History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 2 (of 2)Sokolow, Nahum
History
History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Sokolow, Nahum
Jews -- Restoration; Zionism -- History
“Without entering into the grounds of the desire and expectations
entertained by the Hebrew Race of their return ultimately to the land
of their fathers, it may be safely asserted that they contemplate a
restoration to the soil of Palestine. They believe, moreover, that
the time is near at hand. Every recollection of the past, and every
prospect of the future, animates their hope; and fear alone for their
persons and their estates represses their exertions. If the Governing
Power of the Syrian provinces would promulgate equal laws and equal
protection to Jew and Gentile, and confirm his decrees by accepting
the four Powers as guarantees of his engagement, to be set forth and
ratified in an article of the Treaty, the way would at once be opened,
confidence would be revived, and, prevailing throughout these regions,
would bring with it some of the wealth and enterprise of the world at
large, and, by allaying their suspicions, call forth to the full the
hidden wealth and industry of the Jewish people.
“There are many reasons why more is to be anticipated from them than
from any others who might settle there. They have ancient reminiscences
and deep affection for the land;――it is connected in their hearts with
all that is bright in times past, and with all that is bright in those
which are to come; their industry and perseverance are prodigious; they
subsist, and cheerfully, on the smallest pittance; they are, almost
everywhere, accustomed to arbitrary rule, and being totally indifferent
to political objects, confine their hopes to the enjoyment of what they
can accumulate. Long ages of suffering have trained their people to
habits of endurance and self-denial; they would joyfully exhibit them
in the settlement and service of their ancient country.
“If we consider their return in the light of a new establishment or
colonisation of Palestine, we shall find it to be the cheapest and
safest mode of supplying the wants of those depopulated regions.
They will return at their own expense, and with no hazard but to
themselves; they will submit to the existing form of Government, having
no preconceived theories to gratify, and having been almost everywhere
trained in implicit obedience to autocratic rule; they will acknowledge
the present appropriation of the soil in the hands of its actual
possessors, being content to obtain an interest in its produce by the
legitimate methods of rent or purchase. Disconnected, as they are,
from all the peoples of the earth, they would appeal to no national
or political sympathies for assistance in the path of wrong; and
the guarantee which I propose, for insertion in the Treaty to be
carried out by the personal protection of the respective Consuls and
Vice-Consuls of the several nations, would be sufficient to protect
them in the exercise of their right.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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