Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Mrs. R. Wolf son
/
â– ran re
THE
KEREN HA— YESOD
BOOK
Colonisation Problems
of
The Eretz-Israel (Palestine)
Foundation Fund
Edited by
The Pub, it y Department of the << Keren ha-Yesod
Price 2/. net
LONDON
LEONARD PARSONS, LTD.
DEVONSHIRE STREET, ' W. C . 1.
1921
Keren ha-Vesod, the " Eretz-Israel (Palestine)
Foundation Fund," proposes to raise £25,000,000
for the reconstruction of the Jewish National Home.
Every Jew or Jewess throughout the world is
called upon to contribute to the Keren ha-\ esod the
Ma'aser (tithe) of his or her capital and income.
The Ma'aser on income must be paid yearly for five
consecutive vears.
All monies collected by the Keren haA esod will
be expended in Palestine approximately as lol-
lows : —
(1) One-fifth in purchase of land and its prepara-
tion for settlement by Jewish agriculturists
(-) A third of the remainder in public works ot
national utility, such as afforestation, drain-
age of marshes, hospital and school building,
and construction of workers' houses.
(X) Another third will be exclusively devoted to
undertakings of a commci aal nature on
which a yield of interest may be reasonably
anticipated— such as utilisation of water-
power, irrigation, and credits for house-build-
ing, industry, trade and agriculture.
(4) The last third to organising immigration (in-
cluding homes and public kitchens for
immigrants), maintenance of hospitals, con-
tribution towards the upkeep of Jewish troops
social welfare institutions, and, above all,
education.
Contributors to the Keren ha-Yesod will receive
certificates stating the amount paid and guaranteeing
a corresponding share in such advantages as may
result from the investments mentioned under
section 3.
The Keren ha-Vesod is administered by a Board
o< Directors, half of whom are appointed by the
mists Executive, while the other half will be
elected by a Council representing the certificate
holders. .
Section 3 of the Fund will be supervised by a
special Economic Council, consisting of experienced
men of business.
CONTENTS.
THE KEREN HA-YESOD
MANIFESTO OF THE KEREN HA-YESOD
INTRODUCTION
WHAT MIGHT BE ACCOMPLISHED
^5,000,000
THE POLITICAL POSITION
THE TITHE IN JEWISH TRADITION
IMMIGRATION
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION
INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES
WATER POWER IN PALESTINE
COOPERATIVE COLONISATION
THE HOUSING PROBLEM
BANKS
AFFORESTATION
HEALTH
THE SCHOOLS
THE UNIVERSITY ,
JEWISH TROOPS ...
THE JEWEL FUND
APPENDICES :—
Resolutions of the Zionist Conference
Draft of the Mandate for Palestine
Franco-British Convention v
Ordinances
Questions in the House of Commons
WITH
PAGE.
2
5
9
20
23
32
38
44
58
67
77
85
93
102
109
126
136
144
150
158
160
170
177
186
To the following persons who have collaborated
in this book the Editor's thanks are due : —
Mrs. M. D. Eder, Dr. M. D. Edf.r, Mr. S. U.
Ginzberg, Mr. B. Goldberg, Mr. A. Gulak, Mr. L.
Herrmann, Miss M. Jaffe, Mr. S. Kaplansky, Dr.
E. Marks, Mr. S. Pinsky, Dr. M. Schwarzmann,
Mr. M. J. Tisch, and Mr. H. Zlatof lsky.
While pursuing the task of welding the various
articles into one coherent scheme, the Editor has
not thought it desirable to subdue the expression of
individual tendencies and sympathies. Obviously
the chapter on " Agricultural Colonisation " could
only be efficiently written by a believer in the
supremacy of the plough, that on " Industrial Possi-
bilities " by an adherent to the rattier opposite
school of economic thought, and that on " Coopera-
tion " by a supporter of socialistic ideals. As in
Zionism, so in the Keren ha-Yesod and in this
" Keren ha-Ycsod Book " there is room for all
shades of opinion.
bWow nj the 4^pte fWthe»n Y TC nt>*v factoid \t>a to Anglo-
P . - _- p o»o~ "j the a^pce nctnevn ncntui- lacto^ci \na to Hn
in Lt j I i \l U pYroch Ccv <nt icnTa^d b\r>* Jtwish settlement
Manifesto of the Keren ha-Yesod.
To the Jews of the World.
The Mandate for Palestine, which is at once a
pledge and a challenge to the Jewish people, is
about to become a part of the Law of Nations.
The moment has arrived for the concentration
of Jewish effort on the upbuilding of the Jewish
National Home.
The lofty enterprise to which Jewry stands
committed in the sight of the world demands the
active cooperation of Jews of all classes and
opinions, whose common obligation it has now
become.
If the reconstruction of Palestine is to be
effectively undertaken, financial resources on the
amplest scale will be required.
For the purpose of providing these resources, the
Keren ha-Yesod — Palestine Foundation Fund —
has now been formally constituted.
A Board of Directors has been formed with the
duty of framing, in consultation with experts, a
considered programme of constructive work, and of
ensuring its orderly execution.
Side by side with the Board of Directors there
has been constituted an Economic Council
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
composed of men of affairs of high standing in the
financial and commercial world. The Economic
Council has assumed the task of examining those
projected undertakings which can be regarded as, in
the stricter sense, reproductive, of executing such of
them as are approved, and, further, of assisting the
Board of Directors with expert advice in the general
administration of the Fund.
The Keren ha-Yesod begins its work at a great
and tragic hour. The historic connection of the
Jewish people with Palestine has been recognised by
the Powers. The Mandate has been accepted by
Great Britain. The Government of Palestine has
been entrusted to a statesman whose presence at the
head of the Administration is a sure pledge of
British goodwill. Far different is the situation in
Eastern Europe. Almost a third of the Jewish
race is at this moment living under conditions of
unendurable anguish. Harried, pillaged, uprooted
from their homes, butchered without mercy, exposed
to such an outburst of unrestrained savagery
as Europe has not witnessed for four hundred
years, entire communities are being relentlessly
exterminated.
On the eve of its renaissance, in the presence of
the lofty tasks that are summoning it to action,
Jewry stands wounded and mutilated. It has but
one hand free for constructive labour, with the other
it is desperately struggling to ward off the implacable
onslaught that threatens it with annihilation.
A supreme effort is called for- To the message
of confidence and goodwill from San Remo,
MANIFESTO.
to the storm of hatred unchained in Eastern
Europe, let Jews of all countries and of all classes
unite to give the same reply : build the Jewish
Commonwealth.
The purpose of the Keren ha-Yesod is to bring
about the settlement of Palestine by Jews on a
well-ordered plan and in steadily increasing numbers,
to enable immigration to begin without delay, and to
provide for the economic development of the country
to the advantage of its Jewish and its non-Jewish
inhabitants alike-
That purpose is attainable. Room can be found
in Palestine for a vastly increased population.
Thousands are already waiting on the threshold.
Let but productive employment be provided for
them, and they can enter.
There is land to be bought and prepared, there
are roads and railways, harbours and bridges to be
built, there are hills to be afforested, there are
marshes to be drained, there is fertile soil to be
irrigated, there is latent waterpower to be turned
to account, there are towns to be laid out, there are
crafts and industries to be developed. Side by side
with these undertakings, adequate provision is
needed for the social welfare of the population, for
public health, and above all, for education.
All these activities are comprised in the programme
of the Keren ha-Yesod. Its organisation is flexible
and can be readily adapted to every variety of
undertaking. It will at once encourage private
initiative— subject always to the test of social justice
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
and public utility — and foster cooperative effort
in all its many-sided applications.
This is no common moment. For twenty
centuries it has been patiently awaited. It will not
recur in our lifetime nor in that of our children's
children. Nor is this such an appeal as is daily
made to Jewish philanthropy. It marks the
beginning of a concerted effort designed to elicit
from the entire Jewish people such a response as
will vindicate the honour of the Jewish name.
No casual charity will suffice. The exceptional
effort which is called for to-day must take the form
of self-taxation — steady, persistent, systematic,
inspired by the noble Jewish tradition of the Tithe.
A heavy load of taxation is to-day being imposed
on all the peoples of the world in the name of
national reconstruction. There is no Jewish State ;
the appeal that is about to be made is to the Jewish
conscience and is fortified by no power of com-
pulsion ; but no Jew worthy of the name will, at this
solemn moment, take the responsibility of sheltering
himself behind the powerlessness of his people.
The gates of Palestine jire no longer barred from
within. The key is_in the hands of the~Jewish people.
It is for Jewry to" decide whether they are, to Its'
lasting dishonour, to remain unopened or whether
they are to welcome in the multitudes that are
cxpeetantly awaiting the hour of redemption.
Rothschild Chaim Weizmann Berthold Feiwel
alpred mond nahum sokolow vladimir jabottnsky
Joseph Cowen Isaac Naiditch
Redci.iffe N. Salaman Hillel Zlatopolsky
Introduction.
The peaceful method of conquest called colonisa-
tion has, in our days, undergone the same transfor-
mation as the methods of conquest by force of arms
called war. In olden days both required men rather
than money. The cost of the Napoleonic Wars would
seem ridiculous compared to modern standards,
even in proportion to the numbers of men employed.
The same can be said, roughly speaking, of coloni-
sation as it was in the past. Conditions, now, have
changed. The proportion between numbers of men
and amounts of money required has shifted enor-
mously in favour of the second element in both war
and colonisation. The first European settlers in
America or Australia, once landed on the new shore,
needed hardly any money to go on with. As to
land — it was unoccupied, and theirs for the taking;
even if in possession of some native tribe it was
" purchased " by rough and ready methods,
dangerous but cheap. They built their cabins of
logs for which they paid nothing; they shot wild
game for food; in the winter they dressed in bear
skins which cost them just one gunload of lead.
And v ater was richly provided by nature, free of
charge.
Modern pioneering in Palestine develops under
quite different conditions. Almost every inch of
land has to be bought, building materials, to a large
extent, have to be imported, food and fuel — until
the fields and gardens begin to yield — have to be
paid for, and water, with the exception of a few
privileged districts, has to be pumped from under
ground, or stored in reservoirs. This essential
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
difference is too often and too easily forgotten by
those who grumble at the expensiveness of Zionist
colonisation. Pioneering in our days and in our
country means much more than the personal effort
of those who actually go to Palestine : it means
the constant and collective effort of those who stay
behind. The former have to give their working
power; the latter have to provide the money. The
Pilgrim Fathers who built America rould do it
almost unsupported by England. Those whom the
Jewish people will send to build up Palestine can
only attain their object if the whole nation, in
every corner of the Diaspora, helps them by a
steady financial action of every day and every hour.
Nor is that all. The first European settlers in
America had to build for themselves, not for others
to come. Their example, their success, incited
thousands, even millions to follow them; but this
was the result of their toil, not its object. The
) object of the modern Jewish pioneer in Palestine is
to prepare room and work for the thousands and
millions that wait outsid e. He builds not for him-
. self but for others. This again means expenditure
increased out of proportion with the actual numbers
of men and women engaged in the creative work in
Palestine. They will have to construct terraces on
hillsides where, as yet, there is no one to sow the
seed, and roads between districts where colonies
still remain to be built by immigrants not yet. landed
in Palestine. Moreover, the natural eagerness of
Jewry throughout the world to see Palestine becom-
ing a centre of national inspiration will force them
to create schools, theatres, conservatori.ums, even
a University in a tempo and on a scale far in advance
of the actual needs of the Jewish population on the
^T'oT. This must also be remembered in forecasting
the expenditure involved in the reconstruction of
Palestine. A " National Home " is interpreted by
every Jew, not only as a refuge for immigrants, but
o as a metropolis, and no metropolis in history
IO
INTRODUCTION.
has ever been built by the effort or at the expense
of its inhabitants only. The whole nation builds it
and pays for i,t.
This is the purpose of the Keren ha-Yesod: to
make every Jew throughout the world realise that
the Tewish Commonwealth in Palestine can only be
rebuilt if he shares in the national burden; and to
collect his share of the national tax.
But it would be a mistake to think that the Keren
ha-Yesod is only an instrument for collecting
money. It is, first of all, an idea, or an amalgama-
tion of two essential ideas. The first is the
' Ma'aser " principle— a return to one of the oldest
and most beautiful of Jewish traditions, that of the
Tithe. One-tenth at least of all you possess must
go to the Treasury of the Nation for the rebirth of
< ur land. This must be done in spite of the world's
'financial crisis, of the low rates of exchange, of the
terrible disasters in Eastern Europe. In spite of all,
one-tenth at least of all you own and earn belongs to
Palestine. This is demanded of every Jew, Zionist
or non-Zionist. No Jew has done his duty until he
has paid the Ma'aser. This is the old Jewish law,
and this is the law of the great historic moment our
generation has to face. If it needs revision in Hefer-
ence to the modern principle of progressive taxation,
this object must be attained by increasing the tax on
the rich, not by lowering that on the poor. It is a
hard law, but the Jewish people will have to enforce
it upon every one of its members — or to break
down. The Ma'aser call is the expression of the
unprecedented effort imposed upon us by this unpre-
cedented hour of Israel's history.
The second fundamental principle of the Keren
ha-Yesod is unity of effort. Our work in Palestine
will include both profitable and " unprofitable "
enterprises. Water-power works, irrigation, loans
for agriculture and house building, if properly
managed, may return immediate dividends; afforesta-
tion, drainage of marshes, road construction, especi-
ii
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
ally education, can only " pay " indirectly and in
the long run. This easily suggests the idea of two
distinct funds — the one for profitable investments,
the other for unremunerative expenditure. The
Keren ha-Yesod rejects this suggestion. Every man.
or woman or child who pays the " Ma'aser" to
the Keren ha-Yesod must know that he or she is
not only a donor but also an investor. A fraction
of their contribution, however small, will be em-
ployed in the great interest-bearing enterprises we
are* about to undertake in Palestine; and a fraction
of the dividends will in due time come back to them.
Of course, if an individual prefers to invest his
money in a certain concern only, he is welcome to
do so. But the organised effort of the nation cannot
call upon one set of people to invest its sovereigns
in profitable schemes, and upon another to sink its
halfpennies a fonds perdu in school building or social
assistance. The nation as a whole should bear
both the profitable and the unprofitable sections of
the Budget of Reconstruction, and the humblest of
the poor, once he has paid his Ma'aser, should be
entitled to his share of t he na i income.
The Keren ha-Yesod Joes ri tject to the for-
mation of special " investment corporations " for
any constructive purpose in Palestine. On the con-
trary, the scheme set forth in the following pages
presupposes the existence of such purely commercial
bodies. The various banks which the Zionists pro-
pose to create, the numerous industrial enterprises
which they hope to encourage can only be conceived
as commercial corporations formed by individuals or
groups outside the Keren ha-Yesod. But the Keren
ha- Yesod intends to reserve a certain ]>ortion of its
ma to be invested in such of these enterprises as
will be considered sound and useful. There is a
moral reason underlying this resolve. For it is a
v. ell-known fact that profit-bearing undertakings
ed <>n Jewish labour can only thrive in Palestine
if the Jewish worker is supplied with the minimum
12
INTRODUCTION.
of comforts to which his European evolution has
accustomed him. He needs decent dwellings; he
needs medical assistance in the new climate; above
all he needs schools for his children, and, in a
general sense, at least some rudiments of a civilised
atmosphere. None of these exist as yet in Palestine,
and to create them means an initial expenditure.
Who is to pay for them ? It is obvious that neither
the individual investors nor their wage-earners could
afford the outlay without the enterprises breaking
down. National money must be called upon to in-
tervene, in order that the worker can live and work,
and the investor can get his dividend. The truth
about " donations " is that they are wanted in order
to make " investments " profitable. This makes
the idea of a pure " donations " fund — a fund of
which not a cent would go to the profit-bearing en-
terprises — morally indefensible. An appeal for
public money can only be justified if a portion of
the " National Tax " paid by every contributor will
be reserved for profitable undertakings.
When we speak of " unprofitable " expenditure
this term should not be mistaken for " unproduc-
tive " expenditure. Drainage of marshes may not
be profitable in the sense of paying immediate
dividends on capital invested, but it means redemp-
tion of waste lands for agriculture, and disappearance
of malaria. School building is " hopeless " so far
as profits are concerned, but the Hebrew_.sdiCLQl
in Palestine, with its almost miraculous effect of
reviving; Hebrew as a spoken language, has proyed
to be or .2 of the main driving powers which has
forced universal _Jewr y tcTconcentrate its attention
" Off modern Pales tine-^consequently, one of the main
factors of our colonisation work.
Some sceptics may think it presumptuous to use
the word " tax " in describing contributions which
are n ot levie d~b y a St ate^Jbut are expected to be
raised by a \ - luntary effort of classes and masses.
The Keren ha-Yesod is a State tax, and can be
13
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
described in no other way. The task confronting us
is much more complex and exacting than the prob-
lem-, with which an ordinary constituted State has
usually to deal: it is the creation of a State. In
modern times, colonisation on such a scale has only
been undertaken by Governments, and if we wish
to succeed we must adopt, as much as possible, the
methods, the conceptions, the very mentality of a
constituted nation led by a constitute -i Government.
The whole question of our success or failure depends
on the ability of the Jewish people to rise to this
height of political consciousness. We feel confident
that it will.
There is in some circles a tendency, now that we
have in Palestine a really sympathetic Administra-
tion, to consider almost the whole of Jewish coloni-
sation work as one of the direct tasks of the Govern-
ment under the Mandate. Some extremists have
already been heard proposing the abolishment of
the Zionist Commission on the gratuitous supposi-
tion that its work will be done in the future by the
High Commissioner and his staff. This is a striking
confusion of issues. The function of the Adminis-
tration under the Mandate is to facilitate. Jewish
colonisation, not to assume actual "charge of it.
Xo doubt, a great deal of constructive work will be
accomplished by the Government, and Jewish
settlers will certainly benefit by it both directly and
indirectly. But the Government Budget is, and will
for many years remain, a modest one, and the pro-
portion allotted to Jewish agriculuire, schools,
hospitals, etc., will naturally be insufficient to meet
our requirements. There may, of course, be some
branches of our activity for which a Jullshare of
assistance — even financial assistance— -could be
dema nded of the Government, such as, for instance,
•^""organisation of receiving houses, employment
14
IN IODLCTION.
bureaux, and medical help for immigrants. The
Mandate proclaims Jewish immigration to be one of
the most essential assets of new Palestine, and there
is no reason why the corresponding expenditure
should not be borne, at least to a considerable
extent, by the Budget of the country itself. But
even in this case it remains to be seen whether this
Budget can afford anything approaching a really
adequate outlay. It goes without saying that the
Jewish population is entitled to its full share of the fa- 9
public money raised in or for Palestine (and this
also applies to the proposed Government Loan); but
the creation of the Jewish National Commonwealth
can only be financed by a special Jewish fund.
The immediate task of the Keren ha-Yesod is to
rj-ise twenty-five million pounds within a period of
five years. This sum should, however, only be con-
sidered as a minimum. That the Jewish people can
raise it, and much more, is beyond all doubt. There
are about 15,000.000 Jews in the world; in view
of the present conditions existing in Russia and
the Ukraine let us, to meet all possible objections,
only reckon with two-thirds of this number as
potentially " active " from the point of view of the
Keren ha-Yesod. For ten million Jews, or two
million families, the raising of five million pounds
per year would mean an expenditure of two pounds
ten shillings per family. The average income of a
Jewish family is at present, undoubtedly, far above
£25 per year, even in countries where the exchange
is now at its lowest. The sum of £25.000,000
distributed over five years is obviously far below
the actual Ma'aser on the general Jewish income.*
*The low rate of exchange prevailing in certain countries
might make it advisable for the Keren ha-Yesod to convert at
least a part of ihe sums collected in those countries into such
commodities of local production as might be required for the
different branches of constructive work in Palestine. This scheme
15
THE KEREN HA-VESOD BOOK.
The proportion in which the moneys of the Keren
ha-Vesod will be distributed among the different
branches of our work in Palestine can only be indi-
cated, for the present, approximately. The un-
paralleled instability of market values, and the
fluctuation of the prices of raw material, machinery^
transport, etc., which is to be expected almost of
a certainty, must inevitably react on the costs of.
at least, some of our enterprises. This remark, oy
the way. should be borne in mind when considering
all estimates contained in the present book. This
i, certainly a drawback, but an unavoidable one,
and its redeeming feature is the practical certainty
that any changes that may come about will, in view
of the present tendency of prices to fall, be on the
right side of the ledger.
It must be understood that essential changes in
the scheme, as proposed at present, may occur
should experience on the spot so demand. 1 he
table and the diagram given below ha e been worked
out by experts as a result of careful investigation
and calculation, but these could naturally be only
of a merely preliminary character. The Board of
Directors of the Keren ha-Yesod, the Economic
Council, the Zionist Executive must have the right
to suggest, and, by mutual agreement, adopt any
such modification as may be found necessary.
The reader will find in this book chapters dealing
with the main items of the table inserted on pp. 20-22.
The meaning, the actual importance, the possibilities
development of such schemes as " water power,"
would al*o present a certain political advantag is Governments
illy prefer exportation of kind rather than money, especially
at the present moment. On the other hand, however, this
system must be most carefully thought out in detail before it
l .n ! nsidered ripe for execution. Not every kind of
machinery or even "f raw materials can be utilised in Palestine.
We u I d that the problem is being dealt with by experts;
but it would be premature to foreshadow any details of this
matter at the pr tge.
1 6
INTRODUCTION.
"afforestation," "house building," "the Hebrew
University," " cooperative colonisation," will be
elucidated as clearly as is possible in a publication of
a popular character. But, although a popular book,
this is not meant to be a propaganda book. It does
not contain — with the one exception of the Mani-
festo — any appeals to sentiment. Its only object is
to explain.
It would be difficult to say, even approximately,
how many immigrants can be " colonised " in
Palestine through the direct influence of the Keren
ha-Yesod. This depends, above all, on the cost of
living, the prices of machinery and raw materials,
freights, etc. None of these can be expected to
remain stationary during the period of five years
within which the twenty-five million pound fund
has to be raised. On the contrary, changes and n * L
even drastic, changes, are certain to occur, in-
fluencing in their turn the fundamental condition '
ol our colonisation work— the prices of land in
Palestine. Still, it may be conjectured, with all
due reserve, that on the basis of the_ costs and
prices prevailing at the" present moment twenty-five
millions of public money invested in Palestine could
secure the settlement of some fifty thousand people
£er_yeax. or a quarter ofa million in fie years. "~~ //
lmsrora&irsTf ohlylo lar~as direct actTofToTlhe
Keren ha-Yesod is concerned, without taking into
account the private initiative of individuals or
groups. But it should never be forgotten that th't
mainspring of any immigration or colonisation
movement is just this very private initiative, the
pushing and sticking- power of individuals (no matter
whether working separately or banded together in
a cooperative group), the vitality and resourceful-
ness of sheer enthusiasm and personal responsibility,
and, last but not least, the cumulative weight of
small capitals which, under normal conditions, will
always exceed by far that of any public fund. True,
the conditions are abnormal to-day; Jewish wealth
»7
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
in the East of Europe, where only yesterday thou-
sands of well-to-do Jewish families were waiting for
the call to transfer" their homes into Palestine, is
temporarily destroyed. But the miraculous vitality
of the lew will assert itself once more. One need
not be a prophet to foresee with certainty that, as
soon as some kind of order is established in those
parts of the Continent, the Jewish masses will
emerge from their ordeal with their hereditary
vigour and energy unimpaired, and will soon make
good their losses", while the only lasting trace left
by these years of nightmare will be a strengthened
resolve to forget them for ever in Palestine.
To act as guide and example for this main army
of colonisers is the real role and ambition of the
K>ren ha-Yesod.
I he Keren ha-Yesod is not a part of the Zionist
or of any other organisation. It i independent
! odv. roistered as such under British law\ Its
statute provides, just as in the case of the Jewish
Colonial Trust, actual guarantees sufficient to pre-
vent it from ever degenerating into a purely â– capita-
listic enterprise, and to secure its smooth coopera-
with the Zionist Executive. Otherwise it is a
non-partisan corporation, formed for purely con-
structive colonisation purposes, and therefore best
adapted to the task of uniting all currents of Jewish
opinion in the one great effort.
The Keren ha-Yesod is an _all J.e^uslL.lHâ„¢!, a non "
party fund- but if Zionists' really want it to become
such in practice, not only in theory, they must not
wait for a consensus omnium before themselves
answering the call. If the Zionist organisation
hes to retain its present leading position in Jewish
lirs, its members must lead the way in this
respect, too. and without delay. We well know
i8
INTRODUCTION.
that only a fraction of the " national wealth " of the
Jewish people is actually held by men and women
enlisted in the Zionist organisation : the bulk of
it lies in other coffers. But the only key that can
open them is example. We can proclaim without
r.ny hesitation that nine-tenths of Jewry throughout
the world are ready to-day to support the reconstruc-
tion of Palestine to the fullest extent of their finan-
cial capacity, but the condition is : Zionists first.
This is a fair condition, and should be complied with.
Moreover, it is a case where example will have not
only a moral but a practical value. For it can be
said without any exaggeration that the strict applica-
tion of the Ma'aser to Zionists alone could cover
the best part of the twenty-five million pounds.
This is a force, but also a responsibility, and we
must accept it.
19
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
TABLE
What Might Be Accomplished
With a Sum of £5,000,000
]. Jewish National
Fund
a) Purchase of
Land (for agri-
culture and
house building)
Preparation
I.\nt> (for
agricultural
settlement)
Total ...
II Works and In-
stitutions of
National utility
(a) Hostels for
Immigrants
(b) Wo R K M K N S
Hoi'SHS (sub-
sidy for 5.000
lodgings, in
Addition to
Mortgage Bank,
Keren ha-Yesod
and J N. F.
loans)
(c) School Biii.d-
{A) University (re-
pair of Grey Hill
House, addi-
tional construc-
tion*, e q u i p
in f n l of Re-
search Insti-
tute*, reference
Hon |
Expenditure
i £
600,000
400,000
100,000
400,000
100,000
1 00, 000
1,000,000
See Chapter
Agricultural
Colonisation.
Hoiism c
Problem.
Cooperative
Colonisation.
Immigration.
Housing
Problem.
Schools.
Health.
University.
TABLE.
(e) T K c H n i c A I,
College, Haifa
(completion, re-
pairs, equip-
ment)
(f) Hospitals, etc.
(buildings and
equipment)
(g) Hutments
(with Equip-
ment) for work-
ers engaged in
public works
(transportable)
(h) Afforestation
(nurseries,
terracing, plant-
ing, etc.)
(i) Research
Laboratories
(for agricultural
and industrial
research)
(j) Cooperative
Credits and
Subsidies
Total ...
III. Investments
(a) Water Power
and Irriga-
tion
(b)LoNG Term
Credits for
House Build-
ing (second
mortgage loans
for 10,000 lodg-
ings, in addition
to Mortgage
Bank loans)
Expenditure
£ I
25,000
100.000
75.000
200,000
50,000
100,000
200,000
1,250,000
See Chapter :
Schoo
Health.
Immigration.
800,000
Afforestation.
Water Power.
Agricultural
Colonisation.
Industrial
Possibilities.
Cooperative
Colonisation.
Water Power.
Housing
Problem.
Banks.
21
THE KEREN H \-YESOD BOOK.
•
Expenditure
£ £ see Chapter:
(c)Long Tbrm
CutDifa i-"R
Agricultural
Colonisation.
Agrut i.tu R8
tin addition to
Banks,
Mortgage Bank
loiriM
.ITS FOR
Tradk AND lN-
350.000
Industrial
Possibilities.
Dl'STRV
250,000
.1 ...
1.600,000
IV. Current Ex-
penditure
(a) [M1CIG RATION
Immigration.
(upkeep of
Health.
Hostels. Infor-
mation Bureaux,
B in p 1 y in e n t
Bureau. land-
ing, etc )
250,000
\ T I O N
Schools.
(apart from
Univeraity)
250,000
(c) I'NIVKRSITY
University.
(Research Insti-
tutes, School
of Oriental
Studies, School
of Law)
50,000
d)P HBAXTH
300,000
Health.
'X.IM, Wi 1.
Jewel Fund
1 hk including
Womeo*a work)
100,000
Agricultural
* K t B
Colonisation.
(agricultural
and in i
DBB
100,000
Industrial
Possibilities.
(cont ribation
i • ■iie up-
krfi of corree-
ng bodies)
100,000
Total ..
1,500,000
IX, ...
5,000,000
a
The Political Position.
The actual political position in Palestine resulting
from such acts as the Balfour Declaration, the San
Remo Resolution, the Anglo-French Agreement
concerning the boundaries of Palestine, the Mandate,
and a series of Ordinances issued by the High Com-
missioner in Jerusalem, can be envisaged from two
points of view. First : Is this position satisfactory
in itself, does it prov ide any_stable guarantees for
the smooth - working "of the National Home scheme L-
for a period of at least one generation, does it pre-
clude all at tempts of obstructing the development qf_
Th~e_ Jewish Commonwealth? Second : Is it favour-
able enough to justify an immediate effort, to allow 1[_
the Keren ha-Yesod a sufficient space for setting
into motion the machinery of constructive work in
Palestine ? ,_
From the first point of view our answer must be ,
frankly sceptical . It is no use shutting our eyes to
unpalatable realities. The Mandate is still not
sanctioned at the moment of writing, but the official
draft is undoubtedly couched in terms which en-
courage restrictive interpretation. The word
' National Home " is a vague expression belong-
ing by right to rhetoric rather than to politics.
The privileges granted to the Zionist Organisa-
tion — the body which will have to raise and
invest in Palestine millions of pounds, and to call
upon millions of men and women to sacrifice them-
selves in an almost titanic task — are of a purely ad-
visory character. The Mandate leaves thr Zionist
Organisation loaded with all the financial and social
23
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
rdens of a chartered company, but refuses it the
rights granted to such companies in the past.
The actual administration of Palestine., the open-
ing or closing of its gates before the Jewish immi-
nt, the ways and means of encouraging or, ob-
structing the development of Zionist colonisation are
entirely left to the discretion of the High Commis-
appointed by His Majesty's Government.
e most vital of all rights in. similar cares — the
ht of the Zionist Organisation to exercise its
through legally secured channels, in the
choice of suitable candidates for this all-important
not included in the official draft.
The same — again from the first point of view
mentioned in the beginning of this chapter — can be
said of the boundaries. 1 he waters of the Litani
er, the richest reservoir of Palestine, are cut off
altogether. The Yarmuk is left outside of the
Jewish " National Home," and its water can only
he used if a foreign Government finds it desirable to
ant a concession. The upper sources of the
Jordan are in the same position. It is, by the way,
ironically curious that such an essential part of the
ly River should be refused the honour of being
included in the Holy Land.
So much for the first point of view, the one that
deals with the present position as with a lasting and
permanent state of things. But political problems
â– uld also be considered from a purely practical
le. These boundaries and this Mandate, un-
ictory as they are, do they afford us sufficient
ce and protection for immediately starting the
ion? To this question the only
v can be : yes^
I el us begin with the frontiers. What remains
of Palestine after all the amputations is a territory
me 10,000 sq uare miles with a population of
101 -o.ooo. The ""territory of ' Wales covers
re miles, and harbours a population of
iicily measures 9.936 square mrfes with
2 4
THE POLITICAL POSITION.
3,568,124 inhabitants; Belgium— 11,373 square
miles, and 7,555,570 inhabitants. Almost the whole
of Gilead, up to the Hedjaz railway and beyond it
remains in the area governed from Jerusalem. It
is one of the richest parts of Palestine as regards
water supplies, quality of soil and vegetation, but
one of the poorest in population. There are barely
twelve sedentary inhabitants per square mile in
Gilead, whereas in Sicily there are 352, and 1,061 in
the cultivable portion of Egypt. No one, of course,
can speak to-day with any certainty as to the limits
of the density of population attainable in either Cis-
or Trans-Jordania; but one thing is evident — that to
fill, to the maximum of its natural capacity, even this
truncatedrnPalestine with Jewish immigrants will"
take the work of at least a generation.
"*^s - To~water power, it is, of course, much to be
regretted that we must abandon, for the present,
all plans concering the Litani; and even the Yarmuk,
where concessions are foreshadowed, will hardly
tempt Jewish enterprise in any appreciable measure
since the river and the whole district has been
separated from Palestine. It should, however, not
be forgotten that in all our hydro-technical
schemes neither the Litani nor the Yarmuk are
considered the most immediately interesting reser-
voirs, but the Jordan from the Waters of Merom
down to the Dead Sea. Here both sides of the
river are within the boundary. All this constitutes
a quit? sufficient basis for the first steps of the
coloni'scr and the engineer.
