THE ZIONIST MOVEMENTA Monthly Review of Zionist Activities
News From The Homeland
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE
Direct communication with Palestine, which was temporarily suspended following the rupture of diplomatic relations between this country and Germany, is open again, and it is clear that the situation there has not undergone any change so far as Jewish interests are concerned.
The Provisional Committee is again receiving its regular cable advices from its Palestine correspondents. All of these cables deal with routine matters, and contain no hint of any unusual difficulties. The flexibility of the system devised by the Transfer Department of the Provisional Zionist Committee was thoroughly demonstrated during the first flurry caused by the international situation. By promptly shifting its European base of operations to Copenhagen, the Provisional Committee was able to reach all of its correspondents in Europe and Palestine without the slightest delay and to announce to the world that it was in a position to transmit money as usual. At the current rate of exchange in Denmark, recipients of money through the Transfer Department have been benefited by the difference in the market price of German marks in Copenhagen as against their price here.
DR. JACOB THON REPORTS
The great solicitude which was exercised by the Zionist distribution committee in Palestine to preserve the self-respect of the Jewish colonists, and to avoid pauperizing them by dint of the funds raised in their behalf, is the burden of the report just made by Dr. Jacob Thon for the “Palestine Relief Action” on the distribution of funds remitted by the Zionist Actions Committee until June 30th of last year.
The funds mentioned in this report were raised in such European countries as the Actions Committee is in communication with, and do not include any of the moneys raised in America by the Provisional Committee. Since the period covered by the report, 100,000 francs additional have been remitted to Palestine from the same source. The report indicates a radical departure from the conventional methods of philanthropy. The principle was established that the first call on Zionist funds should be had by the productive “Yishub,” which, it was agreed, must be kept intact under all circumstances. The plan of distribution as contained in the report, is a splendid demonstration of the highest principles of philanthropy.
Instead of reducing the population of Palestine to a horde of degraded paupers, scrambling for crusts, the committee, which includes Dr. Arthur Ruppin, Aaron Aaronsohn and David Yellin, worked out a plan which should preserve the self-respect of the population, afford means for it to earn a livelihood and purchase food, at cost, with its own means. Even for those who cannot earn a livelihood, but would rather starve than stand in line at the relief depots, the committee found a way to save them from humiliation. These are the
Conducted byA. H. FROMENSON
principles that were laid down by the committees and which have been carried out to the fullest extent possible in view of the constantly changing conditions in Palestine:
bss > )1(--20% is invested as capital for the operation of food stores, at which staple foodstuffs are sold at cost. (2)—40% for free distribution of food (in the colonies 20%) to those unable to earn a living. The food is sent to those who would rather starve than come to the soup kitchens; to inmates of institutions, such as homes for the aged, orphanages, etc. The Moslem \ population of the country was included in this free distribution. (3)—40% (in the colonies 60%) for making loans to individual employers or public committees for the employment of Jewish labor. The committee to take guarantees wherever possible, by pledges of stock-in-trade from employers that the loans shall be repaid in at least six months.
The loans are, mainly, in the form of tickets on the food-stores (thus allowing fora larger initial purchase of food). Applicants for loans are carefully investigated, to make sure that the loan is really to be used for the employment of Jewish labor. Wherever it is necessary for an employer to buy raw material in order to give employment, a properly secured loan is to be made to him for that purpose. Wherever there is no possibility of private employment, the sub-committee engages in public work in order to afford labor-opportunities, at the same time endeavoring to obtain a municipal or community guarantee that the money expended in public works will be repaid. For the proper distribution of funds at the disposal of the Palestine Committee, so that each section of the country should be provided for in keeping with its needs, Palestine was divided into three districts: The City of Jerusalem, Hebron and Motza; Jaffa and the colonies of Judaea; and Haifa, Saffed, Tiberias and the colonies of Upper and Lower Galilee and Samaria. The funds are distributed among these districts as follows: District No. 1—47%; District No. 2--26%, of which 14% to Jaffa, and 12% to the colonies; District No. 3—27%, of which Haifa 344%; Saffed 8%; Tiberias 514%, Upper and Lower Galilee and Samaria together 10%.