The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1929. EVENTS IN PALESTINE.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 September 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1929. EVENTS IN PALESTINE.

Wxtiiin the past few days tragic events have been reported from Palestine. The ill-feeling between Arabs and Jews and the resentment displayed by the Mohammedan population of the country at the great influx of foreign Jews under British protection, have culminated in a furious outburst of racial hatred The dispute over the Wall of Wailing at Jerusalem, which caused serious trouble last year, may have been the occasion, but has certainly not been the sole cause of these sanguinary excesses. For not only in Jerusalem but at Hebron, Nablus, TelAviv and many of the outlying villages the Arabs have attacked the Jews, and wherever they have gained the upper hand they have plunged into an orgy of pillage and bloodshed. At liehron over seventy Jews were killed, and around Tel-Aviv, the city of 40.000 inhabitants which has grown up in 20 years on the seashore outside Jaffa, more than 120 deaths are reported British troops have arrived, and British warships are hurrying to the Levant, hut iti the meantime tne dream of security and peace in which the Jews of Palestine have indulged has had a terrible awakening. The significance of the Wailing Wall in the

eyes of the Jews is most important and the conflict in which they are involved with the Turks and Arabs is an outcome. Alter the unfortunate incidents -on the last Day of Atonement, the heads of the Jewish community addressed an appeal to the Mohammedans, assiiring them of their goodwill and their desire for the two races to live in friendship together. This docu ment recalls the fact that the right of the Jews to offer prayers by this surviving fragment of Solomon’s Tempb has been recognised ever since Jerusalem was destroyed—by the Romans, by the Moslem Caliphs, by the Mamelukes, by the Ottoman sultans; in fact, by all the various monarchs or dynasties that have ruled the country down to the present day. The Jews declare that they have no desire in any way to encroach upon Moslem rights, and that they ask for nothing more than the privilege that for so many centuries they have enjoyed—“conditions ensuring the free exercise of Jewish worship at this site in a manner worthy of and consistent with its sanctity.” In reply, a conference of Moslems held at •Jerusalem in November last declared that all the Jew.'sli pretensions for special consideration in regard to the Wailing Wall are without foundation, and that any attempt on their part “to obtain a foothold in this place” can only cause dissension, “for the consequences of which the Moslems cannot be held responsible.” The Wailing Wall incident was thus closed in rather, ominous fashion. But there have been many . indications since that that the Arabs are not disposed k> 'acquiesce in the; new regime, which from their point of view means the domination of Palestine by aliens, S 3 far back as 1922 an Arab Congress, organised principally by Arabs outside Palestine, who resent bitterly the failure of the Allies to establish Arab ascendancy throughout Syria and the Holy Land, protested to Britain against the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate But the Government reaffirmed the Balfour policy and the “Times” reminded the nation that “the Jewish people are in Palestine by right and not on sufferance as the heirs of those who occupied the Land of Canaan .centuries before the -Christian Era.” Unfortunately, . after the necessity for the military occupation qi Palestine ceased, the British troops were mostly withdrawn; and it happens also that not only is the British High Commissioner, Sir J. Chancellor, absent on leave, but the AttorneyGeneral and the Chairman of the Palestine Zionist Executive are in Europe attending the Zionist Congress. In the absence of these officials, and through lack of adequate military protection, the Jews have been exposed nJmost defenceless to the ferocity of the Arabs. Last year,, after the Wailing Wall disturbance, the “Observer” urged the British Government to do something to restore the confidence of the-Jews in its igood, intentions, and before the last Parliament was dissolved, Lieut. Commander Kenworthy and Colonel Wedgwood reproved the Baldwin Administration for the apathy a.nd inertia that it had displayed in discharge of its mandatory’ duties in Palestine. Perhaps now that a number of . American subjects have been murdered by the Arabs additional pressure will be brought to hear upon Britain to deal more vigorously with this delicate and dangerous situation.