SHE ADMIRED THE JEWS BUT LOVED THE ARABS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 292, 26 January 1945, Page 7

SHE ADMIRED THE JEWS BUT LOVED THE ARABS

66 HE first difficulty about going to Palestine as a civilian," said Mrs. Douglas Richardson, in an interview with The. Listener, "is getting there. The second is getting away again. We left New Zealand in January of last year and we did not arrive in Palestine until the following May-and I took nearly as long coming back. The other point of importance is that everyone, even wives of officials who are allowed to go with their husbands into the country, is expected to work. I did a whole series of jobs while I was there. I taught in a boarding school for Arab boys; I was librarian to a military hospital in Nazareth; for some months I ran lectures and social afternoons for the Arab women of Nazareth on behalf of the British Council; and for the last months while I was waiting to get back to New Zealand, I was matron to the British Community School in Jerusalem. I enjoyed all my jobs. They gave me a better idea of the country and the people than I might otherwise have had. The Arab boys were perhaps the best fun, and the Arab ladies the stiffest. The British Council is very active in Palestine, and one of its main functions is to promote good relations between Britain and the native inhabitants." Mrs. Richardson’s husband is a surveyor, and following his escape from Malaya after the Japanese invasion, he was sent to Palestine té take part in a survey. "The Government is anxious to have a complete survey so that they can have

a clear picture of what is Arabian land and what is Jewish, or otherwise owned," said Mrs. Richardson. "It is not nearly as simple as it sounds, however, as the Arab peasant cultivator does not own his land. In addition, he cultivates it in strips, and does not cultivate the same strip year after year. One purpose of the survey is to keep each peasant to his strip so that his claims can be fairly easily sized up. Much of the trouble in the past has been that the land owner, who is frequently wealthy and equally frequently a rogue, while he has been among the first. to denounce the Jewish colonists for taking the country from the Arabs, has .also in the same breath, or rather under the same breath, sold his land to the Jews, and for a nice tidy price, too, Those who have suffered have been the Arab peasants, who have rented their land for generations and who now are forced to leave. The desolate ruins of these former Arab villages are to be seen all over the more fertile districts of Palestine, and very pathetic spectacles they are. It is little wonder that this has helped to foster the bitterness that exists between the Jews and the Arabs." "But the new Jewish settlements are an improvement on the old Arab villages?" "You might as well compare Birmingham with an African native village. The Jewish communal settlements that I saw were neat, efficient and produc» tive. Things ran according to plan. Everyone worked earnestly and looked serious. The children were cared for on a community scale in modern creches.

Arab villages are careless and carefree. The children are dirty, but quite happy as they play with knuckle bones on the street. The women laugh and gossip and quarrel, The men shout and sing as they work, The tools are those used by Abraham, I should say. But the villages are picturesque: little domed huts; women with long dresses embroidered with fine cross-stitch’ in many colours; the children laughing and scampering and rolling in the dust. They may be a doomed race in Palestine, but they are free from the burden of having ‘a mission to fulfil." "But you saw the new world the Zionists are building?" "You cannot fail to see it. The Zionists have brought in capital with which to farm the deserts and drain the swamps, They have brought electricity to towns and villages, and they have built cities. Their Hadasseh hospital is one of the most modern in the world. Their scientists have succeeded in eradicating some of the diseases that have afflicted Palestine for centuries. It is thanks to the Zionists, too, that we have the wonderful concerts in the great open-air amphitheatres on the Mount of Olives." "Then why hanker after the carefree days of darkness?" "Tt is foolish, I know, but life can be too efficient. I admire the Zionists, They have done far more than anyone could imagine who has not been to Palestine. But I love the Arabs." "Well, to forget politics. How did you live in Palestine. Could you buy food and other necessaries?"

"Everything was very expensive and food was very short. We could get fruit and vegetables as a rule, but meat and butter were prohibitively dear, and sugar very strictly rationed. Friends of mine living in the towns would fre quently sit down to a dinner of beans only. Living in the country we were luckier. The Arabs felt the shortage of sugar and rice, though on the whole, they tend to lay in their supplies for long periods. But they had to go short on the lovely sweetmeats and cakes made with honey and nuts which they normally consume so freely." é "Would you like to go back?" "Yes, but to a peaceful and settled Palestine, It is a fascinating country, and I wish I knew the solution to its present problem."