DECLARATIONS OF THE ENTENTE GOVERNMENTS
After this most important achievement which is considered as the foundation-stone of future policy in and regarding Palestine, it was found necessary to come into closer political relations with the other Entente countries, in the light of the new situation created by the British Declaration.
Negotiations were carried on with the proper authorities in the French and Italian Governments: the negotiations were crowned with success, and the official endorsements by France and Italy of the British Declaration were communicated to the world in the following official documents:—
The following is the text of the French Government’s Declaration communicated in a letter to the author:—
République française.
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères:
Direction des Affaires Politiques et Commerciales.
Paris, le 14me février, 1918.
Monsieur,
Comme il a été convenu au cours de notre entretien le Samedi 9 de ce mois, le Gouvernement de la République, en vue de préciser son attitude vis-à-vis des aspirations sionistes, tendant à créer pour les juifs en Palestine un foyer national, a publié un communiqué dans la presse.
En vous communiquant ce texte, je saisis avec empressement l’occasion de vous féliciter du généreux dévouement avec lequel vous poursuiviez la réalisation des vœux de vos co-religionnaires, et de vous remercier du zèle que vous apportez à leur faire connaître les sentiments de sympathie que leurs efforts éveillent dans les pays de l’entente et notamment en France.
Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, l’assurance de ma consideration.
(Signed) Pichon.
M. Sokolow,
Hôtel Meurice, Paris.
Le Communiqué.
Monsieur Sokolow, représentant des Organisations Sionistes, a été reçu ce matin au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères par Monsieur Stéphen Pichon, qui a été heureux de lui confirmer que l’Entente est complète entre les Gouvernements français et britannique en ce qui concerne la question d’un établissement juif en Palestine.
[Translation.]
République française.
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères:
Direction des Affaires Politiques et Commerciales.
Paris, 14th February, 1918.
Sir,
As arranged at our meeting on Saturday, the 9th of this month, the Government of the Republic, so as to make definite its views on the subject of Zionist aspirations with regard to the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, has sent a communication to the Press.
In sending you this text, I wish to take the opportunity of congratulating you on the splendid devotion with which you are furthering the aspirations of your co-religionists, and of thanking you for the way in which you have made known to them the sympathy with which all the countries of the Entente, and especially France, are watching their efforts.
Please accept assurances of my most cordial sympathy.
(Signed) Pichon.
M. Sokolow,
Hôtel Meurice, Paris.
Mr. Sokolow, representing the Zionist Organizations, was this morning received by Mons. Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was happy to inform him that there is complete agreement between the French and British Governments in all matters which concern the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
The following is the Declaration which was made by the Italian Government to myself as representative of the Zionist Organization, through the Italian Ambassador in London:—
Londra,
li 9 Maggio, 1918.
Pregiatissimo Signore,
D’ordine di Sua Eccellenza il Barone Sonnino, Ministro per gli Affari Estri del Re, ho l’onore d’informarla che, in relazione alle domande che gli sono state rivolti, il Governo di Sua Maestà è lieto di confermare le precedenti dichiarazioni già fatte a mezzo dei suoi rappresentanti a Washington, l’Aja e Salonicco, di essere cioè disposto ad adoperarsi con piacere per facilitare lo stabilirsi in Palestina di un centro nazionale ebraico, nell’intesa pero che non ne venga nessun pregiudizio allo stato giuridico e politico delle già esistenti comunita’ religiose ed ai diritti civili e politici che gl’ Israeliti già godono in ogni altro paese.
Gradisca, Pregiatissimo Signore, gli atti della mia Distintissima considerazione.
(Signed) Imperiali.
Signor Nahum Sokolow,
35–38 Empire House,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
[Translation.]
Italian Embassy, London,
9th May, 1918.
My dear Sir,
On the instructions of His Excellency, Baron Sonnino, His Majesty’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have the honour to inform you that with reference to your representations His Majesty’s Government are pleased to confirm the Declaration already made through their representatives in Washington, The Hague, and Salonica, to the effect that they will use their best endeavours to facilitate the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish National Centre, it being understood that this shall not prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the legal or political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
Pray accept, my dear sir, the assurance of my distinguished consideration.
(Signed) Imperiali.
M. Nahum Sokolow,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
In [♦]President Wilson’s address to Congress of January 8th, 1918, a speech commonly regarded as a complete statement of the objects for which the Allied Powers were fighting, the twelfth of the articles in the programme of the world’s peace was stated thus:—
[♦] “President’s” replaced with “President”
“The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.”
This statement was regarded by Zionists as signifying the sympathetic attitude of the American Government, and especially of its President, to the Zionist movement. President Wilson is regarded as the spokesman of the Entente principles, and it is well known to Zionists that his attitude is favourable to the realization of Zionist aims, because the latter are in complete harmony with the principle of justice to small nationalities, of which President Wilson is the clearest and most outspoken exponent. His address makes no specific reference to the Jewish question or to Palestine, but his intention is perfectly clear.
In August, 1918, President Wilson wrote the following letter:—
“I have watched with deep and sincere interest the reconstructive work which the Weizmann Commission has done in Palestine at the instance of the British Government, and I welcome an opportunity to express the satisfaction I have felt in the progress of the Zionist Movement in the United States and in the Allied countries since the Declaration by Mr. Balfour on behalf of the British Government of Great Britain’s approval of the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and his promise that the British Government would use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of that object, with the understanding that nothing would be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in other countries. I think that all Americans will be deeply moved by the report that even in this time of stress the Weizmann Commission has been able to lay the foundation of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem with the promise that that bears of spiritual rebirth.”
Dover Street Studios
President
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Public opinion in America regarded this letter as a precious document embodying full American support of the Zionist aims, in harmony with the British Declaration.
Many opportunities have been taken by British statesmen to refer to the British Declaration in terms which show that they attach the very greatest value to it. Thus, the Rt. Hon. George N. Barnes said, in a speech delivered on the 14th of July, a full extract of which appears below:—
“The British Government proclaimed its policy of Zionism because it believed that Zionism was identified with the policy and aims for which good men and women are struggling everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies in the war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is the policy which we believe accords with the wishes of vast numbers of the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful eyes to Palestine as again destined to be their national home.”
Lord Robert Cecil, in regretting his inability to be present at the meeting held on July 14th to welcome the American Zionist Medical Unit, wrote:—
“The Zionist movement represents a great ideal which may have incalculable consequences for the future welfare of the world.”
The Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, in his address to a deputation of the Medical Unit (given in full further on), said:—
“The destruction of Judea that occurred nineteen centuries ago is one of the great wrongs which the Allied Powers are trying to redress.”
Mr. Lloyd George wrote to the Author, on the 29th of June, in connection with the Government declaration safeguarding the rights of the Roumanian Jews:—
Dear Sir,
I am desired by the Prime Minister to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st inst., and the enclosure. Mr. Lloyd George wishes me to thank you for what you say in regard to the friendship which exists between this country and the Jewish people, of which there has lately been such abundant evidence, and to reiterate the hope that the triumph of the Allies’ cause will make possible the realization of your people’s aim to establish for themselves once again a national home in Palestine.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) F. L. Stevenson.
N. Sokolow, Esq.
On Wednesday, September 11th, the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, visited Manchester for the purpose of receiving the freedom of that city and of other towns. The Zionists took the opportunity of presenting to him the following address:—
“The undersigned representatives of the Jewish Community of Manchester, headed by our distinguished Zionist leader, Mr. Nahum Sokolow, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of your visit to Manchester to place on record the gratitude which the Jewish people feels for the interest shown by the Government, of which you are the head, in the fulfilment of Jewish national aspirations.
