The Denver Jewish news., 1919-08-20
How Jewry in Palestine
Suffers Thru Factions
DESCRIBED IN AN INTERESTING
LETTER FROM A VISITOR TO
THAT COUNTRY.
BY LOUIS FISCHER.


uonal assembly of Palestine which
were to have taken place OH that day,
did not take place. Officially they
we're postponed; actually their failure
TO materialize is case of bank
ruptcy The Jewish settlement in
Palestine could not muster sufficient
political strength to arrange an elec-
ton which was to have been the means
OF taking care Of the private business
of the settlement. The episode of the
elections brings one to the conclusion
which requires more discussion tiian
can be given ii hcre-thut while Pal
estine offers uncIualled opportunities
for the foundation of II Jewish stale
the present settlement is not of the
nucleus of that state.
"The decision to postpone was reach
ed several days before the specified
date by the Provisional Committee
which had voted itself corpse but
which was resurrected ut the desire
of the various parties.
THE decision was reached not a.
an expediency but rather under com
pulsion. Had the elections been held
they would have been a farce. The
a.izrachi faction would not participate
because of its alleged opposition to
woman suffrage.
The old colonists, those generally
styled pioneers likewise advocated
postponement tahtamount to death.
This is harvest time. The farmers
were too busy. The fact that these
fnrmers-mOst of whom are from ltis-
hon, Petach, Tikvah, Rchobot and
Zichron-never farm. that Arabs do
their work and Arabs oversee their
wurk-these faets were overlooked.
The young Jewish workingmen toiling
for few piastres q day Is willins
to sacrifice the few piastres. The rich
landowner who grows tat on cheap
mtive labor exploitation and on the
,mreturned loans of the Zio',ists, can
not find time to vote. ~.
For both the Mizrachi and the rich
colonists there is one reason. They,
see the handwriting on the wall. They
seek to delay or even avert the cat
astrophe. The Halukka portion of
Mizrachi must, because of its very ma
turc and anteceients, oppose all such
unheard innovations as home rule, self
taxation, modern, simple social re-
sorms. Its life depends on the elimi-
nation of these, and the continuation
of schnorrer system Of charity-each
Yeshiva law for itself, the patrons
&C each philanthropist, Kingdom
standing alone.
with the nOn-Halukka Mizracht,
the case is fundamentally the same.
"Anti-sufferage is obviously merely
an excuse. Their tactic is to fortify
themselves in their conservatism.
$50 also the c0lonists. Their fear
is a twin to that of the Mizrachi. Rec
emily there have lowered in the air
such bugaboOs as naturalization of
land, minimum wage to prevent ex-
ploitation of natives special tax on
land, workingmen groups. etc.
"Officially the elections have been
postponed for four months. In the
meantime the Provisional Committee
is TO continue its existence and at
tempt to prepare the way for the As
sembly. The consensus OF opinion is
that its efforts shall be in vain. The
committee has no money, no prestige,
no power to execute decisions, no de-
pendable constituency. The tempor-
ary postponement is death certifi-
cate.r ia .},-
writers in 'Haaretz' the new daily
pronounce the situation grave As yet
no solution has been suggested. Ap-
parently q union of all the forces is
an impossibility. There are elements
which will comply with the law and
consent to pay taxes only when we'll
established Jewish government will
have the power to enforce 1t. In the
meantime, the new vibrant settlement
and the advanced elemnts Of the old,
might well attempt the experiment to
organizing their internal affairs with
out the objecting factions.
For the present the Zionist Com
mission Is the ship Of state-the only
ship ut sea. Regardless Of its mis-
takes, which are perhaps excusabie,
the basic, II as yet unappreciatcd, diff
ftculty Of its regime, is that in prin-
ciple at least, it continues Palestine
life along the general lines of Haluk-