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“Zionism
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* ‘ Public
Opinion

   

Publication of the Provisional

Executive Committee for

General Zionist Affairs
New York, 1917

 

 

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ZIONISM CONQUERS
PUBLIC OPINKON

Publication of the Provisional
Executive Committee for
General Zionist Affairs

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Issued by the Publicity Department
A. H. FROMENSON, Director

 

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From the comparative obscurity which the Zionist movement
occupied in the public prints for many years, it has now emerged
into the very front rank of universal discussion. Hardly a day
passes without its budget of news, concerning the movement itself,
or the state of affairs in Palestine, or the prospect of an early
achievement of its aim. Not only in the news columns of the
American and European press, but also in the editorial columns
of all the leading periodicals, Zionism has come to occupy a prom—
inent position. The purpose of this brochure is to recite the se-
quence of events that have made the Zionist movement the “order
of the day” in the forum of public opinion, and the publicity re-
action of these factors.*

The first was the publication, during the last week of Febru-
ary, 1917, in about one hundred leading American newspapers,

the entire Yiddish press and all the Jewish
The HaPEOOd PrO- weeklies (English) issued in this country, of
posal—An American u - n -
Protectorate a syndicated letter by Mr. Norman Hap—
good, the distinguished publicist, proposing an
American protectorate over Palestine and the establishment there
of a “Jewish Republic.” Mr. Hapgood offered this suggestion in
all seriousness, and added that the project had been favorably dis-
cussed by leading Jews in England and other European countries.

The Yiddish press vented its approval in ecstatic editorials.
The secular press contented itself with the publication of the pro-
posal. The Jewish weeklies indulged in varied comment, accord-
ing to their special points of view. The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
indignantly demanded to know “what would the magazines and
newspapers do if the Jews and Judaism did not furnish them will
all sorts of fantastic follies with which to fill their columns?” The
Pittsburg Jewish Criterion came to the decision that the time was
ripe for taking Palestine out of the hands of the Zionists, because
the question of a Jewish State, in its opinion, is “threatening too
many complications to permit any action being taken without the
approval of ALL Jews. We cannot and should not permit a few to
bind the many to a circumstance which may result in a far-reaching
and dangerous reaction.”

The American Hebrew “marvelled at the naivete with which
this gifted and experienced journalist (Mr. Hapgood) takes up the
question of an American protectorate.” It denied Mr. Hapgood’s
contention that America is better situated to conduct negotiations
for a Jewish commonwealth because America is not the rival of any

3

231

power in the Near East. . . . “To raise false hopes in that direction
is, to say the least, naive and unwise.” Indeed, the American He-
brew expressed the fear that Mr. Hapgood’s statements would prove
misleading and therefore injurious to the Jewish cause.

The Jewish Comment, which has become the organ of the Cen-
tral Conference of American Rabbis, and assumed the role of
spokesman of the Anti-Zionists, asserted that “if there is one thing
the Zionist dearly loves it is to deal with high politics. The Zion—

’ ist movement must see a legally assured home in Palestine justified

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'The quotations made in this brochure are limited as far as possible to the anti-
Zionist weeklies and to the secular press. The writer feels that many quotations from
naturally friendly sources are, in this case unnecessary. The valuable cooperation of
the pro-Zionist publications, daily and weekly, is greatly appreciated. The editors will
realize this, and they will realize, also, that copious quotations of all they have written
would be unpractical. ’

by lofty considerations of Well Politik, by the mysterious operations
of international diplomacy and by the awe—inspiring forces that
move hundreds of millions of people like pawns.” But what
troubled the Comment most was the possible motive that Mr. Hap-
good might have had in making his proposal, whom it accused of a
heretofore “artfully veiled” unkindly attitude toward the Jews. The
Zionists, “who dearly love to be patronized by the high and mighty.”
fail to see the real m tive behind this article, averred the Comment,
which charged th : ‘..‘It is but the expression of a devout wish to get
rid of an undesired neighbor, and that there is not a prominent an—
tisemite in England, France, Germany or Russia but heartily en—
dorses the Zionist movement, which the editor warns against Greeks
bearing "giftsA
The other factors in bringing the Zionist movement to the fore
are the operations of the British Army in Palestine, the Russian
Other Publicity Revolution, and last, but most important of all,
Factors the avowed purpose of the Entente Allies to
establish an “Independent Holy Land” under
a protectorate, either American or British, or conjointly by all the
Powers interested in creating new political conditions in the Near
East.

The British ‘Army, under General Sir Archibald Murray, in-
vaded Palestine, by way of Raffia, during December, 1916. Despite
many rumors of remarkable progress, the operations of this army
were veiled in secrecy by the Censorship for many months, and
nothing definite concerning its operations was available until April,
1917. But the mere fact that the invasion was in progress inspired
the New York Evening Mail to give expression, on Passover-eve,

4

 

to the great hope that has lodged in Jewish hearts these two thou-
sand years. “With the beginning of the ancient feast of the Pass-
over the minds and hearts of millionsof Jews throughout the world
will turn to thoughts and feelings of Zion,” said the Evening Mail
in its editorial entitled “The Eyes of Jewry Upon Palestine.”
“There are millions Of Jews,” the editorial continues, “who believe that
the destiny of their race will be realized, after centuries of world wanderings,
only by the creation of a Jewish state, with Jeru-
“The E es of salem as its administrative center. The great move-
Jewry Upim Pal es- merit to Wthh Theodore Herzl gave unity and ex-
tine” pression is aimed at this solution. . . . The march
of a British army upon Jerusalem has transferred
this movement from the field of sentiment to the realm of possibilities: For
many reasons the reconstitution of the Jewish state in Palestine would 'otfer
a practicable solution of the diplomatic problem that would confront the
entente in the event of the success of the British expedition and the reten—
tion of the Holy Land by the entente at the close of the war. . . . The ces-
sion of Palestine to the Jewish race would offer no menace to any power.
It would, at the same time, make possible the realization of one of the
great dreams of history. . . . The enterprise, the industry and the vision
of the Jews under a free government would restore the prosperity and the
happiness of the ancient land that has given to the human race the very
foundations of the white man’s civilization.”

Meantime, the Russian Revolution became history, bringing in
its train the civic and religious [emancipation of the Jews of that
land. This splendid fact as anticipated, was
The Russian Rev- seized upon by the “old reliable” anti-Zionists
£2,131?“ng Zion- as a text for funeral orations over the move-
ment, and the opposition press were the chief

mourners.

But the secular press took quite the contrary point of view.
Thus, the New York Evening Post discussing “Zionism and the
Russian Revolution,” said: .

“The change in Russia has by no means emptied Zionism of its mean-
ing. There can be no absolute guarantee of the permanency of the new con-
ditions, and as long as uncertainty exists, the Jewish people, after a millenial
experience of suffering under all sorts of regimes, must continue to some ex-
tent to regard a country of its own as the ultimate solution. It is not cer-
tain, for example, what conditions will be in independent Poland, which still
contains the bulk of the former Jewish subjects of the Czar. The indica—
tions are that Poland, where racial feeling has run high, will not escape the
contagion of the Russian revolution, and in common with all Europe will
recognize the principle of national rights for which the Continent has been
drenched with blood. Nevertheless there must be sufficient doubt of such
a happy outcome to keep alive the vision of a people seeking in its historic
home the fullest opportunity for self-realization.”

5

Stating the fact that “the expected collapse of the Zionist move-
ment, as a result of the new conditions created for the Jews in
Russia, is no nearer realization than when it
Relfiistesltt 01831: was first predicted,” the Boston Herald says
in an illuminating editorial on “Zionism and

Democracy” that the signs all point the other way.

