The Maccabaean

T was in the month of August, 1914, in Haifa, that 1 ] heard the news of the outbreak of the European war. Shortly afterwards Turkey entered the fray and then our sufferings began. Djemal Pasha was sent from Constantinople to govern Palestine. He immediately set out to prove his ability both as a statesman and as a patriotic Turk: One of his statesmanlike moves was to raise the tax rate. Whereas heretofore our taxes amounted to between 35 and 40 per cent, they now reached:as high as 100 and 150 per:cent. It was not taxation. even in vretence: it was hiohwav robherv.

6 יר - a atl a תי וצר - בי יר .ו I thse I טי The country was blocked on every side. Food could not be brought in, nor the country’s products sent out. This was a serious disaster, particularly to those Jews who had orange orchards, since the fruit would rot on the trees, or could only be used as a poor fertilizer. Moreover, the Moratorium had been declared, so that people could not draw more than five or ten per cent of their money. The Anglo Palestine Bank with branches in Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa, and other towns, was ordered to close, the money being commandeered by the Turkish government. No food, no money. Many faced starvation. The Jews in the cities organized to relieve the situation, but they were helpless. Had it not been for the help of America, no one can tell what might have been our fate. The Jews, suspecting an attack upon them by the Turkish police, which suspicion was well grounded as subsequent events have shown, organized and armed themselves. But they were punished and their weapons were taken from them. Their leaders were imprisoned for treason. The colonies were powerless.

While in the Experiment Station, I heard that by order of Djemal Pasha, the inhabitants of Beer Tuviah and Gedera, most of whom were alien subjects, were driven to Gaza and put in prison. Thanks to the Zionist leaders, these men, women, and children were soon relieved by being allowed to become Turkish subjects. The reason they had remained alien subjects even after they became settlers, was that in order to become Turkish subjects, they had to pay a sum of money which they could not afford. Djemal Pasha, of course, had not taken the trouble to ask them whether they wanted to change their allegiance or not. To drive a few score of people like a herd of sheep and put them in jail and leave them there to starve for four days, did not mean much to this tyrannical Turk.

The Turkish Government at the time began to organize a National Guard. Each village had to contribute four out of every one hundréd male inhabitants. Moreover, the village was to supply each soldier With a gun and 100 bullets, with a revolver and 200 bullets, and a uniform; also food for the entire period of service. The Jews were not permitted their quota of guardsmen, but instead were compelled to contribute twice as many supplies. These supplies were sent to the Arabs who apparently must have served in the cities, leaving the colonies unprotected against Turkish plunderers.

With regard to the National Guard, a meeting had been called by Hassam Bey, to which my father was summoned as

the representative of the colony Gedera. The meeting was attended by the tyrant Hassam Bey of Jaffa, the governor of Gaza and a few score of sheikhs who represented the southern part of Palestine. This was no meeting at all. The sheikhs were ordered to sign a document which Hassam Bey had prepared, giving the quota of men and amount of supplies each village was to be assessed. My father refused to sign. The supplies for Gedera would cost approximately $480, of which the colony could not afford even a fraction. In the brief but heated debate that ensued Hassam Bey exclaimed angrily: “Is it not enough that you do not contribute men?” My father replied that the exemption of Jews from the service was meant to disgrace them, and that as for supplies, he could have nothing. Hassam Bey might come to Gedera and take what he could find. The governor of Gaza, a friend of my father, intervened, and so my father escaped punishment, probably imprisonment. The document was not signed. Hassam Bey declared, “By Allah, your knowledge of the Arabic language and of the Koran convinces me that you must have been born a Moslem and not a Jew. Let us then be friends and depart in peace.”

It was apparent that because of their superior education and general development the Jews were to suffer most. With Djemal Pasha's methods of plundering, the savings and

means of livelihood of the colonists soon diminished to an alarmingly low level. When only the most necessary of farm implements and live stock remained, it was ordered that wagons, carts, horses and mules be sent for three days to Nablus (Shechem) for the purpose of transporting ammunition.

At two o’clock in the morning this imperative order reached the Experiment Station. A soldier had ridden