Narrative is linear, action is cubic.

Happily, the stage of action has been entered in Palestine; we need only action on a larger scale. And for this enlargement and extension of its activities, for this colonization work which means the reopening and regeneration of a neglected country, Zionism needs such special facilities and protective measures as the Basle Programme contemplates when it speaks of a home for the Jewish people secured by public law. The formula may be varied, but the sense is abundantly clear: it means such rights and assurances as will, in existing conditions, help to lay the foundations of a modern Commonwealth for the Jewish people.

It has been thought by many that a Chartered Company would be the appropriate instrument for achieving this object; others have thought of concessions to the Zionist Organization and its financial institutions. But these questions of detail matter little at present. The form will be decided by general conditions; the principle is a Home secured as far as possible, and behind this again there is the great and profound idea of the reunion of the Jewish Nation with its nobler self. This idea has obtained currency and spread continually: it has progressed outwardly and inwardly taken shape, and has done more than any other idea to awaken and rekindle the powers of the Jewish race. It is an impulse of the national soul towards self-discovery and self-expression, and history testifies to the fact that all genuine impulses of this kind have attained their object.

The quotations which we have brought together in this book show us an unbroken chain of opinion that extends over several generations in England and in France. Throughout we observe the same convergence of ideal, practical and political reasons in support of the Zionist idea. Zionism is, indeed, not less practical for being based on sentiment. Englishmen have always been practical enough to be idealists, and it is not surprising that Zionism has always met with the greatest sympathy in England. This was the case even in the earlier stages of the Zionist idea, when there was no clear programme and no real activity. Now, when Zionism has a clear programme and has years of activity behind it, English interest in Zionism naturally grows stronger and deeper.

Zionism has, then, every reason to hope for the sympathy and support of the most enlightened Powers in its effort to secure the conditions necessary for the prosecution of its work in Palestine. But the achievement of a political success with this or that Power must never be mistaken for the real aim of Zionism. Its real aim is the regeneration—physical, economic, moral—of the Jewish people. That is a constructive task of the highest value from the point of view of humanity, and those who set their hands to such a task need many high qualities—patience and tenacity of purpose, experience and foresight. Above all, they need the gifts of imagination and optimism, without which no great object has ever been achieved. So at last the great day will dawn, and the task of Zionism will be accomplished.


INDEX

[The Volumes are indicated by I and II respectively.]

END OF VOL. I.