The American Jewish world. [volume] (Minneapolis ;) 1915-current, 1920-09-10
WE are often told that Palestine
w is no more Jewish than Chris

Muhammedan; that by a strange, if
not miraculous working of the genius
of history, or Providence, the little
country that forms the southern end
of the Syrian coast, holds the sacred
shrines of the three great religions of
the world, and is therefore the holy
land of the Christian and Islamic, as
well as the Jewish world.
We are also told that if any race
or people has any valid historico-po-
litical claim to Palestine, and any
right to set up a government there,
it is the native Arab race that has
lived there uninterruptedly these
1000 years, and is now there in a
vastly preponderating majority. Let
us therefore set forth the Jewish
claim to Palestine over against those
of other contesting religions and peo-
Piles.
The unique position that the in
significantly little country occupies in
the history of the world is due entire
ly to the Jewish people. This cannot
be gainsaid by any one. If it is a
holy land to Christendom, it is be-
cause the founders and first propa-
gators of the Christian faith, Jesus
and his Apostles, were Jews living in
Palestine. If it is equally holy to
the Muhammedan world, it is because
the founder of Islam linked his new
faith directly to the faith of Israel
by borrowing largely from it's theol-
ogy, it's ritual and it's traditions, and
by adopting it's heroes and prophets.
1t is sacred to Islam because it is
the land of Abraham, Of David and
Solomon, of the prophets, and of
Jesus, heroes revered by pious MD
hammedans only little less than
Muhammed himself, "the seal of the
prophets"
Palestine is the civilized worlds
holy land because the Bible, Pales-
tines great literary product, is the
civilized worlds holy book; and the
Bible is the creation of Israel's soul.
The worlds greatest literary treas
ure was produced by the Jews living
in Palestine. If nothing else gave
Jews title and claim to Palestine, the
Bible alone would. The Bible stamps
Palestine as IsraePs inalienable pos
session for all time. The Bible is
IsraePs deed to the land. Christen-
dom cannot repudiate IsraePs claim
without repudiating the Bible. "And
l will give unto thee and to thy seed
after thee the land of thy sojourn,
all the land of Canaan, as a perpet-
ual possession" is Gods promise to
Abraham.
But the Jew can lease his claim to
Palestine on historical grounds even
if the support of religious faith and
theological doctrine is not recognized.
Taking as our starting point the con-
quest of Palestine by the Israelitish
tribes after the Exodus, which means,
leaving out of account the Patriarchal
period, the people Of Israel was in
actual and uninterrupted possession
of Palestine as it's homeland and ma
tional center for about 1900 years,
much longer than historical Greece
was in the possession of the Greeks,
or Italy in the possession of the Ro-
mans; longer than any modern civ
ilized nation is in possession of it's
present homeland. And no nation has
had so remarkably checkered a ca
reer in it's land, so many triumphs,
and so many tragedies, so much light
and so much shadow; no nation has
struggled so heroically for the pos