It seems to me that the complaint which the Zionists are now voicing against the non-Zionists, alleging that the non-Zionists are not sufficiently active in their work for Palestine, is not at all justified.
If a good survey were made of the activities of non-Zionist institutions in Palestine, the results would probably prove that more constructive work is done in Palestine today by non-Zionist groups than by Zionists.
The Palestine Economic Corporation is one instance. This highly useful institution is one of the creations, the existence of which was made possible by the non-Zionists. The Joint Distribution Committee alone contributed about $1,800,000 to the Palestine Economic Corporation.
NON-ZIONIST ACHIEVEMENTS
The Ruttenberg concession, as well as the company developing the Dead Sea, are other indications of the role played by non-Zionists in the upbuilding of Palestine. These two important enterprises would never have materialized if they were not supported with capital coming from non-Zionists.
The work of the PICA must also be taken into consideration when speaking of non-Zionist activities in Palestine. The PICA now owns about half a million dunams of land, which is almost twice as much as the amount of land owned by the Jewish National Fund. The establishment of the EMICA—a new organization for helping the settlement of Jews in Palestine— is another non-Zionist contribution to the development of Palestine, towards which a sum of $750,000 has been assigned for the first time by the non-Zionist PICA. The Palestine Economic Board of England, too, is a non-Zionist institution.
Taken together, the institutions established in Palestine by non-Zionists deserve more credit than they are being given publicly, for the present achievements in the Yishuv. Naturally, since the non-Zionist institutions and the enterprises sponsored by them avoid any wide publicity, less is known about their work than about the work of those Zionist institutions which receive the utmost publicity.
AMERICAN COOPERATION
The complaint that the non-Zionists are not contributing enough towards Palestine is especially unjustified, considering the extent to which the non-Zionists in America help in the raising of funds for Palestine purposes. The partnership agreement existing between the JDC and the Zionist Organization of America is the best proof of the benefits which the Zionists receive from working hand in hand with non-Zionists.
It may be true that in certain European countries the non-Zionists are not as active as they should be. This, however, does not quite justify the generalization of the complaint and the assertion that the entire non-Zionist section in the Jewish Agency is inactive.
NON-ZIONIST REPRESENTATION
The entire complaint, it seems to me, would not have come up if the non-Zionists would only fully utilize their rights to a fifty per cent representation in the London and in the Jerusalem Executives of the Jewish Agency. At present, the non-Zionists are not taking advantage of these rights. They are meagerly represented in Jerusalem and have no representation at all in London.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
