THE ZIONIST CONVENTION by M. E. K.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 21, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 41.

THE ZIONIST CONVENTION.

By M. E. K.

The Jewish conference, known as the "Zionist Congress," lately held by certain Jews at Basel, Switzerland, is now over, and what was there done, and what its promoters hope to do, is now given to the world. The conference is evidence that there is great unrest on the part of many Israelites; and there is no doubt that their condition in many lands is very deplorable.

The idea of the conference is again to build up Zion, or, in other words, in some way to re-establish the Jews in the land of their fathers. The idea has always had a strong fascination to the Jews. Their religion and the land of Palestine are closely connected. In the days of Julian, the apostate emperor of Rome, he, in order to prove that Christ's predictions were not true, gave permission to the Jews to rebuild their city. Thousands of Jews repaired there, and, in their enthusiasm, the Jewish ladies carried away the débris which it was necessary to remove, in mantles of silk. But their work was interrupted by subterranean explosions, which Gibbons tries to explain in a natural manner, and, finally, the death of Julian by a Parthian arrow put an end to Jewish hopes. During the long ages when Christian and Saracen were contending for the land of Palestine, the Jews remained indifferent. Nor could they hope to regain their land as long as Turkey remained a strong power. The drying up of Turkey, then, is the evident cause of the hope that has sprung up in so many Jewish hearts of regaining their own land.

As might be expected, those who favor the project are largely in those countries not very far removed from Palestine, and also where the Jews are oppressed. The Jews of the United States, Great Britain, and France take little interest in the movement, but those who live in Germany, Austria, Russia, and other countries, where the anti-Semitic feeling is strong, and where the Jews are made to feel it, either in the laws or in the many other ways in which it may be expressed, are ready to welcome anything for a change, and so they are looking to Palestine.

That the reader may see the plan that is to be pursued by those who are proposing this enterprise, the following program of their work is given:—

The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a publicly, legally assured home in Palestine. In order to attain this object the congress adopts the following means:—

1. To promote the settlement in Palestine of Jewish agriculturists, handicraftsmen, industrialists and men following professions.

2. The centralization of the entire Jewish people by means of general institutions agreeably to the laws of the land.

3. To strengthen Jewish sentiments and national self-consciousness.

4. To obtain the sanction of governments to the carrying out of the objects of Zionism.

It will be seen at once that the second and fourth points of this program will be very difficult to carry out. The 'laws of the land' must be consulted, and these are Turkish laws. Former colonies of small dimensions, both of

Jews and of Christians, which have been located in Palestine, have been subjected to very close surveillance by the Turkish Government, which has regarded them with suspicion, and made their existence there very undesirable. How, then, will it likely fare with a very large emigration of Jews who go there with the expressed hope and intention of sometime gaining their independence and becoming a State? The very idea will place them under the well-grounded suspicion of the Turkish Government, which will probably nip the scheme in the bud, or, in other words, will confine it to a resolution in conference.

More than this, not only must the Turkish Government be satisfied with their intentions, but other governments also, and, indeed, it seems to be the intention and hope of the Zionists to induce other governments to bring some kind of a pressure to bear upon Turkey so that she will consent to the movement. If the opposition of the Turkish authorities may be called impediment No. 1, the opposition of other governments may be called impediment No. 2. These governments are not particularly eager to drive the Jews out of their country into Turkey. Tho they may not love them, they want to keep them just the same.

But some may say, If God says, Let my people go, then those governments will have to do so. Surely, but we are not aware that they are now God's people, or that he has promised them a return to that land. Nations, like individuals, have a probationary time given to them. The Jewish nation is no exception to this. No other nation was ever blessed and favored so much; no other nation ever sinned so deeply, and no other nation has suffered such terrible punishment. Since the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the history of Israel is a tragedy written in blood and tears. Israel is an object lesson to the world, to each individual, of the danger there is in rejecting Christ. And will the Lord now smile upon the efforts of that people to re-establish themselves, while still unrepentant, while still counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, in that land where for many centuries they rebelled against him, where they killed their Prince and Saviour? Reason would say no, and, in this case, reason and revelation are in harmony.

Reference has been made in this article to the supposed attitude of the European governments in regard to this proposed Jewish immigration to Palestine. We will discuss this point a little further, in relation to one of the governments—Russia. It is the fixed determination of Russia to take possession of all the lands of the Turkish Empire, both in Europe and Asia; and the probability is that this hope will be at some time consummated. The weakening of Turkey is therefore an object of prime importance to Russia. But would Russia give consent that there should be established in Turkey the nucleus of another State to oppose her possession of Turkey? And should Russia take Palestine, and so rule over all the Jews who may be there, what better off will the great mass of Russian Jews be, who think of going to Turkey, then than now? Turkey is always more tolerant than Russia. With so poor a prospect of a refuge in Turkey, and with the probability of a Russian conquest of the country at no distant time, the hope of an independent Jewish State in Palestine dwindles to an insignificant speck.

The only land to which the Jew can ever look with hope is the antitypical Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, but in which he obtained no inheritance—the new earth, in which shall dwell the righteous—and the only way that the Jew, or any one else, can obtain an inheritance there is by Jesus Christ. For 'if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.' Only in that faith will the poor Jew ever find rest to his troubled soul.

M. E. K.