“It is important to remember,” this editorial points out, “that the Jewish
Question was never an exclusively Russian question, and that there is
nothing in Zionism which automatically evaporates it of meaning the moment
the Russran Jews are emancipated from the pale and the pogrom, from
educational and political disabilities, into their rights as men. The move-
ment did gain momentum from the regime of oppression and cruelty that
made czardom a by-word, but its animating ideal long antedated the rule
of the tyrant, even the Russian empire itself. . . . They reckon ill, there-
fore, who see in Russia’s advance from autocracy to democracy the end of
Jewrsh aspirations. Every new step which the world takes toward freedom
is an obstacle removed from the path of Zionism."

It was Just about this time that the world began to take cogni-
zance of the operations of the British army in Mesopotamia and its

“Two Am. t d advance on Bagdad. Its Jewish significance

1en an . . . . .

Noble Civilizations” was pomted out in an editorial which appeared
' in the Manchester (England) Guardian, in
its comment on a proclamation issued by General Maude. “The
proclamation,” said this paper, which is the organ of former Pre-
mier Asquith, “speaks of a union between Arabs, north, south, east
and west of Bagdad. .

N ‘

.But there is the area of the old Semitic civilizations between the
Mediterranean. and the Persian Gulf; a region wide enough, and under good
government, rich enough to satisfy the amplest ambitions. In a portion of
the. region, that which lies south of Damascus and west of the Hedjas
Railway, the Jews have the prior political claim, and it is one which we
cannot by the very reason by which it makes one anxious to revive the
political exrstence of the Arab state, deny to them. . . . We say nothing
at this stage of the effect that the restoration of two such ancient and noble
ciVilizations will have on our own position in the east except that it cannot
but be beneficral and strengthening. For the present the reat th' ' h
theEnlih 1 h l ' g mgIStat

g s peop e s on d understand the splendor of the political ideals that

are now put forward by this country.”
th (There was a remarkable reaction to this editorial, especially in
e merrcan Israelzte, which has always been a consistent, if not
T11 “A ' always fair, opponent of Zionism. Setting

e merican ' ' ' '
Israelite” Speaks down once more its usual “pomts” in opp051—
Kindly of Zionism tion, the American Israelite concludes that

(I l - u
' . under the Just, if strict rule of Great Britain
a large and flourishing JeWish community might be built up in

6

 

 

Palestine, that probably in time would bring glory to
Israel. . . . All American Jews will sincerely join in the wishes that
the Zionists will be given the opportunity to help carry out the plans
which General Maude outlines in his proclamation.”

On April 15th, 1917, the Publicity Department of the Pro-
visional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs issued to
the press of the United States the following extract from a procla—
mation issued by General Sir Archibald Murray, whose invasion of
Palestine had brought him to the gates of Gaza:

“The Palestine plateau, once we have occupied it, will be easy to defend.
It could be held by a comparatively small force, which could be reinforced

at leisure. . . . What should we do with Palestine,
Gen Archibald this liberated from the century—old Turkish grip?
Murray’s Historic There can be little doubt that we should revive the
Question—and Jewish Palestine of old, and allow the Jews to re-
HiStOTiC Answer alize their dreams of Zion in their homeland. All
the Jews will not return to Palestine, but many will
do so. The new Jewish State, under British or French aegis, would become
the spiritual and cultural centre of Jewry throughout the world. The Jews
would at least have a homeland and a nationality of their own. The na—
tional dream that has sustained them for a score of centuries will have been
fulfilled."

This semi-official announcement of Britain’s plans for Palestine,
confirming the many rumors and verifying the various “straws,”
which had kept the Jewish world on its toes for nearly a quarter
of a year, was published in every newspaper published in the United
States. Nothing in all Jewish history created such a sensation.
The manifestations of joy are beyond description. The editorial
writers of the Yiddish press could find no fitting words for their
enthusiasm. An excellent specimen of the ecstasy‘of the Yiddish
editorial ecstasy is the following from The Jewish Daily News:

“These words (Gen. Murray’s) which contain so much of encourage-
ment to the Jewish heart, these words which express the loftiest hope of the

Jewish nation, which glow with the fire of our

“We Have Waited prayers were not uttered by a Jewish speaker at a

for This 2,000 Years!” Zionist Convention, nor written by a Jewish author.

They are extracted from the cold-blooded report of

the English army under the command of Sir Archibald Murray, which is
now just a few miles from Jerusalem.

. . These are tremendous words. They are words which we have
not heard, but for which we have waited 2,000 years. They are words
which must stir every Jewish soul, that must thrill every Jewish heart; that
must bring a smile of joy on all Jewishrlips. “Arouse Ye—-Arouse Ye—
your light has come—arouse ye and spread the 1ight"—It is perhaps a bit too
soon to repeat these words from the old Jewish ritual, but the time is near

7

at hand. The morning star of the Jewish redemption is glowing in the east.
The liberation of the Jewish nation is close at hand. The unique people
which did battle against “the whole world and triumphed will receive its
freedom in the most wonderful moment of the world’s history, in rivers of
blood, in oceans of tears which the Jews have shed in the last three years.
the Jewish liberation will cleanse itself. Amidst frightful agony the Jewish
Nation will be born in its new home, in its own old-new-land.———“Eretz
Yisroel.”

“The great day for the small nations must come. They will no longer
be ground between the millstones of the world conquering powers. The
small nations have souls-a small nation has a heart and she has the right
to live as she wishes. She has the right to create her own ideals. She has
a right to have her own place in the concert of the nations. To destroy the
soul of a nation, to wreck the life of a small people, to lay vulgar hands
on its ideals, its dreams, its hopes, is a dastardly crime, and humanity will
no longer tolerate such crimes. Yet, however just are the claims of all the
small nations, the claims of the Jewish nation is a thousand fold more just.
The Jewish people has proved to the world what it can create, what it can
accomplish for itself and for humanity. She has proved how strong is her
will to live and how fit she is to live. Who can deny that the Jewish people
is entitled to its home? Who can dare the assertion that our 2,000 year
long struggle has not earned for us the right to create our own national
Jewish life, according to the yeamings of our soul?

“The time is coming when the Jewish nation will need to raise its voice
and demand its old possession. The time is coming when the Jewish nation
will need to make a positive claim upon Eretz Yisroel. We must ask, we
must claim, we must demand that which belongs to us, if we want Eretz
Yisroel, we must show that we are worthy and this we can show only by
making a courageous demand upon those who are to design the new map of
the world. All of the forces of the Jewish nation must be united in one
force. All thoughts of the Jewish nation must be united in one thought.
All sentiment of the Jewish people must be united into one sentiment. All

dreams of the Jewish people must be united into one dream—into the one -

dream, the one hope, wish and aspiration for liberation. A hundred genera-
tions of the past are looking to us—countless generations of the future are
looking to us. Jews of the whole world unite for the great, the tremendous
word in which is contained the whole life of the Jewish nation—“Eretz
Yisroel.”

The Cleveland Jewish World struck the Zionist key-note in its
editorial in which it called Sir Archibald’s proclamation “The
Trumpet of Messiah.” It quotes that re-
markable address of our immortal leader in
which he said:

“I am neither prophet nor seer, but I declare: I hope, and indeed I am
convinced that the great day of a great Jewish inspiration is coming.
Ah, yes, the Jewish day is dawning. We need only to rub the sleep out

of our eyes, and to straighten out our limbs to make of the dream a
reality!”

