Judaism. Like Cain, we ask: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' and especially when it is the poor brother whom we so much dislike. We can, however, understand that the great mass of poor and persecuted Jews feel for those who devote their time, money and thought to the raising up of their own people an amount of real affection and gratitude which renders them willing to be led to their realization of hopes that are not commonly regarded by the great mass of the prosperous and contented. . . . Among the higher class of those broad-minded Jews who sincerely believe in their ancient traditions, very noble efforts are made not only to help the poor and stem the tide of persecution, but also to raise the tone of the nation by appeal to its ancient memories and ideals. These men are the natural leaders to whom the destitute and oppressed turn for counsel and guidance, and it is among them that it has now become a fixed belief that the nation can only be raised from its misery by the creation of a national centre-a home to which all those who are scattered over the earth may turn their eyes: which must be one bound up with all that is best in the historic memories of the race, and which therefore must be the old home in Palestine itself. The Jew, they say, is tired of wandering and tired of being an alien. Emigration has not settled the eternal question, and a nation without a country must be content with toleration as all that it can expect.

"As regards ourselves, we should be only too glad to see Palestine increasing in civilization and prosperity as an outpost in the neighbourhood of Egypt. . . . It is clear that if the question of the Near East should again be raised, the Jews will have to be considered by statesmen in any settlement of the Syrian question: and that the solution of the question may be . . . a 'legally assured home for the Jewish People.'

LXXXVI

LORD GWYDYR ON ZIONISM AND THE ARABS

ONE of the most important factors the Zionists will have to reckon with in their further activity in Palestine is that of the Arabian population of the country. This population might consider the development of the Zionist movement undesirable: if the immigration of Jews into Palestine were to bring additional poverty into the land-if the Jewish element were restless, adventurous and inclined to disorder-if the country had or might have a homogeneous Arabic culture, and this new element were to disturb its uniformity through the introduction of ts

own cultural aspirations—or if that same element were threatening to oust the Arabs from their own position. But these and similar suppositions which might have led to the adoption of strong measures, or at least to a sentimental antipathy against immigration, are non-existent. The Jews bring no poverty into the land; nor is the immigrating population adventurous; Arabic culture does not already prevail in the country; and the Jews will not drive the Arab population from an established position.

The Jews who have been or are coming to Palestine have created considerable new economic values which are not only sufficient for their own maintenance but also contribute essentially towards the economic strengthening of the Arab element. Not only has the Government derived profit from the greater taxation returns of the Jewish colonies, but also from the enhanced taxability of the country, in consequence of the better methods of cultivation introduced by the Jews. The Arab population has also been considerably enriched, partly because the same masses which were formerly unemployed in large numbers found occupations and earnings with the Jews; partly through favourable sales of land, and also because they have learnt from the Jews how to obtain a greater yield from the soil.

Of course there can be no lack of competition in isolated cases, especially between Arab and Jewish traders, or Arab and Jewish artisans. But on the whole this competition can only bear upon individual cases. In general the new immigration can only maintain and support itself in the country if it creates new values, for the very simple reason that industrial conditions in Palestine are in a very low state of development, and that consequently the supplanting of those who hold established positions is practically impossible.

Therefore, from a comprehensive economic point of view, it is not only unnecessary to protect the native population against the immigration, but the latter should be encouraged in the interest of the country and its present inhabitants. The immigration brings about an increase of production as well as of consumption, and the greater part of the native population is thereby relieved from economic distress.

It is also possible that the native population, on having risen from its present state of depression to a higher level, may endeavour, in a measure, to better its economic position by settling down in neighbouring provinces. Colonization of the lands to the east of Palestine by Arabs would considerably reduce the Arab population of Palestine. Already, since the centre of gravity of the Arab race is not situated in Palestine, the area of friction arising from national-political motives is considerably reduced. The national-political relations of the Jews and their Arab fellow-citizens must be directed into the right channel from the very beginning. In this respect the Zionist programme

is quite clear, simple and natural. The Jews wish to collaborate with the Arabs towards the elevation and strengthening of the country; but, in all they do, they want to appear as the Jewish nation, and always to show openly and freely their Jewish nationality. If it be a question of assimilation, Palestine is the only country in the world where the Jews, instead of being assimilated, are themselves the assimilating factor. It has, however, to be added that there can be no question of compulsory assimilation enforced by the Jews; they themselves have suffered too much from assimilation to wish to enforce it in any direction. But the Jewish culture will have an instructive and ennobling influence over others, through the force of example.

