PALESTINE AND THE JEWS. T HE so-called Zionist Congress has been
held at Bale, thanks mainly to the energy of Herr Max Nordau, and its proceedings have attracted not a little attention throughout the world. Apparently there was manifested at the Congress a very genuine enthusiasm for the scheme, and a. belief that it was practicable. Only a Jew, knowing intimately what is being thought and said in Jewish circles in this and other countries, can say with authority how far this Congress is representative and serious ; but to the outsider it seems certainly serious and fairly repre- sentative of the middle-class Jew, as distinct alike from the very poor and from the millionaire class. There is evidently, however, some disagreement on this point among those who ought to know, and we shall not presume to say how far the Congress is authoritative, or how far it really represents Jewish opinions and aspirations. We can only discuss the question impartially, stating, as far as we can, the claims of the Zionist movement, and some of the results which might follow were it successful. But first, is the movement a possible or desirable one ? On that point there would seem to be divergent opinions in Jewish circles representing the two sides of Jewish thought, —the cosmopolitan and the patriotic. The cosmopolitan Jew is content to live among the Gentile nations, not obtruding his own opinions and personality on his fellows, but rather seeking to bridge over the gulf which separates Israel from the Western world. The Reformed Jewish move- ment in America, which gave birth to the Ethical Societies there, represents this idea. It is even hoped by some of these Jews that an actual union can be effected with the Christian Church, or at least with the less dogmatic branches, through a common acceptance of the doctrine of the Divine Fatherhood. We have no belief in the possi- bility of any such union, for Judaism, even in its higher aspects, is no more than a very pure and noble tribal religion which offers no medium of communication between God and man such as is unfolded in the doctrine of the Incarnation. But we will not discuss the question ; it is sufficient to indicate the temper and ideas of this section of the Jewish world. The patriotic element is for a revival of the Jewish State, for a Jewish Republic, Prin- cipality, or Commonwealth of some kind, with a capital in Jerusalem ; for a Jewish Power, in short, holding diplo- matic relations with other nations as a political State. Though there is at present no definite idea, apparently, as to the actual territory to be acquired, we may suppose that the boundaries of ancient Palestine, with a few additions, represent to the patriotic Jew the Land which he is to enter and possess as his fathers entered it from Egypt thousands of years ago. The division between these two sections of Jews is thus clear and well defined; and though so distinguished a writer as Herr Nordau and so brilliant a novelist as Mr. Zangwill have adhered to the patriotic party, we should be inclined to think that the intellectual and literary Jew, on the whole, would have little to say to the scheme.
There is some controversy as to whether the Zionist movement is the outcome of Anti-Semitism. Apparently it is not, in any strict sense of the word, for it existed before the Anti-Semite movement began to be talked about. But there can be no doubt that the Anti-Semite movement has imparted an impetus Zionwards which was lacking ; for while the Jews were doing so well in many parts of the world, what reason was there for taking possession of a little corner of Asia Minor ? As soon as determined hostility to the Semite began to be shown over more than half of Europe, and, strange to say, in America as well, a powerful motive was supplied for a settlement of Jews outside the pale of Christen- dom. So that, while the Anti-Semite movement may not have been the cause, it has afforded the occasion of this new effort to seat the modern Jew in the ancient land of his race.
Can the attempt be made, and will it be successful ? We have our own doubts about its possibility, but there 18 no palpable reason why it should not become a leading event of the next century it the Jews generally desire it. First, the goodwill of the Sultan must be secured and his consent given. The Jews have just thanked the Sultan for the security which their co-religionists enjoy under his rule ; and deplore it as we may, there is no doubt that Jews generally are on the side of the Mussulman Power, and against the Christian peoples of the Turkish Empire. Speculation as to the reason for this fact—whether the cause is financial, or due to religious affinities, or to a feeling of revenge against Christendom for past cruelties, or all three together—is useless ; the fact remains. The Sultan, therefore, is well-disposed. It is not likely that he would part absolutely with this strip of his dominions, but he would accept, in all probability, a Jewish State under his own suzerainty. If the rich Jews through- out the world entered into the scheme they could, of course, easily make it worth the Sultan's while, for there would be cash down and a perspective of annual subsidies, upon which the Sultan might be induced to rely as a means of propping up his State and postponing the day when the dreaded infidel shall take possession. The occupation of Palestine by the Jews under Turkish suzerainty would be, it may well be urged, even more than this ; it would be the fortifying and perpetuation of the Oriental spirit against all Western encroachments ; and the present aspect of the Eastern world shows that this is a consummation ardently desired by millions. The blending of East and West, it may be argued, is hopeless and impossible. The influence of Europe is perpetually extending ; but, for the moment, the European Powers are so divided, that the opportunity has come for a stand to be made, if not for an actual advance of the Orient. The establishment of the Jew in such a useful geographical position as Palestine would be a telling influence on the Eastern side in its conflict with the West. We do not at present know the attitude taken up by the wealthy Jewish magnates towards the scheme. So much depends on them ; for in addition to financial arrangements with Turkey, the