The Trumpet
of Messiah

 

“Fantasy, you called it,” said the Jewish World. “Many, many like
you shrieked ‘Fantasy!’ Many, many like you shrieked ‘visions—
dreams!’ And now the day dawns, the sun rises above the horizon for
him—for the 2,000 goluth-slave. . . . It is coming, Jewish freedom is
coming as surely as day comes after the dark night,

“ ‘I see it to-day—you will see it to-morrow,’ said Herzl, on July 6,
1896. ‘I know to-day that the Jews will have their State where they
will live and endure as free men. To-morrow the world will know it.’ ”

Hardly had the Jews caught their breaths before there appeared
in a number of secular newspapers throughout the United States,

on April 24th, a dispatch from Washington
“The United States relating to the conference between President
and Its Allies for W‘l .
Jewish Palestine” 1 son and Arthur James Balfour, the Brit-
ish High Commissioner to the United States.
In this dispatch was contained the statement that “among the plans
to be discussed by the Balfour mission and one having the approval
of the United States Government, is the establishment of an inde-
pendent Jewish State in Palestine.” This was immediately followed
by another statement in other newspapers that as one method of
punishing Turkey for severing diplomatic relations with the‘United
States, the President, at the opportune moment, would issue a pro—
nouncement in favor of a Jewish autonomous settlement in Palestine.

“What remains to be said?” demanded the Philadelphia Jewish World.
“The Jewish people, every Jewish individual, must now express his strong

. determination to realize what the circumstances have
“Noyhmg Left To now made so richly possible. Every Jewish indi-
figt's’fud—We Must vidual must be prepared to offer his property and his

' blood, that this ripened possibility shall bear fruit
for the Jewish people. We must be prepared to battle courageously and
bravely to bring righteousness and justice for the nations of the world, and
for the Jewish people as the most oppressed of all nations. This is no time
for words. It is a time for deeds. And deeds mean, now, taking position
in the ranks of the warriors for national rights and for the right of the
Jewish people to a home of its own.”

The Warheit expressed confidence that every Jew will rejoice
because the question of a Homeland in Palestine is to be made one of
the matters for discussion by 'the Peace—Conference, and that Presi-
dent Wilson may include a Jewish Republic in his Peace-platform.
It surmises that “this grandiose idea” was initiated by Balfour.

“It cannot be otherwise. It is logical that the initiative should have been
taken by England which will have the dominant voice in the disposition of
Palestine, and by that man who has always evinced his sympathy with the
Jewish people and with Zionism. It is logical, too, that this project should
emanate from the Allies, from our own American Republic and from Eng-

9

land. The project is so clear-cut, it appeals so strongly to the historic and
religious conscience of the nations of the world, that it will, beyond any
doubt, win universal sympathy.

“True, sympathy, sentiment and conscience do not play the chief roles in
the realm of world—politics. Above these, are the political interests of the
nations. Happily, however, for the Jewish people, Zionism appeals not only
to the idealism, but also to the political interests of the world-powers. That
was stated categorically by Sir Archibald Murray, who showed that Eng-
land’s vital need to protect the Suez canal demands that Palestine shall be«
come a neutral—protected state. . . . Logic demands the establishment of an
English protectorate over Palestine, or, perhaps better still, that it shall
come under he protection of the United States.”

The New York Day could not repress its eagerness for a cate-
gorical declaration from Mr. Balfour, or some one else authorized to
speak for the British Government, that it “publicly recognizes” The
Zionist aspiration. It resented the statement issued by Mr. Balfour
that he is very much interested in these aspirations, coupled as it
was with the announcement that he was not in a position to make
any official statement on the question of Palestine.

The Zionist plan was not born yesterday, said the Day in its editorial
“Speak Definitely." Its plans have never been secret, surely not to the Brit-
ish Government, nor is it a secret that many Eng-
English “Inter« lish statesmen are interested in and sympathetic
est” Not Sufficient toward them. “We are grateful to them and to the
American statesmen who are interested in the
Zionist plans, but if they will not or cannot offer any proposals, \\ hy all of
these semi-official declarations? Why do they smear Jewish public opinion
with honey on their lips, to deceive it? We repeat the question we have al-
ready asked: Why can England enter into official obligations with all the
nations to whom she has something to ofier and whose sympathy she wishes
to win and retain—and why, when it concerns the Jews, does she content her-
self with mere semi—official assurances, but remains ‘oflicially’ silent. It is
incomprehensible. Either there is no concern for our sympathy, or it is not
intended to do anything. Is it possible, that in this serious moment in
human history, England’s statesmen will declare ‘Krome Yevraicv’ (‘He-
brews excepted’—and the classic phrase that appears in most of the bene-
ficient statutes of Russia’s Czaristic regime.) We refuse to believe it. We
prefer to believe that the English are following the tactics preferred by the
Jewish ‘stadlonim’: to do things for the Jews secretly, so that no one will
know and thus save the Jews from injury. Therefore we wish to say to
them: We doubt the value to Jews of such tactics even in normal times.
But these are other times—times of great resolutions, great events and great
social upheavals. It is no time for hints. If you have something to give us,
obligate yourselves officially. We do not need semi—official statements now,
because the time of ‘cat—and-mouse’ play has gone forever.”
Now came the interview of Mr. Louis Marshall in which he

10

 

described himself as a disciple of Achad Ha’am, the return to the
movement of Israel Zangwill, and the pro-
nouncement of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff in favor
of the establishment in Palestine of “a cultural
centre which shall be a spiritual reservoir for the Jewish people,”
and the unequivocal declaration of Mr. Adolph Lewisohn. Public
opinion had become crystallized, and editorials favoring the Zion-
ist aim to “establish in Palestine, a publicly recognized, legally as-
sured homeland for the Jewish people were given prominent posi-
tions in practically all of the leading secular dailies in the United
States.

We shall not attempt to classify the editorial comment that has
been elicited by the prospect of an early realization of the Basle
program. The following pages are devoted to
what the writer believes is convincing evidence
of the conquest of public opinion by the Zion—
ist movement.

More Recent
Events

The Conquest of
Public Opinion

GREAT BRITAIN AND ZIONISM
(Washington Herald, May 11, 1917)

The conference between Mr. Balfour and Justice Brandeis undoubtedly
centered upon that topic which is assuming an ever increasing place in Jew-
ish thought—namely, the establishment of a Zionist state in Palestine under
a partial British protectorate at the close of the world war.

This project is a fabric of something more than the “stuff that dreams
are made of,” and is bound to become a pivotal factor in the peace settle—
ment, in the event of a British conquest of Palestine from the Turks, which
now seems inevitable. As foreign minister to the British Empire, Mr. Bal-
four is in a position to give Jewry in the United States an accurate summary
of the scope of English policy in the Near East, although he probably feels
impelled to withhold any definite promise or pledge on the subject for the
same reason that Lord Robert Cecil refused definite discussion of it in the
house of commons Wednesday.

The reasons for British reticence under the conditions are obvious. For
one thing, it would enable Germany to tell her own people that the entente
is planning nothing less than annexation and dismemberment of the central
empires, and make a more plausible case for the continuance of the war.
Perhaps “it would be premature to commit the allies to a realization of the
Zionist ideal, while events directly affecting the Zionist propaganda were
working themselves out in Russia," says the New York Evening Post.

The influence of the American government in the peace settlement is
going to be felt, and there is every reason to believe that/it will support the
Zionist project, which is gradually assuming definite shape. Britain, moved
by the sheer force of the logic of her own position to recognize the rights of
small states and all peoples, beyond doubt will perceive, in the end, the jus-
tice of restoring to the Jews their ancient home, in which the glories of their
race were won.

 

 

O

5/ A NEW JERUSALEM
(Omaha World-Herald, April 30, 1917)

The breaking of diplomatic relations with the United States by Turkey,
following the example of Austria according to the wish, if not the express
direction, of Germany, increases the probability that over no land will the
end of the war and the settlement of peace bring a greater change than over
Palestine.

