One of the principal subjects of discussion at the recently concluded sessions in London of the Actions Committee of the World Zionist Organization was that of Transjordania as a possibility for future Jewish colonization.
Dr. Chaim Arlosoroff pointed out with justice that Transjordania has now become quite modern, while George Halpern stated that “Transjordania” has now become “koshered.”
There was a time, however, as M. Grossman declared, when the question of Transjordania was a forbidden topic of discussion in Zionist ranks. Only in recent months has it become clear in the leadership of the Zionist movement that Transjordania is bound up with the whole future of the delicate question of land for colonization.
In Jewish circles and even in Zionist circles the history of Transjordania’s separation from Palestine is not very well known, its juridical aspects, and the political combinations which resulted in Emir Abdullah’s operetta government.
For years it was impossible to find in any language a single work devoted to this question.
It was only in 1929, just prior to the sixteenth Zionist Congress, that a brochure appeared, in German, entitled “The Jewish Irridenta.” This brochure contained in brief and concise form important material relating to these questions. Recently a young Jewish jurist, S. Fishelev, submitted to the University of Toulouse a thesis for his doctorate degree entitled “The International Statute of Eastern Palestine (Transjordania).”
The book represents an important and useful source and is an earnest exposition of the whole complex problem with the exception only of its economic aspects. The writer has utilized all official English documents, protocols of the English Parliament and the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, the English and French press and legal sources. He has written a book which will be used as a source by those who have a living interest in an understanding of the Transjordanian problem.
Dr. Fishelev points to the interesting fact that Transjordania was included in the British mandate for Palestine thanks largely to the fact that England desired “a good eastern frontier for the Jewish government in Palestine.” Following the temporary alliance of Great Britain and France during the World War, the territory now known as Transjordania became part of the so-called Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, under the rule of King Feisal, who then occupied the throne of Syria.
A complicated situation developed,
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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.