“We are confident that the Government’s historic declaration of 2nd November, 1917, expresses not only its own considered policy at the present time, but the permanent attitude of the British nation to our people. We look forward to the early fruition of the hopes which we build on that declaration, and we know that in the brighter days of peace the restored and revived Hebrew nation will show in practical form its regard for Great Britain and for the British tradition of help and justice to small nations. For the sake of the Jewish nation and of the cause of the free peoples throughout the world, struggling to escape from the pitiless desire for conquest of the German people, who have been intoxicated with the belief that their army can override all obstacles and all rights, we trust that Great Britain and her Allies will, at an early date, see the downfall of the German power as an indispensable preliminary to the commencement of the new era of peace and justice, foretold by our national prophets and seers in that great Jewish Bible which has become part of the patrimony of the peoples of this great Empire.
“We venture to think that among the many triumphs which it will be your privilege to recall in after days you will remember, with, perhaps, a unique pride and pleasure, that it was under the guidance of your statesmanship that Great Britain extended its right hand in friendship to the Jewish people to help it to regain its ancient national home and to realize its age-long aspirations.”
The Zionists’ address was signed by Mr. E. H. Langdon, the Rabbi Dr. Berendt Salomon, Mr. Nathan Laski, J.P., Mr. S. J. Cohen, Councillor S. Finburgh, Mr. L. Friedson, Captain Dulberg, and Mr. Simon Marks.
Vandyke, photo.
Rᵗ. Hon. David Lloyd George
Mr. Lloyd George gave the following reply:—
“It is with feelings of the greatest satisfaction that I accept the address which you have done me the privilege of presenting to me. The aspirations which you share with multitudes of your race scattered throughout the world found a natural response in the minds of those responsible for the government of this country, because they are in permanent accord with the sentiments of the people of Great Britain. I have to-day had the honour of receiving addresses from the representatives of three elements most intimately concerned in the establishment of a rule of order and justice in an area which has hitherto been the prey of tyranny and outrage. The fulfilment of the historic hopes and aspirations to which you refer in your address is, I believe, an essential corollary to the necessary enfranchisement of the oppressed peoples of the Near East.”
Considerable interest was taken everywhere in the evidences of the effect produced in America by the political success of the Zionist movement. The Zionists of America, unable to participate in many of the Zionist activities of the day, owing to the fact that America was not at war with Turkey, conceived the idea of helping in the reconstruction and extension of the Jewish colonies after they were relieved from disasters due to the war, by sending a Medical Unit to the Holy Land.
The Unit was organized by and at the expense of American Zionists, the principal promoters being a group of women Zionists who are banded together under the name of the Hadassah. It consisted of about forty-five persons—doctors, nurses, mechanics, chemists, specialists, secretaries, dentists, a social expert, an administrator, and a representative of the Hadassah. The Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs in America voted a sum of fifty thousand pounds from their Palestine Restoration Fund for its equipment. The plans in Palestine will necessarily depend upon the conditions prevailing in that country at the time of the arrival of the Unit, but the present intention is to set up a central hospital of one hundred beds in Jerusalem, a branch hospital in Jaffa, as well as dispensaries and a nursing school, and several travelling hospitals, which will be equipped for service in the colonies and wherever needed and will be supplied from permanent dispensaries in the large cities. A hospital in Jerusalem, originally owned by a German society, the L’maan Zion, was handed over to this Unit, as well as the Shaare Zedek Hospital. In connexion with the equipment of these “Red Cross” ambulances for the relief of civilians, the Hadassah collected quantities of clothes, bed-linen and towels, as well as medical stores for the use of the destitute of Palestine. Eighty-six cases, containing twenty-four thousand garments, one thousand pairs of boots, thirteen thousand men’s socks, and two tons of soap, have been sent out. Mrs. Mary Fels contributed largely to this stock.
The Unit is under the general control of Mr. Lewin Epstein, Treasurer of the American Zionist Organization.
On its way to Palestine the Unit passed through London, where it was welcomed by a great meeting at the London Opera House, on July 14th. The Right Hon. George N. Barnes, a member of the War Cabinet, in a speech then delivered, said:—
“Palestine has for three hundred years been under the tyranny of Ottoman oppression, and I take it that it is now ready for the word of the teacher, and the knowledge of the scientist, to make the desert places again into smiling villages. Our visitors will take part in that transformation. They will link together the knowledge, the science, and material resources of the present and the future. It is a great thought and a happy augury that the first definite act of Zionism is to go East and to take part in the realization of a great ideal for the uplifting of all the people, irrespective of class or creed, or condition of any kind whatsoever. That is indeed a great ideal, and I congratulate our visitors in being pioneers in its achievement. They are going to help to lay in Palestine that basis of sanitation and conditions of healthy life which are the chief foundations of civilization. It is a work not only of interest to the Jewish race; it is a work which is of interest and value to the whole world, because the prosperity of Palestine is the concern of us all. Irrespective of race or religion, we look to Palestine as the Holy Land. From it there came those great moral inspirations which still guide the life and conduct of half the world. From it there issued forth those wondrous influences of which the mind of man can scarcely yet conceive the full meaning. It has been the inestimable privilege of the Allies in this war to have rescued this land, consecrated by religion and history, from the sacrilegious hands of the German and the Turk, who have slain and enslaved the people. It will be their greater privilege to rebuild the holy places, to create conditions under which opportunities will be given to all peoples to live together in tolerance and mutual help. It will be the aim of Zionism once more to make Palestine a fountain of knowledge and idealism, and by the creating of places of knowledge and education, open to all, again to clothe ancient truths in modern garb. The British Government proclaimed its policy of Zionism because it believed that Zionism was identified with the policy and aims for which good men and women are struggling everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies in this war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is the policy which we believe accords with the wishes of vast numbers of the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful eyes to Palestine as again destined to be their national home. Using the word in its largest and best sense, they are going on an errand of mercy, being the harbingers of health and happiness to a people who have been long oppressed and heavy laden. They have, I doubt not, many difficulties in front of them—perhaps a long road to travel, but I feel sure they will be borne up by the consciousness of what they are doing, and that they have the good wishes of all good men and women.”
In addressing the Unit in Paris, M. Tardieu, High Commissioner of the Government of the French Republic in the United States, said:—
“Vous savez avec quel intérêt sympathique le gouvernement français a suivi le progrès de l’idéal sioniste. De cet intérêt, le gouvernement français a donné des preuves dès le printemps de 1916, aussitôt que l’amélioration de la situation en Palestine nous a permis de regarder du côté de l’avenir. J’ai à peine besoin, ensuite, de vous rappeler la déclaration publique et officielle que le Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, M. Pichon, publiait si heureusement l’année dernière. S’il existe une nation naturellement faite pour comprendre la cause des Juifs et l’idéal juif, cela a été assurément toujours la nation française.”