The Holy Land! Ironical and paradoxical that the tide of war should
have swept over it so often and that it has been the SCene of the bitterest
animosities that ever divided men. Once more are its strongholds and the
ancient Zion fortified and an army of invasion has moved across its southern
border to pitch battle with the Turk, the modern Philistine, at the gates of
Gaza. '

 

 

Even if Turkey should not proceed to become a declared belligerent

'against the United States, the Ottoman government has gone so far that it

may expect no word from us on its behalf in the settlement, and with a victory
by the allies and the United States it is certain that Palestine, with all its
historic places and sacred associations dear to the Christian heart, will pass
definitely into Christian custody or award. The Turk will be banishedfor-
ever from the shrines he has desecrated and polluted, the worst enemy the
Cross has ever had. It will make a great difference. It will seem like a re-
conquest of the Promised Land. The dream of the pious and valiant Cru-
sader will have been realized, and the Christian pilgrim may visit the land
with his imagination, his recollections and his meditations undisturbed by the
consciousness of the contamination of the Moslem Turk.

It would not be inconsistent with Christian sentiment to give’over the
redeemed land of the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles and the Christ to
the descendants of its former possessors, that nation without a country—the
Jews, for Jewish history to the hour of Calvary is Christian history and the
Jewish scriptures are a part of the Christian bible, and the Christian hearts
would regard with complaisance and gratification the apparent fulfillment of
prophecy in the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers.

A sign of the ardent intensity of the hope raised by the war in the minds
of the Zionists is the fact that Israel Zangwill has again become an enthusi-
astic Zionist after having been alienated from the movement for twelve years.
He gave up hope that it wouldbe possible to create a Jewish state in
Palestine under Turkish rule, and went to looking for some other region—
Africa, Australia, Mexico, Central America—to which Jews dwelling in lands
of persecution and oppression could flee and establish themselves on an
autonomous basis, but was unable to find a suitable location. Now he is
satisfied that Palestine is about to be wrested from its tyrants and thinks it
possible for the Jews as a nation to regain possession of it under satisfactory
conditions. He will therefore do his utmost for this consummation.

It would be strange. The prayer, uninterrupted for two thousand years,
at the wailing wall of Jerusalem would be answered.

A REVIVAL OF ZIONISM
(Indianapolis Star, April 27, 1917)

It is a significant coincidence that both Jacob Schiff and Israel Zangwill
should simultaneously experience a change of heart in regard to Zionism and
declare themselves in favor of the continuance of the Jewish undertakings in
Palestine. Mr. Schiff has always been opposed to the establishment of a
separate Jewish nation, and is so still, but he is now ready to stand for the
settlement in the Holy Land as a center for Jewish culture.

It has been borne in upon him, Mr. Schiff told a mass meeting of Jewish
youth in New York the other day, that the time had come when the Jewish
people should have a home land—“not a nation built on all kinds of isms with
egotism as the first and atheism and agnosticism among the others," but a

13

place which should be a great reservoir of Jewish learning and where J ewish'

culture might be developed unhampered by the materialism of the world and
might spread Its beautiful ideals over the world. He had been brought to

iris conviction in part after deliberating upon the effects of the revolution in
usma.

Mr. Zangwill was one of the original Zionists, but withdrew from the
movement after he became convinced that it could not flourish under Turkish
rule. He, too, sees great possibilities of Jewish progress in the freeing of
Russia. Another Jew, David Pinski, known only in New York Jewish cir-
cles, where he writes Yiddish plays, edits a Socialist-Zion paper and is re-
garded by critics as a great dramatist,ialso dwells upon the importance to
Jews of opportunity to develop their ideals. He finds that in this country
Jews lose their idealism and become too materialistic. The difference be-
tween the idealism of the American Jew and the Jew of Russia, he says, is
of the soul, hard to define. The Jew is more superficial here, he declares.

. This insistence on culture and high ideals by these three men of widely
different training and occupations and the agreement that not even America
of whose opportunities for culture Americans of other faces are wont to
boast, will give the latter a new idea of Jewish aspirations, since in the com—
mon mind the tradition that commercialism overshadows finer characteristics
in the Jewish nature is firmly established. But it is well to remember that in
all lands, even those in which they suffer many wrongs, Jews have become
statesmen, have risen high as lawyers, physicians, playwrights, poets and ac-
tors and their intellectual rank as a people is not excelled. It might easily be
that a great center of idealistic culture under their management would be—
come an inspiration to the world.

GROWTH OF ZIONISM
(New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 29, 1917)

Recent events in Europe connected with the war have given a new stim-
ulus to Zionism—the movement looking to the re-establishment of a Jewish
race in their old home, Palestine, their development there, and with it Jewish
culture and ideals.

The present war has changed the status of the Jew in Eastern Europe.
The Russian revolution, the abolition of the old inequality under which the
Jews suffered in that country, where five-sixths of the race is congregated
will help the Israelite, as well as the Slav. Nearly one hundred thousand
Hebrew immigrants have yearly been reaching America lately, mainly from
RuSSia, driven thence by the ill treatment, inequality and persecution from
which they have suffered. If that inequality ceases, as we are now promised
if there is no longer persecution, a material reduction in this emigration to
America 15 expected; and those who emigrate will be Jews hoping to improve
their fortunes, like the immigrants from other countries, and not refugees fly-
ing before the Russian pogroms.

14

"E

 

 

 

Other events in the East lead many of the Jewish leaders to believe that
some of the emigration from Russia, Rumania and other countries, where the
status of the Jew in the past has not been pleasant, will be turned to the
former home of their race, Palestine. It is now evident that the people who
have controlled and misgoverned that country for many centuries, the Turks,
under whom Jews and Christians have alike suffered and civilization has
decayed, are soon to be ousted and the province to pass under the control of
Great Britain. The British army is within a day’s march of Jerusalem, and
is driving the Turks steadily before it. No one who reads the news can en-
tertain any doubt as to the result; and the end of Turkish rule in Palestine
may come any day.

Nor is there any doubt as to what is to be done with the country after the
Turks have been driven out. British statesmanship recognizes to-day its
many blunders in dealing with Turkey, that by these blunders it endangered
its control of Egypt and the Suez canal and even of its vast Indian posses-
sions by allowing the Turks so near the canal. It has abolished since the war
began all pretense of Turkish suzerainty over Egypt and is now preparing to
drive the Turks from Palestine and to annex it when the war is over.

When this is done and the stable government of Great Britain is estab-
lished, and the religious and racial equality of all people is accepted every pos-
sible objection or obstacle in the way of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem
will be removed. There are many already in the country, who have come in
during the last few years, and the movement is likely to greatly increase with
safety and good government established under British rule.

Already the movement is indicated by a great advance in Zionism in the
last few months and the acceptance by many who have doubted or opposed
the doctrine of the building up of a large and influential Jewish people in
Palestine. Israel Zangwill has returned to the doctrine, a Jacob Schiff, of
New York, one of the greatest Jewish leaders of this country, formally an—
nounced his change of sentiment on this pOint. No one could present the mat-
ter more strongly and more clearly than he did at the Jewish mass meeting
in New York held a few days ago; and his address carried all the more
weight because he had been known as an opponent of the idea of Zionism
and a return to Palestine.

Remarks like these—and they are being more and more heard every day——
will help towards bringing about the very results aimed at, and will convince
England that when it annexes Palestine it cannot do better than to secure for
that country an increased Jewish population as an assurance to peace, quiet,
prosperity and protection from all the dangers that existed under Turkish
domination. In no country has the Jew received greater consideration ,and
recognition of his complete political, commercial and religious equality than in
Great Britain. One of the predictions of the present great war that can be
most safely indulged in is that it will bring about a revival of Jewish influence
and culture in Palestine under the protection and control of England.

