Great Britain Has Power to Further or Hamper Progress of Palestine Work, Einstein Says

“It lies in the hands of the Mandatory materially to further or materially to hamper the progress of the Palestine work,” declared Prof. Albert Einstein in a letter published in the Manchester Guardian on the recent occurrences in Palestine. The Jews will never abandon the work of reconstruction which they have undertaken, he declared. They do not wish to live in the land of their fathers under the protection of British bayonets, and what they expect of Great Britain is that it shall promote the growth of friendly relations between Jews and Arabs.

Censuring certain sections of the British press for advocating Britain’s relinquishing the Mandate over Palestine, the scientist states that Britain should fulfill the trust, not because it was once undertaken, but because she is deeply convinced of the importance and significance of the task.

“I have been following with anxious concern the comments in the British press on the recent events in Palestine,” Prof. Einstein writes. “Despite my general reluctance to enter the political arena, I feel impelled to make the following observations. It was with wonderful enthusiasm and a deep sense of gratitude that the Jews, afflicted more than any other people by the chaos and horror of the war, obtained from Great Britain a pledge to support the re-establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. The Jewish people, beset with a thousand physical wrongs and moral degradations, saw in the British promise a sure rock on which it could recreate the Jewish national life which, by its very existence, as well as by its material and intellectual achievements, would imbue the Jewish masses, dispersed all over the world, with a new sense of hope, dignity and pride.

“Jews of all lands gave of their best in manpower and in material wealth in order to fulfill the inspiration that had kept the race alive through the martyrdom of centuries. Has the rock on which we built begun to shake? A considerable section of the British press now meets our aspirations with lack of understanding, with coldness and disfavor. What has happened?

“Arab mobs, organized and inflamed to fanaticism by political intriguers working on the religious fury of the ignorant, attacked the scattered Jewish settlements and murdered and plundered wherever no resistance was offered. In Hebron the inmates of the Rabbinical College, innocent youths who never handled weapons in their lives, were butchered in cold blood. In Safed the same fate befell aged rabbis, their wives and children. Recently some Arabs raided a Jewish orphan settlement, where the pathetic remnants of the great Russian pogroms had found a haven of refuge. Is it not, then, amazing that the orgy of such primitive brutality upon a peaceful population has been utilized by a certain section of the British press for a campaign of propaganda directed not against the authors and instigators of these brutalities, but against their victims?”

Prof. Einstein further complains of the ignorance of the British press of the Jewish achievements in Palestine, which were undertaken on the basis of official recognition, approved by almost every civilized government. The Jews are developing flourishing agricultural settlements, industry and education in the language of the Bible. “Is it not bewildering that after all this, brutal massacres by a fanaticized mob can destroy all appreciation of the Jewish effort and lead to a demand for the repeal of the solemn pledges of official support and protection?” he demands.

Discussing the two-fold basis of Zionism, on the one hand arising from the Jewish sufferings, persecutions and suppressions of intellectual life, which today exists even in Western Europe, and on the other hand springing from the deeper motives which are rooted in spiritual tradition, namely the re-establishment of the Jewish nation in its ancient home, where spiritual values could again develop in a Jewish atmosphere, Prof. Einstein writes: “Zionism is not a movement inspired by chauvinism or by scaro egoismo. I am convinced that the great majority of Jews would refuse support of a movement of that kind. Nor does Zionism aspire to divest anyone in Palestine of any rights or possessions he may enjoy. The Zionist movement is entitled, in the name of its higher objectives and on the strength of the support which has been promised to it most solemnly by the civilized world, to demand that its unprecedented reconstructive effort, carried out in a country which still largely lies fallow and in which, by methods of intensive cultivation such as the Jews have applied, room can be found for hundreds of thousands of new settlers, without detriment to the native population, shall not be defeated by a small clique of agitators, even if they wear the garb of ministers of the Islamic religion.

“Does public opinion in Great Britain realize that the Grand Mufti in Jerusalem, who is the center of all the troubles and speaks so loudly in the name of all the Moslems, is a young political adventurer of not much more, I understand, than thirty years of age, who, in 1920, was sentenced to several

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(Continued from Page 3) years imprisonment for his complicity in the riots then, but was pardoned under the terms of amnesty? The mentality of this man may be gauged from a recent statement he gave to an interviewer, accusing me, of all men, of having demanded the rebuilding of the Temple on the site of the Mosque of Omar. Is it tolerable that in a country where ignorant fanaticism can so easily be incited to rapine and murder by interested agitators, so utterly irresponsible and unscrupulous a politician should be enabled to continue to exercise his evil influence, garbed in all the spiritual sanctity of religion and invested with all the temporal powers that this involves in an eastern country?

“The Jews do not wish to live in the land of their fathers under the protection of British bayonets. They come as friends of the kindred Arab nation. What they expect of Great Britain is that it shall promote the growth of friendly relations between Jews and Arabs, that it shall not tolerate poisonous propaganda, that it create such organs of security in the country as will afford adequate protection to life and peaceful labor. The Jews will never abandon the work of reconstruction which they have undertaken. The reaction of all Jews, Zionist and non-Zionist alike, to the events of the last few weeks shows this clearly enough, but it lies in the hands of the Mandatory materially to hamper the progress of the work. It is of fundamental importance that British public opinion and the governments of Great Britain and Palestine shall feel themselves responsible for this great trust, not because Great Britain once undertook this responsibility in legal form, but because they are deeply convinced of the significance and importance of the task and believe that its realization will tend to promote the progress and peace of mankind and to right a great historic wrong. The task may not be easy for the Mandatory, but for the success it will attain it is assured the undying gratitude not only of the Jews, but of all that is noblest in mankind,” Prof. Einstein concludes.