Palestine Situation is Improving, Weizmann Says Before Departure for U.S.

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Although Palestine will experience another few hard months, the situation in the country is improving rapidly, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, declared at a reception given in his honor Monday night at the Hotle Savoy prior to his departure for the United States. At the utmost, the crisis in Palestine will continue only for one year, Dr. Weizmann stated.

Mr. Leonard B. Franklin; brother-in-law of Sir Herbert Samuel, presided at the reception.

American Jewry, Dr. Weizmann stated, lives at a great distance from Palestine. Rumors concerning the situation in Palestine reach America in a magnified and sensational manner, being totally out of proportion with the facts in the situation. He is going to the United States to bring to the Jews of America an understanding of the reality. American Jews have given lavishly for relief work in Poland and the Ukraine. They will also respond generously to the needs of Palestine. He is going to a community, the majority of which was only 40 years ago a group of down-trodden people, fleeing from pogroms. The same people is now able to assume the burden of helping in the upbuilding of Palestine. American Jews must realize that what was given to them was given in trust, Dr. Weizmann declared in his address.

The president of the Zionist Organization compared the self-criticism which is prevalent in some Zionist circles with the appreciation of the Zionist work in Palestine held by non-Jews. Only the other day, Dr. Weizmann stated, he had occasion to converse with a member of the British Government, who was astonished at the Zionist achievement in Palestine and expressed regret that the general public is not sufficiently informed concerning this development. Dr. Weizmann compared the settlement work which is being carried on by the British Government in Australia with the Zionist colonization work in Palestine. The British Government sends its own people to a commonwealth which is its own, to a country where there is plenty of land and where labor is scarce. The British Government in Australia has not the task of settling there people from Roumania and Poland, or collecting its funds through the Keren Hayesod. Nevertheless the same mistakes as those committed by the Zionists were made there and the same difficulties are being faced there.

Col. Frederick H. Kisch, member of the Zionist Executive in Jerusalem, brought greetings from Palestine and declared that before his departure Lord Plumer expressed his admiration for the courage and determination of the Jewish workers in Palestine.