Shortly before they left England the American Zionist Medical Unit were received by Mr. Balfour, who said he was very happy to be able to address the deputation of the Unit on their way to Palestine, where they were going to contribute their share to the beginnings of a great National undertaking. The far-reaching importance of the idea represented by Zionism was not sufficiently understood; the influence of that great National revival would be felt not only by those Jews who would settle in Palestine, but also by Jewry in every country of the world, and even by the other nations of humanity, for though Palestine was but a small country, the good which it had done for mankind was immeasurable. The destruction of Judea nineteen centuries ago was one of the great wrongs which the Allied Powers were trying to redress. This destruction was a national tragedy. It deprived the Jews of the opportunities enjoyed by other nations, to develop their national genius and their own spirit to the full extent of which it was capable. The Jews occupied a unique position among nations of the present day, because they lacked that element of nationality which appeared to be indispensable to a complete National life—to the possession of a National Home. The present moment witnessed the entrance on the world’s stage of great and important National factors, and he felt sure that among these the Zionist idea, which had already accomplished so much in Palestine, would play a noble and beneficial part. He congratulated the members of the Unit on their great humanitarian mission. He knew they were moved by a high idea and not by any self-seeking. Nothing, he said, could be accomplished in this world except under the inspiration of a great ideal. He wished them Godspeed and complete success.
Direct evidence of the spread of Zionism in America was furnished by a resolution of the American Jewish Committee, a body which has hitherto been held to represent the assimilated American Jews and to be hostile to Jewish nationalism, at a special meeting held on Sunday, April 28th, which was attended by, among others, Mr. Jacob Schiff, Mr. Louis Marshall, Dr. Cyrus Adler, ex-Judge Mack, and ex-Judge Sulzberger.
The Committee declared by the resolution that it could not be unmindful of the fact that there are Jews everywhere throughout the world who, moved by traditional Jewish sentiment, yearn for a Home in the Holy Land for the Jewish people. This hope, which has been nurtured for centuries, had the Committee’s whole-hearted sympathy. When therefore, the British Government made the Declaration which is now supported by the French Government, that it views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, the announcement was received by the members of the Committee with profound appreciation.
The Committee regards as of essential importance the conditions annexed to the Declaration, “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” The latter of these conditions corresponded entirely with the general principles on the basis of which the Committee had ever striven to attain civil and political rights for Jews the world over, and with the ideals of all American Jewry.
The opportunity foreshadowed by Mr. Balfour’s letter was welcomed by the Committee, which would help to the best of its power to realise in Palestine, placed under such protectorate or suzerainty as the Peace Congress may determine, the objects set forth in the Declaration; and the Committee resolved to co-operate with all those who, attracted by religious or historic associations, shall seek to establish in Palestine a centre for Judaism for the stimulating of our faith, the pursuit and development of literature, science, and art in a Jewish environment, and the rehabilitation of the Land.
The British and Italian Governments indicated to the Zionist Organization their interest in the welfare of the Jewish people by the opinion they expressed with regard to the clause in the Rumanian-German Treaty referring to Jewish rights. Ever since the Treaty of Berlin, the position of the Rumanian Jews had been one of the scandals of Europe. That Treaty forbade all legal discriminations on account of religious faith. This clause was made a useless “scrap of paper” by Rumania considering its Jews “aliens not subject to alien protection.” The Jew has been prevented from living in country districts or owning land outside towns. This does not prevent it from being a standing accusation against the Jews of Rumania that they do not work as agricultural labourers. They have been excluded from the civil service and the liberal professions; they have been disfranchised; factories and mills were forbidden to employ more Jewish workers than one quarter of their entire staff. Yet the Jews in Rumania by no means gave rise to this state of affairs by obvious separatism; the younger generation all spoke Rumanian, both at home and in intercourse with the outer world, and they wore no distinctive dress.
It should be stated that the Rumanians are a peasant people; the landowners, all Christians, are largely an absentee class, spending their money in Western Europe. Anti-Semitism has been a convenient safety-valve for diverting the discontent of the peasants from the real authors of their misery.
These anti-Jewish laws have caused an immense exodus of Jews from Rumania.
Rumania continued its anti-Jewish policy during the war. Rumanian Jews were registered and supervised as aliens, because, owing to defective registration, they could not prove that they were born in Rumania. Many elderly persons were born in places where no registers were kept. There were no registers before 1866, and it was only in 1880 that the whole country began to keep such registers. This brings us directly to the Jewish clause of the treaty with Germany. The German Government had led the Jews in Germany to believe that it would protect the rights of Jews in the treaty. But the treaty merely stated that those Jews hitherto considered aliens were to be naturalized by law if they could prove that they and their parents were born in Rumania, or that they had taken part in the war, either in active service or in army service (Hilfsdienst). Such a clause could only open the way to further equivocations. By the addition of this clause to the general statement that differences of religious faith shall have no influence on the legal rights of inhabitants, and in particular on their political and civil rights, the treaty of 1918 actually went back from the position taken by the treaty of 1878. It is not even found possible to make the officers of a regiment in Rumania give a Jewish soldier the paper necessary to prove that he has served in the army.
The letters to the Author, in which the two Entente Powers (England and Italy) expressed their desire to rectify this unjust state of affairs, are as follows:—
Foreign Office,
June 15th, 1918.
Sir,
In reply to your letter of the 3rd instant, relative to the question of Jewish rights in Rumania, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Balfour to state that His Majesty’s Government fully realize that the enfranchisement promised to the Jews in Rumania under the recent treaty is less liberal than that by which the former Rumanian Government had publicly pledged themselves. They take this opportunity of assuring your Organization that they are most anxious to do everything in their power to secure a just and permanent settlement of the Jewish question in that country.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant,
(Signed) W. Langley.
N. Sokolow, Esq.,
35 Empire House,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
The Italian Ambassador, the Marquis Imperiali, honoured me with a communication to a like effect, of which the following is a translation:—
London,
August 2nd, 1918.
Dear Sir,
On the instructions of His Excellency, Baron Sonnino, I have pleasure in communicating to you the following:
“The Italian Government recognizing that the provision contained in the Treaty of Bucharest of May 7th, 1918, between Rumania and the Central Empires, relating to religious equality in Rumania, are, so far as the Jews are concerned, less liberal than those which the Rumanian Government itself had spontaneously promised to grant, now declares that at the final settlement of the Rumanian question, it will use its best endeavours to secure for the Jews in Rumania a settlement which will definitely assure them of a permanent position of equality.”
Accept, dear Sir, the expression of my most distinguished consideration.
(Signed) Imperiali.
N. Sokolow, Esq.
One of the first practical results of the British Government’s declaration was the appointment in March, 1918, of a Zionist Commission for Palestine.
The objects and status of the Commission were laid down as follows:—
The Commission should represent the Zionist Organization.
It should act as an advisory body to the British authorities in Palestine in all matters relating to Jews, or which may affect the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in accordance with the Declaration of His Majesty’s Government.
The objects of the Commission were:—
1. To form a link between the British authorities and the Jewish population of Palestine.
2. To co-ordinate the relief work in Palestine and to assist in the repatriation of exiled and evacuated persons and refugees.
3. To assist in restoring and developing the Colonies and in organizing the Jewish population in general.
4. To assist the Jewish organization and institutions in Palestine in the resumption of their activities.
5. To help in establishing friendly relations with the Arabs and other non-Jewish communities.
6. To collect information, and report upon the possibilities of the further development of the Jewish settlement and of the country in general.
7. To inquire into the feasibility of the scheme of establishing a Jewish University.
In order to be able to achieve the foregoing objects the Commission obtained permission, subject to military necessities, to travel, investigate, and make reports upon the above-mentioned matters.
