The attempt has also been made to put forward the non-Jewish population of Palestine and the neighbouring countries as an obstacle in our way. The breath of intriguers tends to poison every noble aspiration; they seek to create among us also a spirit of dissension, a spirit of destruction. We are firmly resolved to refuse them this satisfaction. In vain do they raise this kind of bogey. The deep sense of the realities before us guards us from any error of this kind. We have work to do which will prevent our interests from clashing with those of the Arabs. Are we, then, anti-Semitic? The relations between the Jews and the Arabs have hitherto been scanty and spasmodic, largely owing to mutual ignorance and indifference. There were no relations whatever between the two nations as such because the oppressive bureaucracy did not recognize either of them, and whenever points of connection began to develop they were destroyed by intrigue to the detriment of both nationalities. We believe that the present hour of crisis and the opening of a large perspective for epoch-making developments offers a fruitful opportunity for a broad basis of permanent, cordial relations between the peoples who are inspired by a common purpose. We mean a real _entente cordiale_ between the Jews, the Arabs, and the Armenians. Such _entente cordiale_ has already been accepted in principle by leading representatives of these three nations. From such a beginning we look forward with confidence to a future of intellectual, social, and economic co-operation. We are one with the Arabs and Armenians to-day in the determination to secure for each of us the free choice of their own destinies. We look with fraternal love at the creation of an Arab kingdom re-establishing the ancient Semitic nationality in its glory and freedom, and our heartfelt wishes go out to the noble, hardly-tried Armenian nationality for the realization of their national hopes in their old Armenia. Our roots were united in the past, our destinies will be bound together in the future. This is our declaration to our future neighbours. And now, one more word to our brethren. We Jews, we who hoped for a better future, an era in which moral rights would count, what were we before the present situation? Dreamers and madmen. Material power believed itself unconquerable. It produced an atmosphere of indifference in which all hope seemed Utopian. We slept in the general decadence. Now we arise, endowed with an unconquerable moral force by the Declaration of His Majesty’s Government. Our first and immortal leader, Theodor Herzl, insisted, many years ago, in having the institutions of Zionism established in this great, blessed country, for which every Jew has a warm corner in his heart. Was he a statesman or a prophet? I think he was both a statesman and a prophet. There is an old Talmudical saying:―― הניחו להן לישראל אם אין נביאים הן בני נביאים הן׃ פסחים סו׃¹‏