THE SITUATION IN PALESTINE.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sia,—In your leading article on " The Situation As It Is," in your last issue, you state that the Jewish immigrants In Palestine " are given a position of political privilege " and also that " they are in fact allowed to run the country." These are very bold assertions to make without the least semblance of proof. It must surely be well known to anybody at all interested in the affairs of Palestine that it is governed by a British Administration, that all the heads of departments are British subjects and all the District Governors are British Christians, whilst in both branches of the Civil Service the Jews are in the minority. In the senior service of the Administration there are 165 British Christians, 145 Arabs, and 50 Jews (14 British and 36 Palestinian), whilst in the junior service there are 76 British Christians, 1,488 Arabs, and 566 Jews (13 British and 553 Palestinian). Although the Palestinian Christians form only about 11 per cent. of the population they comprise 22i per cent. of the senior officials and 49 per cent. of the junior officials (see the High Commissioner's Interim Report). So much for the " political pririlege " enjoyed by the Jewish immigrants and their " running the country."
You speak of Palestine as " a country small, unfertile, and already supporting a considerable population." The total population is only 700,000, whilst an authority like the late Colonel C. R. Conder, who spent many years' surveying the country, maintained that, if restored to its ancient prosperity, it could hold a population of ten millions. A recent Government Report showed that 75 per cent. of the arable area of Palestine is still uncultivated, and the Jewish farmers have proved that they can produce two and three times as mach as the Arabs out of any given plot of land.
Your statement that the towns and country districts of Palestine have " less liberty and less self-government " than they possessed under the rule of the Sultan is also unsupported by any evidence.- But what you entirely overlook is the extent of the development of the country, despite the political agitation to which you call attention. During the lait two or three years Palestine has witnessed more progress than it would have experienced under twenty years of the Sultan's rule. -The Government has made numerous improvements and 'extensions in the roads and railways. It has appointed agricultural assistants, who tour the villages systematically; it has stopped the destructive felling of the few remaining trees in the country and has planted some hundreds of thousands of trees. It has provided £E370,000 in loans to agriculturists and enacted a Land Ordinance to prevent speculation in land and to protect exist- ing tenants. It has transferred to a newly constituted Moslem authority the revenues of certain wealthy endowments (Wakfs), yielding an income of £E18,000, which were sequestrated by the Turkish Government eighty years ago. It has given an impetus to education by furnishing the cost of maintenance of any school for which the people provide a suitable building. It has set up an impartial judicial system, abolished several oppressive taxes, and taken comprehensive measures for safeguarding the health of the population. The cost of all these improvements—and of many others—has been defrayed entirely out of Palestine's own internal revenue.
The "'millions " to which you refer—how about £3,000,000 per annum, or about a shilling per head Of the population of Great Britain—have been spent solely • upon the military forces in Palestine, and this cost is to be reduced; But what you entirely fail to take into account is that Palestine is not a possession of the British Empire, but has been entrusted to the-administra- tion of the British Government upon the distinct understanding that a Jewish national home is established therein. It is not within the power of the British Government to alter this funda- mental basis of its mandate. Its policy can bo carried out with benefit to both Jew and Arab if only it will be allowed to con- tinue its work without the interference of political agitators or fanatical priests.—I am; Sir, &c., - ISRAEL Conn:_ Zionist Organiiation, Central Office, 7.7 Gt. Russell St., weed.
Previous page