The Commission left London on March 8th. It consisted of:—
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the Chairman of the Commission; Mr. Joseph Cowen, Director of the Anglo-Palestine Company; Dr. Eder, Medical Adviser, Representative of the Jewish Territorial Organization; Mr. Leon Simon, selected to be Chairman of the Relief Committee of the Commission; and Professor Sylvain Lévi, Collège de France. Mr. Israel M. Sieff, of Manchester, acted as Secretary to the Commission.
Two representatives of Italian Jewry joined the Commission after an interval of some time—Commendatore Bianchini and Dr. Artom.
The Commission was accompanied by the following gentlemen: Mr. Aaron Aaronsohn, Agricultural Expert, formerly of the Jewish Colony of Zichron Jacob; Mr. David Levontin, Manager of the Jaffa branch of the Anglo-Palestine Bank; Mr. Rosenack, Agent of the Jewish Colonization Association, and Mr. Walter Meyer of New York.
Major the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore acted as Political Officer and communicated the Commission’s views and requirements to the Government and the military authorities.
It had been intended that representatives of the Jews of Russia should join the Commission, but the disorganization of communications in Russia caused by the revolution prevented them from doing so until about October, 1918, when Mr. Isaac Goldberg and Mr. Israel Rosoff started for Palestine.
A few isolated incidents alone can be referred to here out of a large amount of work which was done by the Commissioners. They succeeded in obliterating the ill effects of warfare, they restored refugees to their homes, restarted the normal course of peaceful activities, reorganized the hitherto unsatisfactory and disunited Jerusalem communities belonging to the old settlements of pre-Zionist times and pre-Zionist feelings, and extended the Hebrew system of schools.
The Commission started part of its work in Egypt before it reached Palestine. The Arabs had been given wrong ideas concerning the meaning of the British declaration and the intention of the Zionists: pro-German agents had spread rumours intended to be both anti-English and anti-Jewish. They declared that rich Jews would exploit the land of Palestine and would destroy Moslem holy places. Dr. Weizmann met certain Arab leaders in Egypt and succeeded in removing their fears and anxieties. It was found that the Felaheen cultivators in Palestine do not fear the Jews. They realize that the Jewish colonies increase the prosperity of the country by introducing improved agricultural methods. But the Effendi Arabs, who are landlords, fear the establishment of a just rule over the land. These Effendi are largely cosmopolitans and absentee landlords, living in Syria and Egypt. The Zionists are anxious to prevent, if they can, any speculation in land, whether by natives of Palestine or by foreigners. The prosperity of the colonies is bound up with a just land policy, which will prevent the fruits of a man’s labour enriching others and will place at the disposal of the Jewish colonies unused and State lands as well as badly cultivated large estates.
The Zionists have been fortunate in gaining the confidence of the King of the Hedjaz and of Prince Feisal.
Although by the Hague Convention the military authorities could not make any alteration in the laws of the land, they did in two matters of administration increase the power of self-government possessed by the Jews. They allowed certain colonies to appoint their own police and their own Jewish tax-collectors. So corrupt had the Turkish tax-collectors been, that the Jewish tax-collectors, while taking less from the colonists, were able to hand a larger sum to the Government.
Much consideration was given by the Commission to the work of strengthening and supporting the organizations for relieving distress—orphanages, hospitals, and so on: a work much needed owing to war conditions. Special reports on the utilities of the various hospitals, schools, and orphanages were drawn up. In Jerusalem great distress was found. The Halukah Jews, settled in Jerusalem to study and pray and entirely dependent on the support of the Jews of other countries, had been by the war cut off from their means of livelihood. Widows and orphans were many, the adult men having suffered excessively from epidemics. The Commission opened laundries and a kind of shirt factory to provide employment for women and did its best to find employment for the men, although the importation of raw materials was very difficult.
On 17th June there was opened at Jaffa the first conference of Jews of the liberated area of Palestine. Major Ormsby-Gore, the Political Officer in charge of the Zionist Commission, delivered the following speech:—
“You have asked me, as Political Officer in charge of the Zionist Commission which has been sent out to Palestine by H.M. Government, to attend this historic gathering and to say a few words of good wishes to you, the representatives of all Jewry in the occupied part of Palestine, on behalf of my Government. I do so with a full heart. My Government—the British Government—has said one or two important things during this war concerning Palestine.
“My Government has said that, if England and her Allies win this war, the future Government of Palestine shall not be Turkish, because in this war England and her Allies are fighting, not for the extension of any Empire, nor for the acquisition of further power or further territory, but they are fighting for an ideal, shared by all our Allies, namely, that countries shall be governed in the interests and according to the wishes and the aspirations of the inhabitants of those countries. We are satisfied when we look at the results of Turkish rule upon the land and the people of Palestine, that such rule ought to disappear in the interests of Palestine and of civilization. The Turkish rule in Palestine was an alien rule, and was not in the best interests of any of the inhabitants of Palestine, and, moreover, such a rule crippled the free development, economic and political, of this country.
“My Government has said that it wishes to see the people of Palestine among others freed from the rule of the Turks, but it has as yet said nothing as to what Government should take its place—that is a matter for the Peace Conference. But Mr. Balfour has made an historic declaration with regard to the Zionists, that he wishes to see created and built up in Palestine a National Home for the Jewish people.
“What do we understand by this? We mean that those Jews who voluntarily come to live in Palestine should live in Palestine as Jewish nationalists, i.e. that they should be regarded as Jews and nothing else, and that they should be absolutely free to develop Hebrew education, to develop the country, and live their own life in their own way in Palestine freely, but only submitting equally with all others to the laws of the land.
“I shall tell the British Government, when I go back, what the Jews of Palestine have done already to realize their ideals, and what they feel with regard to this National Home. I can say when I go back that I can see in this gathering to-day the pioneer work of the National Home, i.e. a National Home built up on a Hebrew foundation with a definite consciousness and ideal of its own. I can say that whether you come from Russia, from Salonica, from Bokhara, from Poland, from America, from England, or from Yemen, you are bound together in Palestine by the ideal of building up a Jewish nation in all its various aspects in Palestine, a national centre for Jewry all over the world to look to. This is the ideal of the future, an ideal which I am convinced will be realized without doing any injustice or injury to any of your neighbours here. But while I look forward to the realization of this ideal, I must remind you of the grim realities of the present.
“We can still hear the guns, and we are in the midst of a desperate struggle—not merely between nations, but between ideals. Be patient with the British Government, who wish you well. Do not expect a great deal from them, but expect a great deal from yourselves. At present we are bound to carry on the Turkish system of law, taxation, and Government. We are bound to do this by international law, and England has always tried to respect this international law. England set its seal to the Hague Convention, which said that when an advance was made into enemy country, the administration should be military and not political, and that such military administration should make no attempt to alter or change the institutions of the occupied country; it is not our wish that this is so, but it is so by the rule of law, and we shall do our best to respect this law no matter who else breaks it.
