What Shall Be Her Future? Is Ever-Rising Question.

ONCE OF “MILK AND HONEY”

Little Country Where Saviour Trod Now Mostly Neglected.

Movement Is Started in London to Oust Turk From Holy Places—New State, It Is Declared, Will Not Be Jewish, But Will Have Plenty of Room for All Hebrews Who Wish to Settle There—Two Policies Are at Hand.

Special Cable to The Washington Post.

London, Feb. 6.—"A land flowing with milk and honey"—thus was Palestine once, but today it is largely a waste.

Will the present world struggle result in the new birth of the little country where the Saviour lived? A move-ment has started here to oust the Turks from the holy places—Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Lebanon, and the Mount of Olives—when the Mohammedan masters and their German allies shall have been soundly beaten.

This new state will not be Jewish, but will have plenty of room for all the Jews who wish to settle there. It will be tolerant toward all religions.

The country came under Turkish dominion in 1516, after the war between the Ottoman sultan and the Egyptian mamelukes, and thereafter for over 300 years the history of Palestine has been a record of sanguinary quarrels be-tween the landed sheikhs, and of the oppression of the peasantry by them and by Turkish officials. It was not until 1840 that the arbitrary power of the sheikhs was curbed. The Turks then began to strengthen their hold, and though much has been done for the betterment of the country, the blight of Ottoman government has continued to oppress it.

Alternative Policies Arise.

Two alternative policies present themselves in this urgent problem. The German emperor has taken great interest in Palestine and his rather theatrical visit to the Holy Land in 1903 has contributed to the extension of German activity in the country. There is the proposal of the Zionists express-ed by Herzl, who came to this country in the year of the kaiser's visit to Palestine, that a Jewish state shall be established in that land. There is also the proposal now put forward that the country shall now be developed into a Christian state, guaranteed, perhaps, in its national neutrality by the powers.

The Zionist movement, which drew much of its strength from the persecutions of the anti-Semites, and has been in-spired by race consciousness and the idea of a spiritual mission led to a deep interest among the Jews in the affairs of the Holy Land. Practically the move-ment took the form of improving the situation of the local Jews, but it em-bodied also the purpose of reestablishing the Jewish nation in the country. Lord Palmerston became interested in the plan, and Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Sallsbury supported Laurence Oliphant in his negotiations with the porte for a con-cession which might pave the way to the establishment of such a state, which was regarded as promoting a further strengthening of the British route to India.

No Great Jewish Immigration.

But the Zionist movement has not led to any great stream of Jewish immigration into the country. The Jews here have been unable to make any headway against the Turkish oppression, and there has been no Jewish political and little agricultural or other development.

It is proposed, therefore, to work to-ward the creation of a Christian state in Palestine, either under British protection, as was formerly projected, or as an autonomous state guaranteed in its permanent neutrality by the powers. Such a political organization would by no means exclude Jews from the country, for it would need to be, above all things, tolerant. Toleration, it must be admitted, has not been the rule in the Holy Land.

An end must be put to the quarrels between various orders of the Greek and Latin churches which have not been creditable to the spirit which it is desirable to elevate. There have been old-standing causes of dispute at work, the Russians supporting the Greek monks and the Turks looking a little tolerantly toward the Latins under French inspirations. Jealousy of this kind was one of the exciting causes of the Russian war of 1854-55.

Which Of Them Shall Enter?

Should Greeks or Latins enjoy most consideration? Which of them should enter earliest in the day into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or should have possession of the great Church of Bethlehem? There was a disturbance in November, 1901, which arose from a dispute as to the right to sweep certain stairs at the Holy Sepulchre Church, after which the Latin communities were assigned to the protection of their national consuls.

Such abuses have arisen from the want of proper understanding between the powers, and of any means of settling disputed points. A Christian state established in Palestine would be in stronger position. Perhaps preferable to the old idea of British control would be a guaranteed neutral state, all the great powers having representatives at the seat of government. Permanent neutrality should be guaranteed, and order might be kept by the institution of gendarmeries, with officers specially selected by the powers. Under such a system the holy places would be zealously guarded, and would not be subject to desecration, either by quarrels or the intrusion of tramways, or other like visible expression of the activities of modern life.

AID FOR PALESTINE SOUGHT.

Jewish and Christian Organizations Unite in a Relief Committee.

New York, Feb. 6. — Announcement has been made that officers of various Jewish societies in America, and Christian missionary organizations have formed a committee to appeal for funds for the relief of the destitute inhabitants of Palestine, Syria, and adjacent regions. The committee, known as the Palestine-Syria relief committee, says that an appalling measure of misery and threatened starvation exists over a region larger in area than Belgium, and among people equal in numbers — Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans.

Thus far sufficient funds have been collected for the dispatch of one shipload of food supplies under guarantee of safe conduct from the belligerent powers. The Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, D.D., is chairman of the committee, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, chairman of its executive committee.

Original Source

February 7, 1905 | The Washington Post

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