The Maccabaean

THERE has been quite a The Syrian Tangle—Its P storm in the European Palestine—Military Auth press for the past fort- gard Jewish National H night about the future status Fact—Practical Prepar of Syria. It began with an The British Press and Z article by the well-known and His Interview in the French writer, Robert de Ukrainian Pogroms. Caix, who complained that British officials in Syria were By ISRAE doing all they could to un- Special Correspondent of T dermine French influence and prestige and to imperil the prospect of France’s receiving a mandate for Syria. Further complaints were raised about Emir Feisal, who is supported by the British Government and has practically established a Government of his own in Damascus, the existence of which naturally complicates the task of introducing a mandatory Power. The ill-fated Sykes-Picot Treaty, made in 1916, before the British Government issued its memorable Declaration, has also been trotted out, and unreasoning publicists in Paris have been demanding that this Treaty, which its own authors soon recognized to be unworkable, should be literally fulfilled. A further factor in the controversy was the arrest in Syria, by order of the local British authorities, of Emir Said, who was reputed to be a champion of the French cause; though when it afterwards became known that this arrest was made with the assent of the French Commissioner at Beyrout, and that Emir Said was a dubious and deceitful adventurer, who, last year, had tried but failed to betray the British forces into the hands of the Turks, this particular count was dropped and a general tranquillizing began to set in. The allaying of the storm has been helped by the very friendly and sensible attitude adopted by most of the leading British papers, which point out quite frankly that England has no objection to France taking over a mandate for Syria, and that the British Government would be quite prepared to facilitate this task.

The question has, of course, a serious bearing upon the realization of Zionist policy in Palestine. For many French politicians, when they speak of Syria, understand that term to include Palestine; and many Arab politicians, when they clamor for an integral Syria, likewise mean the inclusion of the Holy Land. The American Commission, under Messrs. King and Crane, which has just returned from its rapid tour in the Near East, has also given a certain currency to the idea that an "integral Syria" is the wish of the great majority of the inhabitants from Damascus to Beersheba. Such an idea is, of course, utterly inimical to the success of our national aspirations; and it was well, therefore, that the Times should have plainly but firmly pointed out that whatever happens to Syria, and whether Britain or France obtains the mandate for Palestine, the Allied Powers' declared policy of a Jewish National Home in Palestine must be maintained and carried out. It is not a matter of indifference to us whether it is England or France that receives the mandate for Palestine. Only under a British trusteeship would an organized Jewish settlement in Palestine be capable of developing into an autonomous Jewish Commonwealth; and if France acquires a mandate for Syria, then the delimitation of the frontiers cannot be car-

The Syrian Tangle—Its Possible Effect on a Jewish Palestine—Military Authorities in Palestine to Regard Jewish National Home as an Accomplished Fact—Practical Preparations for Palestine—The British Press and Zionism—The Emir Feisal and His Interview in the "Jewish Chronicle"—The Ukrainian Pogroms.

By ISRAEL COHEN Special Correspondent of THE MACCABAEAN in London

ossible Effect on a Jewish ried out with too much cir- rities in Palestine to Re- cumspection. Amid all this me as an Accomplished controversy even some Brittions for Palestine— ish writers have lost their onism— The Emir Feisal heads, and they have been ‘Jewish Chronicle”—The talking as though England wished to hand over Palestine entirely, unreservedly L COHEN and immediately, to purely HE MACCABAEAN in London Jewish control, and as though, on the other hand, France herself had never endorsed Mr. Balfour’s Declaration.

We shall doubtless get out of this tangle satisfactorily before long—in a few months, at the most, if not in a few weeks. Lord Allenby has arrived in Paris, and after a conference with Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau, we may expect the announcement of a mutually agreeable solution. But whilst all this discussion is going on, criticism is by no means silent within our own ranks. Shall we get in Palestine all that we require in order to enable us to set up in due course an autonomous administration of our own? After the recent speeches delivered here by Dr. Weizmann, I feel quite confident that this will be the case. There had been no little discontent and scepticism lately owing to reports of the unfriendly attitude adopted by the British Military authorities in Palestine toward our national demands and aspirations; but the principal officials responsible for this obstructive policy have been recalled and replaced by others who are unquestionably sympathetic toward our aims. Besides, the British Government has tele graphed instructions to the administrative authorities in Palestine, that they are to regard the Jewish National Home as an accomplished fact and carry out their functions in harmony therewith. It is, perhaps, regrettable that such instructions were at all necessary; but that they have been transmitted must convince every one who had a glimmer of a doubt of Great Britain's good faith. There is still a clamor for the details of the proposals which the Zionist Organization is submitting to the British Government, the potential Mandatory, concerning the future administration of the country. The Zionist leaders are well advised not to publish these details prematurely. Knowing full well the manifold circumstances of the delicate situation, they are likely to get more by a policy of diplomatic discretion and reticence than by the practice of self-advertisement. But just because these details have not yet been published, the Jewish Chronicle affects to descry in Dr. Weizmann's statement a disclosure that we shall not get all that Jewish Nationalists can now reasonably demand. But the contention of the Jewish Chronicle is largely the product of ingenious hair-splitting, and the lucubrations of its critical contributor, "A Jewish Nationalist," need not be taken too seriously.

That the Zionist Executives are not waiting for the formal determination of the Mandate before beginning with the practical preparations in Palestine is certainly a very encouraging sign. The engagement of Professor Patrick Geddes for the purpose of investigating and reporting upon the site of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem and the settlement around it, has doubtless already been announced in the