The Maccabaean

"PROCLAMATION: Postponement The Provisional nant Committeehas decided, A. Z. M. U. at its last meeting of Tishri 28-29, to yield to the de- By GERSHO mands of Mr. Ussishkin and Special Correspondent of T Professor Weizmann, the leaders of the Zionist Organization, and to postpone the elections to the Assembly of the Elected, owing to the needs of the hour.

“After preparatory work of such long duration, after having invested so much power and energy in the arrangements for the elections, we are compelled, at the last moment, to our great regret, to postpone them.

“It is with infinite pain that we convey to the public this decision which is due to the pressure of conditions and to the present situation. But we are firm in our hope that the day is near when we shall be able to finally organize and carry out the elections in accordance with the rules adopted by us and which bear the approval of the Zionist Organization.

“The Provisional Committee, having in view the great significance of the present moment, and in pursuance of the wishes of the Zionist leaders, has decided to remain at its post and to discharge the task with which it has been entrusted until such time as we shall succeed in electing a more democratic representation.

“The elections have been postponed only that they may be carried out more effectively and at a more opportune time.

“We call on our brothers throughout the land and implore their confidence in our work. The work is proceeding. The task is a difficult one and fraught with responsibilities. The work can be accomplished only if the public will support us. The task can be discharged if we may lean on the broad shoulders of the public.

“We call for spiritual, moral and financial support. Support us in maintaining the dignity of the vital interests involved in the regeneration of our land.”

“PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE OF JEWS OF PALESTINE.”

I have reproduced with painful literalness the utterly sincere, though somewhat clumsy, appeal of the ",Vaad Hazmani" as it appeared on November 13, in the press. This is not a formal announcement of a fact known to the public two weeks before its publication. Two days before election day it was given out, unofficially, that the election had been postponed. This formal announcement confirms it. But it obviously does more than that. It carries a distressed appeal for loyalty and support. The "Vaad Hazmani" has not seen fit to give any other reason but the all-sufficing one that it is yielding to the wishes of the Zionist leaders. And the reasons Professor Weizmann and Mr. Ussishkin urged upon the "Vaad Hazmani" are known only to those members of the "Vaad Hazmani" who attended the momentous session when the decision was made. That one of the motives was "that the election may be carried out more effectively and at a more opportune time" there can be no doubt. No less evident is the manner of assistance for which the "Vaad Hazmani" is so earnestly pleading. Part of the

a and the Faithful Rem- onerous task is to prepare ng—Independence of the the people, all the people, Railwaymen—Yiddish. for the elections,—now that the preparations for the elec- AGRONSKY tions have been made. It is E MACCABAEAN in Palestine. no mean task, having in view the opposition of the anti-suffragists and of the banning and damning orthodoxy.

The announcement has been received with bowed heads. For this postponement means that the “watchful waiting” stage is not yet over. It also means that the arid stretch between promise and fulfillment has not yet been bridged,—that the long looked-for end of what one might call the waiting for Weizmann period has produced further postponement. But it speaks volumes for the splendid discipline of Palestine’s Jewish body-politic that, being called upon, on the eve of the elections, to surrender, for a time, the cherished Assembly, the sacrifice is made without unbecoming murmuring. And the “Vaad Hazmani” may be assured, therefore, of the support it asks from all politically mature and nationally conscious elements when the time does arrive for the creation of the Jewish Constituent Convention in Palestine.

I regret that to the overwhelmingly long list of disappointments, deferred plans and postponed schemes the proposed Balfouria must be added. At this writing the discharged soldiers’ settlement in the Plain of Jezreel is no nearer, if not a little further from, achievement than it was when Mr. Rosenblatt left it in August. Differences have sprung up between some of the men who have been invited to settle Balfouria and the representative of the Zion Commonwealth in Palestine. The misunderstandings which threaten to wreck the whole scheme—in spite of the concrete buildings that are being constructed—lie in the difference of the points of view. The representative of the Zion Commonwealth invited one hundred (American) members of the Legion to join the proposed settlement as soon as they are discharged. The terms provided that the men agree to work and to learn for one year, at a wage laid down in advance. The administration of the Colony was to be made up of the representative of the Zion Commonwealth and one representative of the men. At the end of the year the instructors and administrators were to consider the applications for small tracts of land for purposes of permanent settlement. The terms are manifestly fair and as the first year must be regarded as a course of training more could not be desired. But the men have been approached as an organized body and dealt with through their representatives. The latter demand a larger share in the responsibilities of the creation and administration of Balfouria. They decline to come as pupils or as laborers, at a stated wage. They favor a co-operative, profit-sharing settlement. (As they are not investing much besides their inexperience, one naturally wonders whether they intend that it shall also be a loss-sharing enterprise.) Having taken that view they are curious about the method by which the land has been leased from the National Fund. They object to the form the building of the houses has taken. They resent the alleged arbitrary naming of the settlement.