June 1930
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Another View of the Palestine Situation B y R ev . W. F. S malley (Jerusalem, Palestine)
Ï HE idea of the return of the Jews to Palestine has always been more or less in the minds of both Jews and Christians. It has seemed to some that the Jews must return and possess the land once given to their fathers. Some believe that they forfeited their right to Palestine when
B oth J ew and A rab O btained T h e L and T hrough C onquest It is altogether likely that the present inhabitants of Palestine have in them some of the blood of those peo ples, known to Bible students by various names, who were conquered by Joshua as he led the Israelites to the occu
pation of the Prom ised Land. They w e r e admittedly n o t exterminated by Israel. The Is raelites as a nation began t h e i r con quest of Palestine sometime a b o u t 1,450 years before the birth of Christ. Probably t h e ex treme limit of the period of their oc cupation of Pales tine may be set as 70 A.D. D u r i n g those fifteen cen turies they had va rious sorts of lead ership ranging on the one hand from the period w h e n “every m a n d i d what was right in his own eyes” to a period when there were two kingdoms with tw o hostile kings.
they did hot keep their part of the two-sided covenant. Some say that all Scriptures refer- ring to the return of Jews to Pales tine must be inter preted in a spiritual and not a geo graphical s e n s e . And some even in sist t h a t s i n c e Christians h a v e been “grafted in” to the family of Abraham, it is they who i n h e r i t the promises given to the Jews. This ar ticle does not at tempt to s e t t l e t h e s e theological questions. The writer himself be lieves t h a t t h e Bible teaches that Jews, that is, those whom we know to day as Jews, will
TH E GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
In 637 A. D. Jerusalem was surrendered by the con querors of the Jews to the later Arab rulers. The Arabs overran the whole country so that today all of the local non-Jewish population calls itself “Arab”—with more or less right to that name. The Arabs have not been the political rulers in Palestine during all of the period of their occupancy any more than the Jews were politically independent during the fifteen centuries previously men tioned. However, even during the period of Turkish suzerainty the inhabitants of the land were Arabs; there was no Turkish colonization. Taking the World War as if it were the end of Arab occupation of Palestine, there is not a great deal of difference in the length of time that the two peoples have occupied Palestine. We cannot say that simply because the Jews were here first they have the right to return. Both Jew and Arab obtained the land through conquest. Two C onflicting P romises The World War brought a new situation. Early in the war certain correspondence took place between Sherif Hussein of Hejaz and the then British High Commis sioner in Egypt. Hussein represented to the High Com missioner that there was a certain area that was Arab
have liberty, to return to Palestine and will be a factor in the building up of the land. Not only do I believe it, but I think I see it proven daily on the streets of Jerusalem. Jewish immigration is a reality in Palestine. Scores of colonies are found there. Much land has beèn reclaimed. Large areas that were sandy deserts ten years ago are now rich orange groves. Jewish money is a power in Palestine. Jewish culture might prove a benefit there if the attitude of Jews toward others in Palestine were different. Those of us who went through the riots of last August when Jew and Arab killed each other and when for days no one’s life was safe, have felt like looking again into the foundation of our ideas on these subjects. Why should the Jew claim a place in the land? Why should the Arab try to defend the country? If both groups have rights here, is it possible for them to live at peace and with mutual benefit? If not, should one party leave the land to the other? If this be so, which party should go? Where shall they go? Who shall settle the problem? To ask these or any of the numerous questions that come to one’s mind is to show something of the difficult situation that Palestine faces today. I shall certainly not try to answer every question but perhaps a little more light may be reflected on the subject.
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