"what's his reason? i am a jew."
the merchant of venice.
of all the bigotries that savage the human temper there is none so stupid as the anti-semitic. it has no basis in reason; it is not rooted in faith; it aspires to no ideal; it is just one of those dank and unwholesome weeds that grow in the morass of racial hatred. how utterly devoid of reason it is may be gathered from the fact that it is almost entirely confined to nations who worship jewish prophets and apostles, revere the national literature of the hebrews as the only inspired message delivered by the deity to mankind, and whose only hope of salvation rests on the precepts and promises of the great teachers of judah. yet in the sight of these fanatics the jews of to-day can do nothing right. if they are rich they are birds of prey. if they are poor they are vermin. if they are in favour of a war it is because they want to exploit the[pg 313] bloody feuds of the gentiles to their own profit. if they are anxious for peace they are either instinctive cowards or traitors. if they give generously—and there are no more liberal givers than the jews—they are doing it for some selfish purpose of their own. if they do not give—then what could one expect of a jew but avarice? if labour is oppressed by great capital, the greed of the jew is held responsible. if labour revolts against capital—as it did in russia—the jew is blamed for that also. if he lives in a strange land he must be persecuted and pogrommed out of it. if he wants to go back to his own he must be prevented. through the centuries in every land, whatever he does, or intends, or fails to do, he has been pursued by the echo of the brutal cry of the rabble of jerusalem against the greatest of all jews—"crucify him!" no good has ever come of nations that crucified jews. it is poor and pusillanimous sport, lacking all the true qualities of manliness, and those who indulge in it would be the first to run away were there any element of danger in it. jew-baiters are generally of the type that found good reasons for evading military service when their own country was in danger.
[pg 314]
the latest exhibition of this wretched indulgence is the agitation against settling poor jews in the land their fathers made famous. palestine under jewish rule once maintained a population of 5,000,000. under the blighting rule of the turk it barely supported a population of 700,000. the land flowing with milk and honey is now largely a stony and unsightly desert. to quote one of the ablest and most far-sighted business men of to-day, "it is a land of immense possibilities, in spite of the terrible neglect of its resources resulting from turkish misrule. it is a glorious estate let down by centuries of neglect. the turks cut down the forests and never troubled to replant them. they slaughtered the cattle and never troubled to replace them." it is one of the peculiarities of the jew-hunter that he adores the turk.
if palestine is to be restored to a condition even approximate to its ancient prosperity, it must be by settling jews on its soil. the condition to which the land has been reduced by centuries of the most devastating oppression in the world is such that restoration is only possible by a race that is prepared for sentimental reasons to make and endure sacrifices for the purpose. what is the history of[pg 315] the jewish settlement in palestine? it did not begin with the balfour declaration. a century ago there were barely 10,000 jews in the whole of palestine. before the war there were 100,000. the war considerably reduced these numbers, and immigration since 1918 has barely filled up the gaps. at the present timorous rate of progress it will be many years before it reaches 200,000. jewish settlement started practically seventy years ago, with sir moses montefiore's experiment in 1854—another war year. the sultan had good reasons for propitiating the jews in that year, as the allies had in 1917. so the jewish resettlement of palestine began. from that day onward it has proceeded slowly but steadily. the land available was not of the best. prejudices and fears had to be negotiated. anything in the nature of wholesale expropriation of arab cultivators, even for cash, had to be carefully avoided. the jews were, therefore, often driven to settle on barren sand dunes and malarial swamps. the result can best be given by quoting from an article written by mrs. fawcett, the famous woman leader. she visited palestine in 1921 and again in 1922, and this is her account of the jewish settlements:
[pg 316]
"so far from the colonies and the colonists draining the country of its resources they have created resources which were previously non-existent; they have planted and skilfully cultivated desert sands and converted them into fruitful vineyards and orange and lemon orchards; in other parts they have created valuable agricultural land out of what were previously dismal swamps producing nothing but malaria and other diseases. the colonists have not shrunk from the tremendous work and the heavy sacrifices required. many of the early arrivals laid down their lives over their work; the survivors went on bravely, draining the swamps, planting eucalyptus trees by the hundred thousand so that at length the swamp became a fruitful garden, and the desert once more blossomed like the rose."