THE RESTORATION OF JUDAEA
(New York Globe, May 1, 1917)

“It will be one of the many splendid achievements of this horrible war
if we not only restore Poland’s nationality but the kingdom of Israel to the
Jews.”

Thus writes Sir Harry H. Johnston, the noted traveller and explorer.
His is one of many similar expressions by prominent leaders of thought and
political life in different countries. Only a few days ago came a despatch
giving the views of Sir Archibald Murray, commander of the British forces
in Palestine. “What shall we do with Palestine liberated— from the century-
old Turkish grip ?” He answered his question by saying, “There can be little
doubt that we should revive the Jewish Palestine of old and allow the Jews
to realize their dreams of Zion in their homeland." Before that we read the
Zionistic pronouncement of Paul N. Milukoff, then member of a circum‘
scribed Duma in an enslaved Russia, now minister of foreign affairs of a free
Russian government.

These significant utterances follow momentous events, which, if they
brought much disillusionment, have also clothed with reality many cherished
old—time dreams. The great war, which began as a defense of the rights of
humanity against the encroachments of imperialism, has now resolved itself
into a struggle between democracy and autocracy. It is a question of the
rights of the peoples to govern themselves—to determine their own destiny.
The peoples are many and multiform; they are large and they are small.
But, judged by the scales of justice, the maintenance of the rights of a small
nation is as important as the upholding of the rights of a nation that is large.

The enemies of Germany have proclaimed the rights of small nationali—
ties, and the spread of democracy throughout the world is vindicating the
justice of the cause of equal rights among peoples as well as among in?
dividuals. There can be no more fitting prelude to the final rehabilitation
of all enslaved peoples than the assurances, for the time being necessarily
unoflficial, given by England of her willingness to bring about a restored
Judaea. The enlightened nations, sharing the ideals of and fighting side by
side with England, must sympathize with this idea of restoring “the country
without a people to the people without a country,” to use the memorable
phrase of Israel Zangwill. It will be most fitting, too, that the most ancient
of the wrongs should be among the first to be righted when the new dis—
pensation of justice is ushered in—that the Jews, who have long suffered
oppression and persecution, should be the first to reap the benefits of free-
dom and democracy, for the realization of which they have striven from the
very beginning of history.

As to the feelings and hopes which animate the great masses of Jews
throughout the world, Zion is the magic word in all the languages they
speak, and their passion for Palestine constitutes one of the great ro-
mances of history. It is safe to predict that the world will witness no finer
demonstration of the power of the dream nor learn any deeper lesson of
loyalty and faith than the joy and exaltation which will be made manifest
at the time when the redemption comes.

16

it

TWO GREAT IDEAS
(New York Evening World, April 25, 1917)

Lord Northcliffe’s appeal to America for an expression of views on
Irish Home Rule which may help the British Government to a solution of
that ever-pressing problem, is another sign of the mighty leaven the war
has started working throughout the world.

Democracy now constantly calls to democracy to recognize that the prin-
ciples of freedom and the protection of free peoples have emerged as the
paramount issues.

In Russia, in Hungary, in Sweden, in Germany itself, war, tyranny or
hunger has produced or is producing vast reactions from forces of democracy
more or less conscious.

In England and America, on the other hand, where democratic ideals
were already in command, statesmen. and leaders of thought are earnestly
seeking ways and means to close once and for all long-standing breaches, to
reconcile conflicting interests or to assure the rights of peace and self-govern-
ment to persecuted peoples.

Even as Lord Northcliffe asks American democracy to lend its aid in
bringing England and Ireland into co-operative harmony, from American
democracyare heard strong voices pleading for a new Palestine where a
people long oppressed may gather from every corner of the world that still
denies them liberty and find at last their national salvation in a Jewish
Republic.

These are great ideas. If they and others like them henceforth dom—
inate men’s thoughts, no one can say the struggle out of which they have been
born or raised to power has been in vain.

Week by week, day by day, almost, they grow stronger. More and more
clearly free democracy stands forth as the master issue that has absorbed
all lesser issues of this war. And that is why we no longer hear men lament
that they cannot see what the conflict means or what it promises.

ZION AND THE WAR
(Boston Transcript, May 3, 1917)

Mr. Justice Brandeis’s conference with Secretary Lansing with reference
to the proposed independent Jewish State in Palestine affords encourage-
ment for the expectation that the/United States Government may be able to
do something to forward the project for a new Zion, resting on the conquest
of Judaea by the British troops. The story of a British repulse by the Turks
at Gaza has been proved to be imaginary, and there is every reason to sup-
pose that, in connection with the British and Russian advance in Mesopotamia
and Armenia, Syria will in due time fall into the hands of the great Entente
of which the United States is an important member. The question of the

17

future disposition of Palestine will then come up, and we shall certainly have
our part in its settlement.

By diplomatic tradition and common acceptance, the French Government
is the protector of the Christians of Syria, and that Government must have
an influential hand in the disposition of the region. That Britain, notwith—
standing its position as the conqueror of Syria, will step aside, so far as the
future sovereignty of the region is concerned, is rendered the more likely
by the fact that Bagdad and probably the whole of Mesopotamia will pass
permanently under British sovereignty or protection, leaving Armenia and the
shores of the Black Sea to Russia—implying, as an equitable consequence, an
assertion of the French influence in Syria. But no reason is apparent why
the French should object to the establishment of a Jewish autonomous state
in Palestine. No country of Europe has treated the Jewish race with more
liberality than the French Republic. At all events, the subject is one which
is capable of being adjusted in an amicable manner by a conference in which
America, Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy will be represented, and to
which the Zionistic sentiment of the Jewish world will be allowed the fullest
access. The one great difficulty which will be raised will not arise from any
possibility of clashing ambitions between the Entente Allies, but will grow
out of the question of the interests and rights of the Christian population of
Syria and the Christian religion’s establishment in Palestine. It must be
remembered that, upon the elimination of Mohammedan political control and
local domination, Syria will become more Christian than Jewish; the indi-
genous Jews are few in number, and the immigrant Jews from European
countries have probably for the most part been cleared out of it by the events
of the war.

But the future Palestine is not the Palestine of to-day. The country
is thinly populated, but with organization and such intensive development as
Jewish talent is capable of giving, it would become a populous country, and
undoubtedly preponderantly a Jewish country, since the people of that race
would flock to Zion from all parts of the world. The fullest liberty of
Christian establishments and of Christian pilgrimage in Palestine should be
consistent with the creation of a Jewish autonomous state.

_..._o__

PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS
(Philadelphia Public Ledger, May 10, 1917)

The advance of British troops in Palestine to a point about fifty miles
from Jerusalem, after inflicting considerable losses on the Turks, who threat-
ened Egypt, brightens the prospect of realizing the dream of the Zionists for
a Jewish state with Jerusalem for its capital. Until recently Jews who had
been tyrannously mishandled in Russia, in Poland, in Rumania and even in
France naturally felt the expressed sympathy with the Central Empires, which
had accorded the Jews better treatment and had long intrigued for the pos-
session of the Holy Land itself as a stepping stone to Egypt and indirectly
to India. France has amended her attitude and the Russian upheaval has

18

 

meant a new birth of freedom to the Jews in that country. It is obviously to

the interest of the Allies to encourage the formation of a Jewish state in

Palestine, and such a State would find itself in a community of interest and

social understanding with the Arab state that is likely to eventuate from~
General Maude’s conquest of Bagdad. Arabs and Jews have as a rule been

tolerant neighbors. With France prospectively in control of Syria, with

Arabia rid of Turkish garrisons, with Turkey in Asia and Europe no longer

a power to be reckoned with, but merely an appanage of the Allies, Palestine

in the hands of the Jews will be assured against molestation and free to

work out her political and social salvation.