Here it must also be mentioned that the peculiar
administrative position of Trans-Jordania under the
British rule cannot be considered as an obstacle to
colonisation. Trans-Jordania is a part of the man-
datory area under the same High Commissioner as
Ju clea, Sam aria ," or Galilee. THs is a fact of the
new International Law established by international
legislation, and which could only be changed by the
same cumbersome procedure. The special regime
25
III! KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
ts-Jordania, on the contrary, is, legally speak-
ing, a one-sided act of the British Government,
which can be changed with the same ease as it was
creed. We do not mean to imply that we con-
der this act as proof against criticism, even severe
criticism; but there is, in any case, no legal
obstacle to the liquidation of this special regime
and to the establishment in Trans-Jordania of
a system similar to that of Cis-Jordania as
soon as Jewish colonisation beyond the ri
NeginsTo change the character of the country. I
erT"as it i> t<> day. our colonisation \v. T.i!
can proceed without any legaj hindrance More-
over, just the patriarchal - i * = crjnstitution " of the
district is. and will be, responsible for the striking
cheapness of land beyond the Jordan. Offers of
sale have been made from Trans-Jordania at prices
twenty times lower than those at which land is being
sold, for instance, in the Valley of Esdraelon.
Furthermore, even the French zone of Palestine
should not be considered as closed against Jewish
colonisation. France has also signed the Balfour
I declaration and the decision of San Remo, by which
she has undertaken to further the National Home
scheme within her sphere of influence. Without
feeling in the least inclined to pay flattering com-
pliments to any nation in the world, we think it
only fair to remind our readers that no opponent has
ever accused France of breaking her promises. It
i-, of course, questionable whether we can afford
split our effort, both financial and political, in
dealing with two different administrative systems at
the same time, — at any rate whether we can afford
it at the present moment. But in principle the area
open to Jewish colonisation, and, eventually, re-
rved tor the establishment of the Jewish National
Home is not limited to the British mandatory zone.
much for the boundaries: bad as they are, it
will take years to fill the space within them with
Jewish settli The same may be said of the
26
THE POLITICAL POSITION.
Mandate. With all its defects from our point of .
view, this document actually raises Zionism to a
political height from which, under normal condi-
tions, it can no more be deposed. The historic rights '
of Israel in Palestine are confirmed; the Jewish
N ationa l Home policy proclaimed as the main
guiding" principle in the administration of trie
"try; the" Zionist Organisation recognised as the
legal adviser of the Government, and perhaps, by
implication, as a subject of certain rights vis-a-vis
the League of Nations; Hebrew adopted as one of
the official languages of the country. We may regret
the vagueness of all this, we may and must struggle
for fuller guarantees; but it cannot be denied that,
given a sufficient amount of alertness and energy on
our own part, the Mandate is a powerful political
weapon.
It is the possibility of restrictive interpretation
which causes legitimate apprehensions. But they
should not be exaggerated. To-day the interpreta-
tion is most favourable, and the administrative at-
mosphere such as to give us every opportunity of
expansion. We refer, of course, to the appointment
of Sir Herbert Samuel a» the High Commissioner
for Palestine. No better choice could have been j
made even by a Zionist Congress had it the right, i
under the Mandate, to nominate the High Commis-
sioner. This appointment, taken as a symptom of
the way in which Great Britain interprets the Man-
date, \f a precedent of the utmost importance. Of
course- -and this is the core of the whole problem —
the value of a political precedent depends, first of
ail, on the power of resistance and organisation of
those whose interest it serves.
Neither is the " Arab opposition," whatever may
be our estimation of its genuineness or its true force,
a real obstac le to Jewish colonis ation. It would be
outside the purpose of this book to dwell upon this
campaign, to trace its origin right down to its arti-
fici al sourc es of foreign intrigue, or to reveal the
27
THt; KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
^er rors of offi cial polic y which encour age d it, andjn^
ue cases _dire ptly pro voked It. It is enough to"
y here that so long as Jewish colonisation means
a permanent flow o f money p ouring into the country,
and, largely, mtojtIie_4*C jckets of the Arab peasant,
the great bulk of the native population, both Moslem
and Christian, will oppose any attempt to hinder it.
This is the general opinion among all those who
know the country, and we can quote cases of well
known anti-Zionist agitators who frankly admit it,
perhaps with regret, in private.
The legislative activity of the new Palestinian
Government only began a few months ago. It is
permeated with a modern and liberal spirit, and
affords — of course, in the hands of a benevolent
administration — ajl_ reasonable opportun ities for
Jewish expansion. It wiTl suffice nere to~rnention
two examples: the " Transfer of Land Ordinance '
and the " Palestine Immigration Ordinance." To
understand them properly it must be borne in mind
that Palestinian legislation under the Mandate must
answer two main purposes : it must encourage
Jewish enterprise, but, at the same time, it must give
the administration the necessary power t o prevent
undesir able activities.. It must, for instance, facili-
tate and simplify land transactions, but speculation
in land transfer cannot be tolerated — first of all, in
our own interests; mimigration must be promoted
on the largest scale compatible with sound econo-
mics, but no country in the world to-day would
willingly face an influx of useless or ill-intentioned
intruders. Naturally, therefore, a distinction must
be made between genuine Zionist enterprises which
may safely be encouraged on the general responsi-
bility of the Zionist Organisation, and other activi-
which need a close and constant supervision.
This distinction cannot always be expressed in the
t of the law in so many words. Modern legisla-
tive phraseology avoids overt discrimination of this
kind, and prefers to leave the delicate business of
28
THE POLITICAL POSITION.
' drawing the line " to the discretion of the ad-
ministrator — of course, on the presumption that the
latter is fully instructed and sincerely willing to carry
out his instructions in the right spirit.
In the two Ordinances in question both these
elements are present. The Land Transf er Ordi -
nance introduces detailed provisions" guaranteeing
TKe~cbuntry against purchases of land for merely
speculative purposes, or against further concentra-
tion of large estates in the hands of one owner, or
against the exploitation and eviction of the poor
small-holder or tenant. For this purpose Article 6
of the Ordinance demands from the person acquiring
the property the following conditions : (i) He must
be resident in Palestine. (2) He shall not obtain
property exceeding 300 dunams in the case of agri-
cultural land, and 30 dunams in the case of urban
land. (3) He must intend himself to cultivate or
develop the land immediately. Besides, before sanc-
tioning a transaction, the Governor must ascertain
(in the case of agricultural property) that the person
selling or leasing the property "will retain sufficient
land in the district or elsewhere for the maintenance
of himself and his family." (The latter provision is a
repercussion of the famous " 5 feddans law " intro-
duced by Kitchener in Egypt to protect the fellah
from eviction by usurers.)' So much for the ordi-
nary procedure, ft may be said with reason that in
certain cases all this net-work of precautions might
obstruct the free development of our agricultural
colonisation. But the indispensable corrective is
contained in Article 8, which says that in cases of
land transactions not complying with the above-
mentioned conditions the matter " shall be referred
to the High Commissioner for his consent which he
may give or withhold in his absolute discretion."
He may, for instance, " consent to the transfer of
larger areas of land (than 300 or 30 dunams) where
he is satisfied that the transfer will be in the public
29
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
witerc St, or will serve some purpose of recognised
j ublic utility."
Another instance is the question of the right of a
corporation to own real estate. This right, as is
well known, was never fully recognised by the
.! Law, which fact was always considered as
,e of the most harmful obstacles to the economic
lopment of the late Empire. From the text of
the Land Transfer Ordinance to which we refer it
pears that this restriction has not yet been
olished as a general rule. But the same Article 8
rovides " that the High Commissioner may autho-
rise any banking company to take a mortgage of
land, and any commercial company registered in
.tine to acquire such land as is necessary for the
purpose of its undertaking, and may, subject to the
above conditions, consent to the transfer of land
to any corporation."
The *' Palestine Immigration Ordinance " con-
likewise a number of rules concerning pass-
rts, permits, financial qualifications, immigration
fees, the right of non-admission and expulsion,
pstration of immigrants, etc. But Article 10
states explicitly: "The High Commissioner may
direct that any person or class of persons shall be
empted wholly or in part, and either uncondi-
tionally or subject to such conditions as he may
impose, from the provisions of this Ordinance."
These instances confirm what has been said above :
that the political position in Palestine, so far as
Zionism is concerned, depends entirely on the per-
ality of the High Commissioner. We do not
mean to imply that this is a desirable order of things.
HIT book is neither criticism nor
apologia of either the Mandate, the boundaries, or
the legislative arts of the new Palestinian Govern-
ment. ' )ur only purpose is to ascertain whether the
political conditions in Palestine, such as they are,
do or do not provide a fair basis for the immediate
ling of constructive Zionist work. It is
3©
*/*>,,
THE POLITICAL SITUATION.
evident that, so long as the office of High Com-
mission er is held T^JjTjttan^wmdTejdevotion to the
"spirit ot the~"Balfour Declaration is above all ques-
>n, the possibilities — within the actual boundaries
of Palestine — are prac tically unlimited.
We have tried to state with the utmost frankness
both the shadows and the lights of the political posi-
tion. Our conclusion is — and we feel certain that
every healthy mind in Jewry will agree with it : the
moment both warrants and calls for an excep-
tional effort of constructive energy. Effort and
energy are also the best and only remedies for
whatever defects the Mandate or the boundaries
agreement may contain. Live force, the force of
masses, and the weight of their collective wealth,
are stronger than any words written or omitted.
31
The Tithe in Jewish Tradition.
Ma'aser.")
The Tithe is a national levy, which has been kept
up by our people throughout the whole period of
its existence from the very earliest tunes.
When we speak of a Ma'aser tradition in our
St we go back to prehistoric times, to the primi-
tive patriarchal figure with whom the Almighty
made the first Covenant concerning Lretz Israel.
and who was the first immigrant Jew to enter the
country. raham gave "tithe â– ,f everything
Melchizedek, King of Jerusalem. The tithe ot
evervthir. here mentioned for the first time in
the 'Bible not as something new but as if it were
already an ancient practice, traditional even in that
early period.
Later we meet the father of our twelve tribes.
Jacob, who vowed: " If God will be with me .
that I come back to my father's house in peace
all that Thou shalt give me I wdl surely
e a tenth unto Thee." (Gen. 28, v. 21, 22).
" Thus the Ma'aser appears in our history primarily
icnt tradition which later developed into a
v in the Torah and which is frequently emphasised
us follows : —
\v.A all the tithe of the land, whether of the
ed oi t'u land or of the fruit of the tree— is the
's; it is holy unto the Lord. And all the tithe
the h( the flock, whatsoever passeth undtr
the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord."
•' 30 3
THE TITHE IN JEWISH TRADITION.
Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy
seed, that which is brought forth in the field year by
year." (Deut. 14 v. 22).
' At the end of every three years, even in the
same year, thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of
thine increase, and shalt lay it up within the gates.
And the Levite, because he hath no portion nor in-
heritance with thee, and the stranger, and the
fatherless, and the widows that are within thy gates,
shall come and shall eat and be satisfied; that the
Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy
hand which thou doest." (Deut. 14, v. 28, 29).
Here the Ma'aser appears as not only a religious
but a social institution.
These laws did not stand alone; they developed
in our literature and in fewish social life. Among
the three kinds of Ma'aser established by the
Talmud, one was specially called the " Poor Man's
Ma'aser."
If we were to explain fully the detailed application
and meaning of this term we should have to reprint
m full the two Talmudical Tractates " Ma'asrot "
and " Ma'aser Sheni "—two volumes of laws and
regulations, which in their turn gave rise to a
further Rabbinical literature.
We only desire here to draw special attention to
two historical facts which are sufficient to prove
what an important part the Ma'aser played in
Jewish life. The two facts represent both periods
of our history, one of the Galut (Exile), the other
of the Geula (Liberation).
To take the Galut first : —
The Ma'aser, which was a great and important
principle 111 Palestine, assumed a different form in
Exile. Jewish economic life in Eretz Israel was
never based" upon money/commerce or industry, but
upon agriculture and cattle, >ree_ding. For' this
reason, the Ma'aser given in those days consisted
of grain, fruit and tithe of flocks and herds. In the
33
IMF KEREN IIA-YESOD BOOK.
lut there could be no question of such Ma'aser in
d for there we had neither fields nor herds
• the Ma'aser remained in the form of Ma aser of
the long black night of the Middle Ages with
it; Crusades and Inquisitions, Jewish communities
in everv country established the Ma'aser. Every
low rich or poor, paid a tenth of his capital and
income to the communal Treasury for public pur-
maintenance of its institutions,
the support of the poor. etc.
The importance of the Ma'aser became so im-
perative that manv communities enforced the tax
under penaltv of excommunication. Even in the
case of recalcitrant communities, our Gaonim of
time tell us that the decree of Ma'aser could be
instigated by a single individual who had the right
to compel the majority to enforce it. " If there are
ten Jews in a town "—says Rabbenu Gershon.
called " The Light of the Exile "—"each individual
has the right to compel the remainder to enforce
Ma'aser under the penalty of excommunica-
tion." This rs the only case in the history of
Jewish law where a minority (consisting of even one
individual) was given the power to impose its will
on the majority.
In manv German town? it was customary for
v few to give one half of his Ma'aser to the
Communal Treasury, and to divide the other half
amongst the needy at his own discretion. The
usual manner of giving Ma'aser was as follows : —
rst earh lew gave Ma'aser of his capital, viz.: —
one tentl f all he possessed; and afterwards he
illy one tenth of his annual income.
Income I not only that from regular
hut also crifts. legacies, dowries, etc.
Whenever a parent wished his daughter to receive
her d in full he always added a sum sufficient
ride to meet the Ma'aser tax. A son
inheriting from his father was obliged to pay
34
7 HE TITHE IX JEWISH TRADITION.
Ma'aser even though the father had paid the tax
upon the same sum previously. The reason for
this lay in the fact that Ma'aser was regarded as
the duty of the individual and not merely as a
burden upon the capital sum
From the Rabbinical Responsa of that day we can
clearly see the extent to which our compatriots in
the Galut carried out the Ma'aser principle in all
its minute details. The Gaonim of that day dis-
cussed with a sense of deep responsibility the
application of the Ma'aser to various practical
cases. For example, regarding Ma'aser upon in-
come, the question arose as to whether the burden
fell upon the gross or upon the net income; or,
again, if a man profited in one transaction but lost
in another, whether he was entitled to set off his
losses against his profits.
Rabbi Abraham Hurwitz, father of the famous
author of " Shene Luhot ha-Berit " (known as the
' Shellah "), wrote in his will to his children: —
And as soon as your earnings reach your hands
you should set apart the Ma'aser, and then you
may put the balance in your purse along with your
other profane money; but on no account before
you have put aside your Ma'aser, lest, God forbid,
you forget. You should always have a separate
purse in which you keep your Ma'aser money, in
order to prevent its being mixed up with other
money. . . . And it is desirable that you should
enter ia your notebook the receipts and payments
of the Ma'aser money annually. . . ."
These simple homely words speak for themselves.
They typify the mentality of the Ghetto, which made
tlTTohg Galut endurable and ensured the presevera-
tion of our people.,
^To Jew attempted to bargain about the Ma'aser
tax. On the contrary, when it yielded insufficient
revenue more was willingly paid. So firmly was trie
Fund established that it was possible to pledge it
as security for a loan, and often Jews met public
[•HE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
expenditure out of their own funds trusting to be
repaid from Ma'aser Funds to be collected on future
income.
In times of a communal disaster, or when the
istencc of the nation was threatened, and the
Ma'aser was found to be insufficient to meet the
lamity, Jews gave mure, the " tithe " being only
considered as a minimum. In some communities the
tax \Nas raised from one tenth to one fifth. At the
lime of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and
the Chmelnitzky persecutions, the Jewish com-
munities of Italy and Turkey gave a quarter of all
they possessed to ransom the captives and support
the refugees.
The Gaonim emphatically declared that " nc Jew
has discharged his charity obligation by merely
paying his Ma'aser punctually, since the Ma'aser
doe> not belong to him, whilst charity is and re-
mains his moral duty"
The second fact to which we wish o draw atten-
tion is drawn from the Geula — the period of
Liberation.
It was in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, when
the Jews returned to their own country from the
Babylonian Galut. One of the first foundations of
the Return to Zion of that day was the Ma'aser.
From the very beginning Nehemiah introduced the
ict observance of the historic agricultural tithe of
grain and fruit as a S^ate_Tax^for the maintenance
of the whole Tribe of Levi.
But Nehemiah went further than that: he in-
stituted a Ma'aser of men. One Jew in ten was
obliged to settle in Jerusalem. . . " And the
princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem; the rest
of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to
ell in Jerusalem, the Holy City, and nine parts in
\nd the people blessed all the men
that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jeru
id " (Nehem. 1 1. v. i, 2).
><
THE TITHE IN JEWISH TRADITION.
Thus the Ma'aser tradition lives on through the
ages of our history. If our ancestors were so
anxious to contribute the tithe for the mere ordinary
charitable purposes of everyday life, one cannot help
wondering how much more liberally they would
have given for the reconstruction of Palestine had
they been allowed the opportunity ? The genera-
tions of the past impose on our more fortunate
generation, the first of the redemption, the moral
obligation to bring the required sacrifice for the
rebuilding of our National Home. It is necessary
for the idea to be brought home to all sections of
the people that the contribution of the tithe is not
a voluntary donation but a duty, a personal obliga-
tion, a national levy which a people imposes upon
vtself in its determination to emerge from servitude
into freedom ; and only through the recognition of
this fact shall we succeed in striking a notable blow
for the revival of our people in its ancestral land.
S7
Immigration.
The colonisation scheme set forth in this book-
has been drafted on the basis of a prospective
j nr [he next few year,, of approxL-
i&rants a ^^ear. Acconi-
|y, the — accommo-aatfon -Tequrr€g for the
prospective settlers both at the stopping places
through which thev will pass en route to Palestine,
and in the receiving centres in Palestine itself
should provide for at least a. thousand people per
How is this work to proceed, and what are the
agencies and machinery through which it will func-
tion ?
The resolutions passed hy the last Conference of
the Zionist Organisation in London (1920), based
on plans prepared by the Immigration Department
of the Organisation, provide for the establishment
of a Central Immigration Bureau in Palestine, with
inches in every country, and of Port Bureaux in
all countries through which immigrants pass, a»
t the ports of Palestine.
The work of the various agencies engaged in
rrying out this plan would be organised as
—
1. A thorough, efficient, and complete system
of information should be organised in every country
from which the settlers will emigrate. Through
leaflets, bulletins, talks, lectures, personal letters
in response to personal inquiries, Press articles,
an advertisement of situations in Pales-
tine, the Jewish population should be kept informed
of the conditions of labour, its supply and demand,
38
IMMIGRATION.
the situation in regard to trade and employment
generally, and the opportunities for professional and
vocational training.
The prospective immigrant should know exactly
what is awaiting him before he starts for Pales-
tine, and the information given him must be accu-
rate, reliable, and official, coming from unquestion-
able sources. The cost of living, prices prevailing
in Palestine, the conditions of travelling, etc., should
be clearly conveyed. Properly organised information
is one of the most fundamental" and important de-
partments of every organised colonisation move-
ment : in our own it should be circulated by means
of an efficient Bureau maintaining a constant inter-
change of information between Palestine and the
various emigration centres.
2. The Immigration Bureau should help the
immigrant to prepare for work in Palestine. In
some cases immigrants will need further training in
their own occupation. In others they should acquire
and master an entirely new trade.
For this purpose short courses of instruction
should be organised, and they should be so arranged
that the prospective immigrant can complete them
between the time of his registration and his depar-
ture for Palestine. Some experiments along this
line have already been very successful. In parti-
cular, it is essential that there should be training
for agricultural work, to include practical experi-
ence on special farms or in other suitable places.
There should be courses for agricultural instructors
and for foremen, also short courses in gardening.
Industrial training is especially important in order
to provide a more highly qualified type of artisan.
Short courses in Hebrew are essential. Those
who know nothing of the language should receive
at least a rudimentary training, whilst those who
are acquainted with the rudiments should get prac-
tice in conversation.
59
!Hk KEREN HA-YESOD ROOK.
The Immigration Bureaux should under-
take to organise the immigrants into trade
•ups : tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, agricul
ral workers, gardeners, vineyard workers, etc.. and
these groups should also have some obvious tie oi
• m, such as the fact of belonging to the
ie family, city or village. The advantages of
h grouping are obvious. The preparation for
the journey i- rendered much easier; travellers enjoy
the benefit of mutual aid, and have the moral
support of mutual acquaintanceship and friendship.
Al^o a beginning is made of firm future relatione
which will have a strong economic advantage for
the settlers and the country The Bureau should
help in the selection and organisation of the groups,
and by drawing up instructions, bye-laws, and
statutes, should assist them in becoming self-govern-
ing units.
4. Immigration homes should be established,
where immigrants assembling at large centres and
at the ports could receive food and shelter. We
must save the immigrant from the anguish
i suffering which he experiences at the stopping
places where he halts to await the arrival of a pass-
port, or money with which to continue his journey.
Sometimes these pauses lengthen into long periods
of wearisome waiting. Usually the immigrant is ex-
ited at this stage of his journey by agents, is
housed in horrible places unfit for habitation, is
starved, <- ibjected to all manner of humiliation, ex-
and generally demoralised.
Immigration homes, with food, shelter, and medi
•tucc, will alone do away with these bad
lit ions. They should be established immedi-
ly in the chief p mch as Odessa, Trieste, and
intinople. and they should provide for not less
:i two hundred or two hundred and fifty immi-
nts at a time. This expenditure can hardly be
• the Keren ha-Yesod, but it is none the
• important branch of the organisation.
IMMIGRATION.
These homes should be equipped with dining-rooms,
store-rooms for baggage, dispensaries where the
sick can be isolated, baths, laundries, and disin-
fecting rooms. They should be run under the super-
vision either of the Immigration Bureau or of special
Committees.
5. Most essential is the medical examination of
immigrants. Every immigrant registered in the
local bureau must be subjected to a thorough physi-
cal examination, and given a card stating its results.
Those capable of being cured must be put
through a course of treatment. Others, such
as sufferers from tuberculosis of the lungs, may need
to remain under treatment for a time after reach-
ing Palestine. There will be persons who
must be prevented altogether from entering the
country — those, for example, with incurable diseases
and the insane. Medical examinations must, of
course, be followed by medical care and treatment
under the auspices of the Immigration Bureau. The
Bureaux should have well equipped dispensaries at-
tached to them.
6. The immigrant will often require legal aid, and
provisions should be made for representing him
before the authorities. There may be legal obstacles
to his departure, which the Bureau can remove; he
will need permits, passports, visas. In every way he
must be defended from exploitation by agents, and
by all kinds of middle-men who are the curse of the
emigrant. This work requires a large and many-
sided organisation for its carrying out; its cost is
heavy alike in trouble and money.
7. Arrangements should be made with steamship
and railroad companies to secure the best and
cheapest means of transportation. The interests of
the emigrants are best served when transport com-
panies have to deal not with individual cases, but with
whole groups, and these groups should be repre-
sented by a known and accredited institution. The
41
IMF. KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
[vantages which the companies will derive from so
an emigration must be u sed as a means fc
r conditions ' at cheaper rates.^
lly necessary that a more direct service
with tew hould be arranged. The question
nitarv condition- on board is of the utmost
importance, and it will be necessary to secure the
nitary inspection of ships by special physicians of
tiie Immigration Bureaux at the ports.
in the transportation department must see
that the travellers are provided with food; that
Kosher kitchens are organised on every steamer, and
that steamers are provided with a medical unit, con-
; of at least one physician and one trained
curse, who will accompany the emigrants, keep
them under medical observation, isolate the sick
i 1 time, and give all necessary assistance.
8. The immigrant, npon arriving in Palestine,
must be provided with shelter and food, for a
period at any rate. An important item is the
landing expenditure. So long as there are no real
ha: in Jaffa and Haifa, the transportation of
immigrants from ship to shore, especially on stormy
will require a skilled staff of boatsmen. Dur-
the first few days after his arrival, he should
left alone to become disheartened and per-
plexed. Until he can adapt himself he must have
a home, and for this purpose hostels will be needed
sufficient to three , th^iisand__jj£iiple_^l._a
LC 111'-.' institu will also require medical
i to them.
Finally, there is the organisation -f the Em-
* ' • u. This work will require a depirt-
it competent to give all necessary information,
t the immigrant in finding work in the
'• ' ible pace of time. These Bureaux must
• • I with labour conditions; must have con-
nections with a'! 'iovernmcntal and social institutions
4'
IMMIGRATION.
which can be of assistance ; must be in close touch
with private enterprise, and in possession of infor-
mation as to the number and kinds of workers who
can be directed from week to week to the different
districts. They must be able to give the newly
arrived immigrant every kind of information con-
cerning the economic situation of the moment.
Efficient Bureaux of this order are essential to the
rapid and harmonious absorption of the immigrant.
An estimated cost of the work outlined is as
follows : —
(i) Initial outlay: Hostels at all
ports in Palestine £100,000
(2) Yearly budget : Immigration
homes, information bureaux,
landing, medical help, employ-
bureaux, etc., etc £250,000
Total for the first year ... £350,000
To what extent the immigration expenditure
could _Se_ transferred to the charge of the. Govern-
ment Budget is a problem which will require the
gr eatest atten tion of_iEe Zionist authorities.. As a
question of principle, the immigration of Jews into
Palestine has not only been sanctioned but directly
encouraged by the Mandate, and, therefore, all
measures necessary to promote it should be con-
sidered as important business of the State to be
defrayed by the State's Treasury. In practice,
TTowever, this can qnly_be attained gradually, owing,
first of all, to the limited resources of the Palestine
Exchequer. In any case, we may reasonably expect
that at_least_a _part of our im migration budget wil l
be borne by t heofficJaT BudgeT\ In other words,
the actuaj Keren ha-Yesod expenditure on Immigra-
tion wil be lower than is shown in the estimate.
43
Agricultural Colonisation.
It is admitted that agriculture is the normal basis
of all sound social economy. This principle, true
intries with a high degree of industrial
development, must he especially remembered in
'i to Palestine. As a producing com
•ine to-day is almost exclusively agricultn
(the town population being mostly unproductive),
and a ture will retain its supremacy even
should the industrial development be as rapid as
J.
It is only by means of numerous agricult 1
dements that the Jews will be able to spread all
'he country. A one-sided development of an
urban and industrial character would only lead to
the formation of Jewish districts surrounded by
ries, and would never create a Jewish
tine. As to the moral and physical effects of
' back to the land " movement, they are too well
known to need embroidering. Without attempting
: »wn exact figures, it may be affirmed that
an agricultural population amounting to 40 or 50
per cent, of the whole should be considered as
normal and desirable one in the colonisation of
I he pro- of all those engaged in occupations repre-
'T' riculture on ihr or.c hand, and industry on the other.
-Italy: Agriculture 507 per cent., Industry
icp : Agriculture 4.' ent., Industry 317
Itun er cent., Industry 40 p<v
highly industrialised country, is the
a - -„f.
44
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION.
In the year 1914, before the outbreak of the
World War, there were forty-three Jewish colonies
in Palestine, containing 408.742 dunams (80,000
acres) of land and about 12,000 inhabitants. The
total value of the plantations was £840,000. The
value of arable lands may be estimated at £680,000.
In addition, buildings and all kinds of stock were
worth £880,000. So that the entire capital invested
in Jewish agriculture in Palestine in the year IQ14
amounted to £2,400.000.
After more than thirty years of labour, this
is all that has been achieved. We are now con-
fronted with new tasks. The newly created
political conditions, on the one hand, and the critical
position of a large part of our people, on the other,
make it our duty to work with a method and speed
wholly different from those to which we have
hitherto been accustomed. Recognition of this
fact has led to the formation of the Keren ha-Yesod
The purpose of this article is to show what are
the possibilities and methods of agricultural coloni-
sation in Palestine. It must be understood that
the figures given are only approximate, as they are
frequently pre-war figures, and the prices of land,
means of production, etc., vary greatly from month
t ) month.
In considering the future of agricultural colonisa-
tion, we shall begin with the question of the acquisi-
tion of the land.
When we speak of acquiring land in Palestine we
must first consider whether there is land which can
be acquired without turning out the original native
population, the Arab Fellaheen. This question must
be carefully considered, for it must be a fixed
principle that we are to make a place for ourselves
in Palestine, not by expelling others from their
place, but by creating new opportunities.
But is there really any possibility of finding room
for ourselves without expelling others? A few
45
II IF. KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
s will most effectually serve to dispel this
ibt. -rirr
It we estimate the proportion of the surface ot
ne which is tit for cultivation at some
, dunams (4.000.000 acres), and the
icultural holdings in Palestine at
000 to 100^.000; and if, further, we consider the
ded for each holding as 100 dunams, we
U find that at least 10,000,000 dun; ire avail-
settlement by Tews. Retaining the same
ate of 100 dunams for each holding, this would
ce for 100,000 families. If modern intensive
thods are adopted, the number could be con-
increased.
w arises a second very important question, lo
whom docs this land belong, and is it possible for
us to acquire it for our colonisation? In considering
this question we may divide the soil of Palestine
into the four following classes : —(a) No man's land:
(b) occupied but unregistered land; (c) State lands:
land privately owned.
Under Turkish rule, no man's land could be
occupied by anyone who would cultivate it.
Probably the law will not be altered by the pre-
sent Government in so far as i1 affects this kind
land.
An alteration may be expected in regard to the
i land already occupied but not regis-
ther because the occupier could not afford
ration <>r because he had not yet cultivated
the land. It may be assumed that the proposed
registration of the entire soil will only recognise
those occupiers of land, not yet registered, who
aave cultivated their holdings. Should this
able areas will be opened for
lisition, probably amounting to 800.000 dunams.
the third class of land, the State lands.
these amoui 0,000 dunams in all. If one-
etained for the present tenants, 625,000
dunams will remain free for our cultivation. We
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION'.
trust that the Government will assist us in every
way to obtain this land, either by purchase or bv
hire.
It must, however, be noted that the land, approxi-
mately 1,925,000 dunams (under 400,000 acres),
which could be acquired in these three classes is
almost all of a lower quality; whereas the good land
can, as a rule, only be obtained from private owners
In order, however, to keep prices reasonable, it is
absolutely necessary that the buving of land should
be well [organised, and if possible carried out by one
single body. A clear answer to this question is con-
tained in the resolution passed by the London Con-
ference in July, 1920: > 7 . ,/>t-t<or
i.— The fundamental principle of Zionist land V
policy is that all land on which Jewish colonisation
takes place should eventually become the common
property of the Jewish people. r^
2— The organ for carrying out the Jewish land
policy in town and country is the Jewish National
.bund. The objects of this body are: To use the
voluntary contributions received from the Jewish
people in making the land of Palestine the common
property of the Jewish people ; to give out the land
exclusively on hereditary leasehold and on hereditary
buildmg right; to assist the settlement on their own
farms of Jewish agricultural workers; to see that the
ground is worked, and to combat speculation- to
safeguard Jewish labour.
3.— The credit resources of the Zionist Organisa-
tion are to be placed, in the first instance at the
service of such settlers as undertake to comply with
the principles of the Jewish National Fund.
4— In order to give the Jewish National Fund a
dominating position in the purchase of land ade-
quate means must always be placed at its disposal
In order to enlarge its sphere of operation, the
Jewish National Fund shall raise loans, of which the
47
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
interest and sinking fund are to be paid off through
ft easehold rentals. The Jewish National Fund shall
entitled, even in disregard of tHe obligation it
. hitherto been under to set aside certain sums
for reserve to invest the whole of its funds, without
any restrictions, in Palestine. The land policy 01 the
Jewish National Fund must be encouraged by means
of credit institutes for agricultural and urban pro-
perty.
c —I and purchase in Palestine shall be centralised
in 'Mie hands of an officially recognised institution
under the control of the Zionist Organisation.
6— In order to bring large portions of the land
of Palestine into Jewish possession as rapidly as
possible, the Jewish National Fund shal devise
means bv which, alongside of the capital of the
Jewish National Fund itself, private capital can
also be utilised for the purchase of land under con-
| ditions which will assure the subsequent trans-
ference of land so bought into the national
i possession.
These resolutions show clearly that the Jewish
itional Fund is to be the chief means by which
land in Palestine will be acquired.