everywhere the jew cultivator produces heavier and richer crops than his arab neighbour. he has introduced into palestine more scientific methods of cultivation, and his example is producing a beneficent effect on the crude tillage of the arab peasant. it will be long ere canaan becomes once more a land flowing with milk and honey. the effects of the neglect and misrule of centuries cannot be [pg 317]effaced by the issue of a declaration. the cutting down of the trees has left the soil unprotected against the heavy rains and the rocks which were once green with vineyards and olive groves have been swept bare. the terraces which ages of patient industry built up have been destroyed by a few generations of turkish stupidity. they cannot be restored in a single generation. great irrigation works must be constructed if settlement is to proceed on a satisfactory scale. palestine possesses in some respects advantages for the modern settler which to its ancient inhabitants were a detriment. its one great river and its tributaries are rapid and have a great fall. for power this is admirable. whether for irrigation, or for the setting up of new industries, this gift of nature to palestine is capable of exploitation only made possible by the scientific discoveries of the last century. the tableland of judea has a rainfall which if caught in reservoirs at appropriate centres would make of the "desert of judea" a garden. if this be done arab and jew alike share in the prosperity.
there are few countries on earth which have made less of their possibilities. take its special attractions for the tourist. i was amazed to find[pg 318] that the visitors to palestine in the whole course of a year only aggregate 15,000. it contains the most famous shrines in the world. its history is of more absorbing interest to the richest peoples on earth, and is better taught to their children, than even that of their own country. some of its smallest villages are better known to countless millions than many a prosperous modern city. hundreds of thousands ought to be treading this sacred ground every year. why are they not doing so? the answer is: turkish misrule scared away the pilgrim. those who went there came back disillusioned and disappointed. the modern "spies" on their return did not carry with them the luscious grapes of escol to thrill the multitude with a desire to follow their example. they brought home depressing tales of squalor, discomfort, and exaction which dispelled the glamour and discouraged further pilgrimages. settled government gives the holy land its first chance for 1900 years. but there is so much undeveloped country demanding the attention of civilisation that palestine will lose that chance unless it is made the special charge of some powerful influence. the jews alone can redeem it from the wilderness and restore its ancient glory.
[pg 319]
in that trust there is no injustice to any other race. the arabs have neither the means, the energy, nor the ambition to discharge this duty. the british empire has too many burdens on its shoulders to carry this experiment through successfully. the jewish race with its genius, its resourcefulness, its tenacity, and not least its wealth, can alone perform this essential task. the balfour declaration is not an expropriating but an enabling clause. it is only a charter of equality for the jews. here are its terms:
"his majesty's government view with favour the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-jewish communities in palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by jews in any other country."
the declaration was subsequently endorsed and adopted by president wilson and the french and italian foreign ministers.
[pg 320]
the zionists ask for no more. it has been suggested by their enemies that they are seeking to establish a jewish oligarchy in palestine that will reduce the arab inhabitant to a condition of servitude to a favoured hebrew minority. the best answer to that charge is to be found in the memorandum submitted by the zionist association to the league of nations.
"the jews demand no privilege, unless it be the privilege of rebuilding by their own efforts and sacrifices a land which, once the seat of a thriving and productive civilisation, has long been suffered to remain derelict. they expect no favoured treatment in the matter of political or religious rights. they assume, as a matter of course, that all the inhabitants of palestine, be they jews or non-jews, will be in every respect on a footing of perfect equality. they seek no share in the government beyond that to which they may be entitled under the constitution as citizens of the country. they solicit no favours. they ask, in short, no more than an assured opportunity of peacefully building up their national home by their own exertions and of succeeding on their merits."
[pg 321]
it is a modest request which these exiles from zion propound to the nations. and surely it is just that it should be conceded, and if conceded then carried out in the way men of honour fulfil their bond. there are fourteen millions of jews in the world. they belong to a race which for at least 1900 years has been subjected to proscription, pillage, massacre, and the torments of endless derision—a race that has endured persecution, which for the variety of torture, physical, material and mental, inflicted on its victims, for the virulence and malignity with which it has been sustained, for the length of time it has lasted, and more than all for the fortitude and patience with which it has been suffered, is without parallel in the history of any other people. is it too much to ask that those amongst them whose sufferings are the worst shall be able to find refuge in the land their fathers made holy by the splendour of their genius, by the loftiness of their thoughts, by the consecration of their lives, and by the inspiration of their message to mankind?
