Attributed to Z. Alroy.
These and similar questions occupy the minds of publicists, political analysts, contact men, negotiators and statesmen, as the second year of World War II, coinciding with the Hebrew year 5701, has drawn to a close. In Cairo, negotiations are said to be going on with Arab leaders regarding the shape of things to come in the Arab world. Political thought, after a self-imposed prolonged silence on the part of Zionist leadership, is also beginning to stir in London, in Jerusalem, in New York and in Washington, D.C.
All this is, of course, predicated on the conviction that the Axis powers will be ultimately defeated, and that the new order that will be established after the war will be determined not by the proponents of the “might is right” principle but by the victorious adherence of individual liberty and national freedom. Of the three parties that are interested in the present and future of Palestine – the British, the Jews, and the Arabs – only the first two cling to this hopeful assumption. The Arabs still retain an open mind on the question. Actually, insofar as the Jewish National Home in Palestine is concerned, the “status quo ante bellum” still prevails. The restrictions in respect to Jewish immigration and land purchase, promulgated in the MacDonald White Paper before the outbreak of the war, when Chamberlainian appeasement was at its height, are still the law of the land. Moreover, these restrictions which violate the very essence of the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate do injury to the country’s most vital economic interests that have been and are being implemented by the Palestine Government.
And yet, the objective reviewer of the Palestine scene in the second year of the war is pleasantly surprised at the conclusion which the facts seem to warrant. Considered against the background of the tragedy, chaos and misery that have swept over the Axis conquered and dominated lands, and the catastrophe that has come over the Jewish communities of these lands, the story of the Jewish National Home at war constitutes a remarkable epic of progress and achievement. It is the one bright spot in the Jewish sector of the worldwide Battle for Freedom on which not only no position has been lost, but new bastions of strength have been gained and are being held firmly as a preparation for and a promise of the future. The story is most objectively and, simultaneously, most graphically told in the facts and figures pertaining to the operations of the Jewish National Fund during the Hebrew year 5701. The Fund is one of the two major instruments of the Zionist movement through which national resources are being mobilized and made available for upbuilding and strengthening the Jewish National Home. Its special task is the acquisition of “land,” as national and inalienable property, for current and future needs.
What is the sense of buying land in wartime? Is the application of public funds for such a purpose a “wise” investment? Is there no danger that the land might fall into the hands of the invader? These and similarly “optimistic” questions have been hurled at the leadership of the Jewish National Fund since the collapse of France and the entry of Italy into the war. It is characteristic that these questions came from the “prudent” lips of those who were far removed from the danger zone themselves. The Jews of Palestine, where the danger of invasion seemed imminent several times during the year, entertained no such misgivings or fears. For them – and this occurred long before the psychological V for Victory campaign was launched for the benefit of the subjugated or threatened lands – there was only one orientation: Ultimate victory.
The months of anxiety have only served to stimulate greater exertions, with the result that since September 1939, up to August 1941, the continuity of Jewish constructive as well as defense effort has remained unbroken in Palestine. Vision, determination and unshakeable faith in ultimate victory have borne fruit. After two years of war, in which the country experienced a number of air attacks by Fascist and Nazi bombers, and faced the dangers of invasion from the North, East and South, the Jewish National Home stands on a firmer “land” foundation, has a greater locally-grown food supply, and houses a larger number of agricultural settlers rooted in the soil than it had at the outbreak of hostilities. The same progressive trend has come to the fore in the other parts of the Jewish National Home structure. In these paragraphs, however, the reviewer limits his observations to the progress in [rests of article lost].
