Between the Lines

The novel proposal that the Jews give up the idea of Palestine’s becoming a Jewish national home and concentrate instead on converting the Holy Land into a Crown Colony will startle many Zionists and non-Zionists, since it comes from none other than Moshe Smilansky.

Himself one of the oldest Zionists and one of the greatest authorities on Palestine, Mr. Smilansky, as a Jewish leader, no doubt thought twice before he made this proposal. He no doubt realized that his suggestion amounts to declaring the Zionist idea bankrupt.

Mr. Smilansky advises the Jews not to demand a Jewish state in Palestine even if they can achieve a Jewish majority. He foresees intrigues and international complications from which Palestine Jewry will suffer only if the country is not a Crown Colony. He considers the Palestine Mandate a failure which, in other words, means that he practically abandons the Balfour Declaration.

BRITAIN MAY AGREE

While the Jews in Palestine and Zionists all over the world will no doubt disagree with Smilansky’s proposal, it can be said definitely that the Palestine government and the Colonial Office will display great interest in it. With Palestine becoming a potential commercial and military center for the entire Near East, it is quite natural for the Colonial Office to consider ways and means of retaining Palestine as a British colony rather than as a mandated territory, the mandate over which must sooner or later expire.

Palestine today is practically the only country in the Near East left under a mandate. With Iraq declared independent several years ago, and with France ready to give up its mandate over Syria, Palestine remains the only territory still administered under a mandate.

This fact has long been a source of worry to leading Zionists and a matter of speculation to leading Arabs. The Arabs feel that with the countries surrounding Palestine all becoming independent Arab states, Palestine will never be a Jewish State, even though the Balfour declaration provides for the establishment of a Jewish national home there.

A BLOW TO ZIONISM

The proclamation of Palestine as a Crown Colony, while it would be a blow to Zionism, would be the same time be a blow to the ambitions of certain Arab rulers and ex-rulers. It would put an end to the aspirations of both Jews and Arabs and would convert Palestine into a second India, on a small scale.

Whether Palestine Jewry would benefit by such a state of affairs is highly doubtful. It may benefit commercially, but as far as political Zionism is concerned, this would mean its end. Palestine would then be Palestine and not Eretz Israel.