The cornerstone of a memorial to the late Lord Melchett (Sir Alfred Mond) was laid this afternoon at Tel Mond, the plantation area of Palestine Plantations, Ltd., named after the late Lord Melchett who founded the enterprise.
Lord Melohett, the Chairman of Palestine Plantations, Ltd. in succession to his father, and Lady Melchett were both present at the ceremony.
25 Arab Sheiks of the neighbourhood came to greet Lord and Lady Melchett, and declared to them that they had always lived on terms of peace with their Jewish neighbours.
I shall continue my father’s work and will show my devotion to Palestine by deeds, Lord Melchett said speaking at the lunch gathering which followed the ceremony.
Speeches were also delivered by Mr. J. Ben-Zvi, the Palestine Labour leader, and by Rabbi Uziel.
A few days after Lord Melchett’s death, the J.T.A. was able to publish an authorised statement (in the J.T.A. Bulletin of January 15th., 1931) that “the present Lord Melchett is keenly interested in all the enterprises initiated in Palestine by his father, and it is his intention, in collaboration with his sister, Lady Erleigh, that the continuity of those enterprises shall be maintained”.
Lady Erleigh, in an interview with the J.T.A. last August, soon after the last Zionist Congress, also made it clear that “our work in Tel Mond is of great interest to us, to my brother, Lord Melchett, and myself. I am well aware, and so is my brother, that our participation in the work in Palestine, through Palestine Plantations, Ltd., continues to identify the name of Melchett with the work of developing Palestine which was our father’s great ideal. We realise that it is the one form of memorial our father would have wished for, the most enduring.”
The friendly relations between the neighbouring Arabs and the Jewish settlers at Tel Mond were emphasised by Lady Erleigh in the same interview.
“An important point”, she said, “is that of relations with the neighbouring Arab population. When I was in Tel Mond not long ago, I was met by all the Arab Chiefs from the surrounding area, who came to Tel Mond to greet me. I have no hesitation at all in saying that I found them friendly and welcoming. They are very glad to have us there. Even during the riots of 1929. the local Arabs came and protected our property. The establishment of Tel Mond, they told me, has improved the economic position of the surrounding villages”.
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