A German view of the disorders in Palestine is presented by the Frankfurter Zeitung, which declares that the Jewish community is no longer endangered by Arab nationalism and advises Arab leaders to support Jewish colonization efforts for mutual benefit.
Declaring that sporadic anti-Jewish outbreaks may remain a matter of serious concern, the newspaper ascribes the recent disorders to complete difference between Jewish and Arab standards of culture and civilization.
While praising British administration in Palestine, the Zeitung cites as a contributing factor to the situation “the fatal inclination to grant concessions to those who are the last to make the loudest demands.”
The most important factor in the present situation, the paper says, is that the Jewish community has grown since the 1929 riots from 150,000 souls to 350,000 in number. The numerical proportion of one Jew to four Arabs and other reasons, the Zeitung holds, make it necessary for the Jews to pursue a policy of conciliation with the Arabs.
The Jews cannot, however, the article continues, consider acceptance of the chief Arab demands for stoppage of immigration and sale of land to Jews.
The continuous progress of Zionist colonization, the paper declares, is the one dynamic element of decisive importance, although the situation is uncertain and charged with periodic tension.
Paying tribute to Jewish achievements in Palestine, the Zeitung states that Arabs have benefited from Jewish efforts, but holds that the real obstacle to cooperation is not difference in interests but in culture.
“There is hardly another country in the world,” says the German paper,” in which two population groups enjoying the same rights are so alien to each other and live so much apart.”
Pointing out that difference in language alone would not be an insuperable difficulty, the paper declares that in Palestine this difference “is as much an expression of the cardinal difference between the two groups as all the other external and internal forms of their social life, such as clothes, customs, religion and history.”
Discounting the importance of individual cases of friendly relations between Jews and Arabs, the paper says, “The best proof of the complete separation of the two populations is that intermarriages between them do not exist.” It adds:
“Jews do not dare to enter singly any purely Arab district in the country. Even in the close vicinity of the Jewish city of Tel Aviv it is not advisable to go outside the city in too small numbers.”
Declaring baseless the notion that Britain pursues a “divide and rule” policy in Palestine, the Zeitung lauds the administration of High Commissioner Wauchope as “in the best traditions of English colonial administration,” but declares that the administration, influenced by contradictory considerations, gives concessions to both sides “with the result that both sides are dissatisfied and distrustful of the sincerity of the Mandatory Power.”
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.