“It is difficult for a military administration to make radical changes or to do much to help you and others in the country. Nevertheless, some great things have been done already; the British Government has given opportunity to the young men to join the battalion of Jews from other countries to liberate this country. This splendid response of your young men will have a great moral value when history comes to be written. Every one of these fine and splendid recruits now enrolled and who are going to the battalions which have come from England and America, will go as missionaries of Jewish nationalism in Palestine, so that these men will stay in Palestine and help to develop it on just and right lines. The British Government has done something more of great service to you. The Government has sent out to Palestine the Zionist Commission. It has sent out Dr. Weizmann, i.e. the British Government has sent out a man in whom it has confidence to help the Jews in Palestine in their greatest hour of need. What this help has meant to you I need not go into in detail. The Zionist Commission speaks for itself. Dr. Weizmann came here as a stranger to the British authorities, but in a few weeks he has won for himself, and for the people whom he represents, a position among the British authorities and amongst all with whom he has come into contact in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine; a position which is not merely a help, but a corner stone of the work which lies before you. The Zionist Commission is in a position to do much to acquaint not only Jewry throughout the world, but also the Governments of the Allied countries, with the needs, ideals, and aspirations of Palestine Jewry. It is, therefore, only right that you should be guided in patience by him, your leader, and accept his advice and direction. Dr. Weizmann is a leader who will see you through. He is a man worthy of your confidence, as well as of the confidence of all of the Allied Governments.
“The work of the conference which I am addressing is very important. You have a great deal to prepare for. You have to prepare for peace, for the day when war is no more, and when there will be, please God, a free Palestine. Gentlemen, make sure that your foundation-stones are truly laid in your agricultural, cultural, and educational work. So much depends for civilization on the work for which you are now preparing and which you will perform during the next few months. You will be faced with all the difficult trivialities of life, but in the Zionist movement there is a spirit, and just as good transcends evil, so does the spiritual transcend the material. You can build up a centre of civilization here. We English owe all that is best in our civilization to the Bible, and that is why we feel a deep interest and a bond of sympathy in the work which you are doing. The Zionist movement is not merely a political move, but it is a spiritual force, and if it succeeds I feel it will bring something great and noble to the world, a message which will not only do so much for the sad but beautiful land, but for the scattered hosts of Israel and for humanity.”
Photo by בן־דוב בצלאל ירושלם
Laying Foundation Stone of the Hebrew University,
Mount Scopus, Jerusalem
15 Ab, 5678 24 July, 1918
On 24th July, 1918, the foundation-stones of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem were laid. This was an event which Zionists had conceived long before, an event likely to be of great importance in enabling Jerusalem to become a spiritual centre for the still dispersed communities of Israel, and destined, let us hope, to influence and elevate the mental life, social aspirations and religious conceptions of the Jews of the world.
The site of the University is a beautiful one. It is on Mount Scopus, on an estate purchased from the late Sir John Gray Hill of Liverpool, who was personally in deep sympathy with the scheme. It faces Jerusalem on the one side and the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea on the other.
At the ceremony of laying the foundation-stones those present included, besides the members of the Zionist Commission, the Commander-in-Chief and senior members of his staff, the Military Governor of Jerusalem, staff representatives of the French and Italian military detachments in Palestine and other officers, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Bishop MacInnes, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, the representatives of the Armenian and Greek Churches, the Mayor and Vice-Mayor of Jerusalem, Baron and Baroness Felix Menasce of Alexandria, Maurice Cattaui Pacha, President of the Cairo Jewish Community, Mr. Victor Mosseri, the Chief Rabbis of Cairo and Alexandria, the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis, and representatives of all Jewish organizations and committees in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and the colonies. The day was declared a public Jewish holiday in Jerusalem, and a crowd numbering about six thousand people witnessed the ceremony.
After the ceremony had been opened by a chant of praise, Dr. Weizmann laid the first foundation-stone of the University on behalf of the Zionist Organization. He was followed by the two Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem and the heads of the United Council, who laid a stone on behalf of the Jerusalem Community. The Mufti then laid a stone, and was followed by the Anglican Bishop. Stones were also laid on behalf of the following: The Zionist Organization, the Jewish Regiment, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the town of Jaffa, the Colonies, Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Teachers, Hebrew Science, Jewish Artisans and Labourers, Isaac Goldberg (whose generosity it was that provided so largely for the purchase of the site), and the Future Generations.
Dr. Weizmann then added his signature to a parchment scroll inscribed with the blessing:[¹]
ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה׃
[¹] “Blessed art Thou O! Lord our God, King of the Universe who hast preserved us alive, and sustained us and brought us to (enjoy) this season.”
“Wednesday, the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the month of Menachem-Ab, being in the year Five Thousand six hundred and seventy-eight from the creation of the World, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine from the destruction of our second Temple, and the twenty-first year after the first Zionist Congress called by Dr. Benjamin Zeeb ben Jacob Herzl, the first year of the Declaration of the British Government issued through the Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour promising to grant a National Home to the Jewish People in the land of Israel,—the day on which was laid the first stone of the building which shall become the first Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In testimony of which we add our signatures.” The signatures included that of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Nissim Elyashar, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Zerach Epstein, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Bishop MacInnes, Chief Rabbi Uziel of Jaffa in the name of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, M. Libowitz, one of the last of the heroic band of Bilu, Dr. Thon, Mr. D. Levontin, and some boys and girls in the name of the future generation.
The signed scroll was buried under the first stone.
Dr. Weizmann then delivered an address. He said:—
“We have to-day laid the foundation-stone of the first Jewish University, which is to be erected on this hill, overlooking the city of Jerusalem. Many of us will have had their thoughts cast back to the great historic scenes associated with Jerusalem, scenes that have become part of the heritage of mankind. It is not too fanciful to picture the souls of those who have made our history here with us to-day inspiring us, urging us onwards, to greater and ever greater tasks. Many again will have had their attention riveted on the apparent contrast between to-day’s ceremony and the scenes of warfare within a few miles of us. For only a brief moment we are allowing ourselves to indulge in a mental armistice, and in laying aside all thoughts of strife we try to pierce the veil of war and glance into the future. A week ago we were keeping the Fast of Ab, reminding us that the Temple had been utterly destroyed and the Jewish national political existence extinguished apparently for ever. But throughout the long centuries we, the stiff-necked people, have refused to acknowledge defeat, and ‘Judæa Capta’ is once more on the eve of triumph. Here, out of the misery and the desolation of war, is being created the first germ of a new life. Hitherto we have been content to speak of Reconstruction and Restoration. We know that ravished Belgium, devastated France, Poland and Russia must and will be restored. In this University, however, we have gone beyond Restoration and Reconstruction, we are creating during the period of war something which is to serve as a symbol of a better future. It is fitting that Great Britain, aided by her great Allies, in the midst of tribulation and sorrow, should stand sponsor to this University. Great Britain has understood that it is just because these are times of stress, just because men tend to become lost in the events of the day, that there is a need to overlay these details by this bold appeal to the world’s imagination. Here what seemed but a dream a few years ago is now becoming a reality.
“What is the significance of a Hebrew University—what are going to be its functions, whence will it draw its students, and what languages will it speak? It seems at first sight paradoxical that in a land with so sparse a population, in a land where everything still remains to be done, in a land crying out for such simple things as ploughs, roads, and harbours, we should begin by creating a centre of spiritual and intellectual development. But it is no paradox for those who know the soul of the Jew. It is true that great social and political problems still face us and will demand their solution from us. We Jews know that when the mind is given fullest play, when we have a centre for the development of Jewish consciousness, then coincidently we shall attain the fulfilment of our material needs. In the darkest ages of our existence we found protection and shelter within the walls of our schools and colleges, and in devoted study of Jewish science the tormented Jew found relief and consolation. Amid all the sordid squalor of the Ghetto there stood schools of learning where numbers of young Jews sat at the feet of our Rabbis and teachers. Those schools and colleges served as large reservoirs where there was stored up during the long ages of persecution an intellectual and spiritual energy which on the one hand helped to maintain our national existence, and on the other hand blossomed forth for the benefit of mankind when once the walls of the Ghetto fell. The sages of Babylon and Jerusalem, Maimonides and the Gaon of Wilna, the lens polisher of Amsterdam and Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine and Paul Ehrlich are some of the links in the long, unbroken chain of intellectual development.
