Beirut, Syria.
The Syrian population is keenly interested in the opening of this country to Jewish settlement. It is a favorite topic of conversation in high and low quarters of the land.
The Moslem population in Syria is highly pleased with the fact that the government has finally decided to permit a Jewish company to obtain the concession of the Valley of Alomex, and that the French High Commissioner here has approved the deal. The Moslems would like to see Jews coming into Syria and bringing prosperity into the country as they did in Palestine.
The question of Jewish settlement in Syria has been very much discussed of late, with particular emphasis on Lebanon. Three or four months ago, it was reported that the vice-president of the Merchants Association here had submitted a memorandum to the association urging it to take steps to obtain permission for Jews to settle in Syria, pointing out that Jewish settlement has been highly beneficial to Palestine, making of the desert a flourishing country. The Jews constitute no danger to Syrian nationalism, he argued, and ### Jews are not allowed to establish themselves in Syria there is grave danger that Jewish industry ### Palestine will destroy Syrian production.
Last Summer, it was reported in Palestine that the possibility of Jewish immigration into Lebanon was being widely discussed in Debanon political and business circles. The press and the population are sharply divided into two camps, ### was said, the issues being on national and economic rather than on religious grounds.
The opposing group maintains hat Jewish immigration will add a new element to the already heterogeneous Lebanese people which will tend toward disintegration and away from unity and solidarity necessary at the present time for the formation of a national State.
This party fears that Jewish colonization in Southern Lebanon (which is the Lebanese-Palestinian frontier) will afford a pretext for these immigrants to demand union with Palestine in the future.
The party favoring Jewish immigration holds that the country ### short of capital and that the entry of 50,000 Jews will mean stimulation of commerce, trade and industry. Capital and skilled labor, would be provided by Jewish immigration. To establish this point they give Palestine as an example of prosperity and cite the present budget surplus. This party contends that Jewish immigration holds no dangers as the Balfour Declaration is limited to Palestine and that the immigrants to Lebanon would have no political aims.
Business and banking circles seem to favor Jewish immigration. There is no fear in their ranks as regards economic competition from the Jews as they claim that increased capital and labor will mean increased production and general prosperity.
The authorities of Syria and the Lebanon have taken the important decision to allow Jewish immigration, the London Times reported in November, provided, it added, that the immigrants import capital and found factories and other enterprises employing native labor. A further condition is that they must renounce Zionist ideals which aim at a concentration of the Jewish population.
In order to safeguard the integrity of Syrian and Lebanese territory, the registration of Jewish purchases of land along the Syrian frontier will be refused, it stated, since settlements in that area ultimately be cited as a reason for modifying the frontiers in favor of Palestine.
At a recent meeting of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations it came out that two decrees had been promulgated in 1934 by which any purchase of land or long-term lease in the southern frontier districts of Syria and the Lebanon was subject to the authorization of each government concerned.
The French representative at the meeting, M. de Caix, explained that the decree applied to all foreigners. The government’s authorization could be obtained in the case of a purchase which would not prepare the way for colonization likely to disturb the tranquility of the country. There had been no measures against the immigration of Jews, he added, but Zionist colonization would require a protective force and there was no obligation upon the mandatory power to facilitate the settlement of foreign colonists which would justify it in placing upon the governments of Syria and the Lebanon the cost of such a force.
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.