When once the land has been acquired, our first
task is to prepare it for agriculture. We have
already a special organ, the Palestine Land Deve-
lopment Company, formed for the purpose of
making land ready for immediate occupation and
lling it at cost price, with a moderate addition for
profit and risk This company should now be
strengthened and increased, so as to become the
main instrument of actual colonisation on land. It
should work in close contact with cooperative
Labour " groups (see chapter on " Cooperative
•Msation "I which have already proved their
:itncy in preparing the ground for settleis.
44
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION'.
V\ e have now to consider: —
(1) or h ro h o e V V r ShaI1 SettIe "dividual families
or cooperative -roups on the land?
(2) Pa^stiJeT 5 ° f SCttIerS are SUlted to
(3) The agricultural labourer question in
t4 H»3l 111 t •
passed fi at' ST"?* I? ans " ,er ? d ^ 'he resolution
Clause I nf ^ i nd0n Conf "ence. July 1920,
Clause 2 of which states that our a°Ticulturi
p?se n ;?arti.,r"h permit bo ; h ^^ ^ s
£S m ha s;;;„e ,h,s book d — d ' - -^
Tvvo types of societies must, however be men
tioned, which are not precisely cooperate groups
Mde e rs are thC AhUZa " and the Society of § S: i
means,
The purpose of an Ahuza is to enable Tews with
eans, but unaccustomed to agriculture and to
heaviest forms of manual labour, to settfe 01 a, i
cultural holdings in Palestine. The members of die
Ahuza can remain abroad and carrv on their pre!
sent avocations until their plantations in Palestine
have sufficiently developed to support a famify The
b en h P iXeH° f h th ? Y^f mo ^ ment has ^her to
oeen nmdeied by lack of cred t. To extend the
rhr, e a"d n its a e'f La "h d 3"? " " eeded " ^'addition
culfnS,T e i»h e Sh ° WS that * P erm ^nent bodv of agri-
cultural labourers is essential for the succor, 1
starting of plantations. A contract "'th a trust
worthy labour group, interested in the profits fas
he n extent he of P a , tati0n be§inS t0 >' idd a "Turn) ( ?o
L creatlv m h S ™ ^ S^i ° f the land P Iant ed,
ietflpmX be recommended for the Ahuzot. The
settlements made by the Ahuza should in general
49
lUi; KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
not be larger than 5,000 dunani in extent, and
should contain about fifty planters. If the
irger, there would be administrative
difficulties; it i 1 be smaller it would not be able to
id the cost of administration.
allholders' Societies are not so much intended
cooperative agriculture as for cooperative
disposal of the produce. That is to say, although
there is to be one scheme of production for all
members of the Society, and although the products
are to be disposed of cooperatively, each individual
mber will cultivate his own holding personally.
Ibis will enable settlers with small means to divide
the cost of important implements, machines, utensils
for drying, preserving, etc., amongst all the
members of the group. It will also enable them to
sell their produce at a profit.
We shall now discuss the types of settlers suitable
fur Palestine. It must be again emphasised that all
ires with regard to the capital netded and so
forth make no claim to absolute accuracy, as they
are mostly derived from the year 1918. They are
intended to give only a general idea of the conditions
needed for agricultural colonisation.
Dr. Kuppin. the best authority on Palestinian on
colonisation, records the following five types of
agricultural settlers: —
( i 1 The big planter, with /0-200 dunams. He
must possess a capital of his own of at least £2,000.
(2) The ordinary planter, with a holding half the
size of the former. Private capital at least £800.
It is probable that during the next few years only
very few of the agricultural settlers will belong to
the first two groups. The class of persons from
v. horn we should have expected to obtain settlers
this kind — that is business people of small
means from Russia, Poland, or Galicia, who
after liquidating their businesses — would have been
e to settle in Palestine with a small sum of from
00 to £2,000 — hardly exists any longer. The
50
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION.
position in Russia., and the depreciated currencies
in the other countries referred to, compel us to
expect that most of the immigrants in the near
future will have no resources. The whole position
may of course change before long. The next three
classes, however, the farmer, the smallholder, and
the cottager, are types with whom we shall have to
deal in the near future, at anv rate if we decide on
promoting mdividua 1 farming even under the present
circumstances, without waiting for the condition in
tne East of Europe to improve.
(3) The grain-growing farmer must have a
knowledge of agriculture and a great physical en-
durance Only young and strong persons, who have
already had some years' experience of agricultural
work, if possible in Palestine, are suitable. It is of
the greatest importance that such settlers should
nave efficient and healthy wives to assist them. This
is, indeed, of no less importance to other types of
settlers. Only by means of strenuous and united
work on the part of man and wife can a family make
a living out of such work.
The most important branches of work in this
type of agriculture are the cultivation of grains
(wheat, barley, and durrah), the growing of fodder
such as vetch and clover, and the breeding of cattle.'
In the neighbourhood of towns, dairy farming will
be especially important. The addition of a planta-
tion 01 about twenty dunams would be very valuable
ihe trees would be almond, olive, vines"! or euca-
lyptus.
The capital needed by the farmer amounts to
£350, in addition to a long term loan of £300 from
a mortgage bank, and to a land grant from the
V .'£' *? the value of £ 35°- Not many among the
eligible immigrants from the East of Europe or
among the agricultural workers in Palestine will at
present be able to provide £350 of their own. But
as this type of settler, the producer of wheat, milk,
and meat, is of the greatest importance, a part or
llll KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
perhaps the whole of the capital needed by him
uld in really deserving cases be granted by some
titution estabUshed for this purpose: the J.C.A.
' the Keren ha-Yesod. Efforts should, however,
made for attracting farmers from Western
countries who need no assistance of this kind.
That this is ble is shown by the example of a
1 1, lU p of Canadian' Jewish farmers (several
hunch, lilies) who recently sent their repre-
sentatives to Palestine and, as we learn at the
ment of going to press, have obtained the neces-
nd concessions.
(41 \ smallholder should own about fifteen
dunams of irrigated land on which dairy farming
(based on the cultivation of lucerne), vegetable
growing, and poultry keeping will be the mam occu-
Few attempts at this kind of undertaking
e hitherto been made in Palestine; those, how-
ever, that have been made— as Wadi-Hanm and
some individual enterprises in Galilee -have been
f,,irly successful.
e small holding requires greater technical train-
in- than the cultivation of grain, and also needs
more skill in the disposal of the produce; but it
requires les> physical strength. To run it on
ordinary methods, a smallholder must have a capital
In. own amounting to rather less than £300, or
nv eive assistance to tin- t tent. A mortgage
loan of about £250 must, in addition, be placed at
We may, however, mention here the new possi-
bilities for colonisation by smallholders which the
introduction of a new method of cultivation would
We refer to small holdings artificially irn-
I, a method which has lately been suggested as
th form of settlement for Palestine (*). The
author of the suggestion affirms that large
of Palestine can be irrigated, and refers
mallholdinge and Irrigation."
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION.
to other countries, especially to China which
maintains a large population by means of a
system of intensive small holdings. It would be
oustide our purpose to explain the method in detail.
Roughly, it includes— besides artificial irrigation —
a peculiar system of sowing, or rather " planting "
the grain, and an intensive application of manure
and labour-saving machinery. According to Dr.
Soskin, one acre so cultivated can bring in £80 per
year. Although there have been some — not quite
unsuccessful — attempts at applying" the " Chinese
method " in Palestine (e.g., at Migdal on Lake
Tiberias), it is too early yet to gauge the practic-
ability of this system in our colonisation.
(5) The cottager type already exists in Palestine
in some of the workers' settlements (Hedera, En-
Gannim, Nahlat-Yehuda, Rehobot). The cottager,
who lives mainly by working for wages, cultivates at
the same time a few dunams of land of his own, on
which he grows, during his spare hours, and with the
help of his wife, vegetables, fodder, tobacco, dates,
and mulberries. The cottager should have a capital
(or a subsidy) of about £100, besides a loan of some
£125 on mortgage and land from the Jewish
National Fund to the value of £5o-£6o. By
practising sound economy, by adding land, making
new plantations, and so forth, a body of cottagers
might hope to rise to the position of small-
holder^ able to dispense with wage-earning. For
the re.-f. what has been said with regard to irrigated
and intensive small holdings applies to cottagers.
We now come to the last point in our discussion —
to the question of the agricultural labourer. This
is one of the most difficult problems in the colonisa-
tion of Palestine. We wish at once to emphasise
the fact that we do not aim at the perpetuation of a
class of agricultural labourers. We regard wage-
earning as a transition stage to real " self-settle-
ment." This will be the principle underlying our
remarks.
53
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
The difficulties which agricultural work in
Palestine offers to Jewish labourers entering the
trv are considerable. Without going into
details! we may mention the unaccustomed climate.
the liability to malaria, the difficulty of physical
â– â– â– â– : r m -t of the immigrants, and their want
experience in such labour. The biggest problem
. the competition of the Arab. The
Jewish worker can only subsist on wages 66 per
cent, higher than those required by the Arab.
Knotty as the problem is. it need not be con-
sidered insoluble. The War and its various con-
fences have already increased the Fellah's needs
nd the rise is likely to continue.
His advantage of " cheapness." though still gre
on the wane. The spread of intensive methods of
cultivation in the Jewish colonies, requiring intelli-
lt and morally reliable workers, will also inevit-
ly strengthen' the positions of Jewish labour.
ive docility of the native ther form
ot " cheapness " very much appreciated by some
•rt-sighted colonists— has also been greatly
[ected by the present unrest. All this contributes
ds increasing both the cost and the risks of
-bwish labour.
Bui in order to meet and assist this process,
illy tending to shift the balance in favour of
the anised effort should be made in order
to place the latter in conditions which would enable
him to compete with the native without lowering
iiis own standard of life. The " superiority " of
the native consists in his having no need of schools,
. European dwellings, or medical assistance.
few cannot and should not dispense with any
of these needs; but it is the task and duty of the
wish people to give them to the worker. This is,
the way by which the Keren ha-Yesod can
nder Jewish agriculture no lesser service than by
din iral assistance. Workers' houses
ould be built everywhere, kitchens supported.
54
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION.
sick funds subsidised, evening schools, libraries,
courses and lectures organised on an extensive scale.
All these institutions should be managed by the
workers themselves.
The role of the Keren ha-Yesod in promoting
agricultural colonisation will be many-sided.
First, one-fifth of its monies goes to the J.N.F.,
and will be expended in purchasing land and pre-
paring it for colonisation.
Secondly, the Keren ha-Yesod will assist the
agricultural development by undertaking drainage
and afforestation and by subsidising irrigation
works.
Thirdly, it will support agricultural research
work, in connection with the University Research
Institutes as well as thorough special laboratories.
Further, it will support all institutions enabling
the Jewish land-worker to withstand the hardships
of plough and spade labour in Palestine.
Finally — and this is the main point — the Keren ha-
Yesod will, within the limits of its resources, come
to the assistance of the small agricultural settler —
farmer, smallholder, cottager — who, in view of the
conditions prevailing in the East of Europe, is at
present unable to produce all the money required as
his own initial contribution towards his establish-
ment on the land. We have seen that the total out-
lay needed in every case would consist of three
parts : a land grant, a long term loan, and the
private capital of the settler. The first should be
provided by the J.N.F. as usual, on hereditary
lease terms and at a fixed 3 per cent. rent. The
second should be granted by the agricultural mort-
gage bank — the most important link in the proposed
development of the Zionist banking system. For the
thjrd, in really genuine and deserving cases, the
Keren ha-Yesod will be called upon to intervene
with a subvention. As a point of principle, and in
55
ilii; KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
the moral interests of the settler himself, such sub-
uld be granted only as loans, of course
at a very low rate of interest.
The settler's own capital, as we have already men-
tioned, should amount approximately: —
In the case of a farmer to £350.
In the case of a smallholder to £300*.
In the case of a cottager to £100.
bly, quite a number of settlers will be able
to find a part of the sum required — say one-half.
â– third, one quarter; others will have no money
all. In all such cases, it will be the duty of the
Keren ha-Yesod to ascertain whether the applicant
illy and temperamentally fit for this kind of
work, and whether he has already acquired a suffi-
cient experience in Palestinian agriculture. It would
he a mistake to encourage too quick a transformation
of the " greenhorn " into a farmer, big or small.
As a rule, an immigrant who wishes to become
ultimately a farmer should begin by spending one
r in public works, of the kind the present
Halutzim are engaged in, to be followed by a period
of apprenticeship in agriculture proper. Some of
the Kevutzot (workers' cooperative groups),
however observers may differ in the appreciation
of their colonising value, are unquestionably
very useful for training labourers in the various
nches of farm husbandry. Only persons
who have passed, and successfully passed, some such
or similar apprenticeship should be assisted by the
<1 in settling as farmers or small-
rs.
umi irmarked in the Keren ha-Yesod scheme
■ntribution to agriculture is £350,000.
Honed before, these subsidies will be only
* u ' : .lin.it v itnallholdings. the intensive small*
holding •■no figun , are availal
56
AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION.
granted as loans, and, however low the interest, the
settler will be required to pay it regularly.
The number of settlers of the three " small "
tjpes which can be established on the land with the
help of the Keren ha-Yesod will, of course, depend
on the state of their resources. Let us, for in-
stance, assume (quite arbitrarily) that the mutual
proportion of farmers, smallholders and cottagers
would be 3:2:1, and that the first category would,
on an average, contribute half, the second one-
third, the third a quarter of the respective private
outlay. On these lines (provided there be a mortgage
bank, an'd the J.N.F. can grant the land) the Keren-
ha-Yesod would be able to assist in settling : —
1,050 farmers at £175 per household = £i83,750
700 smallholders at £200 ,, =£140,000
350 cottagers at £75 ,, = £26,250
2,100 households £350,000
2,100 households — about 10,000 persons †” is, in
agriculture, not an insignificant number, especially
2,100 households in a year. If we add to it the
number of people dependent on the agricultural
population (shop-keepers in the colonies, teachers,
doctors, chemists, artisans) it would more than
double the present agricultural Jewish population
of the country.
But there is one truth which applies to agriculture
even more than to any other branch of colonisation :
the real colonising factors are individual effort and
private capital. In their cumulative totality, they
are stronger than a government and richer than its
treasury. Jewish agriculture in Palestine will only
reach its full development when the Jewish energies
and capitals, now locked up in their great East-
European reservoir, are once again released. The
Keren ha-Yesod can only prepare the ground for
them and pave the way.
57
Industrial Possibilities,
I p. the early days of the Zionist movement an
extremely romantic view of the economic situation
was cherished by most Zionists. They conceived
a Jewish peasant as the one desirable type of Jewish
humanity in Palestine. Certain small industries
might also be introduced, but the Zionists of that
period shrank from the idea of a really modern in-
ial development in the country. This was the
prising -ince Herzl, in " Altneuland," had
pictured his ideal Jewish Palestine as a land where
modern technical skill and industrial progress dis-
played their marvellous possibilities. But even
Herzl had at that time very little influence on fhe
majority of Zionists in regard to economic ideals
and outlook.
cc then, various investigators have carried on
steady propaganda to demonstrate the necessity,
than the possibility, of the industrial
ipment of Palestine.
Ily, no continuous, extensive colonisation of
Pale tine is possible without very considerable in-
trial development. This is not to suggest for a
moment the vast industries of the modern industrial
with their huge-scale mining and metal pro-
duction their electrical trusts, and other gigantic
enterprise Palestine has no natural resources
urate with undertakings on such a scale.
There is tin bility that the exploitation of the
troletsm in the country (its extent and availa-
not yet been gauged) may lay the founda-
t a great industrial development; but for the
: Palestine's industries will be on a moderate or
INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES.
even small scale, and in part certainly home indus-
tries. None the less, industries of this type are
essential if we really mean Palestine to support a
rapidly increasing population. Not that agriculture
cannot be enabled to support a large population,
but it must not be overlooked that industrial under-
takings, supported by Jewish capital, would be ready
in a relatively very short time to provide work for
many Jewish artisans. Moreover, these under-
takings, and the whole industrial atmosphere, would
have a beneficial effect upon agricultural develop-
ments : every step forward in agricultural develop-
ment is wont to be closely connected with a corre-
sponding industrial advance. (The system probably
best suited to Jewish psychology is one in which
there is such a combination of agriculture and in-
dustry as the " Garden Cities " provide, whereby
each settler has only enough land to occupy part of
his time; for the rest, and to bring his earnings up
to the required standard, he must engage in some
kind of industry or trade. This Garden City idea
steadily finds more and more adherents).
In surveying the country's industrial possibilities,
we must first consider its mineral wealth. There is
an urgent need of building materials at this moment
in Palestine, and the land possesses just the essen-
tial requisites in vast quantities. It has great stores
of quarry-stone of the most diverse kinds. In the
Tiberias region there is basalt, on the coasts cal-
careous sandstone, in the different mountain regions
dolomite and limestone. Out of the rough natural
slabs of stone found, for example, at Yasim, ex-
cellent paving stone could be secured.
There are great commercial possibilities in the
country's building lime and cement; it has very rich
lime deposits, but at present these are only utilised
in a most primitive fashion. With thorough scienti-
fic exploitation their yield would be correspondingly
profitable, and the same may be said of the loam
and clay deposits. The manufacture of roofing tiles
59
IHI KEREN HA-YESOD BOOR.
and of clay articles of the most varied kinds can be
undertaken in very many different districts with
every hope of success. In addition, there is bitu-
minous lime, not in such threat quantities on this
side of Jordan as in Transjqrdania, r but it is
found on a considerable scale, and includes the cele-
brated deposits of Nebi-Musa. It can supply gas for
heating, lighting and all power purposes. Asphalt
found In the neighbourhood of the Dead
Sea and at Hasbeya, which can be utilised in the pro-
duction of pigments and varnishes. Another ex-
tremely important resource is the phosphates found
both in the Judaean mountains and in Transjordania
(near it). Before the War it may not have
been profitable to work these deposits, but now their
value has gone up to an astonishing extent, and
their exploitation is merely a question of transport
facilities. We must not omit the sulphur deposits
ir the Dead Sea region and in the lower end of the
Jordan Valley.
Recently various companies have been formed with
the object of exploiting many of these mineral
sures
The soil of Palestine is also exceptionally rich
in salts of various kinds. There are great quanti-
ties in all the Dead Sea region; in the southern end
of the Jordan Valley there are many salt springs,
and there are salt areas in EJ-Arish and Djebel
Usdum. The Dead Sea itself is an inexhaustible
source of salts of the most varied kinds; not only is
bromine in the form of magnesium bromide easily
tracted, but — a matter of extreme value — there is
also carnallite in enormous quantities, as every reader
Altneuland " will remember. The <.rude carnal-
lite obtained from the water by crystallisation is
Mid to contain 26 per cent, of potassium chloride,
and the extracted potassium chloride a clear 85 to
!" r cent Moreover, the whole process can
P r ' he carried out without artificial heat since
the prevailing temperature round the shores of the
ho
INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES.
Dead Sea is already sufficiently high. The extreme
importance of this product as manure for the direct
enrichment of the soil of Palestine is obvious. In
the Dead Sea waters are also found various other
chemicals, for example, potash and magnesium.
That Palestine also possesses rich petroleum de-
posits has now been repeatedly confirmed by com-
petent authorities. Before the' war there had been
already numerous trial borings, and the Standard
Oil Company's borings in 1914, particularly those in
the Yarmuk Valley, which were interrupted by the
War's outbreak, ought to be again resumed.
Another group of industries can be called into
being in connection with the land's vegetable pro-
ducts, and the preserving and fruit-canning industry
in all its forms will here prove of extreme impor-
tance. The main fruits for this purpose are, of
course, oranges, almonds, grapes, olives, but there
are also other fruits, such as apples and apricots,
that must be considered, as well as all kinds of
vegetables. In spite of the long-felt, urgent neces-
sity for such an industry in Palestine, very little
had been done in this direction, but just recently the
"American Fruit Growers of Palestine" (Boston)
has been founded to develop the industry in all its
branches. The manufacture of marmalade must not
be forgotten when fruit preserving is considered,
now that in the fish harvest of the coasts and of the
Lake of Tiberias we have the material for a fish
preserving industry.
Oil and soap industries ought to develop in con-
nection with the olive cultivation. Whatever has
been done in this direction so far has been of the
most primitive description, but under modern
methods of production the yield would be propor-
tionately increased.
*See "Housing Problem" page 85.
61
NIK KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
A factor} of this kind can utilise the products of
same equally with those of the olive, and can ex-
tend its activities to the manufacture alike of mar-
nd of caudles.
Another industry for which Palestine is quite
peculiarly fitted, is the production of ethereal oils
and of perfumes, since the country can easily grow,
and indeed is in many cases already growing, many
plants of the highest importance in these manufac-
tures.
All branches of the milling industry — also hitherto
still on a very primitive level — offer great possi
bilities of development, and at the same time the
nufacture of macaroni and various pastes could be
started.
There are other industries which can be based
upon the country's raw material, but which must
rtainly not limit themselves solely to this supply —
the furniture and general wood industry is a striking
instance. There is already, it may be noted, a con-
siderable amount of hand-made furniture produced
in Palestine. In this class of manufactures we must
also put box-manufacture and paper-milling, for
which latter there already exists the raw materfal
in large quantities in the papyrus found along the
whole marshy region round Lake Huleh, of which a
further supply can be grown without difficulty
whenever necessary, and in the prevalent eucalyptus.
In connection with the wood industry, the manu-
facture of toys, especially as a home industry,
must be considered, whilst various small articles
can be manufactured from mother-of-pearl, of
which the chief stores are to be found on the
tern shores of the Red Sea. Tanneries and
leather d e also offer good prospects, since
tiic re are already available in the country excellent
tanning requisites, such as sumach and schinia, in
e quantities
I he manufacture of wine has long been closely
and up with the viticulture of Palestine, but the
6i
INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES.
production of spirits could be developed not only
from grapes, but also from other available local
plants, such as durrah, or from easily grown plants
like the potato and the carrot. Wheat-growing
affords the possibility of developing the manufacture
of starch, which can also, with dextrine, be derived
from the durrah, maize and potatoes which we can
grow without difficulty. Finally, a chemical indus-
try should be developed by utilising the treasures in
the waters of the Dead Sea, and the chemical trea-
sures of the land, and especially in this connection
we must again emphasise the possibility of
utilising the potassium salt in carnallite, and of
extracting bromine. The exploitation of the
country's water-power can also be utilised to sub-
serve the extraction of nitrogen from the air for the
production of artificial manures. The removal of
the tobacco monopoly makes it now possible to culti-
vate tobacco in various districts, so that the
cigarette industry can be established on a sure
foundation.
Here, with the manufacture of cigarettes, we
come to a whole series of industries which are based,
not so much upon the natural features of the
country or the wealth and possibilities of the
Palestinian soil, as upon the experience of the
Jewish immigrants. The cigarette industry itself
is well-known as a peculiarly Jewish one, and it is
to be confidently expected that it will soon be firmly
establisned in Palestine. How rapidly this industry
can develop has been strikingly shown in Palestine's
near neighbour, Egypt, where it has attained to
quite extraordinary prosperity in a very short time
although no tobacco of any kind is grown there — it
is even prohibited — and in addition the packing
materials have to be imported. Germany too, be-
fore the War. developed a flourishing cigarette
industry in a few years, although also hampered by
having no tobacco cultivation worth mentioning; it
63
THE KEREN HVYESOD BOOK.
.5 significant that Jewish enterprise and Jewish
managers were mainly responsible for this.
typically Jewish are all branches of the
textile and clothing industries. It is scarcely neces-
sary even to refer to the extent to which Jews are
engaged in this type of work all over the world, and
it can be safely assumed that time only is required to
build up a thriving Jewish clothing industry in
tine alsoi It must not be forgotten that from
olden times Syria has been celebrated for its textile
industries; these have lasted on, and in many
riches, before the War. she had attained real
distinction, for example in the making of hosiery
in Aleppo and the lace industry in Palestine. The
possibilities before these industries have hardly been
sufficiently estimated; it is highly probable that the
Jewish artisan's" strong predilection for the tailoring
trades will lead him to establish these on a profitable
basis in Palestine, but rather as a home industry in
1 is own house, than in big centralised factories. In
silk weaving we have again a highly important in-
dustry which for centuries has been carried on in
Syria in connection with the breeding of silk worms,
d which can equally well be extended to Palestine.
There are other peculiarly Jewish industries : shoe-
making is a close rival to the textile manufactures,
also cite skilled mechanician's work such
making and diamond polishing, nor must we
f< rgct all kinds of printing, writing, and designing,
hi connection with the great development of print-
ed publishing that we expect in tlie near future
in ne, the printing trade may be expected to
become of special importance. Important also will
the d< ment of all the artistic crafts, for
which th< already a satisfactory beginning, and
>h this will be the production of articles
' ; in | eneral, all industries and occupa-
iring for tourists, including the running of
he-: ' itined to play a considerable part in
our industrial development, and the production of
INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITIES.
our own Jewish ritual and religious requisites will
also grow in importance.
We come next to the group of industries that
stand in closest connection with building operations
of every kind. Naturally the building trade itself,
with all its ramifications and allied industries, comes
first, and here we must mention the foundation of
the " Haboneh " Building Company, which will
bring in its train many other enterprises. Indispens-
able for all building operations are workshops for
the setting up and repair of machinery and the
supply of spare parts. Experience shows that such
workshops in time become transformed into real
factories for the production of machinery. With
the general development of the country there will
come the opportunity for any number of new indus-
tries capable of supplying the new demands, so that
finally their creation will be simply a question of
commercial enterprise.
All these industries can naturally only be deve-
loped if the general preliminary conditions for
economic development have been so far fulfilled as
to make possible industrial life in the modern sense.
These essential conditions include motor power-
houses, improved communications, an adequate
banking system and provision for the most thorough
technical training of the new generation of artisans.
The role of the Keren ha-Yesod in the development
of industries can only be a limited one. This branch
of human enterprise, perhaps more than any other,
depends upon the spirit of initiative and the re-
sourcefulness of the individual, or of the individual
groups. It would, however, be advisable — as pro-
posed in the Keren ha-Yesod estimates — to set apart
a sum for investment in such undertakings as would
stand the test of both commercial soundness and
unquestionable national utility.
What is still more important is the organisation
of reliable expert advice and guidance for in-
dividuals and companies intending to start industrial
["HE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
enterprises in Palestine. Under the auspices of the
partment of the Zionist Commission entrusted
with promoting Urban Colonisation, a special
Industrial Information Bureau should be formed
which could supply all the necessary data concern-
ing local raw materials, inland and foreign markets,
labour conditions with regard to any particular
branch of production, etc. It can be said without
exaggeration that the absence of such a bureau has
been one of the serious drawbacks which have up to
now hindered the development of industries in
inc.
!n connection with the Industrial Information
Bureau, a special Industrial Research Laboratory
will be urgently required. Palestine is practically
an unexplored country, and only a systematic
scientific research would enable us to ascertain the
full etxent of her natural riches and of her " indus-
trial possibilities "
â– UA -
(56
Water Power in Palestine.
So long as Palestine is not assured of cheap and
continuous supplies of mechanical power, there is
little hope that the practical problems connected
with the realisation of the Jewish national aims will
be successfully solved.
Mechanical power, which can be easily trans-
formed into electricity, is obtained by burning coal,
wood, peat, waste or liquid fuel in steam-producing
engines; by application of liquid fuel or gas in
internal combustion engines; by making use of wind
power or solar energy; by harnessing natural water-
falls or by building up artificial ones. Only in cases
of wind and water-power, can electricity be
generated direct; in all other cases mechanical
power is first obtained.
Coal is at present the principal fuel from which
aM kinds of energy are derived.
As is known, there are but few countries which
may be styled wealthy in this valuable fuel, and
those countries have so far been able to satisfy
their own needs and to produce a margin sufficient
foi export to the less fortunate territories. But
the War has brought about very considerable
changes which have reversed the coal policy of the
world. In the first instance, the War has exercised
a disorganising influence on the productive
capacities of the whole world, which has also
affected coal mining. In the second place, the \\'a v
has stimulated the establishment of a whole series
of new industries and of new undertakings, which
means an increased demand for coal. If we add
67
["HE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
.l the War was instrumental in setting' on foot a
widespread desire for more comfort, we shall
readily understand the main causes which have
promoted the coal crisis
As might have been expected, the scarcity of
coal for war purposes has forced the governments
of the various countries to look out for some other
fuel, and this was found in mineral oil. The
application of this fuel soon became so universal
that hopes were frequently, expressed that tne coal
position would become easier. As a matter of fact,
nothing of the kind happened, owing to mineral
oil being- no less scarce than coal and owing to its
application in many new fields.
in these difficult circumstances the best brains of
all the civilised nations have turned towards the
utilisation of the water power available in their
respective countries.
If the advanced countries have not, up to now,
paid due attention to water power, it i not because
an understanding of its practical value was lacking,
but by reason of the high expenditure connected
with the realisation of hydro-electric schemes.
w, however, the price of coal or liquid fuel
risen, even in the producing countries, out
of all proportion. Tf the consumer in Great
Britain, the United States, Germany and Belgium
cru the high price he has to pay for his
liquid fuel, it is easy to understand how
ti.t. the situation in countries which depend
entirely on imported fuel,
• ily have such countries as Switzerland,
irway, Sweden and others (which possess great
resources of water power) paid exceptional atten-
tion lately to the question of the utilisation of this
•nt energy; the problem is now being seriously
â– 1<<! p Hy nil over the world, ft is interest-
country like Great Britain, which
r of very large quantities of coal, has
nd it : irv to appoint a special commission
68
WATER POWER IN PALESTINE.
to investigate and report in detail on the possibility
of the utilisation of her water power resources.
Similar steps were taken in Switzerland, Norway,
Sweden, Spain, Italy, India. Australia, Canada, the
United States of America, Argentine and Chile.
This list is by no means complete, because hardly a
week passes without our learning that new stupen-
dous schemes are being launched. In Norway,
Sweden and Italy there is a strong movement afoot
to generate sufficient power to run all the important
industries and railways, and to supply the needs of
each household.
II.
Had a northern frontier been granted to Pales-
tine in accordance with our national aspirations, we
should be in possession of a few quite insignificant
seams of coal of poor quality. But as our hopes
have not been realised we have to face an even
worse situation — there is no coal of any kind on
Palestinian soil. It is true that there are well
founded hopes that liquid fuel will be found in the
regions of the Jordan and of the Dead Sea, but it
would certainly be dangerous to base all our calcu-
lations on this mere possibility.
Assuming the worst, namely, that we shall be
deprived of the lignite seams, and that no liquid
fuel will be found within a reasonable number of
years, we shall have to face a very serious problem :
we sha'l be forced to obtain supplies of either fuel
from abroad, which will naturally involve a very
heavy drain on the financial resources of Palestine.
The country now requires about 100,000 tons of
good quality coal per annum, which is equivalent to
approximately 50.000 tons of liquid fuel. The price
of a ton of English coal delivered in Haifa or Jaffa
now amounts to about £12, with a corresponding
increase in case of delivery to places situated in the
interior. It should be remembered that there is at
69
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
present not a single fully equipped harbour in
Palestine, and that reloading operations are there-
fore very costly and wasteful. On the other hand,
there are few railways, and there are spots in
which industrial and agricultural development has
been started or is being contemplated, that are served
with neither railways nor good roads.
III.
If there is no black coal in Palestine, Nature has
provided her with swiftly running streams, the fall
of which can be utilised for generating power.
" By what means can the force of running watc
be transformed into electricity?" This is a question
which may strike many, and it may therefore be
useful to offer a simple explanation of the process
involved. A wide and deep river of a plain contains
very little potential power because the force of the
flow is small, although the volume of water may be
very considerable. On the other hand, an insignifi-
cant stream which forms cascades or waterfalls
presents an active force. The greater the volume
of water carried and the steeper the gradient, the
more powerful is that force. The art of obtaining
electricity from water consists in so regulating the
flow that all the potential force contained be made
use of. This is achieved by directing the water into
specially constructed steel pipes which are laid so
as to obtain the greatest possible effect. At
specially selected spots water-turbines, which are
directly coupled with dynamos, are placed, through
which the water passes. As a consequence, the
turbines turn swiftly, generating electricity by
means of the dynamos. The electrical energy thus
gained is then distributed by means of isolated
cabU
A brief description of the most important rivers
and streams of Palestine is essential in order to
better understand the potentialities contained in
Ihem.
WATER POWER IN PALESTINE.
