Planetesimal

First published in Te Kaihau/The Windeater (George Braziller, Inc, 1987):

I ONCE KNEW A girl who sat apart at the party, down on the floor. A small almost-woman in a large blue overcoat, the kind sailors wear. She cringed within its folds. I sat beside her on a sudden kindly impulse. I offered my roach in its glittery skull holder. I was drowsed and calmhearted, gladly aware of all the patterns of laughter and the brittle flowering color of the carpet. I wasn't upset when she refused the smoke.
"Don't like it?"
"Don't smoke or drink," she said dully. Her head bowed. "Because ..."
"Because?"
"I think I'm going mad. If I fuddle things more, if I." Retreating into the midnight coat.
O dear. Another mixed-up strung-out febrile brain. I smiled, gently, buddhalike. I said, charity of the smoke
"They say if you can think it," carefully between tiny exhalations, "you are not going mad." Perfect curve of smile, perfect curve of smoke. I once knew this girl who --
She looked back at me and winced.
"I can think what I like. The evidence . . . the evidence."
"What evidence?"
She peeled back the heavy coat sleeve. "Look."
I bent forward politely.
It was an ordinary female arm, pallid, slightly hairy, a little too thick at the wrist.
The roach smoke drifted between us.
She pulled the coat sleeve higher.
Needle tracks, I thought dreamily. There will be the footprints of needles and she will bore me with her tale of dirt and discouragement. Needle tracks.
"There," she said.
The inner cup of her elbow.
Except it wasn't there.
It was the most exciting tattoo I had ever seen in my life, and I exclaimed with delight. The connoisseur taken aback. I said so, exalted. With bitterness she said,
"It is not a picture. Touch, but only the very edge. Where there is still bone."
I leant my finger carefully over the outside rim of skin to touch that extraordinary black oval. The cancellation of her flesh. However with mere ink had an artist gotten-
I snatched the finger back.
"You see?"
Her smile was as crooked and hurt as her previous wince. The lovely fog in my head bled away and I was left sitting, looking at a girl who--
gazed at her arm.
Where the tip of my finger had touched the black was a dead white patch like frostbite. It ached. And I had touched-nothing.
"The stars change," she said in a small voice. "Over the nights, they change. I watch them move in great circles."
I looked again.
Deep in the blackness was a myriad of intensely bright sparks. They made a far distant spiral.
"They are stars," she said, tiredly. "When I watch I feel as though I arch above, mother of the sky host."
A tired almost-woman, small, heavily bound in a coat. "Like that Egyptian. Goddess. Thing."
She rolled the sleeve slowly down. "Something even wants me there."
She looked at me. "Are you going mad too?"
I stood unsteadily. My eyes hurt from being kept too wide. My jaws hurt from being kept clenched. The unknowing laughter all around was harsh and raw and all the flowering colors had died. I wanted a glass a jugful a flagon of sherry to bring back the sweetness, to drown all the hurting, to believe in tomorrow again.
"You are not mad. Please wait. I am coming right back. Not mad."
I remember she didn't smile as I stumbled away. She stayed huddled against the wall, the upright collar of the coat at once frame and shelter for her pale forgettable face. I once knew a girl. Who?
I found my sherry. I drank too much too fast in a gay swirl of chatter. "Who's the girl?" I yelled. "A houri," said Anna, "a houri from the fragrant paradisiacal smoke." And Michael simpered, "Who cares, dear James? There are better things to do." And Big Molly looked at me carefully before saying, "She is one of my staff nurses. Sickleave. Nervous trouble y'know. You smitten?"
"No. Yes. I don't know."
Molly smiled. "Theresa Wyatt. Boards at Rossiter's. Y'know where?"
The sherry, the chatter, and inevitably, the nausea and the obligatory trip outside. When I returned inside, the girl had gone.
I went to Rossiter's in the dizzy morning after. Her landlady said she had not come home. "Which I expect you know about," she said grimly. She never came home.
And here I sit, writing lines by a dead roach. I am doing it awkwardly, one finger swathed. I once knew a girl who-- the police believe committed suicide, jumped in the sea, rendered herself bodiless.
Molly believes that. Her landlady believes that. Most times, I believe that. I meant to say, my dear, she was on six months sickleave and had gibbered openly about going to other worlds. So I believe that. I do. Except when I take the bandage off my finger. My inquisitive forefinger. Where now, centered in the dead white like a strange intrusive wart, sits a tiny bluegreen jewel. I think. Staring at it.
I have wondered. If you sat among heartless strangers, with a universe within your reach, would you always stay, wallflower at the party?
Already the dark is growing round the jewel, and behind it in the depths of black the bitter stars wink.