“The University, as its name implies, is to teach everything the mind of man embraces. No teaching can be fruitful nowadays unless it is strengthened by a spirit of enquiry and research; and a modern University must not only produce highly trained professional men, but give ample opportunity to those capable and ready to devote themselves to scientific research to do so unhindered and undisturbed. Our University will thus become the home of those hundreds of talented young Jews in whom the thirst for learning and critical enquiry has been engrained by heredity throughout ages, and who in the great multitude of cases are at present compelled to satisfy this their burning need amid un-Jewish, very often unfriendly surroundings.
“A Hebrew University! I do not suppose that there is anyone here who can conceive of a University in Jerusalem being other than a Hebrew one. The claim that the University should be a Hebrew one rests upon the values the Jews have transmitted to the world from this land. Here in the presence of adherents of the three great religions of the world, which amid many diversities build their faith upon the Lord who made Himself known unto Moses, before this world which has founded itself on Jewish law, has paid reverence to Hebrew seers, has acknowledged the great mental and spiritual values the Jewish people have given to it, the question is answered. The University is to stimulate the Jewish people to reach further truth. Am I too bold if here to-day in this place among the hills of Ephraim and Judah, I state my conviction that the seers of Israel have not utterly perished, that under the ægis of this University there will be a renaissance of the Divine power of prophetic wisdom that once was ours? The University will be the focus of the rehabilitation of our Jewish consciousness now so tenuous, because it has become so world-diffused. Under the atmospheric pressure of this Mount, our Jewish consciousness can become diffused without becoming feeble, our consciousness will be rekindled and our Jewish youth will be reinvigorated from Jewish sources.
“Since it is to be a Hebrew University, the question hardly arises as to its language. By a strange error, people have regarded Hebrew as one of the dead languages, whilst in fact it has never died off the lips of mankind. True, to many of us Jews it has become a second language, but for thousands of my people Hebrew is and always has been the sacred tongue, and in the streets of Tel Aviv, in the orchards of Rischon and Rechoboth, on the farms of Hulda and Ben Shemen, it has already become the mother tongue. Here in Palestine, amid the Babel of languages, Hebrew stands out as the one language in which every Jew can communicate with every other Jew. Upon the technical difficulties connected with Hebrew instruction it is unnecessary for me to dwell at the moment. We are alive to them; but the experience of our Palestinian schools has already shown to us that these difficulties are surmountable. These are all matters of detail which have been carefully examined and will be dealt with at the appropriate time. I have spoken of the Jewish University where the language will be Hebrew, just as French is used at the Sorbonne, or English at Oxford. Naturally, other languages, ancient and modern, will be taught in the respective faculties; among these languages we may expect that prominent attention will be given to Arabic and other Semitic languages.
“The Hebrew University, though intended primarily for Jews, will, of course, give an affectionate welcome to the members of every race and creed. ‘For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.’ Besides the usual schools and institutions which go to form a modern University, there will be certain branches of science which it will be peculiarly appropriate to associate with our University. Archæological Research, which has revealed so much of the mysterious past of Egypt and of Greece, has a harvest still to be reaped in Palestine, and our University is destined to play an important part in this field of knowledge.
“The question as to the faculties with which our University may begin its career is limited to some extent by practical considerations. The beginnings of our University are not entirely lacking. We have in Jerusalem the elements of a Pasteur Institute and a Jewish Health Bureau, whence valuable contributions to bacteriology and sanitation have already been issued. There is the school of Technology at Haifa, and the beginning of an agricultural experimental station at Athlit. It is to scientific research and its application that we can confidently look for the banishment of those twin plagues of Palestine, malaria and trachoma; for the eradication of other indigenous diseases; it is to true scientific method that we may look for the full cultivation of this fair and fertile land, now so unproductive. Here, chemistry and bacteriology, geology and climatology, will be required to join forces, so that the great value of the University in the building up of our National Home is apparent. All that again reminds us of the fact which one is likely to forget after four years of a terrible war, with its misapplication of scientific methods, that we must look to science as to the healer of many wounds and the redeemer of many evils. Side by side with scientific research the humanities will occupy a distinguished place. Ancient Jewish learning, the accumulated, half-hidden treasures of our ancient philosophical, religious and juridic literature, are to be brought to light again and freed from the dust of ages. They will be incorporated in the new life now about to develop in this country, and so our past will be linked up with the present.
“May I be allowed, before concluding, to point to one very important aspect of our University? The University, while trying to maintain the highest scientific level, must, at the same time, be rendered accessible to all classes of the people. The Jewish workman and farm labourer must be enabled to find there a possibility of continuing and completing their education in their free hours. The doors of our libraries, lecture rooms, and laboratories, must be opened widely to them all. Thus the University will exercise its beneficial influence on the nation as a whole. The bare nucleus of the library is already in existence here, and very valuable additions to it are at present stored up in Russia and elsewhere. The setting-up of a University library and of a University press are contemplated soon after the war. Manifold are the preparations yet to be made. Some of them are already in progress; some, like the actual building, must necessarily be postponed until the happy day of peace arrives. But from this day the Hebrew University is a reality. Our University, formed by Jewish learning and Jewish energy, will mould itself into an integral part of our national structure which is in process of erection. It will have a centripetal force, attracting all that is noblest in Jewry throughout the world; a unifying centre for our scattered elements. There will go forth, too, inspiration and strength, that shall revivify the powers now latent in our scattered communities. Here the wandering soul of Israel shall reach its haven; its strength no longer consumed in restless and vain wanderings. Israel shall at last remain at peace within itself and with the world. There is a Talmudic legend that tells of the Jewish soul deprived of its body, hovering between heaven and earth. Such is our soul to-day; to-morrow it shall come to rest, in this our sanctuary. That is our faith.”
Dr. Weizmann then read the following message from Mr. Balfour:—
“Please accept my cordial good wishes for the future of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. May it carry out its noble purpose with ever-increasing success as the years go on. I offer my warm congratulations to all who have laboured so assiduously to found this school of learning, which should be an addition to the forces of progress throughout the world.”
Captain Coulandre, on behalf of the French Government, presented the following message:—
“Le Gouvernement de la République est heureux d’exprimer les sentiments de sympathie avec lesquels il accueille la fondation de l’Université Juive. Il forme des vœux sincères pour que de là rayonnent les grandes pensées de fraternité et d’idéal auxquels le Judaisme s’est si fermement attaché à travers les siècles au cours desquels il a resisté à toutes les persécutions, et pour que dans un monde débarassé des violences engendrées par les ambitions forcenées du régime Prussien les Juifs qui le desireront puissent trouver en Palestine en parfaite entente avec les autres groupements ethniques un foyer à la fois intellectuel et social.”
The whole ceremony was a deeply moving one, and produced an effect which will long remain with those who witnessed it.