The Jordan begins in the Anti-Lebanon, to be
exact on Mount Hermon, at a height of more than
three kilometers. Hermon is high enough and
vast enough to collect considerable quantities of
snow, which can sometimes be seen even in the hot-
test days of the summer. It is the melting snow which
feeds the Jordan system.. The Upper Jordan con-
sists of seven separate streams, which join just
before the Huleh (Merom) Lake is reached. Huleh
is situated at about the level of the Mediterranean.
When leaving this lake the Jordan is a river about
60 feet wide. It runs at first as a sluggish, winding
stream for about two miles, then suddenly plunges
downwards for six or seven miles, descending over
690 feet in one long succession of cataracts and
waterfalls. The distance between the Lakes of
Huleh and Tiberias only amounts to nine miles.
whereas the fall effected in this short distance
amounts to almost 700 feet. After leaving the
Lake of Tiberias the Jordan flows a clear and wind-
ing stream until it reaches the Dead Sea. The total
length of this part of the Jordan, measured in a
straight line, is about 66 miles. Some four miles
south of the Lake of Tiberias, it reaches the
important tributary, the Yarmuk, in the east, and
nine miles further down the valley it expands
opposite the town of Beissan, which is situated at
the opening of the valley of Izreel. Passing Beissan,
the Jordan makes an enormous precipitous drop of
400 feet to the general level of the valley; and still
further south there is another drop of 150 feet.
From this district the Jordan runs for 12 miles
through a narrow valley two or three miles wide,
with mountains more or less steep on either bank.
Further south, by the confluence of the Yabbok on
the east, the valley widens considerably. The Dead
Sea is about 1,300 feet below the level of the
Mediterranean. The difference of level between the
Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea is thus 600 feet.
As to the Yarmuk, this most important tributary
71
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
of the Jordan descends from the Hauran, receiving
numerous tributaries on the right and the left.
The most interesting point about the Yarmuk
is. not the quantity of water it contributes
to the Jordan, out rather the swiftness of its flow,
and the fact that it has cut a deep bed through the
mountains of Hauran and Trans-Jordania. From
the hydro-technicai point of view the portion begin-
ning from Mezerib comes especially under considera-
tion. In order to allow the average reader to judge
of the potentialities of the Yarmuk, it is sufficient
to say that in the vicinity of El-Hamma this stream
flows in a ravine three hundred feet deep; the bank-;
of that ravine are almost perpendicular and consist
of hard geological formations, and so, roughly
speaking, require only a barrage to form a powerful
waterfall.
What is true of the Yarmuk is, in a lesser degree,
also true of the Yabbok, another tributary of the
Jordan flowing from the mountairs of Trans-
Jordania.
A description of Palestine's potential water power
would not be complete without mentioning two
important streams that flow from the mountains of
Moab into the Dead Sea. namely, the Arnon
and the Zerka-Main. Both these streams have dug
deep beds in the hard stone, and they never dry up.
The river Audi a (Yarkon), in the neighbourhood
of which Petah-Tikva is situated, and which empties
itself into the Mediterranean about four kilometres
to the north of Jaffa, forms in its middle course
many natural cataracts; their force, though not as
nsiderable as in the cases of the Jordan and the
rmuk, is nevertheless important, especially for the
>1 needs Of the district.
To the rivers and streams named above may be
'• •'. a series of smaller streams, such as the Namen,
in the northern portion of the Valley of Ezreel.
; is, a left-hand tributary of the Jordan, and
ions others.
7*
WATER POWER IN PALESTINE.
IV.
Practically all the Palestinian water-power projects
are intimately connected with irrigation plans. This
can be easily understood when we remember that
agriculture, which is already the main occupation of
the population, is going to play a still more important
part in the development of the country.
Various experts have given different valuations of
the total potential water power of Palestine. The
latest calculations bring the figure to 1,000,000 h.p.,
in addition to a water supply sufficient for the irriga-
tion of 1,200,000 acres of land. While it would ob-
viously be of no value yet to generate electricity to so
great an extent, it should nevertheless be remem-
bered that, apart from any future development of in-
dustries, the numerous wells of the plains, now
worked by fuel motors in Jewish settlements and by
blind horses in Arab villages, could absorb consider-
able quantities of electric power. Furthermore, the
suggested electrification of all the railways of
the country would have most important conse-
quences — economic, political, and social. Some
far-sighted experts have devoted much time and
energy to the study of this specific possibility of
utilising the electricity derived from water power.
According to the opinion expressed by numerous
experts important savings in running expenses would
be made; moreover, the high gradients, which are
so frequent in Palestine, can be more easily over-
come when employing electrically-driven engines.
The present modest needs of the country (for
lighting, pumping, heating, and industrial purposes)
amount to, approximately, 10, 000, 00c k.w.h., per
annum. The electrification of the existing railways
would require an additional supply of 30,000,000
k.w.h., per annum. To cover this demand the
erection of one power station on the lower part of
the Jordan, capable of generating 100,000 h.p. in
twenty-four hours would be sufficient. This station
73
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
would, at the same time, produce about 200,000,000
cubic yards of water for irrigation purposes. It has
been calculated that the installation would require
a capital outlay of £2,000,000; the intended contri-
bution by the Keren ha-Yesod has been fixed, for
the present, at £200,000.
The number of workers directly employed under
this scheme would amount to 5,000, and at least an
equal number would be engaged in different
auxiliary works such as transport, food production,
etc.
This utilisation of the Audja waters for the needs
of the immediate neighbourhood — especially Jaffa,
Tel-Aviv, and Petah-Tikva — would require a capital
outlay of some £100,000, a considerable part of which
could be obtained from local sources.
V.
The execution nowadays of eve 1 the most
moderate hydro-electric scheme on scientific lines
involves a very heavy expenditure. The outlay
for the building of the station itself and the dis-
tribution of energy does not represent the main item.
In a country like Palestine, where no rain falls for
from six to seven months in each year, and where
evaporation is intense, provision must be made for
the conservation of water supplies during the dry
seasons. Translated into common language, this
means that much stone-work must be done, and
costly dams and sluices built. But the heavy expendi-
ture for even the last-named items does not cover
the whole field. For instance, a station built between
the Lakes of Huleh and Tiberias would require an
exact survey of the whole portion of the Jordan
system situated above the station, afforestation of
certain areas, canalisation and excavation of certain
parts, and the provision of reservoirs.
Reverting to the question of the connection
between water power and agriculture in Palestine,
74
WATER POWER IN PALESTINE.
wc wish to point out that the production of food-
stuffs and technical materials of vegetable or animal
nature is now considered a branch of the manu-
facturing industry. The scientific methods and the
ingenious inventions already applied in agriculture
in the most advanced countries require the utilisation
of numerous implements and fertilisers, which, so
far as Palestine is concerned, can be driven by and
supplied from locally obtained forces. Speaking of
fertilisers, which nowadays play such an important
part in agriculture, it is worth while mentioning that
the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by means of
electricity has now become a phenomenon in the
daily life of several countries. One need not possess
much imagination to understand what it would mean
to the agriculture of Palestine if a certain portion of
the electric units gained could be devoted to the
production of nitro-compounds. Apart from their
application to agriculture, these compounds have
numerous and most important uses in the chemical
industry.
It has been suggested on many occasions that the
great mineral resources contained in the waters of
the Dead Sea should be made use of. Were this
realised, here again electricity would be of the
greatest assistance to us; because the breaking up
of composite substances of little value can be effected
by means of hydrolisis, and thus transformed into
highly prized chemicals.
In o-.der to be able to carry on agricultural work,
irrespective of the country, there must be soil,
sun, and moisture. Happily Palestine possesses suffi-
cient vacant soil and very much solar heat. The third
element is unfortunately present on the surface in
but few localities, and it is of the utmost importance
to organise the distribution of moisture which would
otherwise be lost. As was mentioned at the begin-
ning of this article, there are great differences of
level between the various parts of the country, and
in order to effect this distribution the application of
7i
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
energy will be necessary. Electricity is the natural
power to be employed in Palestine for purposes of
irrigation. The productive possibilities of an irri-
gated area as compared to a non-irrigated area in
Palestine are so great, that even should the expendi-
ture involved be still heavier, it would be a paying
concern.
Cooperative Colonisation.
In the colonisation of Palestine the system of co-
operative production and settlement is a factor of
great importance which can no longer be dis-
regarded. In the spring of 1920, before the settle-
ments in Upper Galilee had been destroyed, some
thirty cooperative societies and ten smaller groups
totalling 650 members were occupied in agriculture
alone, and cultivated an area of about 20,000 dunams
(4,000 acres). Thus about one-third of the Jewish
agricultural labourers in Palestine were employed in
cooperative enterprises and groups, undertaking
contracts without the intervention of the middle-
man. In addition, some 200 to 250 workers belonged
tc urban cooperative societies. The value of these
cooperative undertakings amounted in all to several
million francs. (The farms belonging to the Jewish
National Fund — Benshemen, Hulda, Merhavya,
Deganya represented a capital of two and a half
million francs, and besides these there were others —
Kinneret, Balfouria, Shuni, Dilb, Kefar-Uriya. Tira,
Mahanaim, etc.)
Although it is difficult to apply to Palestine the
classification of cooperative societies usually adopted
in Europe, yet it will be useful to divide them into
three groups according to the main object of their
activities. If, therefore, we borrow the terminology
employed by Italian economists, as well as by Preyer
and Oppenheimer, we shall classify the societies in
Palestine under the headings of Labour, Tenancy,
and Settlement Societies. All these, however, have
been evolved almost in ignorance of the European
models.
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
I. " Labour " Societies include groups of mainly
unskilled workers, managed by skilled foremen
elected by the workers themselves, and undertaking
to carry out a definite piece of work, such as pre-
paration of land previous to its agricultural settle-
ment, laying out of plantations, construction of
roads, and afforestation. In 1920 there were
about twenty such societies for agricultural pur-
poses alone, with more than 300 members, while six
urban societies had a membership of between 100
and 150, numbers varying from time to time accord-
ing to the conditions of employment. The number
and importance of such societies have considerably
increased during the last few months. The group
which obtained a contract from the Government for
the construction of the Semach-Tiberias road con-
sists of 350 workers, while the afforestation works
in Dilb are giving employment to nearly 200 people.*
doubt, the preparation of tracts of new land for
Jewish settlement, the establishment >f new means
of communication, and other public works neces-
sitated by the building up of the country will offer
many opportunities for cooperative societies of this
kind. The advantage of such societies lies in their
power to avoid some of the drawbacks of private
enterprise by dispensing with the large and costly
apparatus for administration and supervision, and
in their immunity from the tendency to profit by
thr exploitation of cheap local labour. Coopera-
tive societies, by dividing their profits among their
*The following cooperative groups were engaged in road
building or similar works, under contract with the Palestine
eminent, in February, 1921: —
Tiberias— Semacb 350 workers.
Kjjfa - Ojpyda ••• ... ... 300 ,,
Afuifh — Nazareth ... ... ... 35*
I beriaa Tabgha ... ... ... 300
Yabneh 20* ,,
rbe control and direction of these works is vested in the Com-
mittee of the Jewish Workers' Organisation.
COOPERATIVE COLONISATION.
own members, and economising on the expenses j
of administration, are enabled to raise wages to the wtjfo*'
level of the Jewish worker's European standard oi I
livi ng.
2. Cooperative " Tenancy " Societies are purely
agricultural. They undertake to cultivate an estate
or an established plantation, obtaining the land on
lease from the owner. An example is the " Ahva,"
which cultivates several gardens in Petah-Tikva.
The colony of Tira, near Haifa, has been leased to
a similar group; to the same category belongs the
Society of " Gan Shemuel " cultivating the orange
gardens of the Jewish National Fund, and several
groups engaged in the production of vegetables. In
all, about ioo workers are employed in the seven co-
operative " Tenancy " societies in Palestine.
These groups could develop into a factor of
primary importance if the many planters' societies
now in process of formation, as for example, the
various " Ahuzot " or the " Zion Commonwealth,"
most of the members of which neither live in Pales-
tine nor farm their land themselves, would allow
their estates to be cultivated by such societies on a
basis of long term leases.
3. Cooperative " Settlement " Societies are more
important still, and exert far more influence on the
development of colonisation. These are groups for
the cultivation of large farms, mostly on land be-
longing - to the Jewish National Fund, with the aim
of " colonising " landless agricultural workers and
raising them to a position of collective independence.
Under this category come the already mentioned
farms of the Jewish National Fund, as well as those
of the Jewish Colonisation Association in Upper
Galilee, which a year ago were destroyed during
the hostilities between the French and the Arabs,
but are now once again in full working order. There
are in Palestine altogether about ten cooperative
settlements with nearly 250 members. There are
79
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
also several urban cooperative societies, the most
important of which are the printers' union "Ahdut"
in Jaffa, the carpenters' union " Karmel," and the
locksmiths' " Amal " in Haifa, numbering- together
about ioo members.
Obviously, since these cooperative societies have
arisen in such diverse branches of production, they
must be deeply rooted in conditions natural to the
colonisation of Palestine. Their origin is not
due to any special encouragement from those
officially responsible for Jewish colonisation, though
these have been driven to recognise their value, and
very often to help in their formation. Here lies the
best proof of their necessity and vitality.
It would be outside the purpose of the present
chapter to enlarge on the economic and social causes
which have generated the cooperative movement
in Palestine. We may, however, be allowed to men-
tion two of them. Consciously or unconsciously,
there is the feeling that the momentous transition
from the city to the land would be psychologically
impossible unless counter-balanced by an elevation to
higher forms of work and production. On the other
hand, it must be admitted that colonisation by in-
dividual land owners does not, as yet, justify un-
qualified confidence in its ability to provide Jewish
workers with employment and the necessities of
life. The restricted needs of the native Fellah and
his lower level of civilisation allow a scale of wages
which could not be offered to Jews. T he na ive belief
that Jewish capital "must' ^of necessity attract Jewish
labour to Palestine does not always tally with prac-"
'•specially in these days when Hindus
can be found working- in South Africa, and Italians
emigrating in hundreds of thousands to the Argen-
tine. Many Jewish workers are convinced that
individualistic economic enterprises might develop
tendencies opposed to the interests of the Jewish
people, as a whole, and to true Zionism. Condi-
tions in Palestine demand new methods of colonisa-
80
COOPERATIVE COLONISATION.
tion. The Jewish worker feels that he must try to
find a place in agriculture and industry independent
of the private employer. This can only be achieved
by organisation of work on a cooperative basis.
Capital is undoubtedly required, and this capital
could return reasonable interest. But it must be
collecUvely_ owned and nationally administered.
"There are other circumstances which weigh - in
favour of cooperative methods, especially in the case
of agricultural colonisation. In our attempt to
create a Jewish peasantry, two important facts
must be taken into account : there are at present no
Je_wisiL_-PejLsanls, and there is no land ready for
them to settle on. Both land and men need prepara-
tion. To manage a " small-holding " with its
manifold and complex activities of agriculture, dairy-
farming, plantations, vegetable-growing, both the
settler and his wife need a great deal of training.
Where but on a large modern farm can they possibly
obtain it ? The agricultural cooperative enterprise
is just such a modern farm with many-sided depart-
ments in which a town-worker can become a trained
agricultural labourer, and take his share in the
management of the estate. Should he later desire
to become a smallholder, he would be competent
to do so.
There is another aspect. The soil of Palestine,
which has been long neglected and yields but a small
return vhen cultivated by primitive Arab methods,
must be made far more productive if it is to satisfy
the greater requirements of the Jewish settlers.
This cannot be achieved by an individual small-
holder: it requires capital and collective effort which,
in the opinion of many among the workers, can
only be provided by a cooperative enterprise.
Cooperative societies of workers have proved their
efficiency in several countries, more especially in the
domain of " inner colonisation " and execution of
public works. Their development in Italy is par-
ticularly instructive for our purpose. In 1910 there
81
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
were over 1,000 such cooperative societies totalling
more than 100,000 members. Of these, 754 regis-
tered groups (containing 95,000 workers) owned a
cooperative capital of three million lire, and a reserve
fund of one and a half million. Their fixed capital
consists mainly of instruments of production such
as tools and machinery. Their working capital is
obtained by bank loans for which they have to pay
to 8 per cent. They now demand a cooperative
bank to be established by the Government. The
most important group consists of societies engaged
in such enterprises as amelioration of the soil, hydro-
technical constructions, afforestation— all branches
of " colonisation " work. Two hundred and fifty
societies, numbering 55,000 members (in twenty
years) carried out for the State 3,570 contracts worth
seventy million lire. In five years, from 1904 to
1009, municipal and county councils and commercial
companies entrusted them with roughly 1,000 con-
tracts worth eighteen million lire.
Undoubtedly, " Labour " societies will be of the
utmost importance in Palestine in carrying out
drainage, irrigation, and water-power schemes, in
building towns and improving communications. _ It
must be here emphasised that the^ cooperative
societies, whose succe^i.and . efficiencyjmjoad build:
ing has been recognised by THe Government of
-Palestine, undertp^Jhis_w_orkon the same terms
as a contractor who would have employed cheap
Egyptian labour, veFfhey proved themselves able to
pay their members wages of from five to eight
shillings a day; and their health conditions were
and are excellent, in spite of the summer heat at
Lake Tiberias.
Tiie development of workers' cooperative societies
in Palestine, as in Italy, depends on tficir being able
to acquire their own implements and equipment, and
to obtain cheap credits from a cooperative bank.*
♦See chapter on "Banks," p. 93.
82
COOPERATIVE COLONISATION.
Our cooperative undertakings in Palestine are of
recent origin and not yet firmly established. They
are still struggling through the ailments char-
acteristic of childhood, and due, in the main, not
to their own fault but to the peculiarities of the
Palestinian colonisation. This fact is often for-
gotten, sometimes even intentionally misrepresented.
Thus a legend has grown concerning the
" enormous " losses incurred by cooperative
societies and their alleged incapacity to provide
profits. Let us examine the figures. Take the case
of Merhavya.f The balance sheets show that in the
three years before the war (1912-1914), when man-
aged by a bailiff, the deficit was from 35,000 to
45,000 francs. In the year 1915, when the farm
was controlled by the workers themselves, the
deficit was reduced to 28,000 francs, and in 1916-1917
K was 11,500. This shows an undeniable improve-
ment. Nor was it due simply, as alleged, to the
hign price of grain during the war, for this was
balanced by correspondingly high costs of produc-
tion. The diminished deficit was due to increased
productivity: 1,000 kilogrammes of wheat and 3,000
kilogrammes of barley per hectare, as against 1,400
kilogrammes in earlier years.
The cooperative society '* Deganya,"t with its
splendid soil, its new buildings and healthy condi-
tions, is in a still better position. As a matter of
fact it worked with a very small loss, in round figures
3,000, 5,000 and 4,000 francs, in the years 1913,
191 5 and 1916, while in 1914 it made a profit of
6,750 francs, and in 1917 a still larger profit. Other
cooperative societies, such as those at Mahanaim
and in Beer-Tuviya. can also show profitable years.
But cooperative societies can in no case be weighed
according to their present balance sheets. Pales-
tinian agriculture, as a whole, is not yet ripe for
tSe« map. Between Haifa and Tiberias.
JSee map. South of Tiberias.
83
THE KEREN HA-YESOD HOOK.
profit bearing. The present archaic standard of pro-
ductivity prevailing in Palestine (1,400-1,800 kilo-
grammes per hectare) is not sufficient for the Jewish
settler, with his European requirements, to live on.
Grain-growing in Palestine must be raised to the
European level of 4,000 kilogrammes per hectare
(as in Belgium, Germany, England). For this pur-
pose it is not enough to replace primitive Fellaheen
implements by European machinery: this merely
increases the cost. All the improvements introduced
into modern agriculture must be adopted, including
American " dry farming " ; not only the implements,
but also the system of manuring, rotation of crops,
cattle breeding, and all the manifold methods which
form an integral part of a highly organised system
of farming.
The leaders of the cooperative movement firmly
believe that cooperation is the surest way for Jewish
working masses to penetrate into production,
especiallv in agriculture. Independent Jewish
peasantry will, in their opinion, only be evolved in
or through cooperation. Cooperation also satisfies
the Jewish worker's longing for economic inde-
pendence, for collectivism; it therefore generates
energy which Palestine, of all countries, can ill spare.
The__co operative movement will, therefore, be sup-
ported ultimately not only by Jewish socialists, but
by (.-very type of Zionist who desires a Palestine
based on Jewish work — a really " Jewish "
Palestine. - — — - "' -" ~=^-
*4
The Housing Problem.
Even in 1919, when the gates of Palestine were
still firmly closed to Jewish immigration, the want
of housing accommodation was evident to the most
casual visitor. Even then rents were higher in
Haifa, Jaffa, and Jerusalem than in Paris and
London; and apartments in the few houses which
were being built at the time were usually snapped
up before the building was finished, sometimes
before even the roof was on, while rent had to be
paid up for two or three years in advance.
>p-l During the present _ye a r there have arrived in
Palestine some jen tob usand people (this figure in-
cludes the new settlers "as" well as the returned in-
habitants), and the tide of immigration continues
steadily and uninterruptedly, bringing hundreds of
" Halut zim " and other settlers ey ejX-fflggk. The
housing need is fast~D~ecoming aTiousing calamity.
A c c ordingly, the rents have risen enormously.
To-day. tor arTapartment in Jaffa, the rent is twice
as much as one would have to pay for a similar
apartmont in London. Tremendous efforts have to
be made to find shelter for the new arrivals. War
barracks and temporarily erected shelters are being
used, but soon even this very unsatisfactory accom-
modation will be unobtainable.
As was but to be expected, the bad housing situa-
tion is accompanied by an increase in malaria and a
great er sp rgaj L of other infectio us diseases among
the immigrants. On alLgrounHs, it is clear that any
furt^erjmrimigration into Palestin e without a co rre-
sponding, increase in house building is impossible.
The enormous rents are largely responsible for the
85
THE KEREN HA-VESOD BOOK.
present high cost of living in Palestine and the high
cost of Jewish labour. Anyone at all acquainted
with the economic conditions of Palestinian life, and
with the wages received there even by the " highly
paid " Jewish labour will admit that a rent of £25
a vear may be safely taken as the utmost possible
maximum for a worker's house large enough to
contain himself and his family. The approximate
estimate of the^_yearly immigration for the next few-
years is about htty tTiotis an d perso ns. On this
basis let us first proceed to estimate the cost of
building homes for the immigrants.
To maintain a decent standard one could n< t
allow less than two or three rooms, with a kitchen
and bath, for every family of five, or for a group
1 if five single persons living together. Experience
has proved it advisable in Palestine to act on the
principle of building small houses — for one or two
families — for four families at the outside. There-
fore, to house fifty thousand people ; from ten to
twelve thousand lodgings would be required. At
the prices prevailing to-day (end of 1920) a one-
faraily house costs from five to six hundred pounds.
If it proves possible, by wholesale building, and by
the adoption of modern methods of construction, to
reduce the cost to four hundred pounds per lodging
'of two to three rooms), it will still be necessary
to spend yearly, in order to satisfy the most elemen-
tary housing needs, about four milli o n pou nds
(ten thousand lodgings at four "HmHreH pounds).
Phis estimate does not provide for the building of
more comfortable homes, for which there is already
a considerable demand: such houses can only be
built for people able to afford them out of their own
means.
The sum £4,000,000 covers, of course, only the
ion <'f dwelling houses. Fifty thousand
new settlers would also require a considerable
number of synagogues, schools, shops and
hospitals, with which we can obviously not deal in
86
HOUSING PROBLEM.
the present chapter. The same applies to barracks
for immigrants.
Another essential expenditure, not included in our
estimate, is the cost of the land_on which the houses
will be built." This is the special province of the
Jewish Natio nal Fund, not of the Keren ha-Yesod.
The land~~needed lor the^trnilding scheme should be
purchased by the J.N.F. According to the Statutes
of the J.N.F., its land, considered as national pro-
perty, cannct be_ sold — it can only be leased on
terms of simple or hereditary lease, at a fixed rent
of 3 per cent. This, for a small one-family house,
would mean, on the condition that the land be
bought by the J.N.F. in large plots, about £3 per
year on the average.
The raising of a building fund of £4,000,000 from
among the new settlers and immigrants alone is out
of the question. Moreover, there is just as little
possibility, at any rate in the near future, of obtaining
it from private investors, who will have done their
share if they succeed in creating the technical appara-
tus necessary for the production of building materials
and for the building process itself.*
The question, therefore, of providing the fifty
thousand immigrants who are expected to arrive in
Palestine every year with a sufficient number of
houses accessible in price and sanitary in construc-
tion, is a question of finding sufficient credit for a I
large building undertaking.
*Some promising beginnings have already been made in this
respect, and it is highly probable that within the next year
these will be followed by further enterprises. For example,
there has been established in London the Anglo-Palestine Building
Society " Haboneh "; the Palestine Silicate Company for the
production of silicate bricks and roofing materials, such as tiles,
slates, etc. ; the Palestine Quarry Association ; and another com-
pany in connection with the Portland cement industry is now
being formed.
In Jaffa and Haifa, lumber and cement plants are already at
work, and works for the manufacture of bricks, lime, and other
building material are being organised.
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
The housing problem is a difficulty not confined
to Palestine. Owing to the almost complete cessa-
tion of building during the six years of the war.
this need has become a serious problem in most
countries of the world. The housing question has
been seriously considered in all European coun-
tries, and some of them (England, for one) have
taken public action to supply the need.
The Housing Act of 1919 provides for direct
loans within reasonable limits to be granted by the
Government. Moreover, a considerable proportion
ol the building expenses may be covered by sub-
sidies from the Government building fund. Such
loans are allowed up to 75 per cent, of the actual
outlay, in addition to which provision is made for a
subsidy up to one-half of the interest.
The solution of the housing problem in Palestine
will only be possible when it can be approached on
a national basis, and when the same methods are
applied to it as those usually employed in advanced
Western countries, i.e., the building financed by long
teim credits at a small interest and by subsidies
from the national treasury — the Keren ha-Yesod.
* * *
The factors which will have to be depended upon
for the raising of the £4,000,000 building capital are
the following : —
Up to 60 per cent, of this total, or £2,400,000, will
have to be obtained as a long term loan, through
the instrumentality of a Palestine Mortgage Bank,
the creation of which should be one of the first steps
in the proposed development of our credit system.*
The rate of interest, including the paying off
oi capital, should not exceed six, or at the utmost,
7 per cent. Mortgage loans to the extent of 60 per
cent, of the actual building outlay are considered as
one of the safest forms of investment, and the
"Banks."
88
HOUSING PROBLEM.
operation should not prove exceptionally difficult,
especially once the acutest stages of the present
financial crisis are over.
The remaining 40 per cent, cannot be raised as a
purely commercial loan, unless it be at usurer's
rates of interest. On the Continent, governments
and municipalities create special second mortgage
funds, from which an additional 20 per cent., at a
moderate interest, may be advanced. T(.ie final 20
per cent, must be contributed by the mortgagee
himself.
In our case, such participation of the prospective
house-owner or tenant can reasonably be expected
only in so far as certain definite categories of immi-
grants are concerned : —
(1) Practically all the larger enterprises of a com-
mercial and industrial character, which are now
being established or are about to be established in
Palestine, contemplate, and have included in tiheir
estimates, special subsidies for the construction of
houses for their own employees and workers.
This will of necessity have to be the rule for every
new undertaking, as the only way to secure a
healthy and reliable staff. Judging* by examples
available up to date, such firms will contribute, on
the average, to the extent of 25 per cent, of the
respective building costs, either free of interest or
at a very low rate.
(2) The same can be confidently assumed of such
institutions as the Jewish banks and the various
administrative offices of t'.ie Zionist Organisation or
other great Jewish associations.
(3) Cooperative societies of workers, especially
after the formation of a cooperative bank, will
also have to provide similar building subsidies for
their members.
(4) A considerable proportion of private settlers
may certainly be expected to build houses for their
89
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
own use by paying a part of the money required in
advance. These will De recruited from among the
merchants, artisans, teachers, physicians, officials
and similar middle-class circles. They need not
necessarily be all newcomers; on the contrary, the
majority will be old settlers, who will in this way
release their present houses for the use of immi-
grants. Experience shows that this category can
be expected to advance up to one-third of the
corresponding building costs, provided the land be
supplied by the J.N.F. on hereditary lease terms,
and the remaining two-thirds of the costs be obtain-
able at the reasonable rate of interest mentioned
above.
These four categories will probably cover a very-
large proportion of the immigrants. Class 4 will
consist almost entirely of families, Class 2 partly so;
Class 1 and Class 3 will include some of the largest
divisions of Zionist proletariat. It is not improb-
able that these four classes will between them account
for 50 per cent, of all t'.ie houses to be built, or in
other words for 5,000 lodgings. What proportion
of the respective building costs they — taken together
as a whole — may be able to advance is impossible
to foresee, but it seems reasonable to expect that
it will not be below 20 per cent., or £80 per lodging.
This would form a total contribution of £400,000
£80 x 5,000) towards the building capital required.
As to the remainging 5,000 lodgings, these will
presumably have to be built without any contribu-
tion in advance on the part of their prospective in-
habitants. In other words, the corresponding
£400,000 will have to be granted by the Keren ha-
sod as a subvention d fonds perdu.
This, however, is only one side of the Keren ha-
Yesod's part in Palestine house building. The
other side is of greater importance, and of a quite
different character; the Keren-ha-Ycsod will have to
act as " second mortgage fund " for lending, at a
moderate interest, in the same way as the European
90
HOUSING PROBLEM.
municipalities mentioned before, the remaining- 20
per cent, of the building capital, or £800,000. This
operation will probably also have to be conducted
through the Mortgage Bank, but the rate of interest
should not exceed 5 per cent.
To sum up, the capital required for the construc-
tion of 10,000 lodgings, or £4,000,000, will, accord-
ing to this scheme, be composed as follows: —
£2,400,000 — long term loan through the Mortgage
Bank.
£400,000 — advances by prospective house owners,
commercial companies, cooperative societies, etc.
£400,000 — subsidy from the Keren ha-Yesod.
£800,000 — long term loan from the Keren ha-
Yesod.
The maximum rent under this system will amount
approximately to : —
7 per cent, on £240 — under £17.
5 per cent, on £80 — £4.
3 per cent, on £100 (J.N.F. land rent) — £3.
Total — £24.
The role of the Keren ha-Yesod in supporting
house-building in Palestine will thus be two-fold.
As explained in the introduction to this book, the
Keren ha-Yesod, after deduction of the quota due
to the J.N.F., is divided into three parts, or roughly
speaking into two — ■" profitable " and " unprofit-
able " expenditure, colloquially described as " in-
vestments " and " donations." In the house-build-
ing scheme the Keren ha-Yesod functions in both its
capacities.
The figures in this chapter, though high, need not
seem excessive. It should be borne in mind that the
calculation is made on the base of a prospective
immigration of 50,000 per year. Those who have
not seen Palestine can hardly realise what such an
immigration would mean. The addition of 50,000
91
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
new settlers and the erection of 5,000 or 6,000 new
houses, in a small country with a thin population,
would amount to an almost miraculous transforma-
tion.
It may also be well to point out in a few words
the strictly economic significance of house-building
on this large scale.
Recent experience in Palestine snows that, with
the prices of building materials prevailing at pre-
sent (end of 1920), the building outlay falls under
the following heads: —
Imported materials make up about 43 per cent, of
the entire cost.
Home materials about 27 per cent.
Labour about 30 per cent.
It is further known that three-quarters of the cost
o* materials prepared at home, such as stone, sand,
lime, etc., goes in labour wages. It may thus be
safely deduced that about 51 per cent, of the entire
outlay would be spent in the wages of aitisans, office
employees and day labourers; in other words, people
living in the land who would spend the money there.
This proves that the yearly building outlay of four
millions is really a new source of income (amounting
to two million pounds) for the land. For a country
as poor, economically, as is Palestine to-day such an
income is no negligible quantity.
It has been calculated that the realisation of this
building scheme would give employment to over
15,000 people. This figure speaks for itself and
needs no comment.
02
Banks.
The establishment of a banking system is essen-
tial to the revival and development of Palestine.
The urgent need of this financial agency was grasped
by Dr. Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, and
led to his establishing the Jewish Colonial Trust.
It the Jewish people had then also realised the
significance of the bank, they would no doubt have
subscribed die entire two million pounds required
as the foundation fund for the Jewish Colonial
Trust, and we should have strengthened our hold
on Eretz Israel and our position there a hundred-
fold. Even now, with the capital of our two banks
together hardly reaching the amount of four
hundred thousand pounds, cur influence in Palestine
depends to a very great extent on the strength of
these institutions.
