That the Jews, by their purchase of land in Palestine, had paved the way not only for a Jewish renaissance but also for the emancipation of the Arab serf, was the statement made by Elias M. Epstein, general secretary of the Jewish National Fund headquarters at Jerusalem, who is now in New York to further the work of the Fund, in an interview with a representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Remarkable as it may seem to those unacquainted with Palestine conditions, it is a fact,” he said, “that Zionists have in their hands a means of redemption for the Arab fellah (or peasant) from slavery to usurers. Until the Jews came to Palestine, rich land either lay fallow, or was used for grain when it might produce rich fruits. Valley land was covered with swamps, and malaria stalked the country. The poverty-stricken peasant leased stretches of land from which he scratched a bare living, paying the rich landlord a third of his produce and being left with some 152 dollars per annum! He became loaded with debt, paying excessive interest. Large tracts belonging to owners, often absent, were quite uncultivated.
“When the Jews first bought land, which they usually did from large land-owners, they anticipated the law by giving lavish compensation to the tenants. With this compensation the Arab freed himself from debt, leased a fresh tract, improved his equipment, and rose in economic status. If he chose to remain near the Jewish settlers, he profited from their enterprise and example. If he chose to retain or lease the same land, he was able to do so.”
“Have the Arabs been driven from the soil as a result of Jewish penetration?” Mr. Epstein was asked.
“Not at all,” was his reply. “Statistics show that but for perhaps a bare 5% who bettered themselves in urban pursuits, the remainder of the tenants on land bought by the Jewish National Fund remained engaged in agriculture happy to be rid of their indebtedness to the effendi, as a result of Jewish monetary grants. They are improving themselves as a direct result of Jewish settlement. Indeed, if the Palestine Arab is to get a place in the sun, it will be because of the Jewish development of Palestine.”
When asked how much land the Jews own in Palestine, Mr. Epstein declared that the Jews now own about 1,200,000 dunams out of a total of 20 million dunams, or 4 million acres, in the entire country. As to the prospects of further Jewish land purchases in Palestine, Mr. Epstein declared that the J. N. F. has experienced no difficulties in that direction and that as a rule it has more offers from people who wish to sell land than its means permit it to accept.
Mr. Epstein will attend the conference of the American J. N. F., to be held in Philadelphia on January 19. He expressed the hope that American Jews will respond as warmly to the appeal of the Jewish National Fund as have the Canadian Jews, who recently raised a million dollars; the South African Jews, who are raising $375,000; and the English Jews, who are raising a similar amount.
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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.
