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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1902)
Can Palestine Be Made a Jewish State rv i .' J T l - -. 'U .t f v ' ,rq . .. .... - - - "j J? . .v ".. ",a' . . " fLl'l .f . ,. j. ClUItCIl OK THE NATIVITY. JEIUSALEM. (Copyright. VJ'2. by C. II. lvy.) IS IT possible (or the Jews to biiv Falcstinu uml erect a Jowieh v .ate hi' re ? Thin question hiiH tu rn rami d tiv tho Zionists headed l.y Dr. Theo- lur lli rzl, Vli una, and Dr. Max N(irlui u( I'.irU. It ha tirt-ii answfrtil in xarmus ways Iiy v.iri.iim nu n tin- wnrM ovi r. If 'he Ordinal ilispalrln'8 arc to In li V"'l Dr. lli'izl h.ih not Ioiik ;va mnr luon 1 tt; the Vililiz Kioxk, ilif I ,n nf Ihe Sullan, anil ihiTP t'lirntiruK1 'I l' i'V " lhat ho can arraiK' for lilt roilui inn l.t ! nuni'ii'TH of Ji-wg into raU'mlni', tipon favor atile ktiiih. with Hi'' linpliiil un.li rsi ui'lint: that he make it worth ulilU' f. r Ih" Siilillnic I'orte to rcvi'im' tin' ailvrrm posi tion It ha on hi I (1 of Ian- years. Supup it tie triK" that If t lie Hull a n T" paid a fiw nilllloiiH, or many n. Milium. Ik (Ul'l prrnilt the Jia to rr-i'slalilis-h thi'iiiHvlvfi on tht mill of 1'alrM Ine, woul.l It be ftunlhle or rven pohsililo? It la aKHf-rti'il that tin- Euri .pi-an povn-i.i ouM oppose Bin h a inovp miohI viK(irouly ; ami hlatory siiiih to uphold thia conten tion. Ilov ilop It happen that tho aultan holls pinH'Hvlnii of that In ml whiih li tin M holy to all Christian nations in thoiiKh any one of thrm Is stroiiK i notion to wrest it from lilt. Krarp? The rcronl of the rusa'le aiiHtkera this. I'aleKtlne uoul'l now In- ri Ilia h.imla of I he Ohri-tlann hail It not been fir the Jealously ami mistrust with uliI li France anil KiiKlaml treateil iseh othir Since (TUKailliiK litina two new nitiotis. tierinany ami Kussla, have Krown up, an I al v.iiiccil to coinnamliiiK pisltlons In tli" worlil's affairs ami neither of tliese li.m falleil at any time In (tiasp all th.it It eoiil.l in 1'alcBtliie. There is not a sa red alto In all the Ho y lainl on which the irar ha not erected churches and no nasterli s. whltvi on o. 'i anion iciil l lc turned Into fortresses. The Cerman kalair roncelved the bril liant idea of a pilKHmaee to Palestine a few years bko, and the defender of the faith, as he called himself, showed then the rever ence In which he holds Its sacred hrines. France has hundreds of monasteries throi'Kh th " Icimth and bnadth of the lanl, many of them dating link In orUin to th Middle Aues. and her piople are inos jealous to Kuard their Intrreats In each set tlement. I'nlratlnr kniall anal Sfrrllr. The entire little country is only l.'.O miles lotiK and elKhly miles wide at the widekt part. The area Is 6.010 siiuare miles, uc corduiK to the Knullsh Palestine Kxplora tlon fund, amallir than the Hate of New Jersey, which contains 7 . T. T t sijuare miles Tbua it appears that the Jewish sta'e to be erected has less icrouml to stand upon than the l.r.ou.ooo Inhabitants of New Jer sey, and It Is feared that the .Vihmi.imhi op press! d Jews of Kuss:a and Houmania alone, mlKht be rather crowded in its narrow confines, so large a part of w tilth is almost barreu. The barrenness of Palestine has been ac counted fur In various ways; it Is probable that the chief reason for Its degeneration Is the fact that for centuries It was the battle ground of the nations, from the tin.' of the age-lous; contests of Assvtia aul Kgpt for world-supremacy to the more luudel n conflicts between Persia and Greeca and (ireece and Home. Clearing the hills of their trees has made it possible for the heavy downpours of the rainy Beason to sweep the anil from the rocks and leave them exposed, giving little space for the i ultivaiion of the soli or even the breed ing of cattle. Tin' practical bearing of the country's sterility upon the repopulation scheme has been commented upon adversely time and atiain by observant travelers, and even the best friends of the Zionlstlc movement ad mit that the country must be reclaimed be fore it can yield the produce to make It self-support Int? and that the reclamation must bo