IN PALESTINE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 255, 16 July 1918, Page 8

IN PALESTINE

• THE JEWISH COLONIES g Lt ;, THE MARCH TO ZION r __ i- " Crossing the borders of Palestine is for d A Zionist mi iinrnrd experience quite iiu■e like that of any other travellers, whether e Jew, Christian, Moslem, or man of no faith. All may be deeply moved, but the character of their emotion is different. Tho ordinary traveller is troubled by visions of the past; tho scenery seems to him to be haunted by Miriam, ijameon, Gideon. Strangely and naturally enough tho modern Zionist is essentially v . a. futurist; great as hie pride in past I. glories may be, his keenness for t'no ~1 future is uppermost. Passing, I'or jii- ,. stance, the group of lonely, unattractive „ habitations constructed mostly of mud, or whnt to tho passing eye appears to be ' mud and etoue, tho ordinary traveller, learning- that the place is Gawi, dreams I of Samson and Delilah, and begins to search for traces of the pillars from ■f which tlie gate of the town was stolen. " But the mind of the Zionist, resting on '" these for but a moment, quickly turns lL luwiu-ds fho dream of a new Gaza, the '" Gaza of tho future, a city of beautiful '• homes and stately buildings, of wide ' s avenues, of gardens, of schools, and of ■" coll«n>.s, a cily whose people are raised <■ up aloft by tlie twin hands of education It and hygiene, healthy and well trained '- in mind ami body. And around the city \ he sees in his mind's eye ploughed fisicU i> and orchards, miles of waving corn, ■.. broken bv olivo woods and orange gar--0 dens, a land teeming with fruitfuliitrs s which brings him back suddenly from i- the future to tho past, to tho days when - Palestine passed aa « proverb for a land ',- of fniitfillness flowing with milk and--1 lionov. Ho dreams also of new industries '. established in the old. land, of factories in whoso construction the artist lias co- ' operated with the engineer, sacrilieiug 0 nothing of the utility of the building, but at'lhe same time ever mindful of the :" demands of the eye- that seeks pleasure ,J in evervlliing that it gazes upon. Instead of the little flilted-up harbour he eces a port boauf.il'nl in the ships riding easily e on its waters. Above all ho looks lor-; ' ward to a new Gaza with a population ot '•; I healthy and happy men, women, and ; ; children, blessed in their industry, work--11 ing jovl'iilly for their ample daily bread, e happy" in their lives, and iiuliating happiness on all who come within their lii- « This 'dream must not alarm the lovers f of antiiiuily who havo dreamt of the r new,, the regenerated Palestine as an '• archaeological museum. The two ideas - are not incompatible. The new Pnles- '■■ line need not encroach on or endanger •- (he old. It will iu fact serve to safeii guard it. The modern Zionist is as fcoeu i. as they in preserving tip, alas! not very a abundant memorials of the old glory of - the land and its people, but they want to -. root out the present dirt nnd squalor ot i- tin land, to set it on its feet again so -. that it may recover its self-respect nnd become onco more. a. land among the fair lands of the earth, and its population a people among people. But 'or the present we are at war for tho rights of life and tho renaissance, and the Zionist crossing Ihe border of Palestine in a railt- » tnry train may bo forgiven if what re- , sounds in his ears is not so nmch JJibll- ' cal quotations as some prophetic words J about tho future. 1 ' A Real Bit of Europe. r But dreams very soon give way to real- ■ ity. Here is scenery, a kind of smiling desolation. There ore miles of wild grass ' nnd wild flowers which would seem hfe--1 iess but for the white tents of the British deliverer. Suddenly ono feels a 0 change; Iho faces of passengers who were ; - already beginning to look bored a mo- • ment Wore suddenly j(ro.ir keen and intense, and there is again a general '; rush to the windows. This is certainly no ' dream, but a real bit of Europe—beauti- ' ful straight rows of orange trees, regular - canals running along oven squares, plan- • tations, lovely neat little houses on a " hill in the background. One passenger asks, "What is this?" uml another re- - plies, "This is a Jewish colony." People who have never boen out here f can hardly realise how these cases stand out from the surrounding desolation. '- Thousands of British soldiers have writ- '> ten home to say what a difference the 1 colonies make to them by providing them s with the opportunity of intercourse with - people of their own civilisation, akin to themselves, and redeeming what would '- otherwise