The Maccabaean

A SPECIAL conference of the English Zionist Federation was held at London to receive the report of the Zionist Commission. Representatives were present from the Poale Zion, the Mizrachi, the Order of Ancient Maccabaeans, United Jewish Friendly Societies and Synagogues. After the report had been read, the conference expressed wholeheartedly, their entire confidence in the leadership of Mr. Sokolow and Dr. Weizmann:

leadership of Mr. Sokolow and Dr. Weizmann: The general resumé of the work of the Commission with which Dr. Weizmann opened the conference follows:

“I think that all the thanks you have given to us must be shared equally also by our distinguished leader, Nahum Sokolow. It is owing to the difficult work done here that we were able to carry out the work there, and I think that probably he had the less agreeable and the more difficult share of the problem. It is difficult for me and my colleagues to present tonight a complete report of the work of the Commission for one single reason, that the work of the Commission is not yet finished. It is still going on, and since we have left Palestine it has been going on under vastly modified circumstances. While we were travelling from Palestine to Europe the rest of Palestine has been liberated, and the majority of our Colonies have become free from Turkish authority. It is our primary duty tonight to express our heartfelt thanks to His Majesty’s Government for allowing the Commission to go out to Palestine and to begin its work, and for giving the Commission all possible support. But we should be wanting in our duty if at this solemn moment we did not remember the victorious British Army—under the leadership of a great General and a great Statesman, General Allenby—who has liberated our fair country. The whole of Erez Zion is at present free, and there is great scope open for our future activities. I think it is perhaps right also to remember on this occasion that in this last victorious conquest of Palestine participated also a fair number of Jewish troops—and I would respectfully propose for your consideration that a Resolution expressing our heartfelt gratitude, and our heartfelt congratulations, be sent to General Allenby, and his Officers and brave troops.

The work of the Commission has been manifold. Those who have read the instructions of the Commission before it went out have seen that the tasks which we had to face could be divided into two groups. First was the dealing with the non-Jewish world, and the other was the organisation and consolidation of the Jewish community in Palestine.

TASK OF DEALING WITH NON-JEWISH WORLD

Let me touch with a few words upon the relations which have been established between the Zionist Commission and the non-Jewish world. First of all our relations with the British administration. The British Administration at present in Palestine is a military administration which has been built up for one single purpose—for the purpose of winning the War. When we arrived in Palestine the general political and military situation, both in the West and in the East, was, to say the least, exceedingly depressing. We landed in Egypt at the time when the news of the

formidable German offensive, which began in March, came through; and, although the telegrams did not clearly speak of what was happening in Europe it was obvious that the position in Europe was exceedingly critical. This had its influence almost immediately on the eastern theatre of War, and on the general political situation. The campaign in Palestine which had begun so gloriously came to a sudden stoppage. Most of the white troops had to be withdrawn, and the whole Army had to be re-organised. Anything, therefore, which should render the position of the British military authorities more difficult than it was already, any further addition to their burden which was already heavy, should be at any price avoided; and it was no secret that the arrival of the Commission in Palestine, even into Egypt, rendered the position of the British authorities more difficult: for two reasons, first, the local population, both in Egypt and in Palestine, did not know what Zionism was, or those who knew what Zionism meant tried their best to pervert the aims of the Zionist movement, and attributed to us intentions and purposes of which we never dreamt.

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE JEWS AND THE ARABS

“We were spoken of as the Jews who came to Palestine to oust the poor Arab Fellaheen from their land, to lay our hands on everything which was in Palestine, and to establish at once a Jewish Government which would probably try to suppress everything that was not Jewish. Those were roughly the interpretations of Zionist aims and purposes and intentions. The British authorities did their best to counteract all these vague rumours and all these insinuations, but, first, they had not sufficient time to devote to this object, and secondly, they were not themselves sufficiently informed, not sufficiently au fait about Zionism to be able to counteract all these vague and wrong rumours.”

With regard to the relations between the Jews and the Arabs, Dr. Weizmann explained that the Arabs in Palestine, the fellaheen cultivators, were quite content with their Zionist neighbours. It is only the Effendis, who mostly do not live in Palestine and do not intend to do so who attack Zionism. They exploit the country and are afraid of a just rule in Palestine, and it is they who attack Zionism in order to be able to attack something connected with British Rule.

BEGINNINGS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

In two directions, the first step towards self-government had been taken by the colonists. "In the month of June came the time" said Dr. Weizmann, "when taxes had to be gathered in from the population. The usual system of levying taxes in Turkey is that a certain official or Commission of officials comes into your vineyard or into your orchard and says: 'The harvest of this year will be worth say two or three thousand francs. You have, therefore, to pay at present or later on, at some date, 10 per cent of your revenue in kind.' In practice this 10 per cent very often means 20, 30, and in cases it has been known to mean 50 per cent—because the actual harvest does not