Arab People Stand to Gain from Jewish Enterprise; Disagrees with Criticisms of Methods of Selection

of the Palestine government to prevent the Jewish demonstration at the Wailing Wall on August 15th. I feel, however, that the Palestine government should never have negotiated with the leaders of the Jewish youth. They should have from the beginning laid down, in unmistakable terms, the conditions on which the Jewish youth would be allowed to visit the Wailing Wall on that day and should have shown firmness by saying that unless these conditions were unreservedly accepted, the government would make use of all its resources to prevent the Jewish youths from visiting the Wailing Wall in a body and would immediately arrest anyone who departed in the slightest degree from the prescribed conditions.

“This is the practice in other parts of the civilized world today, and the procedure that is adopted in most of the capitals of Europe might well have been imposed on 300 head-strong Jewish youths. I agree, however, that after this demonstration had taken place, the Moslem demonstration on the next day could not easily have been forbidden.

ARAB POPULATION ENCOURAGED TO BELIEVE IT HAD BEEN WRONGED

“Regarding Jewish immigration and the land problem, too much importance is attached in the report to the excited protests of the Arab leaders on the one hand and to the impatient criticisms and demands of the Zionist leaders on the other. What is required in Palestine is less a change in policy in these matters, than a change of mind on the part of the Arab population who have been encouraged to believe that they have suffered a great wrong and that the immigrant Jew constitutes a permanent menace to their livelihood and fuure.

“I am convinced that these fears are exaggerated and that in any long view of the situation, the Arab people stand to gain rather than lose from the Jewish enterprises. There is no doubt in my mind that in spite of errors of judgment which may have resulted in hardship in individual Arabs, the Jewish activities have increased the prosperity in Palestine, raised the standard of life of the Arab worker and laid the foundations on which may be based the future progress of the two communities and their development into one state.

“The principle that the rate of immigration should not exceed the economic capacity of Palestine is accepted by all responsible Jews, and provided that this principle is carefully and thoroughly applied by the Palestine government, the Arabs cannot have a legitimate complaint against the introduction into Palestine of people whose activities may lead to the developments of new enterprises, the improvement of agricultural and industrial methods, with an increase of government revenue and the raising of the standard of life of the population generally.

DISAGREES WITH CRITICISMS OF METHOD OF SELECTING IMMIGRANTS

“I am unable to associate myself with the criticisms made in the report regarding the existing method in selecting immigrants. Some form of selection is required and the government is not in a position itself to undertake the task. The responsibility is therefore, thrown on the Zionist Executive to whom immigration certificates are given in blank. When the Zionist Executive submits its request for certificates it assumes at the same time legal responsibility for the maintenance of these immigrants for a period of twelve months. The distribution of certificates cannot be undertaken satisfactorily except by the Jewish Agency which has an organization throughout the countries from which the immigrants are drawn.

“The Zionist Executive alone is familiar with their character and position and is able to make a discriminating selection. The Zionist Organization takes charge of the immigrants from the moment they leave the country of origin to the moment they arrive in Palestine and despatched to places of occupation. The impression I had gathered from the evidence at my disposal was that the Executive itself decides how many certificates shall be alloted to each particular country and that its decision is based upon the knowledge of the situation in each and of the needs in Palestine.

ACCEPTS VIEW REGARDING QUALIFICATIONS

“Though I do not agree that the present method of selecting immigrants is open to criticism I accept the view stated in reports that qualifications required from the intendent immigrant should be those of capacity, character, and suitability as worker and citizen. The political or economic views of a candidate for selection as an immigrant should confer upon him neither advantage nor disability.

“I acquit the Jewish authorities from all blame in the matter of acquisition of land. Responsible Jewish leaders are also at one in disclaiming any design or prejudice on the Arab tenant to Jewish interests.” Here Mr. Snell quotes the evidence of Arthur Ruppin, former colonization expert of the Zionist Executive in Palestine, and Vladimir Jabotinsky, leader of the Zionist Revisionists, and the memorandum submitted to the Inquiry Commission by the General Federation of Jewish Labor.

CITES JEWS’ CONTENTION REGARDING LAND QUESTION

“It may be accepted,” continued Mr. Snell, “therefore, that the Jews recognize the right of the Arabs to sufficient lands on which to maintain themselves. They claim, however, that this is not incompatible with their own demand for additional land for settlement. They urge that the question is in essence one of productivity, that the present population does not approach the limit which the country can maintain and that the estimates based on the present methods of cultivation cannot be deemed as exclusive.

“They contend first that Arab farming is extensive, making use of only part of a holding, and secondly, that wide tracts are lying waste waiting only reclamation to become productive and that the official figures of land available do not take these factors into account. The Jewish demands rest upon the assumption that by more intensive cultivation and reclaiming the areas now derelict, sufficient land could be made available for the needs of both faces for many years to come.

“Between them, an inquiry and a survey should cover the following questions: First, the use made of the land now cultivated; secondly, the possibilities of increased productivity; thirdly, the extent of the reclaimable land and the possibilities of water conservation and irrigation.

UNEXPLOITED LAND SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TO JEWS

“In this way, and no other, can the Jewish claim be authoritatively tested and a satisfactory policy evolved. I am further of the opinion that any land that may be found to be unexploited should be made available to the Jews and that they should be free to win back to fertility land now more or less derelict. The Arab, on the other hand, should be secured in the possession of sufficient land to provide him with a decent standard of life. His right of occupation, however, should carry with it the obligation to cultivate efficiently. In this direction the Jewish farmer can lend a substantial aid by his knowledge of modern processes. As a result of Jewish advice, there might be brought about an appreciable reduction in the areas given in the report as the minima required in the various districts for the support of a family of average size.

“The position is somewhat complicated by the presence of nomad or semi-nomad bedouins. These number some hundred thousand, for the most part shepherds and camel breeders, who live in tents and wander from one pasturing ground to another. They have a strong claim, as the rest of the Arabs, to follow their habitual mode of life, but that mode with its wasteful system of nomadic grazing, can hardly be held to justify the perpetuation of primitive methods of cultivation.

PROSPERITY DEPENDENT ON SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE

“It may be that pastoral economy and intensive culture cannot exist side by side, in which case the bedouin’s needs must be met in other ways. As a final conclusion on the land problem, I state that it is my considered opinion that the prosperity of Palestine.