be practically no change from I tho desert of Sinai. In following letters I shall have :»n opportunity of describing these settlements, their fields, vineyards, their grandiose wine cellars, libraries, tho schools which boast the revival of a dead lfingungo as a mother tonjrue —an achievement practically un--8 iquo in history—their complicated organ- . isntions, their problems, strifes, orthodoxy, - iconoclasm, Socialism—all this miniature b bul; astonishing complete state within a - State. But to-day it will suffice to sny & these colonies speak to the foreign dci liverer in clear language, showing what - the Jewish colonist would be capablo .of ; bad he only been given a full chance. I The only complaint about these colonies - one heai-s from English lips is: "Why is •- there not more of them?" The answer is well known, yet it should i bo repeated nsjain. Turkey! Jewish immir grants were forbidden to remain in Palf estino more than three months, and of - courso could not legally own land. They - had to smuggle themselves into the 1 country, and purchase land in the names • of substitutes—men of straw who did not always show themselves trustworthy. Be- ■ fore the war there were colonists who ' had spent over thirty years ploughing '■ the same fields and who had brought up c their children and marriw] them from ' their homes, but w.ho were nominally > still under sentence of banishment, while ! there was no guarantee that one dny an unknown gentleman would not appear, introduce himself as the substitute in whose name the estate had been bonirhl. 1 nnd claim the legal rights to evict them. The cost of those threats in. baksheesh nnd othir additional charges it is easy 3 to imagine. Such conditions it can be ! readily understood prohibited any form ' of mrnj credit. Struggle of the Colonists. ; Colonists had to build loads at their '. own expense, again paying bakshish for • pui-mission to do so. They had to main- • lain mounted guards, paying baksheesh t whenever a thief was caught and the r Turkish police insisted on the illegality ; of the procedure. Naturally, under these > conditions only exceptional enthusiasts . could rikk settling in Palestine. BurU\% the last decade before the war thouennds of well-to-do members of the Jewish middle-class in l.'ussia made pilgrim- i ages to Palestine to inquire- as to tho possibilities of personal settlement, but I ninety per cent, returned finding it ini- ' 1 possible to make the attempt uuder ' Turkish rule. No colonising nation in I I he work! ever worked under similar con- ■ I ditiiiiis—lhc-.v always seeuK-il full free- i ! (kiln of ei-'.'i'nit.-iii- ilcVfli!j.Mii«'i!l μ-iiiirautced I I'itlior )>y Uif-ir own sinned V.-roi> or by i li'tfiil I'liHWfsioiis. Seen in this light Jcwi isfi colonising work in Palestine can i ■ prowptlv chiillenge fair compurisdii with ' . the achievements of any colonising . undertaking on ihe shores of the ' .Mediterranean or even elsewhere. Little ' ■ sis it is, it shows, firstly, that (lie .lewish . i nation possiwse.s exceptional colonising ■ ' cajiacilicsi secondly, that Turkey must ! disappear from the hii.d. ] : "Turkey liiii-f go." a proininenl. mem- ! i Ixt of the municipality of Ihe colony i.f f ■ Kishon once said to inc. "W-alv/nys knew < ■ that Turkey wus no good, but some of us . ■■ witeriainiHl" hopes llnit perhnps Gn-aian ' ' iutluenee would bring 'l:u 'J'lirfcs In roa- ( 1 sun. > "Well I am not going to discuss whether ■ Cerninny is likely jo r«voi:r inir move- ' ment, bill: even lulinilting lluil she would ■ suddenly grant us the sinci'i-.s! su]i|io:-l, J I here remains »"« drawbuck which in c lime the uuisidc world should realise j ■ once and for all-lhe Turk-: di>inisl tiermany more Hum «ny oilier Power. Their J ' mutual altitude here was almost openly ' ho>lilt\ subdued on the German side, but , almost provocative on Iho Turkish. Of . course Hie fear of losing eac-h other's support forced bnlh to concessions, but 1 it was clnu- Io everyone, more especially j to the German officers, who sometimes | got: quite outspoken about il. that direct- , lv the war is over (1«« Voiinp Turlw will oppose everything Gorman or protected bv Germany. Whether this opposition : ivill euccee<'l where real Germans arc concerned we -very much doubt, but woe i

Io us if we become liiiown as German proteges. Wfl should benr tho double odium without having after all any real troteclion. T know very littlo nlxiut politics; I only grow and sell oranges and in'ne, and I enn only sneak of economic interests. Bat from this point of view there is no redemption for either Jews or Arabs, for Syria or Palestine, unless Turkey goes."