The importance of banking facilities for the attain-
ment of our aims in Palestine was fully realised in
our leading circles after the recent favourable
political changes. A financial scheme has been
evolved as the result of numerous suggestions and
proposals of a technical and practical nature. The
provisions of the very comprehensive programme
outlined are as follows : —
That the capital of the Jewish Colonial Trust
should be increased to two million pounds, out of
which the Anglo-Palestine Bank should receive
500,000 pounds; to be followed by the estab-
lishment of a new general Mortgage Bank. In
addition to these proposals it is suggested to
form a Workmen's Bank — a nucleus of which has
already been registered in Palestine — as well as a Co-
93
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
operative Bank, a Liquidation Bank, an Industrial
Bank, and a Currency Notes Issuing Bank.
We shall deal later with the function of the banks.
Here we should like to suggest one principle: that
the Jewish Colonial Trust should be the leading
financial institution, and that all the other banks that
are about to be formed should occupy the same
position in relation to the Jewish Colonial Trust as
that now occupied by the Anglo-Palestine Company.
The reason for this is obvious. A bank per se has
no concern with abstract principles. Its main
object is to provide dividends for its shareholders.
If, therefore, we want our banks to operate strictly
in the interests of Palestine and the Jewish
people in general, we must take special precautions
to prevent their accentuating the natural tendency
of all such institutions to become purely commer-
cial. It goes without saying that all the banks to be
founded should be free so far as then statutes are
concerned of all limitations, restrictions, and reserva-
tions which are not applied to any other bank. But,
as a safeguard, it has been settled that they must all
be connected with the Jewish Colonial Trust, which
will exercise a controlling influence over all the con-
templated banks, and retain the right of approving
and authorising their policy.
Another point : in creating a whole series of
banks it might be inconvenient to introduce them
to the public under new names, and find for each
of them new subscribers. We shall obviate this
difficulty by raising the whole amount needed on
behalf of one single bank, which will proceed to
create the entire series of banks, and be their main
support. It is, therefore, imperative to increase
the foundation capital of the J.C.T. to two million
pounds sterling, so as to enable it to buy a sufficient
number of shares in all the banks about to be
created.
Upon this assumption we will now endeavour to
calculate the amount needed by the J.C.T. to
94
BANKS.
enable it to establish all the banks needed. Here-
with is given an estimate of the money required for
the various banks : —
£
(i) Anglo-Palestine Bank 200,000
(2) Land Mortgage Bank
(3) Urban Mortgage Bank
(4) Industrial Bank
(5) Cooperative Bank ...
(6) Currency Note Bank
(7) Liquidation Bank
(8) Workmen's Bank
250,000
250,000
250,000
250,000
250,000
150,000
100,000
The paid-up capital of the Jewish Colonial Trust
totals at present £365,000, of which £300,000 are
invested in shares of the Anglo-Palestine Company.
Together with the amounts required for the creation
of the new banks, it brings us to £2,000,000 — the
authorised capital of the J.C.T.
There is no doubt but that this appeal on behalf
of the J.C.T. will meet with the wholehearted
response of the Jewish public. The bank's reputa-
tion, and the confidence it enjoys, can be gauged
from the fact that it has about £1,000,000 deposits
representing the savings of large masses of the
middle-class. This confidence will be increased still
more after the impending publication of the J.C.T. 's
balance sheet for 1920-1921 which, we understand,
will show a quite respectable rate of dividend.
The main function of the Jewish Colonial Trust
is fairly clear. It will be the central bank, the
mainspring of all the other projected banks, and
will operate through them. It will also open agen-
cies in all Jewish centres throughout the world ; it will
be in a position to assist Jews of all countries desiring
to forward money to their relatives; and it will act
95
THE KEREN HA-YESOD ROOK.
jency for Jewish Relief Societies in the dis-
tribution of money in the various countries. It will
also aid all immigrants to Palestine in the matter of
exchange; and, in addition, all its branches will re-
ceive deposits, thereby creating- for the parent bank
a considerable capital which it will be able to inv
in securities. It will, for instance, be able to
support the loan that the Palestine Governm
is about to issue. We shall also have the right to
keep in the bank the bearer-bonds of our mor i
nks. This fact alone will be of great importai!
to us, as will be explained later.
As to the Anglo-Palestine Company, this bank, up
to the middle of 1920, only had a capital of one
hundred thousand pounds, but had deposits to the
value <>l seven hundred thousand. Now its capital
amounts to three hundred thousand pounds, and if
this were to be increased by two hundred thousand
from the new funds of the J.C.T., it would
probably not be difficult subsequently to obtain an
additional five hundred thousand pounds from
private subscribers; its capital would then reach
the sum of one million pounds, in addition to
deposits which would certainly increase in a
iter ratio than the increase of the capital.
t it might be necessary to establish its official
tie in London, in a real sen-e and not nominally
as has been the case hitherto It has been suggested
that this would lead to an increase in deposits, and
its si as a bank- would be considerably impro^
in ever respect.
The A P.C. is considered the financial backbone
of practically all our enterprises in Palestine, not-
withstanding the fad that it has not paid any divi-
dei [914. This was 'hie in part t>» its granting
Ion 1 credits to the colonists in Palestine.
nd in p to pei and vexations by the
during the Wi There
BANKS.
v. ) apprehension of any loss through the long
credits it has granted, but at the same time it is
not usual for a bank established for commercial
credits to grant long credits on the security of real
estate.
The best method of meeting this unusual situa-
tion would be the speedy creation of mortgage banks
to which we could transfer the long term debts :
there they would be in the right and proper place.
With this obstacle removed, with a central office
in London, and with a London Directorate, the
Anglo-Palestine Company would undoubtedly have
no difficulty in rinding subscribers for its own shares
amongst friendly capitalist circles. The bank
will be in a position to effect a change for the better
in the whole economic position in Palestine. To
quote one instance only : in view of the economic
crisis throughout the world, and the consequent
" slump " in many articles, the question is often
asked why Palestine does not now get the benefit
of cheap imported goods. We believe the reason
lies in the lack of credit available for import
trade. At present, only the very rich — a strictly
limited number — can import goods from abroad.
Such people either make huge profits at the expense
of the public, or they are reluctant to invest their
money in the importing business at all. This is just
where the bank should step in. and liberally assist
the import of goods into Palestine. Palestinian
importers could then also trade with Syria, and
occasionally with Alexandria, and eventually might
be able to supply the whole of Asia Minor. There is
also great scope for the export trade of Palestine —
cereals, fruit, skins, etc. — which could be profitably
undertaken by those new-comers who are possessed
of little capital, but have a good knowledge of busi-
ness; they might gradually export goods not from
Palestine only, but also from Syria and the whole
of Asia Minor.
97
THE KEREN HA-VKSOD BOOK.
In order to bring down prices in Palestine it
is also essential to develop the cooperative move-
ment in the country. By this we refer not only to
the productive cooperative societies dealt with in a
special article of the present book, but also to co-
operative organisations of consumers. We must
endeavour to multiply the number of cooperative
•hops for the supply of food, clothe-, etc.
To meet the needs of this movement a special
Cooperative Bank should be organised. But that
will come about later on, when the cooperative
movement has undergone a substantial development.
Meanwhile, the Anglo-Palestine Company wiM
be able to maintain it and promote its progress.
Before the War, the Anglo-Palestine Company sup-
ported some fifty cooperative credit societies ia
Palestine.
The same argument applies to manufactures. As
soon as industry has substantially developed in the
country, an Industrial Bank will have to be estab-
lished; but for the present we must content our-
selves with the assurance that the Anglo-Palestine
Company will strive to promote industry.
( )ur bank could assist groups of individuals to
nbine and transform themselves into share-
ding companies. The bank could take about
j-j per cent, of the shares. Such companies would
thus remain under the vigilant eye of the bank,
ould see to it that they are worked in the
of the industrial progress of the country,
we consider wjhat the Egyptian Bank has
: for the cotton industry, and bear in
• this bank has only a foundation capital
f a million, its achievements being entirely due
: r, U of its deposits, we can judge what
if we had in Palestine a similar
illion pounds capit
9«
BANKS.
The nucleus of a Workmen's Bank, as mentioned
above, has already been established in Palestine.
Its main function is, for the present, connected with
the different public works executed by Jewish
workers' organisations on behalf of the Palestine
Government, the bank acting as contractor vis-a-vis
the Administration and assisting the workers' groups
financially. It is managed by the workers them-
selves. The capital, very limited at present, will
have to be increased, according to our scheme, up
to £100,000.
We now proceed to the consideration of those
matters in which our two banks could act jointly.
The liquidation of the property left by emigrants in
the country of their origin must be the joint work
of the two banks until such time as we shall have
a separate Liquidation Bank. Meanwhile it would
devolve upon the J.C.T. to liquidate proper-
ties in localities where it has branches or agents,
and the Anglo-Palestine Company might take up the
duties of the liquidation of merchandise. This is a
very important question, since the majority of our
immigrants come from countries where the exchange
is very low, and where, consequently, the only
remedy is to convert the money of the country into
goods that can be transferred to a country with a
higher exchange.
We shall also be able to assist, and even promote,
syndicates for the construction of harbours, rail-
ways, irrigation works, colonisation, and the charter-
ing of mercantile and passenger ships.
In brief, by means of our two great banks, we
may become the contractors for all big undertakings
which, as a rule, require huge sums from the great
financial magnates.
Our two banks might also jointly lay the founda-
tion of a fire, water, and life insurance company,
as well as of a savings bank department. The
great need for such institutions need hardly be
emphasised.
99
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
Another matter in connection with which our two
banks could cooperate would be in the formation of
;i warehousing and storage company to facilitate
the export and import trade. Small merchants are
handicapped by the lack of storage-room with the
result that those who happen to possess the neces-
ry accommodation mignt create monopolies. To
prevent this we shall either have to build public
warehouses and granaries, or assist shareholding
companies undertaking to construct them; in the
latter case the bank would naturally and necessarily
influence the course of their development.
A> to the ways and means of establishing also a
Hank for the issue of Palestinian paper currency, this
important question is, of course, receiving the fullest
attention of our political leaders and financial
experts, but it would be premature to discuss it here.
It now remains for us to make clear the function
of the Mortgage Bank. Expert opinion is still
divided as to whether it be advisable to form one
joint bank for agrarian and urban credit, or two
separate institutions. The issue, however, need not
occupy us at the present moment.
The mortgage bank or banks would require a
subscription from the Colonial Rank to the extent of
half a million pounds. The authorised capital should
amount to one million pounds, with a cash payment
of 50 per cent., which would, according to usual
practice, gi e as the right to issue mortgage bearer-
bonds up to a much higher figure. These bearer-
nds would pay a ^afe dividend at a fixed rate, in
the same way as other similar bond
With the baching of two great banks it should
not be difficult to create the necessary market with
quotation for the bearer-bonds. Tt should even be
possible to apply to a friendly Government to open
for us :i credit on these bearer-bonds in its national
if n€ .. we could apply to pri\
ion
BANKS.
banks to grant loans on the security of those bonds.
is the underlying principle of a Mortgage Bank
to keep its foundation capital as security for the
punctual payment of interest. Such a bank must
also possess capital in the shape of deposits, in order
to be able to make advances both on short and on
long credits. As an example of a bank combining
the two functions we can take the French bank
1 Credit Foncier," which has at its disposal many
deposits, and uses them for advancing money on
short credit which can. when necessary, also be
combined with longer credit-. That is to say,
should a peasant find himself temporarily unable
to pay the interest falling due at the end of the term,
the bank would grant him a new limited short
credit against a note of hand or against a pledge in
the -hape of land produce or implements of work.
I: would also be necessary to give the bank the
power to make advances to peasants for the purpose
of improving the soil and draining the marshy por-
tions of their holdings; such loans to be for
moderate periods, neither very long nor too short.
All these purposes would be served by the bank
from the deposits which can with certainty be
expected to reach a great total (*).
The bank programme can only be carried out if
the Jewish people is prepared to subscribe the whole
sun) required, namely one million six hundred and
thirty-five thousand pounds, which is the balance of
the shares not yet sold.
The whole of the banking scheme will now have
to be taken up by the Keren ha-Yesod. It has been
decided that the Keren ha-Yesod will, on a date to
be fixed later, give its sanction to a specially or-
ganised 'drive' r Jewish Colonial Trust and
Anglo-Palestine Company share-.
(*)For more details of the proposed r61e of the Mor
Bank s»-e chapters " Agricultural Colonisation" and "Housing
ProK
101
Afforestation.
The purposes served by afforestation are mani-
fold.
Afforestation is one of the best means of reclaim-
ing- sand dunes which occupy a surface of about
500,000 dunams along the shores of the Mediter-
ranean. Forests in these parts will not only be
valuable and useful in themselves, but will fix the
rids and prevent them from encroaching" on the
neighbouring fields.
Afforestation is also the quickest and surest way
>f draining marshes. Certain quick-growing trees,
in particular the eucalyptus, act as drainage-
pumps, absorb the moisture, dry the swamps
(breeding places of mosquitoes), and thus prevent
the spread of malaria and other diseases due to
the influence of marshy grounds. Further, the
routs of the trees solidify the latter and in some
es act as a first stage in preparing it for the
plough. Afforestation applied for a number of
irs can transform many a quagmire into arable
land.
Afforestation reclaims barren hillsides. The
naked rocks which the traveller meets in Upper
Jtidea were once, long ago, covered with soft fer-
tile soil. The destruction of the forest? led to the
soil being gradually washed into the valleys by the
heavy winter rains. As a consequence, the level
of the valleys (called in Arabic " Wadi,") has
idually risen. In the opinion of Professor
' ieddes, it may safely be assumed that in most cases,
where the hillside is bare, the Wadi below contains
beneath its stones a layer of fertile soil of much
102
AFFORESTATION.
greater depth than is required for the cultivation of
the valley itself. The rebuilding of terraces on the
slopes and the redistribution along them of the
valuable earth transported from the valley, are only
a matter of hard work and money. The benefits
that would accrue from planting forests on the hill-
sides would be well worth the expense. The rain
water, instead of rushing ineffectively down the
slopes, would distribute its moisture evenly along
the terraces ; such moisture would no longer
evaporate or ^ink into the crevices of the rock, but
would remain near the surface of the soil, under the
root^. The influence such a change would exert
upon the climate can easily be realised by anyone
who has ever experienced the relief of entering a
shady grove after a long walk in the scorching
sun.
The term " afforestation " implies the planting of
fruit trees as well as of timber. The commercial
value of the former is obvious; oranges and almonds
already constitute an esential item of export from
the Jewish colonies, and it is hoped that the jam
and tinned-fruit industries will also develop in
Pale-tine. The second class of tree requires less
care and is in many cases even more profitable.
Some varieties, in the climate of Palestine, develop
sufficient growth for use within five to seven years.
It might be useful to note that Sweden, for instance,
exported before the War (1912) about £15,000,000
worth of timber, Xorway about £4.000,000.
Roumania about £1. 600,000. Treeless Palestine
on the other hand, in order to provide housing
accommodation and furniture for the first 50,000
immigrants, will have to import at least £1.500,000
worth of timber.
In civilised countries not only are there State-
owned forests managed by the Government accord-
ing to a fixed policy, but even privately-owned
"4
THE Kl HA-YESOD BOOK.
fore-t> are supervised by the State. Supervision
alone, however, is not sufficient where the need for
new plantations arises. They demand preparati
and expenditure which, as a rule, the private in-
dividual will not, indeed cannot, afford. A
stematic afforestation policy requires, therefore,
the intervention of the State, municipality or some
similar public body.
The necessity for a policy of afforestation •
trolled by the State has been recognised in Great
Britain. France. ( iermany, the former Austria-
Hungary, Belgium and Holland, to take only the
most important examples.
" Korests are a national necessity, and the land
must have them, even if they yield a smaller return
on the capital invested than if it were invested in
any other undertaking"."
This is the statement made by the sub-committee
appointed by the Ministry of Reconstruction in
London.*
Xow that we are summoned to make Palestine
the National I lome of the Jewish people, we have
to consider whether, to what extent, and by what
means we are to carry out a policy of afforestation
in the country.
So far as preseveration of the existing trees i-
concerned, we may be sure that the present
administration, benefiting by modern experiences in
forestrv. will take the necessary steps to protect the
im of the community and to control private
ploitation both of fruit tree- and of timber
We ma> also assume that the new Jewish
immigrants will, so far as possible follow the
imple of the first pioneers and plant trees on a
ible i" private initiative.
II this will not be sufficient t< fy the
of a large Jewish immigration. Afforestation
instruction. Reconstruction itree.
. Report 1017.
1 "4
AFFORESTATION.
should be carried out by the community and form
an essential part of its policy.
Let us first consider whether the work of
afforestation in Palestine could be assumed by the
State — whether the Palestinian Administration can
be expected to defray the cost of it and to make
itself generally responsible for the work.
Unquestionably, afforestation is one of those
public works which are of service to the whole
country and to the entire population, without dis-
tinction of race, faith, or language. But this un-
deniable truth will not help the Government of
Palestine to obtain the large sums of money
necessary to make it a success. The Palestinian
: i easury derives its income from taxes levied on
the present population, whose economic productivity
is so limited that it cannot be expected to furnish
sufficient funds for ambitious schemes.
This consideration makes it perfectly clear that
the systematic afforestation of Palestine cannot be
carried out un less the Tewis h people provide t he
necessary funds, in the full recognition of its enor-
mous effect on the productivity of the country,
even should it offer but little attraction from the ,
ordinary business standpoint. This is only one of,';
the instances where the Jewish people are called / [
upon to assume a responsibility which under normal [
conditions would be incumbent upon the State. I '
The need for afforestation has been realised from
the first days of Jewish colonisation. Its history,
especially in Judea, is mainly a record of the deve-
lopment of plantations; and till recently the culture
of the vine, fig-tree, olive and almond has formed
the ground work of Jewish colonisation in the Jaffa
district. To this should be added the cultivation of
the eucalyptus, carried on so extensively by Jewish
colonists that the Arabs call it " the Jews' tree."
An honourable monument to the initiative of the
»°5
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
Jewish pioneer is to be found in the eucalyptus
plantations of Hedera, which saved this beautiful
colony from one of the worst curses of marsh land
— the black-water fever.
The Jewish National Fund, almost from the day
of its birth, devoted considerable energy to tree
planting; it raised special sums for a " Herzl
Forest, connecting the memory of the great in-
spirer of the Jewish Renaissance with the afforesta-
tion of Palestine. The War has, unfortunately,
almost entirely destroyed the beginnings of the
Herzl Wood-. As to the other afforestation works
of the J.N.F., a few data will suffice to give a rough
idea of its achievements.
There are plantations, mostly fruit-trees, in Gan
Shemuel, Merhavya, Deganya, and Kinneret, as
well as in Ben Slitmen and Hul<
The plantations have been badly damaged during
the War. At the beginning of 19K a census was
taken, and it was found that 49,887 trees only were
left standing, of which 33,610 were fruit trees (16,8%
olive, 11.942 almond. 3.550 orange trees, etc.), and
the remainder timber — mostly eucalyptus.
The Head Office of the Jewish National Fund
intends, in the next planting season, to undertake
the following works: —
In Merhavya, on about 200 dunams of land, 20.000
eucalyptus are to be planted.
Kinneret and Deganya — on 175 dunams, 42,000
eucalyptus, pines and cypresses.
Ben Shemen — on 230 dunams. 7,625 acacias and
690,000 pines.
llulda — on 140 dunams, 420,000 pines and 4.37s
acacias.
Beer-Tuviya — on 380 dunams, 27,000 eucalyptus.
Rishon-le-Zion— on 500 dunams (sand dunes)—
350.000 trees.
Hie entire scheme includes the planting of 1.62$
dunams with 1,500.000 trees.
Mi
AFFORESTATION.
Considerable as all these projects appear, they
are obviously far below the requirements of a suc-
cessful Jewish colonisation. The work of the
Jewish National Fund can only serve as a means of
breaking the way towards a really systematic policy
of afforestation. This policy, however, can only be
undertaken by the Keren ha-Yesod, and will have
to be pursued by it until such time as the gradual
progress of the country and the growth of the
Jewis h colonisation will make it possible for the : ','
( TOv^mpTemnpTlnT Tewisli ( Jomfnomvpalrh Jnjak*
the worjc over, ~~ — : — / '
"THe purely " colonising " value of afforestation
as a means of providing livelihood for large numbers
of settlers can be gauged, for instance, by the fact
that about 400,000 people in Germany and about
150,000 in old Austria lived before the War by
forestry. To these figures should be added numbers
of those who earn their bread by industries
dependent upon forestry,— saw-mills, carpentry,
cabinet-making, etc. Such industries can only
attain their full development when the forests are
sufficiently mature, but in the meantime the pro-
cesses of " nursing " the saplings, " terracing/'
etc., would by themselves, even under the very
moderate scheme of the Keren ha-Yesod, give per-
manent employment to thousands of workers. Ac-
cording to calculations made in Palestine, the plant-
ing of 100,000 dunams (about 20,000 acres) would
give employment to 3,000 workers for four vears.
The sand dunes alone, without counting the hills and
marshes, cover, as mentioned above, 500,000
dunams: the whole area suitable for afforestation'can
be reckoned to contain about 8,000,000 dunams
(1,600,000 acres).
There can obviously be no question, for the pre-
sent, of planting trees on the whole of this area. We
must_ begin with planting such portions of it as are,
orjvill be, owned by Tews or Jewish institutions, or
such waste lands (in the neighbourhood cf Jewish
107
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK
ttlemen are likely to come eventually under
I e u ish control .
The expenditure involved by the scheme will, of
course, vary in accordance with the fluctuation?
the cost of land, raw materials, machinery, ant
labour. In the present state of the market the
planting of 100.000 dunams means an outlay of
£1.500.000 for live years, or £300,000 per year It
is hoped that, in view of the general fall of pric
we shall perhaps be able to attain the same result
the co,st of £200,000 per annum allotted tc
afforestation in the Keren ha-Yesod scheme.
Health.
The scope of preventive medicine in progressive
countries has extended beyond the removal of in-
sanitary conditions, even beyond the idea of the
prevention of disease; it has reached what may be
piled its positive phase, the promotion of health
m the individual and the establishment of the whole
complex of environmental conditions that promote
health.
Whereas in the past emphasis was necessarily
laid upon the abolishment of gross insanitary condi-
tions affecting the population en masse, 'medical
science, whilst, of course, ever mindful of the re-
moval of such abuses, now turns to the study of the
individual. It is recognised that a sick person, just
as much as a polluted water supply, can be the
centre for the spread of disease. " With regard to
disease/' writes the Chief Officer of the Ministry of
Health for England and Wales, " tHe first line of
defence is a healthy, well-nourished and resistant
human body."
Just as in agriculture Palestine will demand a
most intensive system of cultivation, so in " homo-
culture " — if we may be pardoned the word — the
most intensive system of preventive medicine is
needed. Medical science must secure for each in-
dividual in Palestine the most advantageous en-
vironment. Every individual must have, within the
limits of our knowledge, fullest opportunity for
right growth. The requirements of preventive medi-
cine may be considered under the following classi-
fication : —
109
THE KEREN' HA-YESOD BOOK.
(i) The prevention and treatment of disease, in-
fectious and non-infectious.
(2) Hygiene — public, domestic and personal.
Maternity.
Infant welfare.
(0 School hygiene.
(6) Research.
The application of these fundamental principle*
to the conditions of Palestine requires a brief ex-
position.
I. Prevention of Disease.
There is disease in Palestine as there is in other
countries; a great deal of it is preventable as it is
in other countries. Among the outstanding endemic
and infectious diseases of Palestine . lmust entirely
preventable is —
(A) Malaria.
Investigations carried out before the war demon-
strated the presence of malarial parasites in 21.5 per
cent of the Jewish, and in 23 to 27.3 per cent, of
the Arab inhabitants. Something like one-quarter
of the population suffer or have suffered from
malaria. Malaria not only causes death directly and
indirectly to adults and children, but is responsible
for a great deal of the lassitude and loss of energy
that is complained of in infested countries; it under-
mines the constitution and makes the sufferer less
other infectious diseases. It must be
rne in mind that every person harbouring the
asite is a possible source for the spread
other people. Malaria can be
terminated in Palestine as it has been elsewhere,
1 the Isthmus of Panama, under the direc-
ite Surgeon-General Gorga*. Malaria
HEALTH.
caused by the presence of certain organisms in the
blood. These are introduced into the blood of a
healthy person by the bite of a certain species of
mosquito (Anopheles), which has sucked in the
previous bite the blood of a person suffering from
malaria. The principles upon which we rely for the
prevention of malaria are simple, and are derived
from our knowledge of the way the disease is
spread :
(a) We must prevent the breeding of malaria-
bearing mosquitoes. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in
water. Marshy lands, pools and slow running waters
at the margins of rivers or lakes, cisterns, water-
troughs, stables, ditches, water collected in puddles,
buckets, etc., are among the places where mosqui-
toes breed.
(b) We must prevent mosquitoes from biting
human beings.
(c) We must get rid of any malarial organisms
from the blood of persons who, notwithstanding
defences (a) and (b), have become infected with
malaria.
Modern methods of anti-malarial work are best
shown by the example of the Panama and Havana
campaigns.
In Panama, where conditions are most favourable
for the multiplication of malaria-breeding mosqui-
toes, the disease has been controlled at a reasonable
cost. Anti-malarial work included: —
(i) Attack on propagation areas by filling all
depressions that could hold water, not forgetting
hoof-marks, wheel-tracks, and badly cut-up land.
(2) Attack by drainage. Experience proved this
to be the all-important and most effective way of
eliminating malaria. Besides, the bottoms of small
streams and ditches were lined with stone or con-
crete. Work of this nature cost about twelve cents
(6d.) per square foot, but it did away with the pre-
iii
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
vious expenditure on cleaning and ditch maintenance.
It was found most important to combat the existence
of blocked water-courses as they encourage the
formation of new swamps and make ideal breeding
grounds for the larvae.
(3) Attack by oiling. Under those unfavourable
conditions where larvae were still to be found m
bodies of water notwithstanding filling and drainage,
oil was the most commonly used larvacide. This
included kerosene, crude oils of paraffin and of
asphaltum base, and the various distillates, also
crude creosote, eucalyptus and juniper oil. The
most serviceable method of applying oil was the
" drip method "—drops of oil falling upon the sur-
face of the water from a specially designed container
with sufficient frequency and in such a manner as
to form a continuous thin film of oil over a certain
area. About 600,000 gallons of crude oil were used
annually. .
(4) Attack by larvacides. A special product
named " larvacide " was introduced in Panama
which was found superior to oil. Various formulae
can be obtained, though none so far has fulfilled all
the requirements.
(5) Attack by natural enemies. A great deal ot
mosquito and larvae destruction was wrought by
small top-feeding fish, such as minnows, etc., by
dragon flies, water beetles, spiders, ants, small
Lizards birds and bats.
(6 lack bv clearing bodies of water. By re-
moving vegetation, algae, and drift from bodies of
water much of the food and most of the protection
of the Anopheles was withdrawn.
(y\ Attack by removal 0} jungle. The removal
of tall grass, jungle and brush was a great aid in
the campaign against the mosquito.
(H) Screening and practical destruction of adult
Anopheles in houses. By protecting dwellings with
mosquito-proof material a certain degree of safety
s ensured. Copper gauze for the protection of
112
HEALTH.
windows was generally found the most satisfactory
medium and cost about fifty cents (2s. id.) per square
yard. As to doors, they should be solid, light, and
rapidly self-closing. A systematic daily destruction
of Anopheles found within houses was also intro-
duced.
The anti-malarial campaign in Havana started
after 1900.
From 1890-1900 5, .43 deaths from malaria were
registered (out of a population of 350,000).
From 1 900- 1 910 only 444 deaths were due to
malaria (with a largely increased population).
Recent statistics prove that malarial fever has
been almost stamped out from Havana and its
suburbs.
In the Isthmus of Panama the methods of malarial
control applied were put to incomparably severe
test, and the results were even more satisfactory,
proving that malaria in the tropics may be kept
down to a minimum rate without any prohibitive
expenditure. Preventive measures in the canal zone,
an especially infested area, cost less than one cent
(£d.) a day for each person.
These methods, with a few modifications to meet
local conditions, recommend themselves for the anti-
malarial campaign in Palestine.
Among the specific local conditions which favour
mosquito -breeding, mention should be made of cis-
terns. Especially in Jerusalem, every house has a
cistern where rain-water is stored. Unless these
are mosquito-proof — which they seldom are — they
constitute a considerable danger. The way of deal-
ing with this inconvenience is discussed below (see
paragraph on " Water Supply ").
Some of the measures, such as those relating to
swamps, lakes and rivers, are extensive and costly,
and must be dealt with by a central authority. Others
require merely an efficient sanitary control, such as
"3
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
those in connection with cisterns, barrels and foun-
tains. It will not only be necessary to issue orders
but a band of trained sanitary inspectors will be
required in every town, village and settlement, to
see that the orders are carried out, and to educate
the population as to their meaning.
A few remarks should be added with regard to
the treatment of infected persons.
So long as a person who has been infected with
malaria retains parasites in his blood, he remains a
potential source of danger to others. In the in-
terests of the patient and the community it is essen-
tial that the treatment should be continued until the
patient can be certified as being entirely immune.
What usually happens is that the patient attends a
doctor for a few days until the attack is over, and
then neglects treatment until another attack.
Quinine can now be obtained free in Palestine, but
we must go farther and see that it is really taken
until the patient is cured.* This will need: —
(a) A great extension of out-patient clinics in
the towns.
(b) An extention of laboratory means for
diagnosis.
(c) Motor-ambulances, fully equipped, for regular
visits to villages and remote settlements.
f (1 ) Popular lectures and leaflets on the causes of
malaria with simple explanations as to prevention
and treatment.
This is a rough sketch of the methods by which
1 destine can be made malaria-proof; such a cam
*It is remarkable that among the "Halutzim" groups, en-
g.-if^d now in road-construction, the percentage of malaria!
is comparatively low. This is due to a well-organised
— almost "military" — system of quinine-dosing.
114
HEALTH.
paign must be general and thorough. Prevention in
the Arab village and thorough treatment of the
Fellah is obviously as essential as preventive treat-
ment in the Jewish settlement and of the Jewish
worker.
Some part of this programme will be carried out
by the Palestinian Government. But its revenut
depends on taxation, and we know that even more
advanced peoples than those of Palestine cannot be
brought to see the economy of paying for stamp-
ing out disease. The Jewish people, however, must
be brought to see this necessity, and must be pre-
pared to spend money freely in order to obtain a
malaria-free Palestine.
(B) Trachoma.
This is a chronic, infectious disease of the eyes,
so prevalent in the East that it is said that no two
Arabs have more than three eyes between them.
Perhaps two-thirds of the Arab inhabitants of Pales-
tine and one-third of the Jews are afflicted with it.
The principal points which come into consideration
in the prevention of this disease are : —
(a) Although no age is exempt, nurslings and the
young are most susceptible.
(b) It is a family and household disease; i.e.,
one child in the family or the house conveys the
infection to another; it is rarer for a child to become
infected at school.
(c) Infection is conveyed directly to the eyes by
fingers, towels, handkerchiefs, etc.
(d) The disease is closely bound up with condi-
tions of personal well-being and cleanliness; it there-
fore attacks by preference the poor, because they
are underfed and live in over-crowded houses.
(e) Early diagnosis is essential with early treat-
ment if the terrible complications which too fre-
quently end in blindness, are to be avoided.
(f) Treatment must be prolonged and constant
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
In accordance with these conditions preventive
treatment must consist in : —
(a) Improvement in general and personal hygiene.
(See later.)
(b) Specific :
I. Centres for infant consultations. The estab-
lishments to be opened daily under the charge of a
doctor and nursing staff. They should be free to all
classes and creeds, with perhaps different hours for
Moslems, Christians, and Jews. In these centres
attention would be directed to inspection of the eyes
and the transference of the children in all sus-
picious cases to eye specialists for diagnosis and
treatment.
II. Diagnosis and treatment at all schools and
institutions. The work is now only carried out in
part. Extension is particularly required to the
Arab schools.
III. In the villages. Motor-ambulances, with
doctor, nurse and equipment should visit periodi-
cally all villages and settlements. Nurses should
be stationed at central positions and should attend
children from the neighbouring villages.
The disease can be stamped out in Palestine with
its small population and the general easy accessi-
bility of the towns and villages. It is only a ques-
tion of money.
(C) Tuberculosis and other Infectious Diseases.