gradual. lirlllnn Objection l Jm lli Heoe fupallon. It Ih true that some Christians hold a si in imeiital prejudice in favor of the return if the Jews, based upon certain concep tions of the meaning of biblical prophecies which sc. in to indicate that Jewish re- eeupation will precede the millenlum. Out these priiplieeiiti wire uttered before the return from Babylonian captivity and many bibliial Btudents hold that they have al ready been fulfilled so far as they will ever be. Mi Trover It is probable that the very Christian nations who are Intensted in the omiiiK if the millenlum would be the last ti sum ndi r their sacred sites Into the hands of the Jews. The (i reek 4 hold pf s essii n of the Chi n h of the Holy Sepulchir at Jerusalem and of the llisilira of the Na tivity at In I hli hi in. besides many other sacred slti s. and s i Jealously do they guard these that the Latin Catholics are admitted i n sufferance only There have been many clashes between the Christians if different Hat ionalltii s at ihe Chi Teh of the Sepulcher and ihe Turkish guar da have repeatedly bein tallel ill to quell the disturbance. Itet hleliein, indeed, has become a Chris tian city, with only a few Jewish and Mos lem inhabitants, and the Christians of the toan would urtainly not give up their hoiius at the command of the sultan un less fori ed to do so The leaders of the Zionist ic movement have recognlied this il.rli. ult y . but have waved it aside by slat ing that, of i curse, they would not Inter fere with the sacred spots. Hut what kin if a Jewish state would that be In which whole towns would be beyond the control of its government. Mi Inn Opposllloa t rrtala. There is another and even greater d ffl- ulty in the way of the founding of this proposed Male. It is the Moslems tbem xclvts who, with all the fanaticism for which they have su lung been famous, would I'l pi s,' the touching of the shrines more sacred to them than to Jew or Chris tian. When, more than thirty years ago. the linn pr nee of Wales, now Edward VII of F.I gland, was vis. ting Palestine, he wished to enter the famous "Tomb of Abraham." and although he bad the authority con ferred by a special order from Ihe sultan, there was almost a riot among. '.he Moslems on the day that the prince was admitted into the mosque covering the tomb Even then, he was not permitted to go further than the rail around the tomb of the pi trian hs If It was necessary then fur the sultan to prote t his guests with h i soldiery, wlat would happen Dow if an attempt SWT --- la SSI W .:S " J'- "s . mf'- 6 -J v. -r - were made to surrender this and other shrines revered by the fanatic Arabs? It may be asserted that these sanctified tiles are to be excepted from the control of the Jewish state. If this were do-.i there would be more outside of the Jewish Mate than In it. Jerusalem, the capital, Is not a city, but a shrine. Every street has its famous spots, and churches of all creeds are crowded upon i.ne another. The very capital of Palestine would be outside of the proposed Jewish slate. Dut going further and always excepting the sacred spits, Bethlehem, the Christian city, would have to be left out also, and Nazareth, with nil its churches marking the house nf Jisus. the carpenter shop, etc. Whole mountains, like Mount Tabor, wi.uld have to be excepted, for it is the traditional site of the "transfiguration of Jesus." And would not the Jordan river und the Sea of Galilee themselves, also bo beyond the control of this proposed Jewish government? For to the former, thousands come for baptism In emulation of the ex ample of Jesus, and thousands seek Ihe latter for its associations with the miracles and parables if Jesus. Wealthy llrlrev Op pone I'lnn. It would turn this article into a catalogue, in fact, to enurmrate all of the spots now A SAM AMI AN FAMILY. marked as tacred by the Christian ihurchej and monasteries, to say nothing of the places covered by the Mohamedan mosques, from the site of Solomon's temple now oicupied by the mrsque of Omar to the re puted tomb of Moses, the holy "Muusa" of the Moslems. But it is easy to see that if entire cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem ore to be excepted, the scheme if a Jewish state in Palestine has tremendous opposi tion lo encounter; the sultan, the "sick man of Euripe," w ho is permit ted to h: Id the holy land, merely because no me Chtis tian power would permit any other to con trol this land, would certainly not be per mitted to dispose of the intir." country to the Jews, who to this day, reject Jesus as divine, while the Moslems at least accept him as one of the prophets. Nor should I' be forgotten that certain parts of Palestine, like Jericho, for in stance, are uninhabitable by Europeans on account of the climate, thus -further limit ing the cultivable are-i of the already limited count t i . The opposition by many influential Jews to the whole Idea is, however, one of the most difficult objections to overcome. Both Nor dau and Zangwill (the latter, after two years' of oppos-lt Ion, is now a pronounced Zionist) may rail it t ihe wealthy Jews for -: - - ' c - ": 1 " v;V ' . I . " ' ( ' ' . v t . ... hw'V'i. j : r . .''.. ' ' '"V , lr .': ". - - ' - ' -v- v. - .-. K ' ' ' ' I ' ST 0 t 1 A 1 H Li i t .- w l 4 I., fsiHl .XT ... .. WOMEN OF 8AMAHIA not coming forward with their millions in support of the scheru- but this will im' convert them to a plan which seems im practicable and visionary. Many of these nun hold that even if a Jewish state could be founded they wmii I not like to see It, for the Jew Is such by virtue of his religion, not of his race, lie is called a Jew because his religion Judaism, but he Is a Ger!i:::::. ;i!i Ktiglisii map, or an American just as truly and sin cerely as any other citizen of these lands Tho wealthy Hi brews pity the condition of the oppressed Jews in Russia and Hou mania, but they believe that it would re quire hundreds of years an I billions of nn noy to remove 3,000.0"0 or men and women ai.d give them a start in Pales tine or anywhere else. Tiny llieve that the Jewish problem must ! solved in the lands in which Jews now live. So there are several potent reasons why tho dream of a Jewish state will probably ii 'ver come true. The sultan could not I Palestine if he would, because of the op!" si'ion of Ihe European pnwers and of I -own Moslem subjects, not to spoik of t opposition to the founding of this stale e the part of many influential Jews. It is ' of the eieatest obstacles in the way of tin realizatiin of this visionary scheme. Appropriate Cookint; Philadelphia North American: "Voui majvsty," said the cook of the king of the Cannibal islands, "how will you have the latest captive prepared?" "I always like to cook my game in teni way appropriate to their national chai n ttiristlcs," repliid the king. "Of what na tion is the captive?" "He Is an Irishman, your majesty. 1- H your pleasure that he be dono into an lri-li stew ?" "Oh, no. You may make eoup of him " "But is that characteristic of the Irish, your majesty?" asked the chef politely. "Certainly it is. That is tho way tho cook young men themselves in Ireland." "I beg pardon, sire, but I never hi of It." "That, my dear sir, is because you 1 i not had so much time to rid as I I, had. I, sir, have often met, in my Tea '. about Irishmen, with the expression, 'a brol h of a boy.' " Pointed Paragraphs Chlcagii News: It takes two to make i qrarrel, hut one can end it. Love's voting dream often bumps u, ngainst a rude awakening. Anv first-class watchmaker can deliver selections from his own works. Don't think that sensible girls adm r men b cause of tb tr physical beauty. The high premium on honesty may be due to the fact that it is the best pol cy Wings of riches are not strong enough t bear awav the expensive tastes they brim: Some rf the' recent magazine article; seem to prove that a little learning i a dangerous thing. If the average man could climb out of his grave and read his epitaph h i ego' Ism would experience a boom. A man may have sufficient courage to beard the lion in his den. yet be shy when It comes to facing the cook in her kitchen A household magazine has an article on "How to Tell Bid Eggs " If you have any thing to tell bad eggs it might be advlsabl i to use a telephone.
