SIR,—Mr. Hodgkin in his article on Palestine would substitute for
the old "illusions " a system of new myths more misleading than any of them. (1) Zionism has " grown," he says, implying that it has lost its innocence. The truth is that in thirty years of advance (advance against the administrative wind) Zionism has let go none of its profound moral values. Its human claims on us are as great as ever. History will retort the current slanders on those who are uttering them. (2) There is no hypocrisy in Zionist protestations of friendship for the Arabs. More progressive than their critics, Zionists genuinely look forward to a day when the Arab States will plan with the Jewish State for a transformed and productive Middle East. I have heard Zionist leaders express these hopes in private sessions where there was no question of beguiling an audience.
(3) It is not surprising if Britain has lost the good will of young Palestinians in view of the sufferings which have recently proceeded from the Mandatory policy. But fortunately the record of British injustice in Palestine is relatively short—relatively, that is, to cases like Ireland. The earlier Anglo-Jewish tradition is one of which Britain can be proud, and the minute the Government wants, it can be reassumed.
(4) Mr. Hodgkin suggests that the Jews now want war, as well as the Arabs. He•-has only to recollect the geography of Palestine to see the error of his charge. With settlements scattered in exposed places over hill and desert, Zionism stands to lose the work of two generations if the hostilities burn into war. People do not willingly jeopardise what they have built. In Palestine the Arabs have built nearly nothing ; the Jews have done nothing but build.
It is significant that the men who are crying war, and are ready to knock the country about and bring back the Ottoman chaos, are not local Arabs, but those who have no ties with the land—the Syrians and Iraqis. These are crossing the Jordan with their armament daily now.—
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