No statistics are available as to the prevalence of
tuberculosis in Palestine. There is, however, reason
to believe that it has attained rather widespread pro-
portions, especially among certain sections, e.g.,
among the Yemenites. Prevention must be found
in improving the housing, feeding and general con-
ditions. Investigations are needed for the early
diagnosis of this disease, facilities for the treatment
of the patients and their isolation during any in-
116
HEALTH.
fectious stages. The climate of Palestine, especially
in the hills, is peculiarly well adapted for the treat-
ment of tuberculosis.
Palestine is not immune from other infectious
diseasees of the temperate zone, from influenza,
measles, diphtheria, etc. In general it may be
said prevention includes: —
(i) Adequate facilities for medical treatment and
nursing.
(2) Isolation of the sick and disinfection of the
premises where the disease occurs.
(3) Prophylactic treatment by vaccination and
inoculation.
(4) Control of infected persons.
Non-Infectious Diseases.
There is a great amount of preventable disease
dependent upon factors other than infection. As
an instance of this take —
Mental Disease.
It is beyond the scope of this chapter to consider
what general social conditions, if any, can be held
responsible for the prevalence of these diseases. It
need only be again emphasised that proper diagnosis
and treatment are steps in the prevention of all
diseai^s including those of the mind. In Palestine
hardly anything has been attempted in this direction.
There is one asylum in Jerusalem, but the building
is quite unsuitable and the methods of treatment
hardly adequate. Beyond this asylum there is no
clinic in Palestine where nervous troubles might be
treated in their incipient stage. The understanding
of the disorders of the mind owes so much to Jewish
brains — one need only mention the name of Pro-
fessor Freud in this connection — that it amounts
almost to an obligation to place modern knowledge
in this domain at the service of the inhabitants of
Palestine.
"7
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
II. Hygiene — Public. Domestic and Personal.
Under public sanitation we will briefly consider
the question of water supplies and the disposal of
refuse.
Water Supply.
None of the towns in Palestine are provided with
an unimpeachable and adequate supply of water.
The cisterns which serve the needs of many of the
towns and villages have this in their favour : the
lessened danger from an epidemic of water-borne
disease such as typhoid or cholera. If the cisterns
are fitted with pumps, the masonry properly looked
after, and certain other essential but simple require-
ments fulfilled, the cistern can be made mosquito-
proof. For a long term of years cisterns will un-
doubtedly remain among the chief means for the
supply of domestic water. They are economical and
not inconvenient. For the larger towns. Jerusalem,
Jaffa and Haifa, a public water supply must be
found.* It is among the essentials of public health
that this should be sufficient, pure and cheap. As
to those places where cisterns must remain, their
thorough repair and the provision of pumps will
mean an expenditure which the owners will, in many
cases, not be able to make without a loan from
public funds.
Disposal of Refuse.
A Western-trained sanitarian and engineer, thinking
in terms of thejarge industrial cities of Great Britain
or the States, would fix on a water-carriage system
as the only suitable method for the removal of
excreta, even under such different conditions as
obtain in Palestine. But the removal of the excreta
by water still leaves unsolved the ultimate disposal,
*TeI-Aviv has a modern pipe system ; Jerusalem partly so.
118
HEALTH.
as is shown by the pollution of the rivers in England.
Because the excreta are removed immediately from
the house, the illusion of the cleanliness and in-
nocuosness of the water-carriage system is fostered.
In Palestine, at all events, with its small towns and
settlements this system is as unnecessary as it is
wasteful and extravagant. From the national
economic standpoint the destruction of the excreta
instead of their proper utilisation in the soil is an
unjustifiable waste. Think of the absurdity of
destroying potential manure in Palestine whilst im-
porting it at great cost from South America. Dr.
Vivian Poore showed, many years ago, that the prin-
ciple of the Mosaic system for the disposal of refuse
by its shallow burial is at once the most hygienic
and the most economical. To adapt the Mosaic
method to modern requirements, we can employ
either the so-called peat-stool method advocated by
Dr. E. Soskin ("Smallholding and Irrigation"),
or the deep pit known as the " Bottleneck " type.
The faeces are removed periodically, and either ap-
plied immediately to the soil or preserved in large
water-tight pits till required. The former system
will be found most suitable for towns, and the latter
for villages. This question should receive immediate
settlement before big town-planning schemes, with
costly and wasteful sewers, are carried out.
Domestic and Personal Hygiene.
People in Palestine, like people elsewhere, have
learnt but little of the art of living; they put up with
dirt, discomfort and distress out of ignorance or
culpable inertia. There is no excuse for tolerating
vermin, or flies, or lack of proper diet.
Flies. With proper disposal of animal and human
excreta, flies, even in the hottest parts of Palestine,
can be practically exterminated. The gauze screens
already mentioned in connection with malarial mos-
quitoes serve also to keep flies out of the house.
119
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
Dietetics. There is a woeful ignorance of the
proper use of foodstuffs seen both among- the old
and the new settlers in Palestine, also very notice-
able m the cooperative kitchens. By actual demon-
stration people must learn that the proper selection
of food, its proper cooking and cleanliness are re-
quisite not only for the prevention of disease, but
as the psychological foundations of mental and
physical development. For many years practical
demonstrations will be required in" villages and
towns, and especially in the schools.*
III. Maternity.
How many women lose their lives every year
through pregnancy or childbirth in Palestine is un-
known. In England and Wales, for every i ooo
babies born, nearly four mothers die (3.89 per thou-
sand). f<rom inquiries made among different sec-
tions of the population in Palestine we may be re-
l\li J -X rt - ain **? the P r °P° r tion there is much
higher. There are few facilities for the proper care
of women in childbirth; the midwives are few in
?h U p m Rn r t», an vi2 r !i aI1 . t0 i . often im perfectly trained ;
the Rothschild Hospital in Jerusalem has only a tew
beds at its disposal, reserved, as a rule, for the most
serious complications of childbirth. Among the
urgent medical needs are:— S
nJj? A Mat t e rmty Hospital in Jerusalem, with
I y r t0 fort - v beds > Y here both n °rmal and abnormal
laoour may be conducted.
in ( \l A tra j ned , hod y of midwives to be stationed
in towns and villages.
(3) Maternity homes in other towns.
(4) Maternity centres for the prenatal supervision
of pregnant women.
*Sce chapter "Jewel Fund," p. I5 o.
120
HEALTH.
IV. Infant Welfare.
There is no reliable information at hand as to the
infant mortality under the Turkish rule. We will
only give figures indicating its terrible possibilties :
in Jerusalem, during the War, that is up to the
British occupation, the infantile mortality in the
Boukhara quarters was 41 1.7 to a thousand births,
and in the small Yemenite quarter was said to reach
the appalling figure of 920 per thousand births.
Matters have, of course, quite changed to-day, but
all our information goes to show that infantile mor-
tality, both amongst the Arabs and the Jews, is ex-
tremely high.
Official statistics for 1920 show the following rate
of infantile mortality in the towns :
Deaths
Proportion
Births
Under 1 year
per 1,000 births
Jerusalem
.. 724
122
168.4O
Hebron
■• 351
- 65 •
.. 185.18
Haifa ...
192
53
276.O4
Jaffa
•• 5 2 5
... 179 .
•• 340.95
Gaza ...
369
... 58 •
.. 159.89
Nablus
.. 298
61 .
204.69
(The strikingly high figures for Jaffa and Haifa
are attributed to the fact that in these two towns —
apart from Tel-Aviv — the conditions of water sup-
ply and drainage are the worst.)
The immediate needs are : —
(1) An adequate maternity service as sketched in
the last section.
(2) Infant consultation centres in the towns,
where the children could be brought regularly for
consultation and advice; these centres would also
serve for the recognition of malaria and trachoma
among nurslings.
(3) Ambulatory services for the villages with a
proper nursing staff.
121
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
(4) Baby creches, where the children of the
poorer classes may be brought to spend their days
until they pass into the school.
V. School Hygiene.
During the last few years it has been increasingly
recognised that medical science can render valuable
services to education. The school doctor is now
everywhere welcomed as an adjunct to the teaching
profession.
School hygiene, linked with education and medi-
cine, is concerned largely with the following educa-
tional considerations: —
I. Environment at school — dealing with —
(a) The site of the school, its planning, size of
class-rooms, heating, lighting, shading, ventilation,
sanitation, closets and lavatories, playgrounds,
drinking water.
(b) Open-air schools.
(c) Special schools for the mentally or physi-
cally defective, such as the deaf and blind.
(d) Proper equipment — seats, desks, blackboards,
printing of books, paper.
(e) Child feeding.
II. The medical inspection erf school children.
III. The education of parents in child-health, by
special conferences, and by their presence at medical
inspections.
IV. The hygiene of the teaching profession and
the medical care of the staff. This should also come
within the scope of the school doctor.
The American Zionist Medical Unit ("Hadassa").
in conjunction with the Hebrew Board of Education.
has made a praiseworthy beginning with the medical
inspection of schools. In time this must extend to
122
HEAETH.
dental inspection, with complete arrangement for
the treatment of all children and their " following
up."
VI. Research.
All progress in the practice of medicine is con-
nected not only with advance in medicine itself, but
in all sciences, biological and physical. Medicine
benefits by all the newest discoveries in physics,
chemistry, biology. The medical laboratory is only
one side of medical research; advantage must be
taken of the out-patient department and of the con-
sulting-room for the study of earliest signs of
disease; the general medical practitioner, as well as
the specialist, is able to render most important con-
tributions to the advancement of medicine. Apart
from the general contribution which Palestine can
make to research in medicine, it is practically a terra
incognita in sub-tropical diseases. There have been,
in the last couple of years, epidemic diseases due
to factors not yet recognised and requiring time and
study for their proper investigation. A research
department adequately staffed and equipped, is not
a luxury for the future, but a necessity of the
moment.* It is now, before the great influx into
Palestine begins, that we must be alert to safe-
guard *he newcomers as well as those already in
Palestine, to give them every assistance in avoiding
disease and in securing for them all the conditions
that make for a sound physique.
Conclusion.
We have given, in barest outline, a sketch of the
present needs of preventive medicine in Palestine.
What is it going to cost? it will be asked. The
answer can be given in the motto of the Department
*See chapter "University," p. 136.
123
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
ot Public Health in New York: " Public Health is
purchasable."
It is for the Jewish public to say how much health
they will purchase for Palestine.
Financial Estimate.
No inconsiderable part of the work here outlined
is already being carried out by the American Jewish
Medical Unit ; other parts require completion, and
some fresh developments must be created.
Outside Jerusalem and Saffed, there are no pro-
perly arranged hospitals. Most urgent is the need
\l of new hospitals in Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa.
It is not possible, in view of the fluctuation of
prices, to give anything like an accurate estimate
of the costs. But we may assume that a hospital
for, say, fifty beds will cost at least £io,ooo-£i5,ooo,
whilst its installation and equipment may be taken as
another £3,000.
Nezv Hospitals, etc.
£
Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa : three general
hospitals ... ... ... ... 40,000
Installation ... ... ... ... 10,000
Jerusalem Maternity Hospital (thirty
beds) 7,000
Installation ... 2,000
Jerusalem Ophthalmic Hospital (thirty
beds) 7,000
Installation ... ... ... . . 2,000
Jerusalem Asylum (extension and re-
building) 6,000
Jerusalem New Out-Patient Depart-
ments X-ray Laboratory, and
additional Research Departments 6.000
Infant consultation clinics in Jeru-
salem, Haifa. Jaffa, Tiberias,
Saffed (buildings and equipment) 5,000
124
HEALTH.
Immigration Department : Hospital
and Nursing Staff, Isolation
Hospital
Nurses Training School (Jerusalem) ...
Three Motor-Ambulances, fully
equipped, in constant use
7,000
5,000
3,000
£100,000
Annual Expenditure (including the
" Hadassa.")
£
Hospitals and Out-Patient Depart-
ments in Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa,
Saffed, Tiberias, and in the agri-
cultural colonies
Sanitary work, including malaria
and trachoma campaigns
Workers' Camps Hygiene
School Hygiene
Infant Welfare
School for Nurses
Research Departments
Drugs, Instruments, etc., and
General Administration
150,000
40,000
50,000
20,000
10,000
2,000
8,000
20,000
£300,000
â„¢5
The Schools.
The founding- of Hebrew schools in Palestine was
a natural outcome of the Zionist movement from the
very beginning, but the rapid development of onr
school system only dates from the year preceding
the War, when the aggressive Germanising attitude
of the " Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden " resulted
in an enthusiastic campaign in favour of Zionist
' all-Hebrew " schools, and the consequent exten-
sion of our school-system. It is a highly significant
fact that the origin of our present network of
schools was not due to any " expansionist
tendencies " on the part of the Zionist Organisation
in the sphere of education, or to any decision forced
upon Palestine from abroad, but, on the contrary,
to a spontaneous movement of the nationalist
Jews in the country who rose in defence of our
national language. Having managed to hold its
ground, to a great extent, even under war con-
ditions, thanks to the generous support of the
American Zionists, our school system has since
rapidly recovered and developed, absorbing in
the process the bulk of the former schools
of the Hilfsverein, of the Alliance Israelite
and of the I.C.A. This absorption, again,
was brought about not by any deliberate competi-
tion and struggle, but by the natural process of
attraction alike of teachers, parents, and even ad-
ministrations, towards a co-ordinated and truly
national school system.
Thus it has come about that, besides the schools
actually founded by us, there are schools partly or
wholly supported from other sources (such as the
126
THE SCHOOLS.
I.C. A.), which have accepted the Hebrew language,
our programme and the supervision of our Board
of Education. Tn all, the Hebrew schools in
Palestine numbered in the school year 5680
(1919-20) no, comprising 11,220 pupils and 584
teachers.* To these should be added about 1,200
pupils attending evening courses for adults, and
Craft schools with Hebrew as the language of in-
struction. This means that over 80 per cent, of
Jewish school children in Palestine receive a Hebrew
education. The remaining 20 per cent, are being
educated in non-Hebrew establishments (including
missionary schools), some of which, however, as
for instance the schools of the Alliance Israelite,
have, under our influence, developed the study of
Hebrew.
Hebrew education in Palestine begins with the
kindergarten similar to those in Europe run on Free-
belian lines, although recently experiments have been
made with the Montessori methods ; but they have
also distinctive special tasks — the struggle against
the uncleanliness and diseases of the East, and
especially the " grafting " of Hebrew as a mother
tongue. Then come the elementary schools, of
which ther^ are about sixty, each normally having
eight forms. In the colonies they are for both
sexes, in the cities boys and girls are separated.
The curriculum includes the Hebrew language,
prayers, Mishna, Bible, and Aggada; the geo-
*In the current year, 5681 (1920-192 1), there are 53 kinder-
gartens, with 127 teachers and 2,713 pupils ; 63 elementary
schools (305 teachers, 8,368 pupils) ; 6 secondary schools (63
teachers, 992 pupils). Total (including various other establish,
ments), 135 institutions, with 523 teachers and 12,830 pupils.
Of this number Jerusalem has 33 schools (171 teachers, 4,408
pupils) ; Jaffa 17 fios teachers, 2,769 pupils) ; Haifa 6 (32 teachers,
740 pupils) ; Tiberias 4 (22 teachers, 553 pupils) ; Saffed 4 (22
teachers, 554 pupils); other towns 7 (11 teachers, 207 punils) ;
agricultural colonies 58 schools (130 teachers, 2,568 pupils).
There also are 6 schools, with 30 teachers and 1,031 pupils, in
Svria.
127
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
graphy of Palestine and Jewish history; for general
subjects, arithmetic, geometry, the elements of
natural history, physics, history and geography,
drawing, singing, gymnastics, some idea of agri-
cultural work for boys, and needlework for girls.
In the city schools one foreign language is taught.
Our Board of Education is now striving to
democratise the secondary education so that the
high schools shall begin where the elementary schools
leave off, and all children shall, of necessity, pass
through the latter. For the moment, however, this
has not been accomplished, and most of our
secondary schools provide for children from the
lowest form upwards. We have now in Palestine two
high schools (mixed) in Jerusalem and Jaffa; a
technical school in Haifa*; two training colleges
for teachers, for boys in Jerusalem and for girls in
Jaffa; the Orthodox teachers' training college in
Jerusalem; an agricultural school in Petah-Tikva, a
commercial high school in Jaffa, and three music
schools (Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem) as well as the
Arts and Crafts school ("Bezalel") in Jerusalem.
The teaching of Latin has recently been abolished,
and instruction in commerce and book-keeping intro-
duced. Otherwise their curriculum is very much
like that of similar establishments in Europe, and
their certificates have been recognised for purposes
admission by the Universities of most European
countries.
A certain number of our schools are of the
Orthodox " type. In these schools emphasis is
laid on the study of the Talmud and cognate sub-
jects and on the observance of religious prescrip-
•Not to be confused with the "Technical College" of Haifa.
[n February, 1020, the Zionist Organisation acquired the title
to thr Technical College building held by the "Hilfsverein." The
building, though excellent, is still incomplete ; the cost of the
• .H'.l .it ^"10,000, and the equipment ex-
penditure at ^15,000. I ho annual bttdgei would amount to
approximately / with an additional ,£."6,000 for the work-
shops.
128
THE SCHOOLS.
tions. According to the regulations in force, any
Orthodox school is entitled to come under the
Board of Education claiming maintenance, provided
it gives instruction in Hebrew (with Sephardic pro-
nunciation), teaches a certain minimum of general
subjects, and satisfies hygienic conditions.
A final agreement as to the management of the
Orthodox schools was reached at the Annual Zionist
Conference in July 1920, between the Mizrachi and
the General Zionist Organisation. The Jewish
Board of Education in Palestine is to' consist of
nine members, three of whom will be nominated by
the Orthodox bodies. They, together with other
Orthodox representatives, will constitute a Super-
vising Committee for the Orthodox schools. That
Committee will have full control over all the internal
affairs of the schools under its authority. Thus all
our schools in Palestine are placed under one
administration, which is yet representative of all the
various bodies interested, and able to supply all the
necessary safeguards for the Orthodox elements of
the population.
During the first period of our school-develop-
ment the curriculum did not display either sufficient
variety to cover both the city and the village type
of schools, nor enough independence of European
models to render it quite suitable to local conditions.
Palestinian educationalists themselves keenly re-
cognise this fact. Something has already been
done of late to remedy these defects; for instance,
commercial and agricultural schools have been
founded, and the teaching of agriculture more fully
developed.
Xo doubt many reforms will be introduced and
our schools will have to undergo many modifica-
tions before the final true Jewish-Palestinian type
(or types) of school is evolved.
It is hardly necessary to dwell much upon the
actual achievements of our schools up to the
present. First and foremost, however, they have
129
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
brought up a generation of Jewish children for
whom Hebrew is, and always will be, the principal
language. Other nations call such a language the
"mother tongue," in our case it is the "school
tongue." Most mothers in Palestine are not yet in
a position to teach their children Hebrew, but not a
lew mothers have " picked up " Hebrew from the
chatter of their children at home when school-
hours are over. And this important work has
been accomplished under most unfavourable con-
ditions, with practically no text-books or school
requisites, in spite of the influence of parents
speaking a foreign language, and mostly by teachers
who had first to make Hebrew a living language
for themselves. No wonder that this tremendous
task absorbed most of their powers during the first
period.
Moreover, the influence of the Palestinian school
has reached far beyond the frontiers of Palestine.
Many a Jewish father, unable to settle there him-
self, sent his child to our schools to breathe there
" the air of Palestine which makes man wiser," as
our forefathers used to say. It is enough to men-
tion that just before the War, considerably more
than half the pupils of the Jaffa Gymnasium hailed
from abroad.
The total expenditure of our Education Depart-
ment in Palestine during the year 5680 (1919-20)
amounted to about £110,000. This works out at
slightly under £9 per year per pupil. If we compare
these figures with those of progressive countries
we shall not find them unduly high. The correspond-
ing figure for England for the year 1920-21 is esti-
mated by the Board of Education to £10 lis. 4'\.
The cost of living and the currency in Palestine being
quite as high as (if not higher than) in England.
our expenditure must be considered comparatively
low.
But, however that may be, it is undoubtedly a
heavy burden on our .shoulders, and our educational
130
THE SCHOOLS.
authorities are eager to effect any reasonable
economy. Some suggestions have been made in
this direction, but not much can be done. There
can be no question of reducing the salaries of the
teachers. According to the scale at the present
time, a teacher who is a University graduate begins
at £Ei5 per month, and a non-graduate at £E8 per
month.* This is considerably less than a good short-
hand typist is getting, and is not a living wage.
An increase in the salaries of the teachers was
decided upon, as a matter of fact, at, the Annual
Zionist Conference, although the immediate putting
into force of that decision proved impossible owing
to the financial situation. Neither is it possible to
expect much at present from school fees. The
income from this source was under 10 per cent,
of the expenditure last year, despite every effort to
increase it.** This is mainly due, of course, to
the poverty of the population in many districts
(Jerusalem alone, with its poverty-striken Jewry,
provides about 40 per cent, of our school children).
On the other hand, too much pressure in this
direction is fraught with the danger of some
children being transferred to non-Hebrew schools
providing free education — of which there still exists
a fair number in Palestine — including missionary
schools. Better results may be expected when
author ity is given to the Elected Assembly of
Palestinian Jewry to levy special taxes upon the
Jewish population, but even then, and for a long
time to come, it is not to be expected that the cost
*An increase of 25 per cent, is granted after two years' teach-
ing, followed by 15 per cent, every three years. The maximum
is the double of the initial salary. Family allowances: ,£Ei
per month for wife, ,£Ei for the first child, 500 piastres for the
second, and so on
**Th e fees are £E$ per year in the kindergarten, £E$, 6
and 7 in elementary schools. Well-to-do parents pay, on the
average, ^E7 and ;£Eio respectively. I n secondary' schools.
fees are from £EB to ^E20, but well-to-do people pay ^"£25.
*3*
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
of education can be borne locally, taking into con-
sideration our liability also to Government taxation.
It has also been suggested that it might be pos-
sible to increase the number of pupils per teacher.
The present proportion is, on the average, about
24.5 pupils to each teacher (about 30.1 in the
kindergarten, 20.1 in the elementary school), a
this no doubt compares unfavourably (from the
point of view of economy, not of teaching) with
similar proportions in various progressive coun-
tries (for instance, 35.8 registered pupils, and
31.8 average attendance per teacher in England).
But the special conditions of our school-work in
Palestine sufficiently account for this difference.
The first and the chief reason is that the language
of instruction is not the mother-tongue of the child.
The teacher must take special care to make the child
speak and think in Hebrew, and las often to
counteract the non-Hebrew influence of the child's
surroundings — a task which represents a great deal
of work totally unknown to his English colleague.
In the kindergartens we have to grapple with the
tremendous task of caring for the children's
hygiene; the unhygienic conditions in the East are
too well-known to need comment, and this implies
an additional strain on the tearhcr.
Moreover, we are often compelled to support
schools for a very limited number of children,
because there are small Jewish settlements at con-
siderable distances from one another, and the
climate and conditions of roads and public
safety make it inadvisable to let all the children
travel to one central village. It is significant that
the movement recently started in California for such
central schools is only succeeding because the
schools are provided with motor-cars in which the
children are collected and brought home, a condition
which would hardly prove an economy to us.
Most of these handicaps will gradually disappear
with the progress of Palestine generally and the
132
THE SCHOOLS.
Hebraisation of Jewry in particular. For the time
being, however, we can hardly expect much result
from efforts in the direction of economy.
A new task before us is to meet the requirements
of the immigrating" population. Taking" the number
of school children in proportion to that of the total
population as about one to six (the proportion
adopted -by the Government of Palestine in
statistics), we arrive at an annual expenditure of
£i ios. per immigrant, if the present rate of expen-
diture be maintained. That would cover the
expansion caused by immigration. But it is impera-
tive that we should improve our school-organisa-
tion in many respects, with correspondingly
increasing budgets.
It is possible that our school policy with regard
to the new settlers will, at least in the next few-
years, be considerably influenced by the character
of the present immigration. The majority of the
immigrants are. at the present moment, Halutzim —
young men and girls without family. It seems that
the last year's influx of 10,000 newcomers has, owing
to this fact, increased the number of our school
children in the country by some 300 only. This may
be merely a passing phase, but it may also prove, to
a certain extent at least, a characteristic feature of
the period upon which we are now entering. Should
this be the case, fewer schools would be required
to cove r the needs of the immigrant; on the other
hand, we should have to make larger provisions for
adults, especially as regards the Hebrew language
and various branches of technical instruction. The
expenditure would in this case be considerably lower
than the present estimates.
Probably the greatest need of our schools is
buildings. Comparatively few of them have their
own premises; most of them are accommodated in
rented houses. Besides causing an unnecessary
expenditure, this results in very unsuitable sites
having sometimes to be utilised as schools.
133
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
On the whole, very few, if any, of our school-
buildings satisfy the elementary conditions of
modern school-hygiene; and many are so bad.
according to expert opinion, that they would be
closed down immediately by any European sanitary
inspector. Moreover, even bad premises are not
available in sufficient numbers. More building is
therefore urgent. A programme worked out in
1919 involves a non-recurring expenditure of
£100,000.
Equally essential, although much less expensive,
is the purchase of school requisites and the publica-
tion of text-books. The minimum immediate
expenditure under that heading has been estimated
at £5,000. The acquisition of school-requisites is
the essential condition of any improvement in the
standard of our schools. It is sufficient to mention
that in many schools geography is being taught
without maps. The expenditure under that heading
has been estimated at £10,000.
Lastly, instruction must be provided for the popu-
lation above school age — in the Hebrew language
and also in other subjects. More especially the
workmen outside the cities must be provided for, if
we are to maintain the democratic — and traditional —
Jewish standards of education. For the latter pur-
pose we had at our disposal, last year, less than
.000; whereas more than ten times that amount
every year will be necessary during the coming
period if we are to establish our cultural work in
F'alestine on anything like a 1 roper basis.
We can doubtlessly rely upon a certain amount
of help from the Palestinian Government's educa-
tional budget in the near future. Last year the
< iovernmental schools — practically all of them
Moslem — educated about 11.000 children; but plans
are being preparer! by the Government Educational
Department for 300 new schools. But it should
not be forgotten that the proportion allotted in this
Aget to Hebrew schools can only be, for the pre-
THE SCHOOLS.
sent, an insignificant one. Moreover, the Govern-
ment's schools are not yet up to our standards
(which explains their comparative cheapness): nor
can the Government be expected, in the immediate
future, to do much in the way of higher education
so essential for us. There is no successful way out
except in the realisation at all costs and under our
own conditions of our great aim : that there should
be a school within the reach of every Jewish child in
Palestine — a school in our own language, carried
on in our own national spirit and attaining our own
cultural standards.
135
The University.
The idea of a Hebrew University at Jerusalem is
not new. As early as 1901 the Fifth Zionist Con-
gress passed a resolution in favour of the project,
and in August 1913 the Eleventh Zionist Congress
decided to set about the foundation of the Univer-
sity. The outbreak of the War arrested the work,
but on the morrow of the Balfour Declaration the
idea was revived; indeed the founding of the Univer-
sity was one of the special objects for which the
Zionist Commission was authorised by the British
Government to go to Palestine. On the 24th of
July 1918 the foundation stone was laid by Dr.
Ch. Weizmann on the site purchased for the Univer-
sity on Mount Scopus. There was an imposing
ceremony, and the day was declared a public Jewish
holiday. Thus the idea of the Jewish national re-
vival in Palestine became inseparably linked with
that of the Jewish University, in the minds both of
Jews and non-Jews.
During the twelve months preceding the Annual
Zionist Conference of July 1920 a good deal of
spadework was done in connection with the Univer-
sity. Prof. Geddcs and Dr. Weizmann studied the
question in Palestine; an Advisory Committee of
about twenty Jewish scholars was set up in London
(under the Chairmanship of Lord Rothschild,
F.R.S.); various Jewish scholars outside England
were consulted. Thence emerged a scheme for a
beginning of the University, which has received the
approval of the last Annual Zionist Conference.
This scheme is now to be translated into reality,
subject to such modifications as changing conditions
may require.
136
THE UNIVERSITY.
To call into being a fully-developed University at
once was considered neither practicable nor advis-
able. The erection of the buildings must necessarily
be slow and costly, entailing both a big capital ex-
penditure and a heavy yearly budget. There would
be a considerable difficulty in securing at once a
first-rate staff of Hebrew- speaking lecturers.
We cannot start with final achievements. We
have to choose from the various University Depart-
ments and Institutes those most suitable to serve as
a nucleus for the future complete University, and
destined to be of the greatest importance in the
development of Jewish learning in Palestine. Various
considerations have led to the selection of the follow-
ing University Institutes for the initial scheme : —
Humanities : —
i. A Department (or Faculty) of Jewish
Oriental Studies (philology, literature, history, law,
archaeology, religion and philosophy, mainly
Jewish, but including also Arabic and Semitics in
"general). This Department is to be a university
school for scientific studies, able to offer training
to both graduates and post-graduates, and em-
powered to confer degrees.
2. A Research Institute for the Hebrew Lan-
guage', the object of which will be to guide and
assist its modern development by the study of its
vast treasure-house of literature.
Science : —
It was decided to begin with Research In-
stitutes, as suggested in 1913-1914^ by Dr.
Weizmann and the University Committee men-
tioned above (in which the chief scientific advisor
was the late Prof. Paul Ehrlich), and not with
teaching faculties. These Institutes are to be trans-
formed as soon as possible and advisable — pre-
137
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
sumably within a few years — into complete teaching
faculties. Besides their purely scientific interests,
the work of such Institutes will include the study of
local problems connected with their respective-
sciences, and the training of a limited number of
post-graduates, such as local teachers, technicians,
doctors, desirous of pursuing their studies or keep-
ing their knowledge up to date. The initial scheme
comprises Institutes of Physics, Chemistry, and
Microbiology.
In addition to the above scheme (adopted by the
Annual Zionist Conference), it has now been decided
by the Zionist authorities, in view of special local
requirements, to include in our programme the es-
tablishment of a School of Law and Economics
attached to the University. Although it is to serve
as a nucleus of a future Faculty, it will not, at the
beginning, confer University degrees; is main object
will be the practical one of training officials and
business men, and affording them specialised know-
ledge of the local legal and economic conditions,
and of the social and economic life of the Jewish
people.
In addressing ourselves to Jewish readers, it is
hardly necessary to dwell upon the importance of
Universities in general, and of a Jewish University
at Jerusalem in particular. The only point that
should here be emphasised is the necessity to begin
at once. The need for higher education in Palestine
may not be felt so strongly to-day, but in a very few
years the Jewish population in Palestine will be large
enough to require a University, and moreover, as
soon as the world's political and economic conditions
are sufficiently settled to allow Jewish students in
search of a University to come to Palestine from the
settlements of Eastern Europe and from the Near
East, the lack of a University ready to receive them
would be nothing short of a disaster. For that time
near at hand we must prepare, because a University
138
THE UNIVERSITY.
cannot be created in a year — not even by the magic
wand of gold. This is particularly true in a country
like Palestine that lacks those foundations which, in
other countries, even a " new " University finds
generally ready : buildings, laboratories, libraries,
and especially a teaching staff. But, apart from
this purely practical point of view, the political side
of the question should also be taken into account.
Our political strength in Palestine, and our prestige
and ability to support the Zionist claims before the
Nations of the world, will largely depend upon our
cultural superiority over the non-Jewish population,
or, in other words, upon our role of forerunners
and bearers of higher civilisation in the Middle East.
Until we become the majority, and even long after
that, this superiority will be one of the main moral
weapons in the defence of our national positions.
The University will be the best visible and tangible
symbol of this spiritual supremacy. There is, more-
over, the danger of being anticipated by other
nations. Of that danger we have already received a
few warnings — as, for instance, the British School of
Archaeology, and the Courses in Law arranged by
the Government of Palestine.
This urgency, combined with the necessity of a
careful preparation, have both inspired the initial
scheme described above. The advantage of the Re-
search institutes, in this respect,, is that, even though
small, they can reach a high standard in spite of
the limited funds available and the restricted
housing accommodations. They will not require,
or even permit, a large number of students,
and, being under no necessity to provide public
lectures, will stand in no immediate need of a
complete Hebrew terminology. On the other
hand, their laboratories and reference libraries
will provide the framework of the Science Depart-
ments of the University. The Institutes will train
a number of post-graduate students who will be
available, later on, for junior posts at the University
139
//
THE KEREN IIA-VESOD BOOK.
and for its Extension Departments, as well as for
technical and teaching work in the country. They
will, in collaboration with the Hebrew Language
Institute, work out a Hebrew scientific terminology.
