The Denver Jewish news., 1919-01-16
"HAVE THEY NOT PAID FOR 1T?
ARE THEY NOT PAYING FOR
IT?"
Nestor of Dutch Journalism Maintains
That the Jews Are Entitled
to Palestine.


Palestine is not being given to the
Jews as gift. They have paid for it
long ago and they are paying for it
anew in this war;
This is the opinion OF Chas Bois.
sevain. nestor of the Holland journal.
istic world. former manager and chief
editor of the "Algemeen Handelsblatt'
published in the Hague. and who has
won additional repute as an Oriental
traveller. being especially familiar with
Palestine. In recent article in the
paper mentioned. Boisscvain writes:
'In the liberation of Jerusalem and
in the declaration which the English
Government has made in the name of
the Entente, 1 see the triumph of the
principle that the small nationalitics
shall be made members of the League
tionalities would lose its entire pres
tige if the oldest and the most famous
of these small peoples should be left
to the mercy of Turkey The rcnais-
triumphs of this war. Zionism will
create in the Orient an empire from
which the whole world will have much
to learn" he continues. and expresses
the hope that Israel will this Passover.
celebrate not only its liberation from
Egyptian. hut also from Turkish
bondage.
"The day of the liberation of Je,
rusalem ushering in the Independent
existence of the most famous of all
small nationalities will be n glorious
date in the history Of the world. The
Jews have. in this war. fought most
valorously for their liberation. ard in
the armies of liberty there has al.
ready been one Jewish regiment
the Zionist Mule Corps. This was
composed of hastily armed and drill,
ed group of men Who had been driven
from Palestine to find refuge in Alex.
andria. They were farmers and once
again they will arm themselves With
shovel and troweI. They are the dcs.
cendants of those great agriculturists
who in the time of King Solomon com;
PEELED the terraces of Judaca 10 yield
two harvcsts every yenr.
"Thesc new Jewish colonists rebuilt
the terraces which had been destroyed
by the Turks. repaired the ancient
roads. and constructed new ones. They
replantcd the olive and the fig trees
Once when was i'm Palestine. saw
an old Syrian hacking down an olive
tree. He did this. he told me. in or.
der to save himself from ruin. because
the Turkish Government had levied n
tax on every olive tree-a tax amount.
ing to almost double the product of
each tree even in the best of markets
Thus the Turks mistreatcd the Jews
in their own land. But during the
later years. frees were rcplanted un.
der the protection of tho Consuls They
planted thc Eucalyptus trees and .whtn
the Arabs and the Syrians realized
what great blessing these trees bring
to the land. they named them 'Sed-ct
Yahud,' the Jewish trees.
Mr.. Boissevain cites n number of
other familiar achievements of the
Jewish colonists and concludes:
81 do not believe that Turkey will
ever regain Palestinc. assume that
the Jews with the help of American
capital will develop the hidden re-
sources of the country As now in
dcnendent state. it will richly develop
along every possible avenue And we
in Holland who have profitcd SO much
from Jewish scholars. physicians. ar
lists. and authors. will greet the new
Hebrew University in Jerusalem with
sincere sympathy and enthusiasm"