The work of the Commission was made possible by the work of the British Army and its scope was greatly increased by General Allenby’s complete conquest of the country. In September, 1918, General Allenby secured a victory which resounded throughout the world by its completeness as well as by its brilliance. By most skilful procedure the Turkish line was broken in several places and Nablus and Beisan were captured. The bridge of the Daughters of Jacob over the Jordan was seized and British troops wheeling round by quick marches along the coastal plain, passed through the defile of Megiddo and cut off the greater portion of the Turkish army. The strong Turkish positions in the hills about Nablus were surrounded and positions which if directly attacked would have cost thousands of lives were taken with comparatively few losses.
Eighty thousand prisoners were captured and a vast amount of guns, munitions, and stores. The cavalry swept northward and captured Damascus within a few days, and even moved on to Beirout and Sidon on the coast, while the Arabs under the King of the Hedjaz defeated the Turks in the south-east of Palestine and Jewish troops were sent forward to the capture of Amman and Es-Salt. In a period of a fortnight, three armies were defeated and ceased to exist. Turkey’s military power was destroyed instantaneously. The only defences left to the Turkish Empire were bad communications, immense distances, and the submarines in the Eastern Mediterranean. The victories in Palestine stirred the world and gave new vigour to Zionist efforts. To the outside world, these victories marked the first decisive step in the final defeat of the German federation. To the Zionists, they brought great joy because they definitely ended the corrupt rule of Turkey. Supported by the most powerful nations in the world, the Jews are asked to create in Palestine a typically Hebrew society. A great responsibility and a great opportunity are thus offered to us. We have to consider many new and difficult problems. But for the solution of these practical problems, we confidently expect to receive much help from Jews all over the world. The Declaration of the Allies has been like a trumpet-call. Our wonderful successes in the world of diplomacy fascinate all to whom the fate of Israel is of importance. The history of the past few years, which has transformed, at the cost of terrible injuries to humanity, what seemed dreams into plain facts, and made what were facts into dream-like memories, will surely bring us active help from all who sympathize with our ideal, the ideal for which Jews have unceasingly prayed and hoped for twenty centuries.
This mighty war has now come to an end and the world breathes freely once more. The cruelties and horrors of more than four years seem now like a nightmare. That nightmare has vanished—let us hope for ever. Day has dawned again, a day of victory, whose power for good outweighs the evil powers let loose by the world-war. The great armies of the Western Allies and of the United States of America have been victorious. In consequence of this victory an old world order has been destroyed and a new and a better one brought into being. State organizations which had forced diverse nations into their artificial and incongruous structures only by power are collapsing like houses of cards. Those who ruled by the sword perished by the sword. Despotism, supported by militarism, is shattered. The victory of the Allies ought to be more than a victory of one group of states over another; this ought to be the victory of what is good in man over what is evil. This victory must benefit the conquered not less than the conquerors. One great idea has been victorious in this war, namely, the national principle: liberty, equality, and self-determination of all peoples, great and small, old and young. Every nation has the right to live, given the will to do so. Every nation has a right to the land in which it grew to be a nation. It is all one, whether this was accomplished a hundred years ago as in Belgium, or many hundreds of years ago as in Armenia, or as in Greece some thousands of years ago. The right of a people to its historical home cannot be limited by time.
On the basis of this principle a new Europe is shaping itself. Every nation must have its own land, its share in human civilization, with its own speech and customs, its right to do as it wills. Alsace-Lorraine wants to be French, and therefore it shall be French again. The Czechs and the Southern Slavs wish to form independent states; Poland, Belgium, Serbia, and others, too, are reasserting their independence. Wherever historical rights exist, these must now be realized. Every nation regains now its Zion for which it has longed and suffered. Although this is a great progress in itself, it would be a poor safeguard unless the other great principle were also adopted, the principle of freedom. With the regeneration of national freedom it follows also that the progress of human liberty, equality, and social justice both in the existing states and in the old ones now to be re-established will be assured. No despotism, no subjection of minorities, but liberty, equality, and fraternity for all citizens, equal duties and equal rights.
For this ideal seven millions of men, the vigorous youth of mankind, have sacrificed their lives, and many millions more have been crippled. For this ideal of justice several countries have been laid waste and civilization itself has been threatened with complete destruction. This great ideal of justice, however, will be worthy of the terrible sacrifices which have been made; it must now be attained.
A new Europe and—a new Asia. Light is shining again from the East. The glorious British Army has reconquered ancient East for civilization. The Arabs, our Semitic kindred, the descendants of a chivalrous and one-time famous race, side by side with inspired Jewish volunteer forces who had flocked together to fight with love and enthusiasm for the Land of Promise, have, with the assistance of French and Italian reinforcements, done their duty in assisting the British Army. Mesopotamia, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine are now freed for their nations. An Arabian Kingdom, a free, well-ordered Syria, the remnants of the unfortunate, hard-tried Armenian nation established as an Armenian State, and a new Erez Israel, all these will have to be created on a basis of historical rights and of the realization of the national principle, each under the protection of, and receiving assistance from, some suitable Great Power, in accordance with their own desire, in their gradual and peaceful progress towards their ultimate goal.
What, we ask, will now be the position of the Jews at this juncture? What will the great victory bring to this people who have been so hard hit by this war? Hundreds of thousands of Jews have lost their lives, most of them in countries where they had no share in human rights, and nothing to fight for. Dying on the Carpathian mountains or in the plains of Moldavia, the last glance of their closing eyes was turned to the East, to the hills of Zion. Innumerable masses have been maimed, millions nerve-shattered and starved out, tens of thousands of Jewish homes, thousands of old Jewish communities wiped out, never to be reconstructed. Will all this not be taken into account in the general reckoning of the great victory? Jews live in larger or smaller numbers in different countries, where they are faithful and devoted citizens. The majority of the Jewish people have suffered too long and too bitterly in many countries, and it must be the task of the nations and their governments, once and for all, to put an end to these unspeakable sufferings in the old states and in those soon to be founded, by solemn declarations and binding obligations. The Jews desire to be emancipated, that is, released from servile tutelage; in a free state they do not wish to be the only pariahs and slaves. They demand to be free; that means in the first place that they want to breathe freely, to breathe wherever they wish without fear that a policeman or a neighbour should point out to them that a Jew may not breathe everywhere. They demand to be free; that means in the second place, that they should have the right to use their powers of mind and body unhindered in any honest calling, in any useful art, in any branch of science; so that they can be active and industrious, follow skilled employments, or discharge the functions of office in order to maintain themselves and their families and not be a burden upon others. This they desire without having to fear that the Gentile competitor should be able to say to them: only Gentile hands, only Gentile craftsmen may be employed in skilled trades, only Gentile applicants are admitted to official positions, only Gentile abilities can assert themselves. And as there are too many of you, we must make laws to limit your activities—otherwise we shall boycott you! They demand to be free; that means in the third place that they must be free also as regards their conscience: if their sons possess sufficient talent and knowledge to serve the country as scholars or as public officials, they should be able to do so as honest Jews, and not be compelled to parade as dishonest Christians, that is to profane the ceremony of baptism and to use the certificate of baptism as a passport to office; they do not wish to act as hypocrites, they do not wish to enter Christian communities by lying and knavery, or to smuggle themselves in that way into civic life. They wish to live as Jews, that means to maintain and to develop undisturbed in their true spirit their customs, their traditions, their system of education, their communities, etc. In short, they wish to be human beings, since he that may not be a citizen with a citizen’s full rights in the place where he lives and works and bears his share in all social burdens, has been denied the right to be a human being; or if rights are granted to a man under the condition that he should become assimilated and cease to be what he has been, thanks to his race and the traditions sacred to him, against that man’s manhood the crime of murder has been committed. They wish to be free human beings.