They will also create the scientific atmosphere and
conditions essential for the work of a really pro-
ductive University, conditions which can only grow-
up gradually, through the presence and work of
scientists themselves.
Most of these arguments apply equally to the
Departments of Humanities, with the exception of
the Jewish Studies Faculty and the School of Law
and Economics, for which an appropriate teaching
staff can be recruited without delay.
Thus by means of the University Institutes now
planned the ground will be prepared, the frame-
work built up, for a complete University in the
near future. Pending that achievement, they will
yield various important results. The Institutes of
Physics, Chemistry, and, even more, that of Micro-
biology, will greatly help in solving many a practical
problem engaging Palestinian technicians and
physicians, who must at present go for first-rate
scientific advice and opportunities of work to Europe
or America. A number of young men and girls
educated in Palestinian high schools will be enabled,
without leaving the country, to pursue their studies,
and to qualify in the Departments of Jewish and
Oriental studies or in the School of Law and
Economics. There is perhaps an even more im-
portant aspect. At present a graduate settling down
permanently in Palestine feels himself condemned to
a steady process of deterioration of his scientific
standard. Our University Institutes will enable him
to keep abreast with the progress of science, and an
enormous gain both for the country and the in-
dividual will follow. The presence in Palestine of
a number of scholars of University standard will raise
the level of the whole intellectual life of the country.
140
THE UNIVERSITY.
The establishment of a rich National and University
Library will also help much in that respect.
The Institutes devoted to the Hebrew language
and the Departments of Jewish Studies and
Semitics, because established in Palestine itself, will
b<t able to reach a standard unique amongst the
Universities of the world, and may thus attract
scholars from all quarters, including the rich and
"happy" Jewish settlements of Western Europe and
America. It is a need which has been expressed
by representatives from various countries containing
large Jewish populations; and an influential body of
Anglo-Jewry (the Jewish War Memorial Board) has
already been considering the establishment of
scholarships at the School of Jewish Studies at
Jerusalem for Anglo-Jewish students — the future
teachers and rabbis of their community.
Pessimists have sometimes doubted the possibility
of enrolling any but a second-rate staff for our
University. Such doubts are hardly justified. The
institution, even at its initial stage, could provide an
ideal scientific home for a number of Jewish
scholars, who in many countries are feeling ever
more acutely the bitter tragedy of their position.
And as a matter of Fact the Jewish world of science
is anything but indifferent towards the scheme. The
Zionist Organisation has received ample proof of the
eagernes c of many Jewish scholars to assist in the
building up of the University, so that there can no
longer be any doubt of our ability to secure a staff of
which no old-established European University need
be ashamed. Warmest expressions of sympathy
and often of active interest have been forthcoming
from a great number of Jewish scholars, both
Zionists and non-Zionists, including such well-
known names as Professors L. Brunchwieg, A.
Einstein. S. Flexner, S. Freud, I. Goldzieher, Sir I.
Gollancz, Senator A. Loria, A. Wassermann, and
many others. It is, of course, not suggested that the
14!
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
Jerusalem University staff will include these names ,
but the support of such prominent men of learning
is a good omen for the standard of the future
University.
The first beginnings towards the realisation of our
University scheme have already been made. The
old " Bait-Neeman " Library, of about 35,000
volumes, is being developed into a National and
University Library. The Grey Hill house and estate
on Mount Scopus have been purchased for £15,000,
and will accommodate (after reconstruction and ex-
tension) the Science Research Institutes. The
Humanities Departments will be accommodated for
the time being in a suitable house to be rented.
The cost of establishing and running the Univer-
sity Institutes, as planned at present, has been
roughly estimated at £100,000 nor. recurring ex-
penditure (principal items : equipment of the labora-
tories, purchase and reconstruction of the house,
acquisition of reference libraries), and £50,000 yearly
budget (principal items : about £30,000 in salaries
and wages for a University staff of about forty per-
sons, and about £20,000 for current expenses).
The funds for the University expenditure are to
be supplied through the Keren ha-Yesod. But in
view of the unique character of this undertaking it
has been decided to establish a special " University
Fund of the Keren ha-Yesod," thereby allowing
donors to earmark their donations for the Univer-
sity, or even for any special item of University ex-
penditure (such as equipping of a laboratory,
erecting buildings, acquiring a library for a depart-
ment or a special subject, endowing a professorship
or lectureship in perpetuity, or for a longer or
shorter period, even for the acquiring of some par-
ticular apparatus or book). The whole of the Uni-
versity Fund will be devoted to the University,
without deduction for other Zionist purposes.
142
THE UNIVERSITY.
The realisation of our initial scheme will depend
upon the University Fund of the Keren ha-Yesod.
The future of the Jerusalem University is now
in the hands of the Tewish nation. One can
only pray with Prof. Einstein, " that the Univer-
sity may become a new ' Holy Place ' to our
people."
Hi
Jewish Troops.
When the Jewish Legion movement began in the
spring of 1915 its initiators stated quite clearly that
they considered their scheme as of even more im-
portance for peace than for war-time. Subsequent
events have given ample corroboration of this point
of view. We need not recall these events in detail;
it will be enough to mention the Jerusalem riots of
April, 1920, which would never have occurred had
not four-fifths of Vhe Jewish contingent been
demobilised some six months before that date.
Moreover, Jewish troops in Palestine are indis-
pensable not only to prevent the recurrence of anti-
Jewish riots. The justification of their maintenance
lies far deeper. The British taxpayer, however
sympathetic, shrinks from what may look like pay-
ing out of his own pocket for the establishment of
a Jewish National Home in Palestine ; and he is at
least as reluctant to let his sons take any risks for
the sake of the Jews and of their Zionist aspirations.
There should be no mistake about this : the clearer
we realise it the better for us. Should anything
happen in Palestine or on its frontiers resulting in
casualties, strong resentment would inevitably
follow even among those circles of the British public
which, as for instance, organised Labour, have
always eriven Zionism their whole-hearted support.
The event itself might be quite unconnected with
any Zionist or Jewish issue; it might be just a mere
frontier skirmish with a Bedouin tribe, such as coulri
easily happen in any country on the borders of
civilisation; but all our enemies would say that it
occurred because of Zionism, and some of our friends
M4
JEWISH TROOPS.
would believe it. A few cases of this kind could
weaken our political position enormously. Even
now that Palestine in the quietest corner of the
Middle East our opponents are constantly hammer-
ing on this main point : that Great Britain " can only
promote Zionism by keeping a large army in
Palestine." We know, and so do just the loudest of
our antagonists, that the armed force required to
keep order in Palestine will, as soon as general
peace is established, sink naturally to a very
moderate size. But the battle cry " All trouble is
due to Zionism " might become dangerously
popular. And, should the slightest trouble really
occur, and should a list of casualties contain
English— or Indian— names only, even the best of
our friends in London would feel heavily handi-
capped in their defence of a pro-Zionist policy.
Such lists of casualties— should so sorrowful a
contingency ever arise— must contain Jewish names
This is not only a dictate of justice— this is a dictate
of political safety. The Tewish Legion must be-
come one of the main points of the political pro-
gramme of Zionism.
This involves a financial problem which will soon
have to be faced and solved. The British taxpayer
is overburdened with rates and taxes, and one of the
most 1 ntating heads of expenditure is the Armv
It only cost him 28,000,000 pounds before the War-
the estimates for 1921-22 include 26 millions " for
Mesopotamia and Palestine " alone. More than
tour-fifths of this sum is, of course, apportioned to
Mesopotamia, and in the total military budget of
Great Britain the Palestine expenditure is, indeed
only a small fraction— under one-twentieth More-
over, the protection of the Suez Canal, especially in
view of the changed condition of Egypt and the
general unrest in the Orient, necessitates an ade-
quate force for which the most suitable station is
Palestine. The importance of the Holy Land as a.
Duiwark of the Canal has been strongly emphasised
HS
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
by many military authorities during the War. But
it would be unwise of us to ignore the fact that this
point of view is being contested to-day in some very
authoritative quarters, and that, whatever the truth
of it may be, the Palestine military expenditure is
admittedly unpopular at the moment. The demand
to-day that the Army should be reduced to its pre-
war standard is practically general.
So far this reduction has not been effected, nor is
there any prospect of its materialising this year. So
long as this is the case there seems to be ample
justification for demanding that the Jewish units
should be maintained with the rest of the present
establishment. But this can only be a palliative, and
it is obvious that, in the not very distant future, the
existence of Jewish troops in Palestine can only be
ensured if the Jewish people undertakes to share in
the corresponding expenditure.
Fair-minded opinion in Great Britain will, of
course, readily agree that this share can only be a
comparatively modest one. in accordance with the
limited resources at our disposal. Israel is not a
State and cannot be expected to raise public money
on the same scale as one of the wealthiest nations
of the world — the British nation. Moreover, no un-
prejudiced person can deny that Jewish troops
stationed in Palestine would serve not only Jewish
but also British interests. Even putting aside
Palestine's role in the protection of the Suez Canal,
the mere task of defending public order in the
country itself is one of the first duties of the Manda-
tory Power.
An arrangement will have to be found in
accordance with all these considerations. The
details of such an arrangement can evidently not be
discussed here. The following data will suffice to
e the reader some rough idea of what we might
reasonably be expected to supply. There can be
h.trdlv any question in the immediate future of the
Jewish "Treasury's" being able to defray such expen-
M 6
JEWISH TROOPS.
diture as equipment, tents, ammunition, etc. — military
tnctiricl of which large, not yet exhausted quantities
have been stored during the War. The item where
the Jewish share might efficiently come in is the pay
on the personnel. The present pay of a private in the
British Army is 3s. a day; before the War it was is. ;
in the now proposed Palestinian militia a private's
pay has been fixed at £E 1 (£1 is.) per month.
This last standard may be taken as the base of our
calculations. It would work out at £E 12,000, or
rather £E 15,000 per year (taking into account the
higher pay of non-commissioned officers) for every
battalion of 1,000 men. This, of course, is only a
minimum, as it does not comprise the pay of the
officers, nor any special allowances. Thousands
among the young Zionist pioneers are willing and
anxious to enlist into the present Judean battalion.
It is only fair to them to expect that lower pay will
not in the slightest degree weaken the attraction of
the Jewish Legion so far as genuine pioneers are
concerned. Any young immigrant prepared to
" rough it " in civil occupation will have to content
himself with less than the equivalent of " one pound
a month and all found."
Though serious, the weight of the expenditure
involved should not be over-estimated. It might be
useful to recall that every civilian pioneer engaged
in any of the proposed " works of national impor-
tance " such as afforestation or drainage will cost
the Keren ha-Yesod at least £5 to £7 per month.
Nor would it be quite fair to reject this comparison
on the ground of the time-honoured platitude that
classes military expenditure as " unproductive." It
hardly deserves such a description in our case.
Even without emphasising the standpoint of
political safety, already dwelt upon in the beginning
of this chapter, as well as the still more important
point of " safety " in the most literal meaning of
the word, the Judeans have proved an excellent
" training depot " from the point of view of coloni-
M7
THE KEREN HA-VESOD BOOK.
sation. If properly managed, this institution can
be turned into a real school of pioneering, wiihout
losing anything of its military preparedness and
efficiency. It is, besides, not improbable that the
" syllabus " for the new Judeans could be modified
so as to include the teaching of Hebrew and English
and, during the second year of service, oportunities
for training in works of public utility.
It might be suggested — indeed it has been sugges-
ted—that the whole difficulty could be settled by
forming in Palestine a local army, paid for out of the
country's own Treasury. This would be mo st un-
desirable, both at the present moment and at any
time in the immediate futur< . Even the small and
unostentatious local militia which it is now proposed
to raise meets with very weighty objections; a more
ambitious scheme would justify the strongest oppo-
sition. Palestine is a poor country; its official
budget for 1920-21 is much below the Zionist
estimate for the year. Any serious financial sacrifice
of this character would force the Palestinian
Treasury to curtail its already very modest grants
for the advancement of agriculture or education.
On the other hand — and this is the main point — a
military force paid for by the Palestinian taxpayer
would have to be a racially mixed force, containing
a large proportion of elements whose loyalty to the
spirit of the Mandate is, for the present, question-
able. This point, on which the least said the better,
should nevertheless be borne in mind by every
Jewish reader of the present chapter: sapienti sat.
The historv of the Tewish units in the last War
has been told many times; it will suffice, for the
purpose of this book, to recall the main facts. The
Zio Mule Corps was formed in Alexandria (Egypt)
in April, 191 5; it was commanded by Lieut. -Colonel
J. II. Patterson, D.S.O.. and, r fterwards. by
Captain J. Trumpeldor. The little unit, consisting
M 8
JEWISH TROOPS.
of some 600 men, was employed in Gallipoli, and
eventually disbanded in the summer of 1916. The
' Jewish Regiment of Infantry " was formed in
August, 1917. under the official name of "38th-42nd
Royal Fusiliers." The number of enlistments into
the new unit— from England, the United States, the
Argentine, and from Palestine itself — reached
10.000, but only a half of this number was actually
able to be transported to the Palestinian front. In
the spring of 1919 the Regiment was officially
granted a " Menora " bade:e, and the name
1 Judeans." During the winter of the same year
most of the contingent was demobilised and the
1st Judeans ' was reduced to a mere nucleus,
little more than a " cadre." consisting of Pales-
tinian volunteers under Lieut. -Colonel Margolin,
himself a Palestinian.
For the future the " Judeans " will have to be
considered as one of the purposes for which the
Keren ha-Yesod is being raised. The annual expen-
diture under this heading, though small, may be irk-
some; but in value, in importance, from the stand-
point of both politics and colonisation, the Jewish
soldier will be second to none among the main fac-
tors of Zionist activity in Palestine.
M9
The Jewel Fund.
(Special Women's Fund.)
The Special Women's Fund of the Keren ha-
Yesod has been inaugurated by the Women's
International Zionist Organisation, with the
approval of the Executive of the Zionist Organisa-
tion and the Board of the Keren ha-Yesod, to give
Jewish women in every country the opportunity to
contribute directly, personally, to the rebuilding of
the National Home. If they have jewels, their
own property, at their own disposal, they can
sacrifice their cherished possessions; if they have
none, they can give money or gifts in kind; there is
not one but can deny herself in the ordinary affairs
of life, restrict herself in dress, entertaining, and
menus plaisirs and give the money thus saved ; if
even they are indeed poor, they can save here and
there a trifle from daily life for the honour of shar-
ing in this Million-pound Jewel and Gift Fund
which shall be regarded as the special response of
Jewish women to the historic decision of San Remo.
Jewish women will not lag behind men in their
eagerness to serve
If it is asked why women desire to devote their
contributions to a special Fund instead of simply join-
ing in the general collection, the answer is that
Jewish women the world over (women in general
are sharing in this wave of though! ) are realising
that women's strength throughout the centuries has
lain in safeguarding and cherishing their own parti-
cular side of life, the home-making side: and that
not even when, as of recent decades in Europe and
150
THE JEWEL FUND.
America, they come into the arena and compete in
every sphere with men, can they (or the community)
permit the exclusively masculine point of view to
dominate life, as it has in all the civilised lands for
too many years now of the Industrial Era. Woman
has her own point of view, her own contribution to
make; if this remains unexpressed, the common life
of man and woman grows spiritually and materially
poorer.
This kind of poverty has been notably evident in
Palestine, where all those women (mchidhig' Pales-
tinian teachers themselves) who nave seriously con-
sidered the educational system of the Yishuv, have
agreed with remarkable unanimity, that the needs of
women and girls, in relation to the needs of the
country, have been entirely ignored. With two or
three almost negligible exceptions in this new
land, where the pioneering life must be faced, with
all its attendant hardships, there has been no train-
ing in " home-making " science whatever. The
masculine scale of values has been accepted — a
bookish learning has become the standard as well
for women as for men, and so a new generation
grows up disastrously ill-equipped for the actual
conditions.
It has, therefore, seemed to the W.I.Z.O. that
it is ihe women's distinct duty to evolve certain
plans for social and educational help, pre-
eminently calculated to maintain those standards of
health, comfort and brave-heartedness which are
absolute necessities if our colonising efforts are
not to fail, but which might run the risk of being
neglected while men were engaged in the other
great problems of reconstruction with which this
book deals. These schemes, moreover, make a
very special and direct appeal to the interest and
experience of women and enlist their practical
sympathy.
For convenience we have divided our schemes
151
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
into those for social welfare and those for educa-
tion.
First and foremost we have thought of the
Pioneers (Halutzim) now coming into Palestine
every week — as gallant an example of national
heroism as any nation has ever had to show — doing
the roughest work, living in temporary camps wher-
ever the immediate task calls. Hardly any are
" out-door " people by training or have experience
of camp-life. It is, therefore, a prime necessity lo
help them to grapple with the new conditions and
establish some degree of comfort and hygiene in
their daily lives.
Hence our two first schemes : —
I. To erect Hostels for immigrants at Jaffa or
wherever most needed. Each Hostel to have a
dining-room, to serve also as a recreation room,
kitchen and store-room. The work will be done by
such of the Halutzat as care to receive a simple
domestic training most carefully adapted to the con-
ditions of the country in respect of local foods,
fuel, methods of cooking, etc., or by girls from the
local Jewish population. The Hostel will provide
daily meals for a large number of immigrants at a
low cost (it is expected this side of the Hostel will
become self-supporting, as were Y.M.C.A. Huts')
and will thus serve the double purpose of helping
in the general care of immigrants on arrival as well
as providing temporary accommodation and domestic
training. The first Hostel is to be started at once
from funds already in hand; others as soon as more
money is collected.
In addition it is intended to set up Recreation
Huts with Kitchens wherever Pioneer camps are
working, somewhat on the lines of the Y.M.J. A.
Huts during the War.
II. To provide Travelling Instructors in
Domestic Science and General Hygiene for Immi-
grant groups.
15a
THE JEWEL FUND.
It is proposed to engage a number of suitably
trained women to travel all over the country to the
different pioneer groups, staying some weeks in
each camp and establishing the standard of comfort
and hvr^iene possible in the circumstances, with
the materials available, by bringing to bear modern
knowledge of cooking, dietetics and hygiene. The
instructors will be wc men who have made a_ special
study of food values in relation to climatic con-
ditions and understand the essential health pre-
cautions. One such lady has already been engaged
and will be in Palestine before this book is pub-
lished; others are ready as soon as funds permit.
We would add that such help as this has been
already urgently asked for by the pioneers whose
health is, unhappily in too many cases, suffering
from the strain of "the rough conditions, and who
realise they have neither time nor requisite know-
ledge themselves to establish the conditions of
maintaining a decent level of health. Our dieticians
will endeavour to leave their work in the hands of a
small Committee of Management in each camp and
will themselves receive help and advice from the
old-established colonists, who, having a wide know-
ledge of the food stuffs available and of general
conditions, can help in a very practical way to pre-
pare immigrants for their later life under more
settled conditions.
But this pioneering-life of camps is merely the
preliminary stage to the gradual permanent settle-
ment of the Halutzim as well as of the more usual
type of settlers, i.e., married people with young
families. Whether they finally settle on land or in
town, their life will be equally beset by all the usual
drawbacks of colonists in undeveloped countries.
On the woman — wife, daughter or independent
worker — as much of the success of such a life
depends as on the man, for it is she who must so
arrange life as to keep her household in health and
good heart. We dare not afford to let her
iS3
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
be worn out in the unequal struggle that inexperi-
ence wages against hard conditions. Nine-tenths
of the terrible toll in health and life that the
earlier colonists' wives paid during their most
heroic struggle against unknown hardships is now
preventable through modern science and know-
ledge : it is for us to make sure that tiie knowledge,
and the means to apply it, are accessible to the new
settlers now. We have to remember that at first
many of the essentials of civilised life will be lack-
ing in the small immigrant settlements. The woman
will find herself in a primitive type of house with the
scantiest appliances; water will probably have to be
fetched, fuel will be dear and of a type unknown to
her, help in the household as a rule unobtainable,
markets and supplies " casual " and variable, many
articles hitherto regarded as indispensable absent,
and strange food-stuffs offered wl kh, however
excellent, she regards with natural suspicion.
Moreover, climatic conditions are new, and life is
not easily adjusted to the great heat in the middle of
the day and the extremely early rising necessary if
work is to be got through in the cool hours and
adequate rest taken. Then there are, as in every
country, special diseases that demand special pre-
cautions. No one knows instinctively that, for
example, to cope with malaria, all standing water
must be kept covered — the tiny pond in the garden
no less than the great house-cistern, lest mosquitoes
breed; or that fever-breeding flies will never dis-
appear till house-refuse is at once destroyed.
Doctors and sanitary inspectors may explain all
this admirably, but till the mother in the house has
taken it to heart, there will be no effective applica-
of their wisdom.
Hence the following schemes : —
III. The House-wires' Cooperative Guild will
provide the essential household-help by means of:
154
THE JEWEL FUND.
(a) Cooperative Kitchens, where the available
foodstuffs will be best utilised, fuel economised,
labour saved.
(b) Laundries. This work is too hard for the
poor appliances of the small house, and water is
too scarce for wasteful private use.
(c) Domestic Help. It is proposed to establish in
the larger new centres (and gradually in the smaller
also) Hostels on the lines of the Cooperative
Nurses' Hostels in some of the older countries,
whence daily and resident " household helps " —
trained as adequately as funds allow — can be sent to
settlers' families, to lighten the mothers' burden.
It is fully expected that by Jewish women will deem
this household work as honourable as Florence
Nightingale made sick-nursing, and that the com-
munity will learn to honour our Guild as the Nursing
Fraternity is now honoured in all civilised lands.
(d) Emergency Help of a similar type in times
of sickness or child-bearing. This needs no ex-
planation.
In view of the obvious national importance of
maintaining child-life amongst the Jewish popula-
tion in Palestine, and the difficulties of infant-rear-
ing under new conditions, we propose to establish —
IV. Infant Welfare Centres, in conjunction with
the Haclassah Medical Unit, to deal with the health
of the expectant mother and of the child from
birth to school-age. Centres will be set up where
mothers can bring their babies weekly; nurse and
doctor will be in attendance, babies will be
examined and expert advice given in regard to
food, clothing and general hygiene. It will also
probably be desirable, wnile the country's milk-
supply is so poor, to provide some form of dried
milk at a low price. The saving of infant-life
already effected by such Centres in England,
France, Germany, U.S.A., and other older countries
is startling. In England, for example, the decline
155
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
in the infantile death-rate from 1900 to 1917 reached
the figures of 27 per cent, in the first three months,
50 per cent, from three to six months, 43 per cent,
from six to twelve months. We can hope for
similar results in Palestine, and are most happy
that, through the generosity of the New Zealand
women, we are sure of our first Nurse.
All the foregoing plans deal with the present.
We have also to look to our future womanhood ;
hence two Educational Schemes present themselves
as vitally important.
V. A School for Domestic Science in Jerusalem.
To our mind no girl should grow up in Palestine
without the opportunity of acquiring the practical
skill and theoretical knowledge tnat we have
indicated above as vital to successful home-
making. The Hebrew Board of Education has
shown itself entirely sympathetic, and it is therefore
proposed to install and equip this School and pro-
vide a budget for the first year, after which it is
hoped the Board will be in a position to assume the
responsibility. The President of the Board has
agreed that the School's training shall become an
integral part of the curriculum of the elementary
schools (each girl will attend so many hours a week
in her last two years at school), and later it is hoped
to establish advanced courses for teachers of village
schools.
This household-training is regarded as an essen-
tial element in every Palestinian girl's education,
but since it is hoped and expected that a large
proportion of our women will be later engaged in
agriculture, either as wives or daughters of settlers
or as " land-workers," it is of etxreme importance
that opportunity be provided for specialised agri-
cultural training 1 . Since so great a share of the
' small-holder's " success depends on the woman's
'56
THE JEWEL FUND.
highly technical work of looking after cows and
dairy, chickens and bees, growing flowers and
vegetables, preserving fruit, it is essential to found :
VI. A Farm School for Agricultural Training,
according to a programme drawn up by Mrs. Meisel-
Schochet. who was in charge of the Girls' Agricul-
tural School at Kinneret till the War, and has since
gained further experience in agriculture, both in
England and Holland. The course would last two
years and would be mainly a practical one, only so
much theoretical work being undertaken as would
facilitate the practical work on the farms later on.
It is hoped to be able to arrange that about half
the places shall be free of charge.
It is one of the well-known defects of our settle-
ments — both urban and agricultural — that Jewish
houses seldom possess gardens or vegetable plots
comparable to those which surround, for instance,
every German house in Haifa or Wilhelma. This
is the natural province of the settler's wife and
daughters. Active steps should be taken to arouse
Jewish womens' interest in this respect and to give
them at least some rudiments of a corresponding in-
struction.
An Executive Committee has been formed in
Palestine consisting of: —
(a) Representatives of existing Palestinian
Women's Organisations — these representatives be-
ing women who have already demonstrated their
knowledge in the fields of social work, education,
labour, etc.
(b) Representatives directly chosen by the
Women's International Zionist Organisation. All
plans and schemes shall be the joint work of this
Palestinian Committee, together with the Executive
of the Central W.I.Z.O. in London.
l D/
APPENDICES.
Resolutions of the Zionist Conference (London,
July, 1920), concerning the Keren ha-Yesod.
I.
The Zionist Conference, appreciating- the historic import-
ance of the moment, and realising- that the energy of the
whole Jewish people must be concentrated on the immense
task of the rebuilding- of Erez Israel, hereby resolves: —
(1) An immigration and colonisation fund is to be created
under the name of Keren ha-Yesod. This fund is to
have a definite status as a legally constituted body.
(2) This Conference fixes the amount of ,£25,000,000 as
the basis required for the building up of the Jewish
National Home in Palestine This Con-
ference issues a solemn appeal to the whole Jewish
people to do its duty and to secure the raising of the
Keren ha-Yesod by an extraordinary offering from
capital and income. The National Institution of the
Ma'aser (tithe) is held up as an example.
<3) A certificate is to be issued for the amount of each
contribution to the Keren ha-Yesod.
(4) At least 20 per cent, of the funds collected by the
Keren ha-Yesod shall be given to the Jewish National
Fund.
{5) Of the further funds collected not more than one-
third shall be spent in current expenditure for educa-
tion, social welfare, immigration, and similar pur-
poses in Palestine for rbe building" up of the Jewish
National Home, while at least two-thirds are to b
invested in permanent national institutions or economic
undertakings.
158
RESOLUTIONS.
Note I. No part of this Fund will be used for the ad-
ministrative expenses of the Zionist Organisation.
Note II. No assistance or loan shall be given to private
undertakings from this Fund, except in so far as purposes
of public utility are thereby served.
(6) An account of the income and expenditure of this
Fund shall be rendered and published annually.
(7) The holders of certificates will participate in the
administration of the Fund, and in the revenue of the
economic undertakings established by the Fund. The
suitable form for such participation is to be determined
by the Executive, subject to the provision that the
rate of interest on the productively invested capital
must not exceed a reasonable return.
II.
For the raising of the Keren ha-Yesod on a national
scale the sacrifice and co-operation of all classes of the
Jewish people is required. The Zionist Conference there-
fore proclaims it to be the duty of every member of the
Zionist Organisation to offer his services for the period
of one year, and to place them at the disposal of the
Executive.
III.
The Executive is requested to establish a special office
in London, the duty of which will be to determine, in co-
operation with the Federations and the Jewish National
Fund, tb*» ways and means of organising the campaign
for the Keren ha-Yesod on a large scale.
*59
Draft of the Mandate for Palestine as submitted by
Mr. Balfour on December 7, 1920, to the Secretariat-
general of the League of Nations for the approval
of the Council of the League of Nations.
The Council of the League of Nations.
Whereas by Article 132 of the Treaty of Peace
signed at Sevres on the tenth day of August, 1920,
Turkey renounced in favour of the Principal Allied
Powers all rights and title over Palestine; and
Whereas by Article 95 of the said treaty the High
Contracting Parties agreed to entrust, by applica-
tion of the provisions of Article 22, t.ie Administra-
tion of Palestine, within such boundaries as might
be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a
Mandatory to be selected by the said Powers; and
Whereas by the same article the High Contracting
Parties further agreed that the Mandatory should
be responsible for putting into effect the declaration
originally made on November 2, 1917, by the Govern-
ment of His Britannic Majest] and adopted by the
other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,
it being clearly understood that nothing should be
done which might prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Pales-
tine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by
Jews in any other country; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to
the historical connection of the Jewish people with
Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their
National Home in that country; and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have selected
His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Pales-
tine; and
160
DRAFT OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
Whereas the terms of the Mandate in respect of
Palestine have been formulated in the following
terms and submitted to the Council of the League
for approval; and
Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the
Mandate in respect of Palestine and undertaken to
exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in
conformity with the following provisions;
Hereby approves the terms of the said Mandate as
follows : —
Article i.
His Britannic Majesty shall have the right to
exercise as Mandatory all the powers inherent in
the Government of a sovereign State, save as they
may be limited by the terms of the present Mandate.
Article 2.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing
the country under such political, administrative and
economic conditions as will secure the establishment
of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the
preamble, and the development of self-governing
institutions, and also for safe-guarding the civil and
religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine,
irrespective of race and religion.
Article 3.
The Mandatory shall encourage the widest
measure of self-government for localities consistent
with the prevailing conditions.
Article 4.
An appropriate Jewish agency shall be recognised
as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-
operating with the Administration of Palestine in
such economic, social and other matters as may
affect the establishment of the Jewish national home
161
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
and the interests of the Jewish population in Pales-
tine, and, subject always to the control of the
Administration, to assist and take part in the develop-
ment of the country.
The Zionist organisation, so long as its organisa-
tion and constitution are in the opinion of the Man-
datory appropriate, shall be recognised as such
agency. It shall take steps in consultation with His
Britannic Majesty's Government to secure the co-
operation of all Jews who are willing to assist in
the establishment of the Jewish national home.
Article 5.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that
no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to,
or in any way placed under the control of the
Government of any foreign Power.
Article 6.
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring
that the rights and position of other sections of the
population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish
immigration under suitable conditions and shall en-
courage in co-operation with the Jewish agency
referred to in Article 4 close settlement by Jews on
the land, including State lands and waste lands not
required for public purposes.
Article 7.
The Administration of Palestine will be responsible
for enacting a nationality law. There shall be in-
cluded in this law provisions framed so as to facili-
tate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews
who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.
Article 8.
The immunities and privileges of foreigners, in-
cluding the benefits of consular jurisdiction and pro-
tection as formerly enjoyed by Capitulation or
162
DRAFT OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
usage in the Ottoman Empire, are definitely abro-
gated in Palestine.
Article 9.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing
that the judicial system established in Palestine shall
safeguard (a) the interests of foreigners; (b) the law,
and (to the extent deemed expedient) the jurisdiction
now existing in Palestine with regard to questions
arising out of the religious beliefs of certain com-
munities (such as the laws of Wakf and personal
status). In particular the Mandatory agrees that
the control and administration of Wakfs shall be
exercised in accordance with religious law and the
dispositions of the founders.
Article 10.
Pending the making of special extradition agree-
ments relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties
in force between the Mandatory and other foreign
Powers shall apply to Palestine.
Article ii.
The Administration of Palestine shall take all
necessary measures to safeguard the interests of the
community in connection with the development of
the country, and, subject to Article 311 of the Treaty
of Peace with Turkey, shall have full power to pro-
vide for public ownership or control of any of the
natural resources of the country or of the public
works, services and utilities established or to be
established therein. It shall introduce a land system
appropriate to the needs of the country, having re-
gard, among other things, to the desirability of
promoting the close settlement and intensive cultiva-
tion of the land.
The Administration may arrange with the Jewish
agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or
operate, upon fair and equitable terms, any public
163
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
works, services and utilities, and to develop any of
the natural resources of the country, in so far as
these matters are not directly undertaken by the
Administration. Any such arrangements shall pro-
vide that no profits distributed by such agency :
directly or indirectly, shall exceed a reasonable rate
of interest on the capital, and any further profits
shall be utilised by it for the benefit of the country
in a manner approved by the Administration.
Article 12.
The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the con-
trol of the foreign relations of Palestine, and the
right to issue exequaturs to consuls appointed by
foreign Powers. It shall also be entitled to afford
diplomatic and consular protection to citizens of
Palestine when outside its territorial limits.
Article 13.
