COMMUNICATIONS
OUR JAFFA CORRESPONDENT.
In the September number of THE MAC-CABAEN, Mr. Jacob Farbstein calls your attention to some misleading facts that I made in your journal, regarding the Lydda incident and the management of the National Fund in Palestine.
May I state in reply that my original manuscript mentioned "Mr. B., their rep- rentative," which by a printer's error was transformed into Mr. B. Their.
It is all very well for Mr. Farbstein to read abroad Mr. Berman's explanations and to credit them. But being a good Zionist as I presume him to be, he should rather look for facts to Palestine where the Zionist operations are in full action and to learn how such operations are managed. He can learn nothing from Mr. Berman's vague explanations read in a Russian newspaper. It is only natural that Mr. Berman should mention nothing in his vindictive letter about the unrooting of the Young Herzl trees. Let me tell Mr. Farbstein again that the trees were uprooted on a Sabbath, a few days after their planting by Arab laborers. Let me point out to Mr. Farbstein that we live in Jaffa, about 30 minutes distance (by rail) from Lydda, and that everything passes before our eyes.
Mr. Berman is well known in Palestine as an Anti-Herzlist and a patron of Arab labor, whenever it is possible. It was only after the trees were uprooted by the Petach Tikvah laborers, that Mr. Berman realized the gravity of the matter. It was then that he engaged Jewish laborers, for had he not done so, his life might have been in danger.
Mr. Berman is now the director of a farm on the shores of the Sea of
Galilee, and I am pleased to say that the Lydda incident has taught him a good lesson, and Jews are now employed by him for its cultivation. This is a general rule in Palestine, "First, you neglect and overlook the Jewish laborer, and then in your explanatory letters to headquarters you employ them, and express satisfaction with their work."
Regarding Mr. Farbstein's insinuations against me of "very often mis-stating facts and consequently misleading the readers of THE MACCABAEAN, I have nothing to reply to.
I am here in a position to know. Mr. Farbstein is in America, and, as it appears, reads only one-sided matter of Palestine's affairs, especially that which is pleasing to him, and which consequently amounts to nothing, and since he speaks so authoritatively against my facts, without knowledge, I would rather ignore his insinuations, and wait for the time when Mr. Farbstein will come to Palestine. He will then apologise to me personally and say "You have spoken the truth."
[Our correspondent in Palestine is a reliable and conscientious reporter, who occupies a responsible position in Jaffa, and who had lived some time in England. While THE MACCABAEAN does not explicitly endorse his opinions, he is specially careful in basing them upon facts known to him personally to be true. The labor problem in Palestine is a complicated one, and it will not be solved except by the exercise of moderation, foresight and justice on the part of both elements concerned.]