This question indeed concerns humanity. It was raised at the end of the eighteenth century by the great French Revolution, and in some states with small Jewish populations it has been solved in a spirit of liberty. France, England, Italy were the pioneers of equal rights for all. The United States of America were an example in establishing the freedom of citizenship. Nevertheless the majority of the Jews presented during the course of the nineteenth century a pitiful spectacle of unceasing martyrdom—with many shades from semi-emancipation linked with anti-semitism, to boycott and massacres.
The world is changing all its values, and should there be in any country a continuation of tyranny, oppression, and barbarous persecution with regard to the Jews, under any pretext—of which there has never and nowhere seemed to be a lack—then the great ideal of this world-war will remain an idle dream. For justice can never exist together with injustice. This problem of humanity must now be and will be solved.
But the essential problem of modern political evolution lies deeper than this: it is the problem of the peoples that have been robbed of their lands. No matter how the position of the Jews may be ameliorated, and although many Jews may find a home here and there, nevertheless the genius of the Jewish people, the energy of its constructive power, its creative force will have no adequate means of expression. To have a strong impulse to live their own full life and not to be able to do so—that is the heart-breaking tragedy of this people. This essential dilemma is left untouched by the vague formula of Emancipation. Zionism is the only remedy for the deeper Jewish problem, because Zionism alone goes to the real root of the trouble. There can be no Emancipation worthy of the name without a homeland. The greatest danger to Zionism as well as to anti-Zionism is that the ideal of Zionism on the one hand and that of Emancipation on the other should be separated, and that people should come to regard as antagonistic objects which are essentially related and complementary to one another. Not all Jews will return to Palestine, but large numbers will. Zionism represents one of the highest manifestations of that aspiration to free national existence which is the basis of the reconstruction of the world. When a people, uprooted for centuries from its soil, scattered like dust over the whole world, wants to restore its homeland to-day, to have a land where it can be reunited, then we have before us a proof of the new power that lies in the national idea. Millions of Jews are attached to Palestine with all their soul and strength, just as on the first day of the forced expulsion of their ancestors from their old home: their prayers, their lamentations, their dreams have centred for generations upon this magnetic pole of their love and reverence. Hundreds of times they made desperate efforts to return, but were prevented by powerful circumstances from doing so, and as soon as they had the opportunity of beginning again the re-settlement of Palestine, notwithstanding unspeakable sufferings and the greatest sacrifices, they instantly and energetically availed themselves of it. If the millions of Jewish emigrants who formed the new ghettoes of Europe and America from about 1880 to now had had the possibility of going to Palestine, they would have gladly seized it, because they wished to live as a nation, but that was not possible at that time. Israel must have its own home. Palestine must become the spiritual and cultural centre of the Jews. Properly developed, it can hold millions of homeless Jews who will at last have their own homeland and their own full nationality. If it is a misfortune for a people to be robbed of its country, where it could live in peace and prosperity as a nation and enjoy in common with the rest of the family of nations the fruits of its labour, then this misfortune is not smaller but rather has become greater for having existed two thousand years. If it is an injustice to withhold from a people a land to which they have a right, then this injustice is not the smaller, but rather the greater, when a people has suffered it for two thousand years. Never has a nation governed its own home for a longer period; no nation’s history, religion, literature, and traditions are more closely bound up with its land; and no nation has ever suffered a more terrible martyrdom after having been disinherited. Can anyone doubt the right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel? The validity of the Jewish title to Palestine rests on the same basis as the title of any nation to any particular area of the world where it has ruled and existed for centuries. The Jews’ historical right on the Land of Israel, with due consideration for the rights and interests of the non-Jewish population which will be safe-guarded and respected, must become the decisive factor in the question of Palestine.
At last the time has come. The spirit of freedom is on the wing, the Great Creative Spirit is once more moving among the nations. The new territorial settlement is going to lay the foundations of the world’s peace on a basis of justice and national union. The liberation of oppressed nationalities, the restoration of territories violently annexed in the past, the recognition of the desire of racial units and groups for autonomy are the great objects in view. The wrongs of the centuries are going to be righted, and the Jewish race to be placed on an equal footing with other races. The Jewish people is standing at a momentous turning point in its history of four thousand years, to which the determined labour of Zionism has paved the way. The very roots of Jewish nationality are set in that soil which after being for ages in shadow is again turning to light. With the victory of the national idea Zionism also has won a victory. Now that Palestine is freed, much is possible which formerly was only an aspiration. The field is immense and ready. The evil demon of the Pharaohs and of Antiochus Epiphanes has been cast out; the glorious genius of Cyrus the Great hovers with wings of love over the wonderful destiny of the Jewish people. Powerful nations and governments—the guardians of freedom and the champions of justice—have solemnly pledged themselves to further with all the forces at their disposal the revival of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. Under this guiding symbol the problem of Palestine will be discussed and settled by the Peace Conference among all the important questions before it. The work is stupendous in its implications and its responsibilities. No one imagines that this result can be speedily attained. Its accomplishment will take time, and quite possibly a long time. To restore a scattered people to a land long neglected is not an easy task. The Jewish colonization of Palestine must be carefully built, stone upon stone, by the steady hands of Zionists with that spirit of self-sacrificing endurance which saved our nationality, with wisdom and self-restraint. Zionists are aware of what the Holy Places of Palestine, places of traditional associations and religious faith, consecrated by a thousand cherished memories, are to the great religions. These places will receive equal respect; they will be, not less, but more than hitherto reverently exalted as places of the rarest and sweetest memories in the world. Zionists have the most scrupulous regard for all spiritual things and needs of all religions, and are confident that all Holy Places will be safeguarded by arrangements to be introduced. Zionists are also alive to the legitimate interests and needs of the non-Jewish population, whose liberty and welfare, in peace and harmony and mutual respect, are most essential for the success of the Jewish national rebirth. The new Jewish centre must be made worthy of its glorious past. The noblest ambitions of Jews all over the world are concentrated on this point.
Zionists have now an opportunity never dreamt of—an opportunity that may never return. The Jewish masses, all those who want to live their own life, the clean, free life of farmers and settlers, will be enabled to cultivate all the possibilities of their nature. Industry, art, and science are to join hands in this great work. The long-desired goal of the Jewish people, the rehabilitation of the old national home in the land of their fathers, is nearing realization. This is a great historical event which must touch and stimulate the imagination of all for whom history, right of nations, and justice for small nationalities have any meaning or any message. Ancient Israel, reawakened to new life, is preparing itself to enter the family of nations as a small but free nation in its old home.
Zionism is not a mere abstract idea. It is connected by every bond with modern democracy and aspirations for liberty. All peoples for whom democracy is not a vain word owe it moral and material support. The Peace Conference must permit it to attain its ends. The League of Nations will not be complete if the oldest and most oppressed Jewish nationality will not have its place there. Of all the consequences of the Great War and the still greater Victory, none could be invested with so splendid a degree of romance as the re-establishment of Israel. Of all the small nations which shall spring full fledged from this world crisis, none will have so ancient a claim, so fascinating a history as the Hebrew people reinstalled among the consecrated hills of Judah and by the sacred waters of Galilee. This will be an everlasting memorial to the principle for which the free peoples of the earth have made the greatest sacrifice in the history of the human race. And the names of all those who have given their support and help towards this work of Peace, Justice, and Liberty will live for ever in the annals of the world and of Israel.