1 MARCH 1946, Page 6

THROUGH PALESTINE

By M. PHILIPS PRICE, M.P.

From Haifa the road leads down the coast past acres of orange- groves. Zionist enterprise has made this sandy land blossom as the rose. But all is not well here. Some orchards are abandoned. The rest are in receipt of subsidies from the Government to keep them off the financial rocks. I had seen lorry-loads of oranges being dumped on rubbish heaps in Syria because the produce of these groves had failed to find a market. The citrus industry of Palestine had already become overgrown even before the war. Unwise propa- ganda years ago, with the policy of settling masses of Jewish immi- grants on the land to grow something, no matter what, is now bear- ing bitter fruit. The finances of Palestipe are burdened with subsidies to the citrus industry and grants to keep down inflated prices for the consumer. Nearly one-third of Palestine's revenue goes in what is known as "war services," which contain items of this kind. This makes a formidable sum when to it is added internal-security ex- penditure. The trouble is, too, that this does not arise only from war conditions but is inherent in the whole immigration policy as prac- tised before restriction came.

I certainly saw a change in Jerusalem after thirty-two years. For instance, I remember the Abyssinian church with its circular altar and priests beating drums. Then it was out in the fields ; now it is in the middle of the modern Jewish town. But not far away is still the old Jewish quarter where live the venerable Israelites with long locks who go and wail at the wall. (It is said that they are on excellent terms with the Moslem Sheiks inside th Mosque of Omar.) It is also said that many of their .sons have joined the terrorist Stern gang But all the same I saw some young Jews wailing at the wall one evening, while the voice of the Mullah ebbed and flowed from the minaret, calling the faithful Moslems to prayer.

One day I visited Jewish colonies. I saw one of the communal type—Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. The colony was perched on a stony hillside. These Jews were inspired by a high ideal, to live and work in common. They saw their children only for a short time after work each day, and then they were taken away to the common dormitory. It meant great faith and idealism to live this Spartan life, but these Jews seemed able to do it. For they had been delivered from a house of bondage and, after wander- ing in the wilderness, had found a Promised Land. Or they thought they had. They had put in some good work reclaiming hillsides for fruit and vines. They also had a modern dairy herd. I found they were hauling bulky cattle-food thirty miles from the plain by lorries, and water was laid on from the Jerusalem mains. The capital costs of this and other items must have been in the neighbourhood of £20 an acre, which is far too heavy for such poor land. But with milk at 6s. a gallon and butter at ros. a pound the thing looks safe, unless one day a boatload of Australian butter comes into Haifa. Then I see trouble, unless there is a colossal Palestine tariff.

I visited other colonies, including one of a more orthodox type with individual holdings and co-operative buying and selling. This was better, but I found that here, too, the colonists were burdened with heavy capital costs for water-sprinklers. For they were trying to grow specialist crops on land that was really too dry for them. This cost also ran to about £20 an acre, and even here subsidies jrom outside and high prices were needed to keep an artificial economy alive. Other Jewish colonies were run on individual lines with farmers and wage-labourers. Palestine labour is not very efficient. I found that it often takes 88 man-days to plough, harvest and sort one acre of potatoes, which, in this country, should not take more than 25 man-days.

To do them justice, I found that the Jewish agricultural experts were concerned about the financial problems of the Zionist colonies. They admit there are not unlimited local markets for milk, vegetables, fruit and poultry. The only important consuming centres are Haifa, Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, and thus, without big expansion of industry, any fresh farm-colonies will have difficulty in getting local markets. And then the question arises if these industries will be able to stand world-competition. The Jewish agricultural experts are trying to find new crops for export, and I saw a farm where this was being tested out. But ground-nuts cost E200 a ton to produce in Palestine ; in Tanganyika £25 a ton. One wonders what will happen to the large sums of money flowing into Palestine from rich Jews in America when these facts are known. And if this source of finance dries up, what will happen to the Zionist colonies whose heads are kept above water only in this way? It looks as if the demand for unlimited immigration is inspired by the fear that unless new colonies and industries are being founded all the time, and money keeps coming in, there will be a loss of confidence in America and the whole enterprise will collapse like a pack of cards. It is rather like borrowing money to cover a current deficit. One cannot help think- ing that, sensing this, the Zionists are demanding unlimited immi- gration to put off the evil day, and swamp the Arab majority before the facts are known.

I spent the rest of my time in Palestine looking at Arab villages and industries. It is frequently said that the Jews are the only progressive element, and are opposed by slavish fellaheen and feudal landlords. I came to Palestine from Irak and Syria, and I can say that in no country are the Arabs more conscious and active than in Palestine. I found that the few big-Arab landlords sold out to the Zionists many years ago, and have gone. Each Arab landlord I saw owned two or three farms, and lived and worked one of them himself. I visited Arab villages in the hilly country of Judaea, where there are no landlords and where the villagers are having the old communal lands of Ottoman days parcelled out into individual holdings. saw the peasants terracing the land and planting olives, figs and vines. A Jewish expert told me that he thought the Arab villages were econdmically much sounder than most of the Jewish ones. They had already increased output with hardly any increase of capital costs. The Arab farming, of course, is extensive, not intensive like the Jewish. But one feels that it is already laying the basis of a sound subsistence farming with livestock and an export trade in olive oil. I found no hatred against the Jews as such among the Arab villagers, but they all were solid in their demands that, if homes have to be found for destitute Jews in Europe, then Palestine at least has done its share.