A thorough evaluation of the year 5701 in Palestine must include a study of the development of agricultural settlement – the basis for any permanent economic existence in a country. Z. Alroy bases this interpretive picture of Palestine on the achievements of the Jewish National Fund, which is preparing to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its land purchasing operations in Palestine and which last year alone provided the land for eight new agricultural settlements. – The Editor.What fate does the future hold in store for Palestine? If and when the cause of the democracies prevails [in World War II], will Palestine (a) become incorporated in a Federation of Middle Eastern or Arab States? (b) be set up as a bi-national state in which Jews and Arabs will hold political parity? (c) be partitioned into two states, one Arab and the other Jewish? (d) remain mandated territory, as heretofore, and administered by Great Britain? or (e) be admitted into the British Commonwealth of Nations as the Seventh Dominion?
These and similar questions occupy the minds of publicists, political analysts, contact men, negotiators and statesmen, as the second year of World War II, coinciding with the Hebrew year 5701, has drawn to a close. In Cairo, negotiations are said to be going on with Arab leaders regarding the shape of things to come in the Arab world. Political thought, after a self-imposed prolonged silence on the part of Zionist leadership, is also beginning to stir in London, in Jerusalem, in New York and in Washington, D.C.
All this is, of course, predicated on the conviction that the Axis powers will be ultimately defeated, and that the new order that will be established after the war will be determined not by the proponents of the “might is right” principle but by the victorious adherence of individual liberty and national freedom. Of the three parties that are interested in the present and future of Palestine – the British, the Jews, and the Arabs – only the first two cling to this hopeful assumption. The Arabs still retain an open mind on the question. Actually, insofar as the Jewish National Home in Palestine is concerned, the “status quo ante bellum” still prevails. The restrictions in respect to Jewish immigration and land purchase, promulgated in the MacDonald White Paper before the outbreak of the war, when Chamberlainian appeasement was at its height, are still the law of the land. Moreover, these restrictions which violate the very essence of the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate do injury to the country’s most vital economic interests that have been and are being implemented by the Palestine Government.
And yet, the objective reviewer of the Palestine scene in the second year of the war is pleasantly surprised at the conclusion which the facts seem to warrant. Considered against the background of the tragedy, chaos and misery that have swept over the Axis conquered and dominated lands, and the catastrophe that has come over the Jewish communities of these lands, the story of the Jewish National Home at war constitutes a remarkable epic of progress and achievement. It is the one bright spot in the Jewish sector of the worldwide Battle for Freedom on which not only no position has been lost, but new bastions of strength have been gained and are being held firmly as a preparation for and a promise of the future. The story is most objectively and, simultaneously, most graphically told in the facts and figures pertaining to the operations of the Jewish National Fund during the Hebrew year 5701. The Fund is one of the two major instruments of the Zionist movement through which national resources are being mobilized and made available for upbuilding and strengthening the Jewish National Home. Its special task is the acquisition of “land,” as national and inalienable property, for current and future needs.
What is the sense of buying land in wartime? Is the application of public funds for such a purpose a “wise” investment? Is there no danger that the land might fall into the hands of the invader? These and similarly “optimistic” questions have been hurled at the leadership of the Jewish National Fund since the collapse of France and the entry of Italy into the war. It is characteristic that these questions came from the “prudent” lips of those who were far removed from the danger zone themselves. The Jews of Palestine, where the danger of invasion seemed imminent several times during the year, entertained no such misgivings or fears. For them – and this occurred long before the psychological V for Victory campaign was launched for the benefit of the subjugated or threatened lands – there was only one orientation: Ultimate victory.
The months of anxiety have only served to stimulate greater exertions, with the result that since September 1939, up to August 1941, the continuity of Jewish constructive as well as defense effort has remained unbroken in Palestine. Vision, determination and unshakeable faith in ultimate victory have borne fruit. After two years of war, in which the country experienced a number of air attacks by Fascist and Nazi bombers, and faced the dangers of invasion from the North, East and South, the Jewish National Home stands on a firmer “land” foundation, has a greater locally-grown food supply, and houses a larger number of agricultural settlers rooted in the soil than it had at the outbreak of hostilities. The same progressive trend has come to the fore in the other parts of the Jewish National Home structure. In these paragraphs, however, the reviewer limits his observations to the progress in [rests of article lost].
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