PLEA FOR THE NATIONAL INVESTIGATION OF THE RESOURCES OF PALESTINE
N spite of the development of modern I Zionism, Palestine still remains for all practical purposes, a terra incognito to most of theadherents of the movement, as well as to the great majority of Jews. It is of vital importance, however, that the economic and industrial resources of Palestine be impressed upon the Jewish people in order that their longing for Zion shall be, not only spiritually, but also materıallv af valne.
Zionism is the protest of the dispersed Jewish nation against present conditions that tend to the dissolution of Jewish individuality. It aims to concentrate the Jewish nation in Palestine, its historic fatherland, in order there to form a free commonwealth, where Jews may live without the specific moral and social delimitations, they experience in the diaspora.
There are a number of principles that are accepted by Zionist theorists as axiomatic:
I. That the Jews actually form a nation. II. That the Jews as individuals, and as members of a nation, are not content to live under present conditions. III. That they consent to change their abodes in order to form the Hebrew Commonwealth. IV. That their numbers, as well as their
V. That they are prepared to undergo the hardships and to offer the sacrifices that are inherent in a radical alteration in their position, such as Zionism proposes.
VI. That, morover, Palestine does offer, in its resources, in the extent of its territory, enough of an inducement to satisfy the wants of the Jewish nation, and that, with the expenditure of a reasonable amount of effort its resources can be made to yield enought to assure an independent economic life.
VII. And that, finally, the change in the Jewish nation from a state of dispersion to one of concentration in Palestine is actually, and not sentimentally, the remedy for the economic and social ills which the Jews as an individual suffers.
Zionists are in duty bound to demonstrate the validity of these principles in the affirmative. They have so far, however, only emphasized the negative sides of the Jewish problem, and they have not taken up, the task of demonstrating the positive merits of the Zionist solution of the problem. One of the gravest weaknesses of the movement is the absence of a demonstration, based upon an actual investigation, that Palestine is a positive remedy for the material conditions of the Jews. The adherents of a movement must be reasonably certain that their solution is at least potentially adequate; and this certainty the Zionists have not sought to establish.
Zionism has, doubtless, made clear to most Jews the causes of their anomalous situation, and, as a result of their analytical studies, we are now witnessing a tremendous return to Judaism and nationalism; but in spite of the fact that it has been shown that Zionism is the logical consequence of a nationalist conception of Jewish life, the greater majority are very cautious in accepting it, and even those who have accepted it do not respond very wigorously to the impulsion of their ideals.
From the axioms above enumerated it will be seen that the one course open to Zionists, which does not rest in their own willingness or enthusiasm, or initiative, but is an external fact which can be established by evidence; that is, the adequacy of Palestine for the solution of the Jewish problem, has not been pushed vigorously, and is not even taken as a serious need.
The Zionist organization has not clear-