All responsibility in connection with the Holy
Places and religious buildings or sites in Palestine,
including that of preserving existing rights, of
securing free access to the Holy Places, religious
buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship,
while ensuring the requirements of public order and
decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who will
he responsible solely to the League of Nations in
all matters connected therewith : provided that
nothing in this Article shall prevenf the Mandatory
from entering into such arrangement as he may
deem reasonable with the Administration for the
purpose of carrying the provisions of this Article
into effect: and provided also that nothing in this
Mandate shall be construed as conferring upon the
Mandatory authority to interfere with the fabric or
the management of purely Moslem sacred shrines,
the immunities of which are guaranteed.
164
DRAFT OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
Article 14.
In accordance with Article 95 of the Treaty of
Peace with Turkey, the Mandatory undertakes to
appoint as soon as possible a special Commission
to study and regulate all questions and claims re-
lating to the different religious communities. In
the composition of this Commission the religious
interests concerned will be taken into account. The
chairman of the Commission will be appointed by
the Council of the League of Nations. It will be
the duty of this Commission to ensure that certain
Holy Places, religious buildings or sites regarded
with special veneration by the adherents of one par-
ticular religion, are entrusted to the permanent con-
trol of suitable bodies representing the adherents of
the religion concerned. The selection of the Holy
Places, religious buildings or sites so to be en-
trusted, shall be made by the Commission, subject
to the approval of the Mandatory.
In all cases dealt with under this Article, however,
the right and duty of the Mandatory to maintain
order and decorum in the place concerned shall not
be affected, and the buildings and sites will be sub-
ject to the provisions of such laws relating to public
monuments as may be enacted in Palestine with" the
approval of the Mandatory.
The /ights of control conferred under this Article
will be guaranteed by the League of Nations.
Article 15.
The Mandatory will see that complete freedom of
conscience and the free exercise of all forms of
worship, subject only to the maintenance of public
order and morals, is ensured to all. No discrimina-
tion of any kind shall be made between the in-
habitants of Palestine on the ground of race, re-
ligion or language. No person shall be excluded
from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious
belief.
165
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
The right of each community to maintain its own
schools for the education of its own members in its
own language (while conforming to such educational
requirements of a general nature as the Administra-
tion may impose) shall not be denied or impaired.
Article 16.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for exercising
such supervision over missionary enterprise in Pales-
tine as may be required for the maintenance of
public order and good government. Subject to
such supervision, no measures shall be taken in
Palestine to obstruct or interfere with such enter-
prise or to discriminate against any missionary on
the ground of his religion or nationality.
Article 17.
The Administration of Palestine may organise
on a voluntary basis the forces necessary for the
preservation of peace and order, and also for the
defence of the country, subject, however, to the
supervision of the Mandatory, who shall not use
them for purposes other than those above specified
save with the consent of the Administration of Pales-
tine, and except for such purnoses, no military,
naval or air forces shall be raised or maintained by
the Administration of Palestine.
Nothing in this Article shall preclude the Adminis-
tration of Palestine from contributing to the cost
of the maintenance of forces maintained by the
Mandatory in Palestine.
The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to
use the roads, railways and ports of Palestine for
the movement of troops and the carriage of fuel
and supplies.
Article 18.
The Mandatory must see that there is no dis-
crimination in Palestine against the nationals of any
166
DRAFT OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
oi the States members of the League of Nations
(including companies incorporated under their laws)
as compared with those of the Mandatory or of any
foreign State in matters concerning taxation, com-
merce, or navigation, the exercise of industries or
professions, or in the treatment of ships or aircraft.
Similarly, there shall be no discrimination in Pales-
tine against good? originating in or destined for
any of the said States, and there shall be freedom
of transit under equitable conditions across the man-
dated area.
Subject as aforesaid and to the other provisions
of this Mandate the Administration of Palestine may
on the advice of the Mandatory impose such taxes
and customs duties as it may consider necessary,
and take such steps as it may think best to promote
the development of the natural resources of the
country and to safeguard the interests of the popu-
lation.
Nothing in this Article shall prevent the Govern-
ment of Palestine on the advice of the Mandatory
from concluding a special customs agreement with
any State, the territory of which in 191 4 was wholly
included in Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.
Article 19.
The Mandatory will adhere on behalf of the Ad-
ministration to any general international conven-
tions already existing or that may be concluded
hereafter with the approval of the League of Nations
respecting the slave traffic, the traffic in arms and
ammunition, or the traffic in drugs, or relating to
commercial equality, freedom of transit and naviga-
tion, aerial navigation and postal, telegraphic and
wireless communication or literary, artistic or in-
dustrial property.
Article 20.
The Mandatory will co-operate on behalf of the
Administration of Palestine, so far as religious,
167
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
social and other conditions may permit, in the execu-
tion of any common policy adopted by the League
of Nations for preventing and combating disease,
including diseases of plants and animals.
Article 21.
The Mandatory will secure, within twelve months
from the date of the coming into force of this
Mandate, the enactment, and will ensure the execu-
tion of a Law of Antiquities based on the provisions
of Article 421 of Part XIII of the Treaty of Peace
with Turkey. This law shall replace the former
Ottoman Law of Antiquities, and shall ensure
equality of treatment in the matter of archaeological
research to the nationals of all States, members of
the League of Nations.
Article 22.
English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official
languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscrip-
tions in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine
shall be repeated in Hebrew, and any statements or
inscriptions in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.
Article 23.
The Administration of Palestine shall recognise
the holy days of the respective communities in
Palestine as legal days of rest for the members of
such communities.
Article 24.
The Mandatory shall make to the Council of the
League of Nations an annual report as to the
measures taken during the year to carry out the
provisions of the Mandate. Copies of all laws and
regulations promulgated or issued during the year
shall be communicated with the report.
168
DRAFT OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
Article 25.
If any dispute whatever should arise between the
members of the League of Nations relating to the
interpretation or the application of these provisions
which cannot be settled by negotiation, this dispute
shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of Inter-
national Justice provided for by Article 14 of the
Covenant of the League of Nations.
Article 26.
The consent of the Council of the League of
Nations is required for any modification of the
terms of the present Mandate, provided that in the
case of any modification proposed by the Mandatory,
such consent may be given by a majority of the
Council.
Article 27.
In the event of the termination of the Mandate
conferred upon the Mandatory by this Declaration,
the Council of the League of Nations shall make
such arrangements as may be deemed necessary for
safeguarding in perpetuity, under guarantee of the
League, the rights secured by Articles 13 and 14,
and for securing, under the guarantee of the League,
that tne Government of Palestine will fully honour
the financial obligations, legitimately incurred by
the Administration of Palestine during the period of
the Mandate.
The present copy shall be deposited in the archives
of the League of Nations and certified copies shall
be forwarded by the Secretary-General of the League
of Nations to all Powers Signatories of the Treaty
of Peace with Turkev.
169
Extraets from the Franco-British Convention of
December 23, 1920.
Articlk 1 .
The boundaries between the territories under the
French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon on the
one hand and the British Mandates of Mesopotamia
and Palestine on the other are determined as
fellows : — '
On the east, the Tigris from Jeziret-ibn-Omar to
the boundaries of the former vilayets of Diarbekir
and Mosul.
On the south-east and south, the aforesaid
boundary of the former vilayets southwards as far
as Roumelan Koeui; thence a line leaving- in the
territory under the French Mandate the entire basin
of the western Kabur and passing in a straight line
towards the Euphrates, which it crosses at Abu
Kemal, thence a straight line to Imtar to the south
of Jebul Druse, then a line to the south of Nasib
on the Hedjaz Railway, then a line to Semakh on
the Lake of Tiberias, traced to the south of the
railway, which descends towards the lake and parallel
to the railway. Deraa and its environs will remain
in the territory under the French Mandate; the fron-
tier will in principle leave the valley of the Yarmuk
in the territory under the French Mandate, but will
be drawn as close as possible to the railway in such
a manner as to allow the construction in the valley
of the Yarmuk of a railway entirely situated in the
territory under the British Mandate. At Semakh
the frontier will be fixed in such a manner as to
allow each of the two High Contracting Parties to
170
FRANCO-BRITISH CONVENTION.
construct and establish a harbour and railway station
giving - free access to the Lake of Tiberias.
On the west, the frontier will pass from Semakh
across the Lake of Tiberias to the mouth of the
Wadi Massadyie. It will then follow the course of
this river upstream, and then the Wadi Jeraba to
its source. From that point it will reach the track
from El Kuneitra to Banias at the point marked
Skek, thence it will follow the said track, which
will remain in the territory under the French Man-
date as far as Banias. Thence the frontier will be
drawn westwards as far as Metullalr, which will
remain in Palestinian territor}'. This portion of the
frontier will be traced in detail in such a manner
as to ensure for the territory under the French Man-
date easy communication entirely within such terri-
tory with the regions of Tyre and Sidon, as well as
continuity of road communication to the west and
to the east of Banias.
From Metullah the frontier will reach the water-
shed of the valley of the Jordan and the basin of the
Litani. Thence it will follow this watershed south-
wards. Thereafter it will follow in principle the
watershed between the Wadis Farah-Houroun and
Kerkera, which will remain in the territory under
the British Mandate, and the Wadis El Doubleh, El
Aioui: and Es Zerka, which will remain in the terri-
tory under the French Mandate. The frontier will
reach the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Ras-el-
Nakura, which will remain in the territory under
the French Mandate.
Article 2.
A Commission shall be established within three
months from the signature of the present conven-
tion to trace on the spot the boundary line laid
down in Article 1 between the French and British
mandatory territories. This Commission shall be
composed of four members. Two of these members
171
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
shall be nominated by the British and French
Governments respectively, the two others shall be
nominated, with the consent of the Mandatory
Power, by the local Governments concerned in the
French and British mandatory territories respec-
tively.
In case any dispute should arise in connection with
the work of the Commission, the question shall be
referred to the Council of the League of Nations,
whose decision shall be final.
The final reports by the Commission shall give
the definite description of the boundary as it has
been actually demarcated on the ground; the neces-
sary maps shall be annexed thereto and signed by
the Commission. The reports, with their annexes,
shall be made in triplicate; one copy shall be de-
posited in the archives of the League of Nations,
one copy shall be kept by the Mandatory, and one
by the other Government concerned.
Article 5.
1. The French Government agrees to facilitate
by a liberal arrangement the joint use of the section
of the existing railway between the Lake of Tiberias
and Nasib. This arrangement .-"hall be concluded
between the railway administrations of the areas
under the French and British Mandates respectively
as soon as possible after the coming into force of
the Mandates for Palestine and Syria. In particular
the agreement shall allow the administration in the
British zone to run their own tiains with their own
traction and train crews over the above section of
the railway in both directions for all purposes other
than the local traffic of the territory under the
French Mandate. The agreement shall determine
at the same time the financial, administrative and
technical conditions governing the running of the
British trains. In the event of the two administra-
tions being unable to reach an agreement within
>:■»
FRANCO-BRITISH CONVENTION.
three months from the coming into force of the two
above-mentioned Mandates, an arbitrator shall be
appointed by the Council of the League of Nations
to settle the points as to which a difference of
opinion exists and immediate effect shall be given
as far as possible to those parts of the agreement
on which an undt standing has already been
reached.
The said agreement shall be concluded for an in-
definite period and shall be subject to periodical
revision as need arises.
2. The British Government may carry a pipe line
along the existing railway track and shall have in
perpetuity and at any moment the right to transport
troops by the railway.
3. The French Government consents to the
nomination of a special Commission, which, after
having examined the ground, may readjust the
above-mentioned frontier line in the valley of the
Yarmuk as far as Nasib in such a manner as to
render possible the construction of the British rail-
way and pipe line connecting Palestine with the
Hedjaz Railway and the valley of the Euphrates,
and running entirely within the limits of the areas
under the British Mandate. It is agreed, however,
that the existing railway in the Yarmuk valley is
to reman entirely in the territory under the French
Mandate. The right provided by the present para-
graph for the benefit of the British Government
must be utilised within a maximum period of ten
years.
The above-mentioned Commission shall be com-
posed of a representative of the French Government
and a representative of the British Government, to
whom may be added representatives of the local
Governments and experts as technical advisers to
the extent considered necessary by the British and
French Governments.
4. In the event of the track of the British railway
being compelled for technical reasons to enter in
»73
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
certain places the territory under French Mandate,
the French Government will recognise the full and
complete extra-territoriality of the sections thus
lying in the territory under the French Mandate, and
will give the British Government or its technical
agents full and easy access for all railway purposes.
5. In the event of the British Government
making use of the right mentioned in paragraph 3
to construct a railway in the valley of the Yarmuk,
the obligations assumed by the French Government
in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 of the present
Article will determine three months after the com-
pletion of the construction of the said railway.
6. The French Government agrees to arrange
that the rights provided for above for the benefit
of the British Government shall be recognised by
the local Governments in the terriU ry under the
French Mandate.
Article 6.
It is expressly stipulated that the facilities accorded
to the British Government by the preceding Articles
imply the maintenance for the benefit of France of
the provisions of the Franco-British Agreement of
San Remo regarding oil.
Article 7.
The French and British Governments will put no
obstacle in their respective mandatory areas in the
way of the recruitment of railway stall for any sec-
tion of the Hedjaz Railway.
Every facility will be given for the passage of
employees of the Hedjaz Railway over the British*
and French mandatory areas in order that the work-
ing of the said railway may be in no way prejudiced.
The French and British Governments agree,
where necessary, and in eventual agreement with
the local Governments, to conclude an arrangement
•74
FRANCO-BRITISH CONVENTION.
whereby the stores and railway material passing
from one mandatory area to another and intended
for the use of the Hedjaz Railway will not for this
reason be submitted to any additional customs dues
and will be exempted so far as possible from customs
formalities.
Arucle 8.
Experts nominated respectively by the Administra
tions of Syria and Palestine shall examine in com-
mon within six months after the signature of the
present convention the employment, for the pur-
poses of irrigation and the production of hydro-
electric power, of the waters of the Upper Jordan
and the Yarmuk and of their tributaries, after satis-
faction of the needs of the territories under the
French Mandate.
^ In connection with this examination the French
Government will give its representatives the most
liberal instructions for the employment of the sur-
plus of these waters for the benefit of Palestine.
In the event of no agreement being reached as a
result of this examination, these questions shall be
referred to the French and British Governments for
decision.
To the extent to which the contemplated works
are to benefit Palestine, the Administration of Pales-
tine shall defray the expenses of the construction
of all canals, weirs, dams, tunnels, pipe lines and
reservoirs or other works of a similar nature, or
measures taken with the object of reafforestation
and the management of forests.
Article 9.
Subject to the provisions of Articles 15 and 16
of the Mandate for Palestine, of Articles 8 and 10
of the Mandate for Mesopotamia, and of Article 8
of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, and
175
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
subject also to the general right of control in re-
lation to education and public instruction, of the
local Administrations concerned, the British and
French Governments agree to allow the schools
which French and British nationals possess and
direct at the present moment in their respective
mandatory areas to continue their work freely; the
teaching of French a,nd English will be freely per-
mitted in these schools.
The present Article does not in any way imply the
right of nationals of either of the two parties to
open new schools in the mandatory area of the other.
176
Ordinances of H.E. the High Commissioner for
Palestine.
I.
Land Transfer.
Extracts.
Whereas an Ordinance of November 18th, igi8, pro-
hibited all dispositions of immovable property pending the
re-establishment of the Land Registry Offices; and whereas
Land Registry Offices have been re-established, and in
order to meet the needs of the people it is desirable that
transactions having in view the immediate use and cultiva-
tion of land be permitted ; and whereas it is necessary to
take measures to prevent speculative dealings in land and
to protect the present occupants; and whereas a Land
Settlement Court is shortly to be established which \ ill
adjudicate on all titles, and in the meantime no guararr.ee
of title can be given by the Administration; and whereas
it is intended to introduce legislation to secure the ordinary
planning of towns in Palestine, and the erection of build-
ings on land in the neighbourhood of towns will be subject
to the control of the Administration; and whereas the Ad-
ministration is taking measures to facilitate the establish-
ment of Credit Banks in Palestine which will have power to
lend on he security of immovable property, and pending
the consideration of the establishment of such banks it is
desirable to continue the prohibition of sales of land in
satisfaction of a mortgage or execution of a judgment, it
is hereby ordered as follows: —
i. This Ordinance applies to all immovable property
the subject of the Land Law 7 Ramadam 1274, as well as
to mulk land, all forms of wakf land, and every other form
of immovable property, and shall, so far as it applies,
cancel the provisions of the Ordinance of November 18th,
1018.
1. In this Ordinance and in all regulations made here-
under, unless there is something repugnant in the con-
177
THE KEREN IfA-YESOD BOOK.
text, the word <; disposition " means a sale, mortgage,
gift, dedication of wakf of every description and any other
disposition of immovable property except a devise by will
or a lease for a term not exceeding three years. It in-
cludes the transfer of mortgage and a lease containing an
option by virtue of which the term may exceed three years.
The word "court " shall include any civil religious court
competent to deal with actions concerning land, as well
as any Land Settlement Court which may be established
The word "land " shall include houses, buildings, and
things permanently fixed in the land.
No disposition of immovable property will be valid until
the provisions of this Ordinance have been complied with.
4. Any person wishing to make a disposition of im-
movable property must first obtain the written consent
of the Administration. In order to obtain the consent,
a petition must be presented through the Land Registry
Office to the Governor of the District in which the land
is situated, setting out the terms of t.ie disposition in-
tended to be made and applying for his consent to the
disposition. The petition must be accompanied by proof
of the title of the transferer, and must contain an applica-
tion for registration of a deed, to be executed for the
purpose of carrying into effect the terms of the disposition.
The petition may also include a clause fixing the damages
to be paid by either party who refuses to complete the
disposition if it is approved.
5: If the application for registration is made by a«
agent or nominee on behalf of a principal the agent or
nominee shall make full disclosure in his petition of the
principal for whom he is acting, and the immovable pro-
perty disposed of shall be registered in the name of the
principal. If at any time it appears to a court or a
registrar that immovable property has been registered
under this Ordinance otherwise than in accordance with
the foregoing provision, the Court or registrar shall
inquire into the case and make a report to the High Com-
missioner, who may impose upon any of the parties con-
cerned penalties by way of fine or forfeiture not exceeding
one-fourth of the value of the property
6. The consent of the Administration will be given
through the Governor of the district in which the land is
'78
ORDINANCES.
situated, provided that he is satisfied that the person
acquiring the property fulfils the following conditions: —
(a) He must be resident in Palestine.
(*) He shall not obtain under this Ordinance property
exceeding either in value ^."E. 3,000 or in area 300 dunams
in the case of agricultural land, and 30 dunams in the
case of urban land.
(c) He intends himself to cultivate or develop the
land immediately.
The Governor shall also withhold his consent unless he
is satisfied that in the case of agricultural land either the
person transferring the property, if he is in possession or
the tenant in occupation, if the property is leased, will
retain sufficient land in the district or elsewhere for the
maintenance of himself and his family. The Governor
may refer to the High Commissioner any case in which he
withholds his consent.
7. The District Governor shall withhold his consent to
a disposition of any immovable property if the land has
been sold or otherwise disposed of within a year, and the
intending tranferer fails to give satisfactory reason for
wishing- again to dispose of it.
8. Except in cases complying with the conditions set
out in Section 6 hereof all dispositions shall be referred to
the High" Commissioner for his consent, which he may
give or withhold in his absolute discretion. The High
Commissioner may refer to the applications for any dis-
position to any Commission which may be appointed by
him to report upon the closer settlement of the land. He
may consent to the transfer of larger areas of land than
may be transferred with the assent of the District
Governor where he is satisfied that the transfer will be
in the public interest or will serve some purpose of
recognised public utility. The Ottoman Law of the
22nd Rabi El-Awal, 1331, concerning the right of a cor-
poration to own immovable property, shall remain in force
provided that the High Commissioner may authorise any
banking company to take a mortgage of land and any
commercial company registered in Palestine to acquire
such land as is necessary for the purpose of its under-
taking, and may, subject to the above conditions, consent
to the transfer of land to any corporation.
179
THE KEREN' HA-YESOD BOOK.
g. After the title has been examined and the consent
of the Administration has been obtained, a deed shall
be executed in the form prescribed by rules made in
accordance with Section 16 hereof, and shall be registered
in the Land Registry. No guarantee of title or validity
of transaction is implied by the consent of the Adminis-
tration and the registration of the deed. A person acquir-
ing land under this Ordinance will be subject to any
registration which may hereafter be introduced by the
Government of Palestine for regulating the right of build-
ing and the development of land in, or in the neighbourhood
of, a town
10. No mortgage shall be accepted for registration
unless it complies with the terms of the Provisional Law
for the mortgage of immovable property of 16 Rabia Tani,
1331, and the amendments of the said Law.
11. Every disposition to which the \vi tten consent of
the Administration has not been obtained shall be null and
void, provided that any person who has paid money in
respect of a disposition which is null and void may recover
the same by action in the courts. Nothing in this section
shall affect the operation of Public Notice No. 115, dated
April 30th, i<>i<). concerning proo j4iven on
account of an invalid transaction in immovable property.
12. If any person is a party to any such disposition of
immovable property not re< eived the consent of
the Administration, and either enters into possession or
permits the other party to enter into possession of the
immovable property, whether by himself or any person on
his behalf, he <-ha!l be liable on conviction by a court to
payment of a fine not exceeding one-fourth of the im-
movable property.
13. When any immovable property passes by operation
of a will or by inheritance the legatees or heirs, as the c
may be, shall be iointly and severally responsible for the
registration of the immovable property in the name of
legatees or heirs within a year of the death. The regis-
tration shall be made upon the certificate of a competent
court stating that the person or persons acquiring registra-
tion are entitled as legatees or heirs, or upon a certificate
signed by the Mukhtar of Imam and two notables
180
ORDINANCES.
14. The provisions of the Proclamation of June 24th.
1918, preventing - the courts from ordering- the sale of
immovable property in execution of a judgment or in
satisfaction of a mortgage, shall remain in force till
further order.
15. The provisions of Article 23 of the Proclamation of
June 24th, 1918, preventing the courts from giving any
judgment deciding the ownership of land shall remain
in force, providing that —
(1) The courts may hear actions for the partition of
land in accordance with the Law of 14th Moharram, 1332
<2) The Legal Secretary may in a special case allow
an action concerning the ownership of land to be heard
16. The High Commissioner may establish a Land
Registry Office in such places as may seen desirable, and
in consultation with the Financial Secretary may appoint
such number of registrars and assistant-registrars as may
be necessary. The general superintendence and control
over all Land Registry Offices in Palestine shall be vested
in the Legal Secretary, who, with the sanction of the Hig^h
Commissioner, may from time to time make rules as to
any of the following matters, subject to consultation with
the Financial Secretary on the subject of fees as in sub-
section (/) below: —
\{a) The organisation, procedure, and business of the
Land Registry Offices.
(b"> The functions and duties of the registrar and other
officials of the Land Registry Office.
(c) The mode in which the register is to be kept.
(d) The forms to be used for deeds and documents.
{e) The requirements for attestation and official veri-
fication of the execution of deeds.
(/) The fees payable for or in connection with registra-
tion.
(g) The appointment of attorneys.
(h) Any other matter or thing, whether similar or r.ot
to those above mentioned, in respect of which it may be
expedient to make rules for the purpose of carrying this
Ordinance into effect.
17. This Ordinance shall be called " The Transfer of
Land Ordinance, 1020."
181
THE KEREN HA-YESOD ROOK.
II.
Immigration.
t>T!^ reaS '! '^necessary to make provision for regulating
the entry into Palestine of persons desiring to reside the"?
permanently or temporarily, it is hereby "ordered I as fol
,~M Entr \ «*? Palestine f °r Permanent or temporary
residence shall be regulated by the High Commissioner
n?JSc T^° tlme accordin & *° ^e condition, and the
needs of the country.
2. The High Commissioner may appoint a Director of
ri g ^ p and other Immigration Officers to control
am? tS/ r?ffi PerS ° nS int ° Palestir ' e - T he Director
and the Officer so appointed shall have the power to enter
or board any vessel or railway train and detain to examine
any person thereon desiring to enter Palestine and to
require the production from such person ,f any letters
written messages or memoranda, or any written or
printed matter, including plans, photographs, and other
pictorial representations.
3- Every person who desires to enter Palestine, whether
by sea or land or air, must be in possesion of a passport
J ,°v I M rmit ° r ? ap \ rs of identit >- Th e Photograph
of the holder, save in the case of Moslem women, shall
be attached to the passport or permit or papers.
>v A ' r? V _i ery perSOn resident 'n Palestine at the date of
this Ordinance, who leaves the country and intends to
return, shall obtain in accordance with the Palestine
passport Regulations, a passport or a laissez Passer which
he shall produce on demand to the Immigration Officer.
5- No person shall enter Palestine except with the
leave of the Director of Immigration, or an Immigration
Officer duly authorised by him, unless he has been per-
manently resident in Palestinr since the British occupa-
tion, or was so resident within a year of the outbreak
ol war The Director of Immigration shall refuse leave,
unless the person satisfies the following conditions —
(a) That he is in possession of a passport or permit
endorsed or vise at a British Passport Office or bv a
bntish Consul or other official authorised to grant vise*
or permits on behalf of His Majesty's Government.
182
ORDINANCES.
(b) That he has in his possession, or is in a position
to obtain, the means of supporting himself and any
dependants who desire to enter with him.
\c) That he is not a lunatic, idiot, or mentally
deficient.
(d) That he is not the subject of a certificate given
by a Medical Inspertor that on medical grounds to be
specified by order from time to time he should not be
permitted to land.
(e) That he has not been sentenced in a foreign
country for any crime for which extradition may be
granted.
(/) That he has not been prohibited from entering the
country by the High Commissioner.
(g) That he fulfils such other requirements as may
be prescribed by any general or special instructions of
the Director of Immigration.
'h) Such fee shall be payable by an immigrant on
admission as may be determined by the High Commis-
sioner by regulation.
6. {a) An Immigration Officer, or a Medical Inspector,
may inspect any person seeking to enter Palestine, and
may detain him provisionally.
f.b) Where leave to enter is refused, the person may
be temporarily detained in such a manner as the High
Commissioner may direct at some place, and while so
detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.
[c) The Director of Immigration, or an Immigration
Officer duly authorised by him, may order that a person
arriv. ag on a ship to whom leave to enter is refused
shall be removed from Palestine by the master of the
ship on which he arrived, or by the owners or agents
of that ship to the country of which he is a national,
or from which he embarked for Palestine.
C3) If a person to whom leave to enter Palestine has
been refused is subsequently found anywhere in Pales-
tine, the Director of Immigration, or an official author-
ised by him, may take necessary measures to return such
person to the country of which he is a national, or from
which he embarked.
7. Any person allowed to enter shall, within fifteen days
of his arrival in Palestine, register at the police head-
quarters of the district in which he resides the particulars
set out in the schedule hereto. This provision shall not
183
THE KEREN HA-YESOD BOOK.
apply to persons certified by the Consular vise to be
travellers, or persons in transit to another country whose
stay in Palestine will not exceed three months from the
date of entry. In case any person so certified outstays
the period he shall register immediately at the place in
which he is resident and shall apply to the Director of
Immigration for a permit to stay for a further period in
Palestine.
8. The High Commissioner may make an order in either
of the following cases for the deportation within five years
of his entry into Palestine of any person who has not be-
come a citizen of Palestine, and may by such order
require such person to leave and to remain thereafter out
of Palestine.—
(a) If any court certifies he has been sentenced to a
term of imprisonment exceeding one month for an
offence under this Ordinance or otherwise, and recom-
mends that an order for deportation should be made in
this case.
(b) If any court certifies within one year of his iast
entry into Palestine that he has been found wandering
without ostensible means of subsistence, or has been
sentenced in a foreign ountry for a crime for which he
is liable to be extradited.
(c) If the High Commissioner deems it to be conducive
to the public good to make such an order.
A person against whom such an order is made may be
• xpelled from Palestine and sent to the country of which
he is a national. The order may extend to the dependants
<>f such person The Hiprh Commissioner may apply
mone) or property of such person in payment of the
expenses of his journey and the maintenance until his
departure of himself and his dependants. An order made
iinder this article may he subject to any condition which
the High Commissioner may think proper. A person
with resped to whom a deportation order has been made
shall leave Palestine in accordance with the order, and
shall thereafter SO long as the order is in f i • remain
out of Palestine
0. If anv pel n ' ill < ontravention of or fails t«
i omply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or
anv order or rule made thereunder, or aids or abets in
anv such contravention, or harbours anv person whom he
knows or Ins re enable ground for believing to have
.84
ORDINANCIES.
acted in contravention of this Ordinance, he shall be guilty
of an offence against this Ordinance. Any person shall
be guilty of an offence if he
(a) Refuses to answer any question reasonably put
to him by the Director of Immigration or any official
acting under his orders or to produce any document in
his possession.
(b) Makes any false return or false statement.
(c) Alters any certificate or copy of a certificate or any
entry made in pursuance of this Ordinance.
id) Obstructs or impedes an official in the exercise of
his duties.
(e) Without lawful authority uses or has in his posses-
sion any forged, altered, or irregular passport or permit
or other document or any passport or document on which
any vise or endorsement has been altered or forged.
1(f) Remains in Palestine after an order for his de-
portation has been notified to him.
Any person found guilty of a contravention will be liable
to a fine not exceeding ^"E.ioo, or to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding six months, without prejudice to any
prosecution to which he may be liable under any other
law.
10. The High Commissioner may direct that any per-
son or class or persons shall be exempted wholly or in
part, and either unconditionally or subject to such con-
ditions as he may impose, from the provisions of this
Ordinance.
Not'.iing in this Ordinance shall apply to
(a) Any duly accredited head of a foreign diplomatic
mission, or any member of his household or of his
official staff, or to any duly accredited Consul de Car-
riere.
lb) Any member of the British Military, Naval, and
Air Forces in uniform and any member of the Civil
Government entering or leaving Palestine on duty.
ii. The Director of Immigration may, with the approval
of the High Commissioner, issue from time to time any
orders or regulations for the better control of immigration
into Palestine.
12. This Ordinance shall be known as the "Immigration
Ordinance, 1920." and shall come into force 1st Septem-
ber, 1920.
as
Questions in the House of Commons, referring
indirectly or directly to the Keren ha-Yesod.
December 6, IQ20.
Sir F. Hall asked the Prime Minister if he is aware
of the programme of the Keren ha-Yesod, the provincial
conference of which is about to be held at Manchester
under the presidency of His Majesty's Chief Commissioner
of Works; that among the objects of this organisation are
the raising of large sums to promote the
Jewish settlement of Palestine.
Mr. BONAR LAW: I understand that the object of the
Keren ha-Yesod is to obtain funds from Jews throughout
the world with a view to assist in the economic develop-
ment of Palestine in connection with the establishment of
a National Home for the Jews in that country. This
object is in accordance with the policy of His Majesty's
Government as set forth in the declaration of November
2. 1917 It seems obvious that the introduction
of capital for development must be to the advantage of all
the inhabitants of the country. The conference at Man-
chester is not held under the auspices of the Government,
but is being attended by my right hon. friend, who is
naturally interested in the success of the Association.
186
QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT.
December 21, ig2o.
Lieut. -Col. H. Page Croft i( Bournemouth, Nat. Party)
asked whether the Prime Minister would give an under-
taking that the establishment of the Holy Land as a
national home for the Jews would not involve the tax-
payers of this country in any permanent expenditure;
whether the cost of the British Army in Palestine was
now being borne by the Jewish population in that country;
and, if not, whether the cost would be refunded in the
coming financial year?
Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Privy Seal (Glasgow Central,
C.U.), said: The acceptance of a Mandate for Palestine
is not intended to involve any permanent expenditure by
the taxpayers of this country. The answers to the second
and third parts of the question are in the negative.
Mr. iBlLLING (Hertford, Ind.): Will the right hon.
gentleman make an appeal to the Jewish population to
raise a fund for these purposes in Palestine in order to
relieve the British taxpayer of heavy expenditure ?
Lieut. -Commander KENWORTHY (Hull, Central, L.); Is
it not the fact that Jews throughout the world are now
raising very large sums for the development of Palestine,
and are we not under obligations to the Jewish people for
the fighting they did on our side?
Mr. Ormsby-Gore (Stafford, C.U.): Have not the
Jewi h population of the world, ever since the occupation
of Palestine, spent many thousands a year on education,
public health, and for other purposes in Palestine, the
cost of which otherwise would have fallen on this coun-
try?
Mr. BONAR LAW: Yes, it is undoubtedly trie fact that
very large sums have been raised by Jews throughout the
world, and hopes are entertained of still larger sums
being raised.
187
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