returning Jews would, as it were, enter a habitation needing repairs from top to bottom, and therefore needing also an immense initial capital. This could be easily furnished were the wealthy Jews favour- able to the scheme, and were they certain of securing adequate returns ; but, up to the present, Hebrew finance in London, New York, and Berlin has revealed no adequate sign of its feeling on the subject, either as a patriotic scheme or as a field for investment Palestine is at present, as Matthew Arnold has said, a land "of sun, and arid stone, and crumbling wall, and sultry sand," but there is no reason to doubt that culture and irrigation would restore its fertility, and that it might once again overflow with milk and honey, if only the means were secured whereby the work of reclamation could be begun on a large scale. The German colonies there have done well, and there are few parts of the land that would not yield wealth. It has been objected that the modern Jew is rarely a farmer, that he prefers to work with his brains, to turn money over, to engage in speculative occupations, rather than to work with his hands. The fact is true in the main, but it is capable of explanation through historic causes. It is almost certain that we owe agriculture to the Semites, and it is certain that the Jews were, in ancient times, an agricultural people. Their exclusion from so many arts in Western Europe, their confinement for centuries to a few callings and to narrow areas, will suffi- ciently account for their present speculative and somewhat mercenary instincts. It would be a distinct gain to them, morally and socially, could a goodly proportion of their race be induced to resume, under happy conditions, those healthy and primary arts of life in which they engaged before the overthrow of their ancient commonwealth. One more land reclaimed from Turkish poverty and desolation would be a gain for the Jews and for the entire world. It is certain that the Turk will do nothing with Palestine; it seems equally certain that European rivalries will prevent any one European country from colonising it ; why may not the true solution be found in Jewish colonisation ? The idea is attractive, and it seems feasible.
If Jewish settlement in Palestine would be good for that country and for the Jews themselves, it would certainly relieve some of the Western nations from a serious problem which seems to grow in proportion day by day. We cannot enter into the causes and motives of the Anti-Semitic movement, but that it is a portentous fact nobody can doubt. We believe it to be partly racial, partly financial, and to a very slight degree religious. It is absurd to suppose that any mere religious prejudice can explain the fact that such a tolerant, easy- going, cultivated city as Vienna is in the hands of the Anti-Semites, or that a wealthy Jew is ex- pelled from a Saratoga hotel or blackballed at a New York club. German scholars hint that the Jew always was unpopular, that his narrow, tribal, self-righteous spirit was disliked by the subtle, joyous Greek and by the solid, tolerant Roman. In our modern world the Western man feels that the Jew is solitary and apart, that he is dominated by ideas essentially different from those of our own civilisation. We cannot accuse Wagner of narrow- ness, yet this belief impelled him to criticise adversely the influence of such Jewish composers as Meyerbeer and Alendelssohn on German music. On the other hand, the peasantry of Eastern and Central Europe attack the Jew as a capitalist. These, we should say, roughly, are the chief causes of the Anti-Semite movement; but whether our diagnosis is correct or not, the fact remains that Anti- Semitism is a growing factor in European politics, that millions of people believe that the Jew is an isolated and socially hostile factor which cannot be assimilated. The migration of the Jews to Palestine on anything like a large scale might diminish the pressure of this question, the serious nature of which we in Eng,land scarcely realise. Europe as a whole, therefore, may well be the gainer from the project.
In another way Europe would gain, for the narrowing of the area of direct Turkish rule must always be a gain for Europe. The destiny of Turkey is to be gradually absorbed by other Powers. Piece after piece of the blood- stained Empire has gone for ever, and the remainder will go before long. If the process of disintegration can be effected by peaceful occupation of the country, as in the proposed Jewish settlement, so much the better. The area of peaceful industry is extended, and the world is relieved from an incubus. While admitting that the steadying and fortifying of Oriental influences might be the result of the migration, Europe would run that risk in order that at least a tract of Turkish territory might be taken from what can never be anything else than a fanatical horde, and transferred to a progressive people. There is always a risk to be run upon the confines of East and West, but here there is a certain palpable gain. Of course Europe would insist on conditions as to the holy places, now guarded by indifferent Turkish GalHos, against the mutual hostilities of Christian fanaticism. But we should all prefer to see the Jew there rather than the Turk, for after all the Jew represents the fons et origo of Christian civilisation, and tribal though he is, he has now reached the point of admitting that Christianity was an offshoot at least of the great tree of the sacred prophecy of Israel. The Jew may be isolated, but he stands closer to our civilisation than any representative of the Arabian Prophet ever can.
We have merely tried to state briefly the case for the Jewish colonisation of Palestine. We doubt whether it will, as a matter of fact, be carried out, but we see that it might well offer solid advantages alike to the Jews and to Europe. The initial problem is as to whether a sufficiently large body of Jews would really go ; and the next problem is as to whether the rich Jews will find the money to develop the country. Upon these two questions Gentile opinion is not worth much, because the evidence is not forthcoming as yet. But if these two problems can be met, the rest is, we should say, com- paratively easy.
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