Jewish Brains and Intelligence Will in Long Run Find Solution to Problem of Arab-jewish Relationship

“I am confident that Jewish brains, and Jewish intelligence will in the long run find a solution to the problem of Arab-Jewish relationship in Palestine.”

This was the statement made yesterday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by Wickham Steed, famous British journalist, former editor of the “London Times” and present editor of the English “Review of Reviews,” who came to this country last week to address the convention of American newspaper editors in Washington.

“Jewish work in Palestine should be so conducted as to comprehend, not only Jewish, but Arab interests as well. And if you will bear that in mind, the Arabs will sooner or later give up their opposition to Zionism, for even the most benighted among them will recognize that Zionism is working for their interests, as well as for the Jews,” said Mr. Steed.

Mr. Steed does not agree with the findings of the Shaw commission as to the causes of the Palestine riots of last Summer. The majority of the Inquiry Commission, he thinks, probably did not care to satisfy either Jews or Arabs with its findings, but may rather have desired to establish “an equilibrium of discontent” between both races. Though he does not think that even the majority report will in the long run be harmful to Zionist interests, Mr. Steed agrees with the minority reservations to the Shaw report brought in by Harry Snell, Labor M.P.

“The British administration in Palestine should be blamed rather for sins of omission than those of commission,” said the British editor. “Mr. Luke, who was Acting High Commissioner in Palestine during the August riots, was, insofar as I can see, guilty of lack of initiative. He was waiting for orders from London. But it was Cecil Rhodes, the great empire builder, who once said that the British Empire was built up by officials who in a critical time ‘knew how to disobey,’ who did not wait for orders to take the initiative.”

The British Intelligence Service in Palestine was not working well last Summer, said Mr. Steed, which fact, he thought, also helped to aggravate the situation. Then too, some Jewish leaders in Palestine could not, he said, be called “models of diplomacy.”

“There is no question but that Britain will abide by the Mandate and the Balfour Declaration,” he declared in answer to a question. “All three parties are agreed that we must fulfill our pledge given during the war to the Jewish people.”

Mr. Steed’s interest in the Jewish question and friendship for the Jewish people began in the nineties when he was correspondent for the “London Times” in various continental capitals. He studied anti-Semitism in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe and met Theodor Herzl in 1896. At first he thought Herzl was merely a dreamer, but when he saw how Herzl’s Zionist propaganda had affected the Jewish youth of Central Europe, how it had “put a new strength, a new dignity, a new sincerity into the Jewish soul, how it had straightened bent Jewish backs,” he began to take Zionism seriously.

“World Jewry,” said Mr. Steed, “can be divided into four types: ‘Daylight Jews’, i.e., the nationalist, Zionist element which sees things in a clear light; ‘Twilight Jews’, who try to hide their Jewishness; ‘Midnight Jews,’ those who fear for their shadows; and ‘Benighted Jews’, who do not at all comprehend their position in the world.”

Asked to comment on H. L. Mencken’s recent uncomplimentary references to the Jews as “the most unpleasant race,” Mr. Steed said:

“How many Jews has Mr. Mencken met? One must first get to know well Jews in the mass before issuing such a verdict.”

Told that Mr. Mencken in an interview had declared that assimilation is the best solvent of the Jewish problem, Mr. Steed answered:

“I don’t agree with him at all. Individual Jews may assimilate, but not the Jewish people as a whole. I think it best for the world that Israel should maintain its individuality, and for that reason I have been for a long time in favor of a spiritual center in Palestine where Jews should have full freedom for such development.”