IN THE PROMISED LAND
(Sacramento [CaL] Union, Apri129, 1917)

Following in general the route the Children of Israel traversed from
Egypt into Palestine, the army of the British empire has built a railroad,
established water systems and finally the guns of Tommy Atkins are thun-
dering almost at the gates of Jerusalem.

A new conception of what the term Promised Land means is gained from
reading the following description by a correspondent of the London Times
of the arrival of the British army of invasion in the Holy Land:

The promised land! After 12 months’ incessant toil in the
Sinai desert, sometimes fighting hard, always digging, making mili-
tary works, building railways, constructing pipe lines and roads, and
forever marching over the heavy, inhospitable wastes, our troops
have at last come into the promised land.

What a marvelous change of scene! They are in Palestine.
Behind them is a hundred miles and more of monotonous sand.
Before them, as far as the eye can reach, is unfolded a picture of
transcending beauty.

But these spontaneous cheers are given for something more than
a happy change of surroundings. They are the troops’ expression
of delight at reaching a country hallowed by the greatest events in
the world’s history, the birthplace of Christ and the cradle of the
rights of humanity to uphold which these soldiers of the empire are
fighting. Nothing has lowered the spirit of this army throughout
the campaign, but they would be less than human if, after their vic-
tories on desert sands they did not rejoice at reaching a more glori-
ous stage of their journey towards final and complete victory.

Before and around us everything is green and fresh. Big patches
of barley, for which the plain south of Gaza is famous, shine like
emeralds, and the immense tracts of pasture are to-day as bright and
beautiful as the rolling downs at home. We do not see the buttercup
and cowslip to remind us of the time when, the war being over, we
shall return to Britain, but in their place there is an abundance of the

19

most gorgeous flowers lighting up the vivid greenness of the plain

as if in welcome to an army which is to relieve the country from the

oppressor’s hand. .

Since this was written, the British have driven the Turks from their
positions at Gaza and are nearing the railway which runs from the port of
Jafia to Jerusalem.

This railway line is not more thantwenty or thirty miles away and the
British army is within less than fifty miles of Jerusalem. \

The idea of British soldiers coming up out of Egypt, across the desert
of Sinai, to lift from the Promised Land the hand of an oppressor Just
as cruel and vicious as the Pharaohs fires the imagination and grips the
heart. .

It renews the faith we have that the war into which we have been
plunged is a war for mankind and for the cause of liberty throughout the
world.

__.o—-—-

HIGH HOPES FOR JEWISH REPUBLIC
(St. Paul [Minn] News, May 11, 1917)

Jewish hearts throughout the world are glad these days despite the travail
of terrific war.

For more than 2,000 years a homeless people, often oppressed and perse-
cuted, scattered over the globe since the fall of Jerusalem, has dreamed of a
reunited nation, a self-governing Jewish homeland, and the dream to-day
seems near realization.

“Political freedom for the Jews will doubtless be one important result
of the war," said Dr. J. L. Magnes, zealous New York rabbi, speaking in
St. Paul Wednesday.

He voiced the conviction of all Zionist leaders.

When the war cloud burst in Europe, those who had labored and hoped
for a Jewish republic looked expectantly to America. Their eyes turn With
renewed expectancy to us now that our allies are actively considering .the
advisability of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine With the United
States exercising a protectorate over it.

A Zionist convention in Baltimore will consider in June a course .of
action in case such a Jewish state is created. Some 12,000 representative
Jews, among them Justice L. D. Brandeis, Dr. S. S. Wise, Nathan Straus
and other distinguished American citizens are expected to attend. A world—
wide congress for the same purpose has also been proposed.

E. W. Lewin-Epstein, treasurer of the provisional Zionist committee,
recently summarized, in an address at Baltimore, what has already been
achieved in Palestine:

The growth of a handful of pioneers to 15,000 Jewish farmers, organized
and strong in the knowledge they have developed a sense of communal and
political responsibility. \

20

 

City settlements of high developedrcommerce, industrially active, and
with fortunes amassed for future development.

An adequate school system where the very babes are taught how to
laugh, and play, and sing in the language of the Hebrew people.

A young Jewish generation, strong morally and physically, prepared to
give up their lives to protect Jewish interests in the Jewish land.

A total Jewish population of 100,000—a small number, yet dominant and
enjoying the respect and confidence of their neighbors.

These people are on the threshold beyond which lies the possibility of the
cultivation of the national genius and the revivifying of the religious and
artistic legacies of the past, prophetically forecasted in the profound sacred
writings which are the sublime monument of antiquity.

Lovers of political and religious liberty will watch with interest for the
Jewish republic, advancing to a place among the free nations of the earth.

_0_

JEWISH NATION MAI/RESULT
(St. Paul [Minn] Dispatch, May 14, 1917)

The creation of a Jewish republic may be one of the strange offshoots of
the war. Leading statesmen of England and France already have expressed
themselves favorably upon this proposal and at the May day festivities in
Petrograd, Premier Lvoff and Minister of Justice Kerensky informed a
Hebrew delegation that their influence would be exerted to help the Jewish
people to gain possession of Palestine for the re—establishment of the Jewish
nation. To endeavor to get a definite expression of opinion upon this sug~
gestion, the Zionist convention which has been fixed for June 24 may be called
at an earlier date. It is possible that a world meeting of Zionists may be
decided upon.

The Zionist movement, which had undergone a relapse, started to revive
when the British armies invaded the Holy Land in December, 1916, and
many prominent Jews have returned to the ranks. Jacob Schin and Adolph
Lewisohn are prominent Americans who are again taking interest in the cause
and in England Israel Zangwill is enthusiastically supporting the plan.

The nucleus for the Jewish republic already exists. Thirty-two years
ago a few Jewish immigrants were induced to locate in Palestine and they
have grown to about 100,000 industrious, self-supporting and self-governing
settlers. They control forty villages, elect their own governors (with the
permission of the Turks) and have made remarkable strides in commerce
and agriculture.

The restoration of the Jewish nation, once the most powerful of the
Mediterranean world, long has been a dream of high—visioned and patriotic
Jews and the present conflict may have brought this 2,000-year-old dream
nearer realization than its most ardent protagonists suspect. If the dream
does come true, it will be one of the liberalizing effects which go far towards
outbalancing war’s awful debit of death, desolation and horror.

21

NEW FLAGS AND NEWLIBERTIES COMING

(Under this title the following editorial has appeared in over a score of newspapers:)

There probably will be a lot of new flags in the world when the war is
over—and there is much meaning in the probability.

There is talk already to the efiect that Great Britain is figuring on turn-
ing Palestine loose as a Jewish republié. Already there is a new flag over
Russia; at least a new flag in meaning, and possibly also in design.

There is no telling yet how many new Slavic flags there may be. Spec-
ulating as to exact numbers is bad business while the guns are roaring.

But the sure thing is that all these flags will float over FREE nations

When this war is over. That is the best of it all. There will be new flags

and new liberties. It is the LIBERTIES that count.

What a wonderful world this will be when every flag floats over FREE
people!

Doesn't that help make you glad that YOUR country is helping to bring
that day to pass—that inspiring day of WORLD WIDE LIBERTY?