Lord Gwydyr wrote as follows on the question of the Turks and the Arabs in connection with the Jews:

"The difference between the Turkish and Arabic race is a curious subject of study and reflection. The Arabs, taken individually, are superior to the Turks. But in the struggle between nations the superiority of individuals is nothing: what gives ascendancy is the quality not of the individual but of the man it is the spirit of ensemble, the aptitude to command or obey, which, after all, is the same thing. In this point of view the Arab is inferior to the Turk. Enthusiastic, witty, delicate, made for poesy and adventure, sober, inured to fatigue, as gay and as variable as the Turk is serious and grave, the Arabic race is still what we see it in history. But when, forgetting for a moment the brightness of their conquest, we closely examine, even in history, the character of the Arab race, what do we see? A race whose religious enthusiasm created an army rather than a nation, and incapable of founding an empire, as the Romans had done, it gave rise to I do not know how many empires and how short lived. What a chaos, and in this chaos what a rapid and tumultuous nation! Unity and duration were ever wanting in the governments created by the Arab race. These governments enjoyed the life of tropical plants, brilliant and brief, whilst the Turkish race has founded an empire, now expiring indeed, but which has lasted five hundred years or more. For an empire like the Turkish one, and in those countries, five hundred years' duration is eternity. What is Palestine worth to the Arabs? Nothing. They did not appreciate its value, until the Jewish enterprise that forms a striking contrast with the dulness of the natives began to utilize this old garden of the human race, left desert and barren by the misfortunes of time. The Arabs will be useful when guided by an active and intelligent Jewish settlement.

"Racial rivalry is natural in every country, and is not to be disapproved so long as the aims are good, as, e.g. emulation in acquiring of knowledge in its multiple domains, such as agriculture, industry, etc.: but as soon as rivalry exceeds these bounds, it is to be deprecated. The legal power must resist with

all its power this nefarious kind of rivalry, as nobody wishes to differentiate between the inhabitants in their liberties. All must be equal before the law, without the least distinction. But misunderstandings may always occur, and people with interested motives will try to make capital out of these misunderstandings. Everything depends on the goodwill and tact on both sides. Even the Bedawi may be won over to friendship more easily than he may be driven into subjection. And he is worth the winning over. Besides being a fighting man in his own style, he is, as history proves, quite capable of making valuable contributions to the welfare of the country, if he is properly treated. Experience shows that he responds more readily to appeal than to command, and is more easily led than driven. They must be given the blessings of a good administration and trained to take a gradually increasing share in the government of the country. Friendliness will replace inveterate mistrust the inhabitants of the country will be bound together in close harmony by the ties of common interest. From a strictly Christian standpoint such a course is clearly the highest and wisest while from that of the Moslems the old fears that closer intercourse with Christians might sap the religious earnestness of the followers of the Prophet are now generally seen to be groundless in the light of a longer and more intimate acquaintance. But there are reasons of a more practical nature than these ethical considerations. The position of Islam in the world's political and religious geography supplies the followers of both faiths with a motive for common action that is yearly becoming better understood. . . . If it is true that a new spirit is stirring in the East of Asia, that the scientific knowledge by which in the past Europeans have held their own can no longer remain their monopoly and that the increase of the population in the Far East remains steady while that of Europe declines, then it is time for the Near East, when the inevitable struggle must take place, to put her house in order: and the first and most obvious requirement is that the tradition of misunderstandings between Christians and Moslems shall be replaced by a sympathy based upon community of interest."

LXXXVII

CONSULAR REPORTS

THE movement of progress and hope which has awakened to consciousness in Palestine was born in the colonies, where the land began to yield a ready harvest in return for the husband

man's toil, where the vine and the fruit tree began to surround with natural beauty a land that had all too long lain desolate, and the old joys of country life have brought anew to the toilful workers a spirit of independence and dignity which have penetrated from the country into the towns. Again the Jewish race has developed some of the fine physique that generations of the Ghetto life had threatened to destroy for ever.

The British Consular Reports show signs of a steady development of Palestinian trade:

The increase of trade in 1890 and 1891 was due to the good harvest in oranges and sesame. In 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1897, all the wheat and the barley were exported via Gaza, and are therefore not included in the above table. The value of some of the goods exported and the growth of new industries is indicated in the following table, which shows the exports of wheat, maize, soap and oranges from 1885 to 1898: