PURELY COMMENTARY

The Lowdermilk Saga

Continued from Page 2

of the accomplishments of Walter and
Inez Lowdermilk. They were pioneering
leaders in militant Christian Zionism.
In water conservation, Dr. Lowdermilk
showed knowledge, skilled research,
courage in his advocacy on a national
scale in this country, in his deep in-
terest in the welfare of Israel.

The Lowdermilks have a page also
in the history of Detroit Jewry. Both
American and Detroit Jewish histories
would be faulty without recalling the
Lowdermilk roles.
In the years preceding Israel's
reconstitution as a sovereign nation,
when the Christian Zionists were fac-
tors in American support of Zionist
idealism, the Lowdermilks helped in
the advancement of the cause aimed at
the fulfillment of the Jewish aspira-
tions. When the Michigan Chapter of
the American Christian Palestine Com-
mittee functioned under the state chair-
manship of Federal Judge Frank
Picard, Dr. and Mrs. Lowdermilk
responded in leadership calls to be here
to inspire many thousands of Christians
into the movement. There is little to ac-
count for that support now.
Dr. Carl Hermann Voss remains
among the few pioneers in the Chris-
tian movement who continue to draw
upon its inspiration to call for continued
defense of Israel and also of Zionism.
The changing times, the gains made by
Arab propagandists and anti-Zionists,
often anti-Semites, dealt a blow to the
Jewish cause.
Palestine — Land of Promise is the
very important work by Lowdermilk,
published in 1944 by Harpers. It re-
mains one of the great works on
Zionism published in the years
preceding Israel's statehood.
A most valued review of this classic
work was written by Philip A. Adler. It
was published in the Detroit News,
May 19, 1944. It is important because
it contains data relating to American
leadership which enhanced Zionist
activities.
It is worth recalling that Philip
Adler, who was one of the most
distinguished American journalists of
his time, died shortly after he had writ-
ten this review. He was a dedicated mili-
tant Zionist and he became an associate
of Vladimir Jabotinsky in Revisionist
Zionism. There is historic importance
in his review of Palestine — Land of Pro-
mise in which he stated:

Several years ago, when the
United State was threatened by
the dust bowl, Secretary of
Agriculture (now Vice-
President) Henry A. Wallace ap-
pointed Dr. Walter Clay Lowder-
milk, distinguished American
soil expert, as the head of a com-
mission to study the causes and
cures of dust bowls, which in the
past destroyed many a country
and whole civilizations.
The commission traveled far.
It went to China, Japan, India,
Persia, Egypt — 24 countries in
all. It studied deeply. It
overlooked nothing. It even
looked into the Holy Land.

There, in the land of
miracles, a miracle happened.
In the Zionist portion of

38

FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1989

Palestine, comprising but five
percent of the total area of the
country, with an agricultural
history but a few decades old, it
found a cure for dust bowls .. .
Dr. Lowdermilk's book is an
expansion of that original
report. Much of it has to do with
geology, the chemistry of soils,
erosion, irrigation, forestation
and such. Much, which also has
to do with the soil, is accessible
to the layman and is as
fascinating a story as any that
has ever come out of the Holy
Land.
While studying Palestine's
soil, Dr. Lowdermilk made
another discovery — its people.
His conclusions are a denial of
the view advanced by Britain's
colonial office, as a justification
of its government's breach of the
Balfour Declaration, that
Palestine already has reached
her saturation point and cannot
absorb additional Jewish
immigrants.
Dr. Lowdermilk supports the
Zionist position that Palestine,
which had reached her satura-
tion point of about 600,000
under Turkish-Arab domina-
tion, today supports about
1,800,000, thanks to Zionist
methods of economy, and, if
turned over to Jews, could sup-
port a population of about
5,000,000.
Dr. Lowdermilk makes the
startling discovery that the
Biblical Palestine had a popula-
tion of about 4,000,000. He holds
that Jewish genius, industry
and idealism can once more
restore Palestine's prosperity
and make it the Land of Promise
not only for Jews but for
mankind.
There is on the record, also now out
of print, a pamphlet entitled "The Un-
tried Approach to the Palestine Pro-
blems," published by the American-
Christian Palestine Committee. It dealt
with Lowdermilk's proposals for a Jor-
dan Valley Authority. This brief sum-
mary indicates its suggested value:
The Jordan Valley Authority
would not aid Palestine alone,
or its Jews or Arabs alone. It
would give an example to the
backward Middle East, to
stimulate other and greater
valley projects in Iraq, Syria
and Egypt. Irrigation and
power projects in the Tigris-
Euphrates Valley would enable
ancient Mesopotamia, now Iraq,
to support twenty to thirty
million people in decency, in-
stead of four million now most-
ly in dire poverty, for Iraq is the
greatest undeveloped bread-
basket in the world.
A Jordan Valley Authority
would serve as a training
ground for engineers and
specialists in agriculture, graz-
ing management, conservation
and forestry, equipping them to
carry out other projects that are
possible in the Middle East.

These might well restore this
region to a condition worthy of
its glorious past, to the benefit
of Arab, Christian and Jew.
There are few places in the
world where mankind has a
more favorable opportunity to
adopt a constructive approach
toward the problems of the com-
mon man, removing the basic
causes of conflict and war by
the creation of abundance for
all. We can, through this ap-
proach, make the Middle East a
blessed example rather than a
breeding ground for strife.
The Lowdermilk plans are as
pragmatic and could be as workable to-
day as they were when promulgated in
the early 1940s. They were proposed for
the benefit of Arab as well as Jew. But
the aim of destroying Jewish hopes was
more important to the Arab antagonist
and the negativism continues to this
day.
Cooperation could have resolved the
many ills of the Middle East. All people
can still advance the human needs, the
aspirations for constructive tasks,
economically, scientifically, politically.
Will the Arab ever learn the propos-
ed lessons? Acknowledging the Lowder-
milk leadership, we reconstruct it as
common sense. There is great value in
the very title of the just-quoted pam-
phlet by the Christian Zionist. In honor-
ing him as the eminent water conser-
vasionist, perhaps his Zionist zeal will
also emerge into fruition.
The program for cooperative living
was not to be limited to the Lowdermilk
lesson of nearly half a century ago. It
is applicable to our time, hopefully for
the generations.
It need not be limited to economics.
It has its academic and social aspects.
It has just found a measure of fulfill-
ment in academia.
With the universities providing the
access for all available studies, it is
especially encouraging to know that
Arabs are clamoring for diplomas as
means of teaching the children in their
communities. A truly encouraging
report has just come from Hebrew
University in Jerusalem:

Some 100 Arab English
teachers, principals and super-
visors from Judea, Samaria and
Gaza who completed in-service
training programs conducted by
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem's School of Educa-
tion, took part in culmination
ceremonies held recently at the
university.

What a remarkable message for
humanism as a negation to violence!
This report from Jerusalem is, ac-
tually, a continuation of the program-
ming for peace that was advocated 50
years ago by Lowdermilk. It is an en-
couragement for curricula for good will
and a lesson how to be neighborly in ac-
quiring knowledge to teach without
venom.
There is much for Arabs to learn
from the Hebrew University. Hopeful-
ly it will assure devotion to decency and
humanism through learning. ❑

Diplomatic,
Media Challenge
To Expose Arafat

p

LO leader Yassir Arafat's
trickery of misleading dip-
lomats and the media language-
wise needs exposure. He keeps appear-
ing as if he no longer seeks Israel's
destruction.
He is now saintly in the pro-Arab
world. He would have the world believe
he rejects terrorism. His latest claim is
that he has abandoned the PLO cove-
nant that explicitly calls for an end to
Israel. This is all in his resort to the
English rhetoric. It's a different story
in Arabic. A letter published in the New
York Times May 16, is signed by Phil
Baum, associate executive director of
the American Jewish Congress, and
Raphael Danziger, assistant director of
the American Jewish Congress Com-
mission on International Affairs. The
editors entitled the latter, "What
Arafat Said About Israel's Right to Ex-
ist." Its text:

In "The W.H.O.'s Health, and
the PLO" (editorial, May 8), you
commend Yassir Arafat for hav-
ing "declared null and void the
P.L.O.'s original covenant nullfiy-
ing Israel's right to exist." What
then do you make of the follow-
ing colloquy broadcast in
Arabic May 3 over Radio Monte
Carlo?:
Q. You said in French that
the covenant is "cauduc," that is
to say, nullified —
Arafat: That is your transla-
tion. Would it make sense for me
to teach you how to translate?
Q. Let's
say
it
has
"expired" —
Arafat: It has aged [Arabic:
Taqaadamat].
Q. Fine, the translation is: It
has aged.
Arafat: The word "ta-
qaadamat" appears in many
verses of the Koran with
reference to other [earlier]
verses Does this mean that these
other verses were nullified? No.
Q. If the covenant can be
amended only by the Palestine
National Council, are you ready
to convene a meeting on the
issue? Is there the possibility?
Arafat: Can anyone claim
that it is possible to change
something adopted by the P.N.C.
not by means of the P.N.C.
members, whether it concerns
political decisions, the Declara-
tion of Independence or the
covenant?"
A May 2 front-page story
noted that PLO spokesmen
repeatedly employ obfusating
language, which can convey dif-
ferent meanings to different au-
diences. This appears to be
more of the same.
It takes a letter to the editor to ex-
pose the double talk and the extent of
misleading public knowledge and
public opinion. The facts just recorded
should guide treatment of important
developments. Every means used to em-
phasize truth must be encouraged. ❑