 

O

 

JEWISH LIBERTY AND ZIONISM
(Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch, April 28, 1917)

The events of the war have brought to Mr. Jacob Schiff a new convic-

tion with regard to the Zionist movement. Chief of these is the Russian*

revolution which has done so much to bring freedom to the Jews. Evidently
he feels that the new freedom is not without its dangers—~similar, in fact,
to those experienced in this country where so frequently liberty has become
license. “I am not a believer," Mr. Schiff says, “in a Jewish nation built upon
all kinds of isms, with egotism as the first and agnosticism and atheism
among the others. But I am a believer in the Jewish people and in the
mission of the Jew, and I believe that somewhere there should be a great
reservoir of Jewish learning in which Jewish culture might be'furthered and
developed, unhampered by the materialism of the world, and might spread its
beautiful ideals over the world. And naturally that land would be Palestine.”

The Jews gave to the Christian church its head. If now the arms of
Christian nations should give back to the Jews their state, there would be
something like an equilibrium of gratitude and a new fellowship that would
adorn the coming world of good will. ‘

__o._.

ENGLAND AND PALESTINE’S FUTURE
(Philadelphia Public Ledger, May 21, 1917)

With the capture of Jerusalem by British forces imminent, there is par-‘

ticular timeliness in the discussion by Doctor Seton-Watson, P????, in “The

22

 

New Europe” of the problem of the establishment of a Jewish colony under
British auspices in Palestine. The Holy Land is in a position to become the
surest bulwark of the Suez Canal against the predatory ambitions of the
Germans" in their “thrust toward the East." “A British Palestine,” writes
Doctor Seton-Watson, “must be a Jewish Palestine, the home of a restored
Jewish people, the spiritual center of the whole Jewish race.” He fortifies his
contention by the traditional concern of the British in the history of the Holy
Land and of its inhabitants and the national gratitude that Jews the world
over will feel toward those who have wrought for the rectification of social
and political abuses from which the Jews have suffered all these centuries.

Our strategical needs have sent us -to Palestine. They conspire
with the British instinct for liberty and nationality to induce us to
encourage the development in Palestine of a Jewish dominion under
the British flag. The strongest of all bulwarks is a large and pro-
gressive population devoted to the soil upon which it dwells and
loyal to the British cause, which only the Jewish people can co'nstitute
in Palestine. They alone can bring a passionate love for the land
of their ancestors and the goal of their longing during 2,000 years;
they alone can bring along with this spiritual force knowledge, tech-
nical skill and material resources for the full expansion of Palestine’s
natural powers. Experience has taught us that the self-governing
dominions, so far from being an extension of burdens, are towers
of strength in the days of trial. A self—governing dominion in Pal-
estine, in like fashion, could assume in the process of time responsi-
bility for its own defense and proportionately relieve the mother
country. No doubt that could not be achieved in a moment, but only
a self-governing dominion could achieve it, and only the Jews could
build up in Palestine a self—governing dominion.

These are the opinions of England’s most eminent student of the prob-
lems of the Near East. As such they deserve consideration.

THE NEW JEWISH STATE
(New York Herald, April 21, 1917)

Sir Archibald Murray, who is leading'the expedition into the Holy
Land, is not alone in expressing the belief that Palestine will be given to
the Jews, so that they, under the protection of British or French, may form a
spiritual and cultural centre for the Jewry of the world. In the countries
of the Allies, and in America, too, the new Jewish state is finding strong
advocates among the leaders of thought and action, and there is every evi-
dence that the vision which has animated the souls of all Jews since the
Babylonian Nebuzaradan destroyed Jerusalem in 588 B. C., may be one of the
realities born out of the world’s travail.

23

ZIONISM AND DEMOCRACY
(Boston Herald, April 30, 1917)

The expected collapse of the Zionist Movement, as a result of the new
conditions created for the Jews in Russia, is no nearer realization than it
was when first predicted. The signs all point the other way. Recent cable-
grams from Petrograd and Moscow announce the formation of new Zionist
centres in the Russian cities, and for this country we have a great Zionist
conference' planned to meet at Baltimore in June. The war is meanwhile
working out a fresh European interest in the great idea of the late Dr. Herzl.
Sir Archibald Murray, commander of the British army which has invaded
Palestine, is already busy with plans for dealing with the territory after it
has been definitely and finally wrested from the Turks. In a statement just
issued he urges “the revival of the Jewish Palestine of old,” declaring that
the new Jewish state under British or French aegis “would become the spirit—
ual and cultural centre of Jewry throughout the world.”

It is important to remember that the “Jewish question” was never an
exclusively Russian question, and that there is nothing in Zionism which
automatically evaporates it of meaning the moment the Russian Jews are
emancipated from the pale and the pogrom, from educational and from
political disabilities, into their rights as men. The movement did gain
momentum from the regime of oppression and cruelty that made czardom
a by-word, but its animating ideal long antedated the rule. f the tyrant, even
the Russian empire itself; and Zionism, with its program Qstablishing for
the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in lestine" eally
bodies forth what Sir Archibald calls “the national dream that has su ' ed
the Jews for a score of centuries and more.” They reckon ill, therefore,
who see in Russia’s advance from autocracy to democracy the end of Jewish
aspirations. Every new step which the world takes towards freedom is an
obstacle removed from the path of Zionism. '

—0___

RESTORE PALESTINE TO THE JEWS
(Pittsburgh Gazette Times, May 3, 1917)

Intimations that among the subjects for discussion between the Amer-
ican government and the French and British Commissions is the future of
Palestine afford large satisfaction not only to Jews but to Gentiles sympa-
thetic with the Zionist movement. If it' shall be determined the leading
Powers of the Entente in writing the peace terms shall make special arrange-
ments for the disposition of the Holy Land, it is practically certain the hope
of Zionists will be achieved. The plan that has been discussed informally
and which is expected to be taken up officially by the representatives of the
three great democratic nations contemplate the erection of an independent
Jewish state in Palestine, neutral and under the protection of one or more of
the world leaders of liberty. The details cannot be more than tentatively
agreed upon, but the large purpose of restoring to the Jewish nation a land of

24

 

we”. ”:2... ..

its own, with a flag and government, can be placed on the Allies’ program. It
should be done. Justice has been denied the Jews too long. Never again,
probably, will be presented opportunity equitably to grant the plea of Zion-
ists. The Jews have done their full share in promoting the cause of liberty
from which the world soon is to benefit increasingly; they have claims that
cannot be denied consideration and which must not be refused.

The restoration of Palestine to the ‘Jews as one of the fruits of the great
war would be something of which the proponents of freedom would be proud
for all time.

JEWISH OPPORTUNITIES
(The New York Commercial, May 2, 1917)

Now that the United States has entered this war, Americans should take
a keen interest in all its phases. It seems a far cry from Washington or
New York to Bagdad or to Gaza, but the connection is close and direct.
The large Jewish population in the United States is deeply interested in the
fate of Palestine. ‘

The Jews and the Arabs are the only important survivors of the great
Semitic family and the future of the Arab and the Jew in Asia must be
considered as one problem. In'the great and naturally rich territory that
lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf the Jews and Arabs
will have ample opportunity to revive their civilization once they are freed
from the domination of the Turks and the Germans who stand behind the
Turks. The Turks did nothing for the world except conquer and enslave
part of it. We are well acquainted with the history of the Jews and with
what they have accomplished.

. . . When General Maude captured Bagdad he issued a proclamation to
the Arabs inviting them to co-operate with him in restoring Bagdad to its
ancient glories and themselves to the power and prestige which they once
enjoyed. If the English succeed in driving the Turk out of Palestine, on
the borders of which they are well established with a railway all the way
behind them from the Suez Canal, the question of reconstructing a Jewish
state in the Holy Land will at once become a problem of international impor-
tance. Now that such a thing is within the bounds of reasonable possibility,
the leading Jews of the United States are giving it the consideration it
deserves. In all these lands that lie between the Mediterranean and the Per-
sian Gulf, natural frontiers divide the various races and religions. It would
be easy to delimit a Jewish Palestine and an Arabian empire in Mesopotamia
and Arabia from Anatolia and Armenia. Once get rid of the Turk as a
conquering over-lord and put him where he belongs as a farmer and raiser
of live stock and the various races of the Near East could settle down and
work out their destiny in accordance with their abilities.

