Palestine: dream and deadly epidemics
● A correspondent Mr B Horwich, sends us an interesting letter upon the subject of the recruiting of Russian-born Jews. Mr Horwich who is himself of Russian birth, points out that, quite apart from such considerations as pacificism, the Russian Jew in this country is sceptical as to advantages which Jews, as such, will derive from their military effort, and our correspondent suggests that the only way to attract the Russian-born Jew to the colours is to clothe his share of the war with a clear and living Jewish interest. In a word, Mr Horwich claims: that if Palestine could be set before the Jew as a definite objective by the Allies, an interest and enthusiasm would be aroused that would make a speedy end of any reluctance to Jewish enlistment anywhere… We can easily imagine that the blazoning of Palestine on the Entente oriflamme would draw on thousands of eager Jews as fighters where a summons less directly stirring to the Jew might bring only half-hearted conscripts. (The formation of a Jewish batallion in August 1917 did indeed see the recruitment of many Russian Jews)
The future of the Holy Land
● Dr. C. Weizmann, president of the English Zionist Federation, in the course of an address, referred to the invasion of Palestine by the British Army, and said these ought to be conditions somewhere where the Jew could live in a majority. Such conditions in Europe were impossible and the only possible country was Palestine. At present there were about 300,000 Jews in Palestine, and definite institutions had been established for the settling of Jews on the land. The same army which had carried freedom, to the Euphrates would carry it to the sources of the Jordan and to Mount Hermon. Mr James de Rothschild said that the gratitude of the whole Jewish people went out in overflowing waves to those who were redeeming Palestine. It was only England that would have drawn the sword for Belgian, it was only the British Empire that was willing to battle for the restoration of a small people like the Jews. The Palestine Committee for the Promotion of Jewish Economic Interests in Palestine sat on Monday in London, and approved of a scheme for giving advice and help to all who intend to settle in that part of the world.
Epidemics in Palestine
● A message from Jerusalem to the Zücher Zeitung represents as deplorable, the conditions now prevailing throughout Palestine. Adults and children are dying like flies; the former from typhus and Asiatic cholera, the latter from sheer starvation. The epidemics recently have caused in Jerusalem alone the deaths of 873 Jews, 155 Mohammedans, and 128 Christians.