The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-12-16

y.
To-day the city stands midway between the hor-
rors Of the Turkish regime and the promised good
of the British mandatory rule. Nothing has been
done yet in public way to beautify the city.
North and west the houses straggle outside the
walls; on the south forbdding slopes border the
road to Bethlehem; and on the east lies the ter
rible valley Of Jehoshaphata valley of dry bones.
Seventeen times DIES troyed-bitterly hated
anxiously sought-how desperate history since
NebuchadneZzar captured it more than twenty-five
centuries ago.
Redeemed today, but in her nakedness, .Jerusa-
lem waits to be clothed. She has yet no grace.
no covering for her ugly wounds Some day her
sides will glisten with the brightness of heaven
ly radiance; she will be washed and anointed Like
a bride waiting for the bridegroom"
The prophetic part of this is written, of course,
in Oriental imagery Sir Herbert Samuel, the Brit
sh high commissioner, puts the situation in plain
English and says, in his report to parliament:
"Undeyeloped and underpopulated, Palestine has
possibilities of far prosperity than the stand
ard attained before the war;"
And Palestines future is the concern of half the
| world. Christian, Jew and Moslem see in Pales-
tine holy land. 1t is most interesting situa-
ton that is being worked out under very eyes.
tits an obvious chance for the punster; Palestine
is indeed the promised Land" To whom is it
promised? That is what Jew Arab and Christian
in Palestine are asking of the British government.
The British government replies that under the
mandate there will be complete freedom and equal
ity for all religions and equal justice for all, re-
| CARELESS of religion, race or position.
| Sir Herbert's report to parliament makes inter-
| esting reading, some of which must be done be-
| tween the lines. Concerning the policy followed
| under the mandate he says:
"The policy of His Majestys British govern
| ment contemplates the satisfaction of the
legitimate aspirations of the Jewish through
out the world in relation to Palestine, combined
with full protection of the rights of the existing
! population.
"For my own part am convinced that the means
can be found to effect this combination. The Zion
ism that is practicable is the Zionism that fuflls
| this essential condition.
SIT is the clear duty of the mandatory power to
1 promote the well-beng of the Arab population in
! the same way as a British administration would
| regard it as its duty to promote the welfare Of
| the local population in any part of our empire.
The measures to foster the wellbeing Of the Arabs
| should be precisely those which we should adopt
| in Palestine If there were no Zionist question and
| If there had been Bafour declaration.
There is In this policy nothing incompatible with
reasonable Zionist aspirations
| son the contrary, if the growth of Jewish in
| fuence were accompanied by Arab degradation,
or even by neglect to promote Arab advance
ment, it would fail in one Of its essential pur-
/ Doses
"The grievance of the Arab would be discredt
/ to the Jew, and in the result the moral influence
Of Zionism would be gravely impaired.
| simultaneously there must be satisfaction of
that sentiment regarding Paestine-a worthy and
| ennobling sentiment-whch, in increasing degree,
1 animates the Jewries of the world.
"The aspirations of these 100000 of people
also have right to be considered They ask
for the opportunity to establish "home" in the
| land which was the political and has always been
the religious center Of their race. They ask that
this home should possess national characteristics
| lin language and customs, in intellectual inter
| ests. in religious and political institutions.
"This is not to say that Jewish immigration Is
to involve Arab emigration that the greater pros
perty of the country, through the development of
| Jewish enterprises, is to be at the expense, and
not TO the benefit of the Arabs, that the use of
| Hebrew is to imply the disappearance of Arabic.
that the establishment of elected councils in the
Jewish community for the control of its affairs is
to be followed by the subsection of the Arabs to
| the rule of those councils.
.In a word, the degree to which Jewish national
aspirations can be fulfilled in Palestine is condi-