The Denver Jewish news., 1919-08-06
Peace Conference Com
mission IN Palestine
Jews Of Jer,isalsa, and Jaffa Que,-
toned Concernlag THE Relations With
the Arabs, tho Sacred Shrines, I'm.
migration. and she Mandate.

migration, and the Mandate.
The Commission appointed by tho
Peace Conference to investigate near
cast conditions, and which is headed
by Charles r. Crane and Dr. King
or the United States, began its labors
in Jaffa on June 10th. The Secretary
Of tile Commission called upon the
fiaham Bashi Of Jaffa, Rabbi Ben Zion
(.ziel, and explained to him the pur-
poses of the Investigations, according
to the Jerusalem correspondent of the
Jewish Morning. Journal. The secre-
tary then addressed himself to the
Provisional Committce of Palestine
.lewry and to the. vaad Hair Getty.
Committee), which selected five
Spokesman who appeared before the
Commission on June llth.
The very first question that was
put to the spokesmen VI Palestine
Jewry was what would be the atti
tude of the Jews toward the non-
Jewish inhabitants Of Palestine? To
this the delegation replied that the
Jews of Palestine have always lived
On the most friendly terms with the
.Arabians whose position has thereby
been immensely improved. They pro-
iuced statistics proving that even
those Arabs who have sold consider
able portions Of their land are faring
ietter with the lesser acreage, because
the Jewish cOlonists give them SO much
work in the vineyards and in the. or
chards. All the Arab villages in close
proximity to the Jewish colonies have
become prosperous, while, on the 9th
er hand, the Arab villages distant
from the colonies have remained pow
erty-stricken. The delegation alss
pointed out that at all events
friendly attitude toward the Arabs on
the part ,cf the Jews weuld be = mat
trr of self-intercst. ~
The commission wanted to- know
how large a Jewish population in the
opinion of the delegation could be ab-
sorbed in Palestine The reply was
four million. Replying to remark by
one of the: commissioners that there
never were SO many Jews in Pales-
tine. the delegation stated that Jose
l.h,ls has recorded the, fact that. in
Guiding Gaiilee, there were ut one time
MS many as three million Jews in
Palestine. If this. is true. 1t ought to
he .possible now with the modern de-
.,clopment in agriculture, machinery,
etc, to accommodate four million.
The correspondent Of the Jewish
Morning Journal says thar 1t was, evil
dent from the questions put by the
Commission that the Palestine it had
in mind was not limited to the ter
ritory west Of the Jordan.
On June 18th the Commission visited
Rishon-Te-Zion. They received an en-
thusiastic reception at the Beth Ha.
Am, and listened to number of
speeches, after which they proceeded
tn the wine cellars. The huge size OF
the cellars and modern machinery
amazed the Commission. Before leay-
ing, the Commission stated that 1t did
not deem it necessary to make any
further inspection of the colonies; that
Jsishon-le-Zion was undoubtedly
specimen by which they could judge
the other colonies.
On the following day. the Commits
sion arrived in Jerusalem. where they
spent IL considerable length of time
ut the offices of the Zionist Palestine
Commission. The american section
of the Commission conducted hear
ing participated in by David fcllin.
DIR. Joseph Luria, head Of the Va-Ad
Ha-C -Chinuch BOARD of Education)
Boris Scl,atz, Rabbi Elshar. former
llaham Bashi of Bagdad. Eliezer Ren
Yehuda. and Ittamar Ben 4Avi, and u
number of others.
The question of the mahdate was
gone into and all of the witnesses were
IL unit in favoring Great Britain as
mandatory. This, they said, was due
not only to the constant friendship
which the Jewish people has always
entertained for Great Britain but also
in recognition of the fact that Eng
Iish blood was shed for the ibcra-
tion of Palestine. Besides. Great
Britain's colonial experience and its
strength made it the only power which,
could administer the affairs and pro-
tect the interests OF Palestine. and
give that country the needed oppor-
tunity to develop and prosper. -
Tho fnynnoission also went into the