THAT the Jews should have a land in which they can live fully and freely without the repressions they have suffered at the hands of almost every nation in the old world with whom they have sought a home is a matter not of philanthropy but of justice. And it is to be expected that after the war we shall witness the abolition of these unfair restrictions and the establishment of the right of Jews to practice their religion freely, to engage in business and to receive an education, to be citizens and voters, and to enjoy all the fundamental rights of human beings living in a highly organized society.
These rights can and must be guaranteed to the Jews in Palestine. Toleration of national injustice is no longer good form. The heavy tribute which the Turks have always exacted from the Jews, in return for which the Jews were allowed to establish very limited educational and industrial enterprises that were in constant jeopardy of destruction and oppression is a thing of the past. The great nations of the world that are fighting for democracy and justice have recognized this, and assistance in securing justice for the Jews has been pledged.
The great labor organizations in America, in France, in Great Britain, have all urged the establishment of Palestine as a free and democratic nation in which the Jews may develop their own cultural and economic institutions. And Mr. Arthur Henderson, Labor Member of the House of Commons of Great Britain, was not speaking for himself alone when he said last December: "The British Labour movement has included among its war aims a demand that the Jews of all countries, great and small, shall enjoy the elementary rights of tolerance, freedom of residence and travel, and equal citizenship that ought to be extended to all inhabitants of every nation; and it has so declared its belief that it would be practicable by agreement among all the nations to set Palestine free from the
harsh and oppressive government of the Turk, in order that the country may form a Free State, under international guarantee, where the Jewish people may work out their own salvation free from interference by those of alien race and religion."
If these rights can be guaranteed to the Jews in Palestine, then those Jews who desire to go back to the land of their fathers to live a free, unrestricted Jewish life, to speak Hebrew, to develop their own educational and economic systems, their own literature, their own industrial and cultural institutions, should be allowed to do so. And those Jews in every country in the world, who do not care to go back to Palestine, should nevertheless enjoy the consciousness that in Palestine they have a centre of Jewish culture upon which they may rely for the development of the Jewish race.
By its geographical position, Palestine stands as a gateway between the eastern and western worlds. It is therefore peculiarly susceptible to commercial exploitation by the more powerful nations.
But Palestine must not be a project for financial exploitation. Like the other small nations for whose rights we are fighting, Palestine must stand free and independent, respected by the nations of the world for the intelligence and earnestness of its endeavor and for the contributions it will make to the development of world civilization.
The time is at hand to congratulate the Jews upon the imminent realization of their dream of centuries, and to help them to re-establish themselves in their old home, to the end that economic and cultural benefits may redound to themselves and to the world.