Magnes Willing to Give Up Jewish State and Majority for Guarantee of Jewish Culture, Immigration and

his share to the political discussions, feeling that this was especially necessary since the official attitude on the Arab question was vague. The great interest which his address at this year’s opening of the University aroused, he says, proved the speech necessary.

Replying to the question whether this is the time for negotiations between Jews and Arabs, Dr. Magnes says that now is the time, and that it is a pity it wasn’t done before the massacres of Hebron and Safed. It should be done now, he argues, because it is the right thing to do, and the sooner the right thing is done, the better all around. The Jews must pay bitterly, he says, for their fault in not having proposed and done this long ago.

There can be only two politics with regard to the establishment of a Jewish homeland here, says Dr. Magnes. One can be carried out through suppression of the political aspirations of the Arabs, a home necessarily established on bayonets. The other policy holds that the Jews can establish a homeland only by being true democrats and internationalists, by being just and helpful to others and seeking a modus vivendi et operandi with their neighbors.

Dr. Magnes feels that the first policy would be bound to fail because of the violence it would occasion against the Jews and because the good opinion of Britain and the conscience of the Jewish people would revolt against it. The only way Zionism can succeed in overcoming all obstacles, Dr. Magnes contends, is through the use of all instruments of civilization except the bayonet—spiritual, intellectual, social, cultural, financial and economic—brotherly, friendly instruments.

The rest of the article deals with the relative importance of Palestine to world Jewry. The booklet also contains reprints of articles and addresses previously published by Dr. Magnes, all of which, according to him, show that “my present attitude is not new, but the result of a view of life and a conception of the ethical function of Judaism, and does not spring from tactical or strategic motives.”

Dr. Magnes attaches importance to an interview with Harry St. John Philby, British journalist and traveler, published in November, because he considers that Mr. Philby knows the Arabs as but few non-Arabs do, and because of Mr. Philby’s reputation of being unfriendly to Zionism Dr. Magnes feels that his moderate expression of opinion on this subject should be treated seriously, as well as because he is a well-known member of the British Labor Party, which is now in power, and because before making his statements Mr. Philby conferred with important Arab leaders here. Mr. Philby in his interview had expressed approval of the suggestions of Dr. Magnes.