Newspaper Page Text
W. GllY TILLER & SON
Plumbing and Heating Supplies
Phone 1716
ATHENS, GEORGIA
ATHEN S COOPERATIVE CREAMERY
BETTER MAID ICE CREAM
Phone 2271 Athens, Georgia
DOWNS MOTORS, INC
CHRYSLER - PLYMOUTH
234 W. Hancock Ave. Telephone 2736
ATHENS, GEORGIA
MOON-WINN DRUG CO., INC.
"The Store of Personal Service"
197 Clayton Street Telephones 67-68
ATHENS, GEORGIA
SERVE —
BENSONS
BREAD AND CAKES
Ask Your Grocer for BENSON'S
ATHENS LAUNDRY SERVECE
A COMPLETE DRY CLEANING AND LAUNDRY SERVICE
240 W. Clayton St. — Telephone 3041
ATHENS, GEORGIA
THE ATHENS HARDWARE CO.
ATHENS, GEORGIA
FINDLEY DRY CLEANERS
175 E. Broad St. Telephone 9293
ATHENS, GEORGIA
PIEDMONT
MARKET
240 NO. LUMPKIN •
ATHENS, GEORGIA
beginning of the great modern city
of Tel Aviv. Moshe became one of
the first students at the Herzliah
Secondary School, which had been
established a short time earlier,
and was in its first graduating class
in 1913.
By now, Moshe Shertok was all
of eighteen years old. Already in
those years immediately before
World War 1 Palestine had a group
of young visionaries who dared to
dream of the day when the coun
try would be reconstituted as the
Jewish Homeland. Shertok was the
youngest of this group, which in
cluded David Ben Gurion (now
chairman of the Executive of the
Jewish Agency) and Isaac Ben Zvi
(now president of the Jewish Na
tional Council of Palestine). Like
most visionaries, they had a plan—
MOSHE SHERTOK
a fantastic plan. They would pro
ceed to Turkey, under whose ad
ministration Palestine was at that
time, try to penetrate the Turkish
Civil Service administering the
Holy Land, then begin a fight
against the system of baksheesh
and graft in the country thus gain
ing the confidence of the Turkish
Government, and then integrate
Palestine as the Jewish Homeland
on legal foundations within the
Ottoman State.
Shertok came to Constantinople
and entered its university. He
lived with a Turkish family. Fore
a Tarbush. spoke Turkish and at
tended the university as a young
Turk. After completion of his first
year, he returned to Palestine on
vacation, landing in Jaffa on the
day war broke out. Unable to re
turn to Constantinople to complete
his studies, he remained as in
structor of the Turkish language
at Herzliah, where he met Zip-
porah, one of his pupils, whom he
later married.
In 1916, when he reached 21,
Shertok was pressed into service
with the Turkish Army, serving as
warrant officer on the Macedonian
front. Later he was transferred to
Aleppo, Syria, where he was sta
tioned when the British had oc
cupied Palestine and penetrated
into Syria. When the order came
for the Turks to retreat, Moshe
broke away from his unit and re
ported to the British. The first
question the British officer asked
him after Moshe told him he was
a Palestinian Jew was: “Are you a
Zionist?” Shertok was at first
rather surprised by this sudden
question, but quickly replied:
“Yes.” Whereupon the British of
ficer exclaimed with joy: “Well
then, you are our friend.” In re
lating this incident, Shertok al
ways hastens to assure his listener
that he has not changed his views
on Zionist since that happy day,
but how different are today the
views of Britain and her officials
in Palestine!
Following his return to Palestine.
Shertok served for a time as secre
tary of the Arab Department of
the Zionist Commission (predeces
sor to the Jewish Agency), but in
1920 he decided that it was not yet
too late to complete his university
studies which he began in Con
stantinople, but this time it was to
London that he made his way. Lon
don had become more important
for the Jews and the future Jew
ish Palestine. Indeed, if Shertok
had any doubts about it, he verified
it shortly after his arrival in Lon
don. A few months after he had
entered the University of London,
Arab riots broke out in Palestine—
the riots of 1921, sometimes desig
nated as the first Arab riots — and
Shertok was called upon to act
as unofficial representative of the
young Yishuv in Palestine, ex
plain its viewpoint and collect
funds for the purchase of arms for
Jewish self-defense. In the same
year, he was the delegate of Pal
estine Jewish Labor at the Brigh
ton Conference of the British La
bor Party, at which its first pro-
Zionist resolution was adopted.
Shertok later transferred to the
London School of Economics,
specializing in political science. He
was often called upon to lecture
on Zionism in various English
cities, he aided Dr. Chaim Weiz-
mann in his negotiations with the
Arabs at that time, and wrote on
Arab affairs for Briish publications.
After taking his degree with honor
in 1924, Shertok returned to Pales
tine.
The next six years of his life
were devoted to the pioneering
adventure in Palestine. He joined
the editorial staff of “Davar,” the
Hebrew daily of the Histadruth,
which was the first properly edited
modem newspaper in the entire
Middle East. Through this medium,
he encouraged the new pioneering
spirit to greater accomplishments.
He wrote chiefly on Arab and
British affairs, on both of which
his grasp and insight were un
rivalled. In his spare time, he
would stump the country, lectur
ing on British and Middle Eastern
political affairs at the communal
settlements then springing up in
the land. Money, earthly posses
sions, the comforts of life — all of
this meant little or nothing to
him. The long hours without rest
or leisure and the humble salary
equivalent to about 45 dollars a
(26)
The Southern Israelite