25

PALESTINE’S FUTURE ASSURED
(Albany [N. Y.] Knickerbocker-Press, May 23, 1917)

The whole world—with the exception of that portion of it which be-
lieves in the possibility and desirability of Hohenzollern domination—will
sympathize with the happiness of the Jews in the prospect of regaining
Palestine for their home. It is not to be doubted that the British will
succeed in driving the Turks out of Palestine, nor is it possible that they
will return the country to the treacherous Mohammedans who are doing
what they can to defeat the cause of civilization.

Sentimental reasons aside, the adequate protection of the Suez canal
for the future will forbid the possibility of permitting Palestine to return
to the control of a German ally. The Sinai desert is no longer a barrier.
Railroads, highways, motor cars and pipe lines have made it easy to cross.
The holy land, as a military base in the hands of an enemy, would seriously
threaten the great route to the east.

With Palestine once definitely out of the hands of the Turks, the natural
consequence would be its restoration to the Jewish people. The joint desire
of the Allies to guarantee the integrity of frontiers and also the integrity
of nationalities will find fitting expression in encouraging the settlement
of a large and progressive Jewish population in Palestine, devoted to the
soil with the zeal inspired by their return to the land of their fathers after
centuries of longing, and appreciative, too, of the good will to all the world
which animates the entente Allies.

To RESTORE PALESTINE TO THE JEWS
(Los Angeles [Cal.] Tribune, May 9, 1917)'

Sentiment throughout the whole civilized world seems to favor the
establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land. The Zionist movement,
that for so long a time seemed but the hopeless dream of ardent visionaries
filled with racial fervor, approaches realization. The men and women who
through so many generations longed for the restoration of the ancient
glories of the kingdom of Judea—who hoped against hope for the realiza-
tion of their wonderful dreams—could not have foreseen that pending re-
construction of the world which would make possible the attainment of the
vision they cherished.

The intensity of the interest taken by the Jews in the prospect that
unrolls was illustrated by their activity when the announcement was made
at Washington recently that among important developments expected to
follow the severance of diplomatic relations with Turkey probably would be
a declaration in favor of the erection of an independent Jewish state in
Palestine. The day following that announcement White House and state
department alike were flooded with communications from Jews throughout
the United States inquiring as to its authenticity. While noofiicial response

26

 

-T‘.

 

has been made to these appeals there is every reason to believe that when
the map of the world comes to be redrawn in the great peace council that
will convene at the war’s conclusion, the influence of the United States will
be cast in support of the restoration of Zion.

__._o__.._.

ITI-IE LIBERTY PART OF IT
(Cleveland Leader, May 21, 1917)

If any American happens to ask himself whether the name given the
nation’s “liberty loan” is not a trifle theatrical, a little of the advertising
“stunt” nature, he ought to sit down for a little serious thinking about the
Work his country has undertaken to do. He will quickly perceive that the
name given the first big war loan is a true indication of its character and
mission.

The “liberty loan” is issued to make liberty surer and safer for America.
It is to help in bringing about conditions which will end the fear and sus-
pense of lovers of human freedom who have always realized that their
own beloved land, like all others, was under the shadow of a vast~military
power which might at any time let loo’se a flood of war and ruin upon the
earth. In the narrowest and strictest American sense, the United States is
fighting for wider and more complete liberty to work out its own problems
in its own way unhindered and undisturbed by any thought of outside inter-
ference such as the world war has caused.

But that is only one side of the “liberty” part of the war loan. It is
issued to aid in winning freedom for enslaved and often tortured peoples
whose wrongs have 10ng been a disgrace to the world and a sore thing for
sympathetic Americans to witness. The liberty loan is going to do much
to free the remnant of the Armenians whose brothers and sisters have been
butchered by the Turks because they were Christians and because they are
far superior in intelligence and industry to their Moslem tyrants. This war
is not going to end with Armenia given back again to torture.

And the liberty loan will help to pay for winning Palestine and Syria
a decent chance in life. It will do its part of the work of setting the
Christians and the Jews of the Holy Land free from Turkish misrule. Do
not think that Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States are going
to sign any treaty of peace which does not provide safety and freedom 0
living for those victims of Turkish tyranny. ‘

——0—

THE GATES OF JERUSALEM SOON TO OPEN
TO A NEW CIVILIZATION
(New York Herald, April 21, 1917)

Any day, any hour, may bring the tidings—a consummation fondly
hoped for by countless millions long dead and by other millions yet living—-

27

that Jerusalem has been wrested from the grip of the Ottoman Turks.
Seven historic crusades to lower the crescent that has floated over the
capital of the Holy Land, the seat of the once mighty Jewish nation and
the prospective chief city of the long dreamed of state of Zion, have failed.
The eighth campaign to expel the followers of Mohammed from Syria seems
to be on the threshold of success, for the last reports from the British army
in that region indicated that the great object of the invasion of Palestine is
about to be realized.

Both to the Christians and the Jews of the world the wresting of
Palestine from the Turks will bring great joy. To the' Christians it will
mean the disappearance of the crescent from the land in which the Founder

of that religion was born, lived and died. To the Jews it will mean that ‘

the old Jewish Palestine may be revived and that their dreams of Zion may
be realized. It will mean that the Jews who died in Poland were not mar-
tyrs in vain in a war that gave to their co-religionists in Russia freedom
and to their co—religionists of the world the longed for Zion.

Sir Archibald Murray, who is leading the expedition into the Holy
Land, is not alone in expressing the belief that Palestine will be given to
the Jews, so that they, under the protection of British or French, may form
a spiritual and cultural centre for the Jewry of the world. In the countries
of the Allies, and in America, too, the new Jewish state is finding strong
advocates among the leaders of thought and action, and there is every
evidence that the vision which has animated the souls of all Jews since the
Babylonian Nebuzaradan destroyed Jerusalem in 588 B. C. may be one of the
realities born out of the world’s travail.

TURKEY AND JERUSALEM
(Brooklyn Citizen, April 24, 1917)

The Turk has declared war on the United States, as he was required
to do by Germany, although it would perhaps have been more to his interest
to preserve the form of neutrality. By declaring war the Turk leaves our
Government free from any obligation to serve him when the time comes to
make peace, as he might have been served had he taken care to protect the
various philanthropic and missionary establishments maintained in various
parts of the Turkish Empire by American money and talent.

The great question in Syria for the Turk is that of the future of
Jerusalem, and on this question it may now be taken for granted that the
United States Government will feel inclined to any solution of the problem
which drives the Turk out of Palestine. It should also be noticed that this
is a matter which interests our Hebrew and Christian citizens alike. The
Christians desire to see the Turk expelled because of his positive incapacity
for the work of civilized government, while in the eyes of Hebrews he is

objectionable as an obstacle to the re—establishment of a Jewish common- \

wealth under European guarantees.

 

That our Government is likely to be in a position to gratify Hebrews

”and Christians alike is one of the fortunate results of the action of the

Turks in yielding to Germany in the matter of declaring war. It will not
in the least help the Turk to have Germany on his side when the future of
Jerusalem is being settled, but it will greatly simplify the task of the Allies
in that region to have America speaking with an undivided voice in favor of
an autonomous Palestine.

29

 

 

 

 

 

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