moral qualities, unscrupulous, aud therefore a menace to both Christian and Moslem Arabs who had always known Palestine as their home. Only 3 per cent, of those who had gone to Palestine were British Jews.

British people did not understand the true position. When the Arab delegation went to Britain in 1923 to oppose Zionism, Mrs. Freeman’s brother, Slibly Effendi Jamal, vsw the spokesman. He addressed a great many meetings, and when the people knew the facts they were in entire sympathy with the anti-Zionists. The House of Lords, on a vote taken on the matter, opposed Zionism, by 61 votes to 29. But Earl Balfour, for some unknown reason, made a clever speech in support of the Zionists in the House of Commons, which was influenced by that speech and allowed the scheme to Ibe carried out. It was all through him that Palestine was being overridden with these undesired aud undesirable Jews. “We do feel it keenly. I can tell you,” Mrs. Treeman declared.

“They will take the whole country from us! You know how cunning and clever the Jews are. They seem to be able to work for less wages than other people, and they grasp and grasp until in time they will have everything and the people whose native country it is will have nothing. Ye.t people expect us to sit back and do nothing!” UNDESIRABLE ALIENS. “The Jews are no good. They are mostly atheists. But they are very rich and pay a lot of money for land. Some of the people are so poor that they must sell. Then the British Government is giving the Jews all the help it can. so how could they help succeeding? Jews always do, anyhow. But, if my people were given the same chance, they would do just as well. The trouble is that the Jews want everything, and they will not be satisfied until they get it. They are a bit too clever and cunning.” Before the war, Christians. Moslems and Jews lived side by side in perfect amity, but the newly-arrived Jews were of a different class. For instance, in Jaffa, they had erected placards in the streets advocating Bolshevism. These men had had already a bad moral effect ou Jerusalem. Very soon they would fill the country, and there would be no room for the Christians at all. There would always be trouble in Jerusalem. The Christians and Moslems would i. never given in to the Jews.

Mrs. Freeman declared that the Pales tinian Moslems were a very fine people. They welcomed the British rule. They were very different from the Moslems In Cairo and in India, who were dissatisfied. The Moslems of Jerusalem favoured the British, but they hated the Jews, and so they hated Earl Balfour for what he had done. “You mustn’t call them fanatics,” she said. “That old Arab who wouldn’t let Earl Balfour go to the mosque, now, he was just protesting like we would do. He’s not a fanatto. He’s just a patriot, and doesn’t want to see his country given to the dirty Jews. Anyhow, ho was very nice about the Whole thing, he is really a very nice man. Anyone with any selfrespect would stick up for his country. You would, wouldn’t you?” And the reporter, with Self I'C-sjwrt well to the fore, assented vigorously. The lady did not think the people would revolt, for they really desired be under British control. NOT GENUINE JEWS. The Jews going to Palestine were not the genuine old Jew’s. They were there only to make as much as possible out of the country. They had no religion. The Christian Palestinians, who were often descended from Jewish stock, felt

that they were the real Jews referred to tn the Bible. Since Christianity was the true religion and they were Christian Jews they believed that they were ?'ie people referred to by the prophets, whom God wanted to be. in Jerusalem. To see the present state of affairs was bi caking the hearts of the Christians. They were very miserable. A recent letter from her sister in Jerusalem had stated: “If you came to Jerusalem you would see things that would break your heart.” Many of tha officials were Jews, though the proportion of Jews to Aralbs was 7 to 93. There were Jewish courts and. Jewish lawyers, so that people with any case against a Jew had very little chance of gaining justice, The- Zionists had introduced Hebrew as the official State language on stamps, post cards, tele ; graph forms and public notices, though only 2 per cent, of the population, spoke Hebrew. Before the war everyone got along quite well, even though the Turks were rather old-fashioned. Moslems, Christians and Jews were quite content. Now they were seething with discontent.

“We’ll never give in,” the little lady concluded. “Our people have been there for generations and generations, and it is our homeland. Our agitation might not succeed. The Zionists are. very strong, especially with the British Government behind them, but that will not stop us hum trying. We love our country; we will not see it degraded by these Jews.”

'And the lovely eyes flashed again, and the face wore a look that comes of q oonsolbusneas of a long anowitry of proud meg.