Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-26
Critic of Arabs i'm
Palestine Answered

TO the Editor Of The Star:
My attention has been called to o
letter from Charles w. Panlow, pub
lished in The Star Of September IL,
1929, in which he vigorously denounces
the Arabs.
Apparently Mr.. paf1ow is an extreme
| Zionist and his ardor and zeal for
Zionism have blinded him to the rights
of others, and also to the facts Of his
tory. He seems to think that nothing
should be permitted to hinder the reali-
zation of his dream-not even the
rights Of three quarter million people
J to life and liberty.
He demands stronger military sup
port from Great Britain to keep the
Arabs down, as If all the airplanes,
armored u cars and battleships sent to
Palestine are not enough. His demand
Is based on the Balfour declaration
| which Is the cause Of these upriSings
| in the Holy Land. This declaration
while 1t favored the establishment of a
Jewish national home in Palestine,
also guaranteed the rights Of the Arabs
It did not give the Zionists an exclu-
sive right to the country. The British
owe as much to the Arabs under this
declaration as they do to the Jews.
cannot be entirely ignored. They have
had possession Of Palestine for nearly
| 1900 years, and naturally they are
unwilling to surrender it to the Zionists
| now. AS the overwhelming ma jority OF
the population, they refuse to allow
the hundred thousand Jews. imported
| into the country since the World War,
| to trample upon their rights, and re-
| duce them to a virtual state of slavery,
Ay,itI 1cfn ~ 4
ing. Their argument Is that Lord Bal
four has no right to give away a coun-
| try which Is not his, and therefore his
declarations are not binding upon them.
Besides, Great Britain assured them
before and after the issuance of the
Balfour declaration, that they would
be given government, and they de-
mand that this promise be kept.
The Arabs are not attempting to take
| away anything from the Jews. Their
| struggle is solely for the preservation
Of their rights and the protection OF
| their properties. They are not seeking
! to deprive Jews of any rights or any
property that belongs to them, but they
refuse to surrender their own in order
| to enable the zionists to establish the
Jewish state of which they dream.
While we cannot say with certainty
how the recent troubles, which are de-
plored by all thinking people, and which
caused so much loss OF life and prop
erty on both sides, started, it is evil
dent that neither religious frenzy" nor
racial animosity on the part of the
Arabs Is responsible for them. The
Arabs and Jews are closely related
religiously and racially. Both worship
! the one God, and both belong to the
Semitic race. Jews have at all times
| lived among the Arabs in peace, not
only in Palestine, but in all the Arabian
countries. History does not record a
single instance of an Arab massacre
Of Jews. When the Jews we're driven
out Of Spain. thousands of them sought
| refuge among the Arabs. and were
| the Arabs then. as mad dogs"
The present conflict between the two
peoples Is entirely due to the extreme
policy of the Zionists and the arrogance
of some Of the more ardent supporters
| OF the Jewish national home idea. The
Arabs have no quarrel with Jews as
such; they are only fighting Zionism
That Is why many Jewish newspapers
and thousands of Jews have allied
themselves with the Arabs.
It is fortunate indeed that not all
Jews-not even all Zionist Jews-are as
| vehement in their denunciation of the
Arabs or as extreme in their demands
as the writer Of the letter in question
If all Jews were to adopt his ideas
something like war Of determination
between the two peoples would follow
and do not think responsible Jews
would welcome such thing. The Arabs
should thank him. however. for his
frankness in openly asserting his
his temple" and to make Palestine a
purely Jewish country, which has
hitherto been denied by the zionists.
F. c. SAKRAN.