One Whale, Singing

The following two stories collected in Jane Stafford and Mark Williams's delightfully huge Auckland University Press Anthology of New Zealand Literature (Auckland UP, 2013):

The ship drifted on the summer night sea.
‘It is a pity,’ she thought, ‘that one must come on deck to see the stars. Perhaps a boat of glass, to see the sea streaming past, to watch the nightly splendour of stars ….’ Something small jumped from the water, away to the left. A flash of phosphorescence after the sound, and then all was quiet and starlit again.
They had passed through krillswarms all day. Large areas of the sea were reddishbrown, as though an enormous creature had wallowed ahead of the boat, streaming blood.
‘Whale-feed,’ she had said, laughing and hugging herself at the thought of seeing whales again. ‘Lobster-krill,’ he had corrected, pedantically.
The crustaceans had swum in their frightened jerking shoals, mile upon mile of them, harried by fish that were in turn pursued and torn by larger fish.
She thought, it was probably a fish after krill that had leaped then. She sighed, stroking her belly. It was the lesser of the two evils to go below now, so he didn’t have an opportunity to come on deck and suggest it was better for the coming baby’s health, and hers, of course, that she came down. The cramped cabin held no attraction: all that was there was boneless talk, and one couldn’t see stars, or really hear the waters moving.
Far below, deep under the keel of the ship, a humpback whale sported and fed. Occasionally, she yodelled to herself, a long undulating call of content. When she found a series of sounds that pleased, she repeated them, wove them into a band of harmonious pulses.
Periodically she reared to the surface, blew, and slid smoothly back under the sea in a wheel-like motion. Because she was pregnant, and at the tailend of the southward migration, she had no reason now to leap and display on the surface.
She was not feeding seriously; the krill was there, and she swam amongst them, forcing water through her lips with her large tongue, stranding food amongst the baleen. When her mouth was full, she swallowed. It was leisurely, lazy eating. Time enough for recovering her full weight when she reached the cold seas, and she could gorge on a ton and a half of plankton daily.
Along this coast, there was life and noise in plenty. Shallow grunting from a herd of fish, gingerly feeding on the fringes of the krill shoal. The krill themselves, a thin hiss and crackle through the water. The interminable background clicking of shrimps. At times, a wayward band of sound like bass organ-notes sang through the chatter, and to this the whale listened attentively, and sometimes replied.
The krill thinned: she tested, tasted the water. Dolphins had passed recently. She heard their brief commenting chatter, but did not spend time on it. The school swept round ahead of her, and vanished into the vibrant dark.
He had the annoying habit of reading what he’d written out loud. ‘We can conclusively demonstrate that to man alone belong true intelligence and self-knowledge.’
He coughs.
Taps his pen against his lips. He has soft, wet lips, and the sound is a fleshy slop! slop!
She thinks:
Man indeed! How arrogant! How ignorant! Woman would be as correct, but I’ll settle for humanity. And it strikes me that the quality humanity stands in need of most is true intelligence and self-knowledge.
‘For instance, Man alone as a species, makes significant artefacts, and transmits knowledge in permanent and durable form.’
He grunts happily.
‘In this lecture, I propose to ….’
But how do they know? she asks herself. About the passing on of knowledge among other species? They may do it in ways beyond our capacity to understand … that we are the only ones to make artefacts I’ll grant you, but that’s because us needy little adapts have such pathetic bodies, and no especial ecological niche. So hooks and hoes, and steel things that gouge and slay, we produce in plenty. And build a wasteland of drear ungainly hovels to shelter our vulnerable hides.
She remembers her glass boat, and sighs. The things one could create if one made technology servant to a humble and creative imagination …. He’s booming on, getting into full lectureroom style and stride.
‘… thus we will show that no other species, lacking as they do artefacts, an organised society, or even semblances of culture ….’
What would a whale do with an artefact, who is so perfectly adapted to the sea? Their conception of culture, of civilisation, must be so alien that we’d never recognise it, even if we were to stumble on its traces daily.
She snorts.
He looks at her, eyes unglazing, and smiles.
‘Criticism, my dear? Or you like that bit?’
‘I was just thinking ….’
Thinking, as for us passing on our knowledge, hah! We rarely learn from the past or the present, and what we pass on for future humanity is a mere jumble of momentarily true facts, and odd snippets of surprised self-discoveries. That’s not knowledge ….
She folds her hands over her belly. You in there, you won’t learn much. What I can teach you is limited by what we are. Splotch goes the pen against his lips.
‘You had better heat up that fortified drink, dear. We can’t have either of you wasting from lack of proper nourishment.’
Unspoken haw haw haw.
Don’t refer to it as a person! It is a canker in me, a parasite. It is nothing to me. I feel it squirm and kick, and sicken at the movement.
He says he’s worried by her pale face. ‘You shouldn’t have gone up on deck so late. You could have slipped, or something, and climbing tires you now, you know.’
She doesn’t argue any longer. The arguments follow well-worn tracks and go in circles.
‘Yes,’ she answers.
but I should wither without that release, that solitude, that keep away from you.
She stirs the powder into the milk and begins to mix it rhythmically.
I wonder what a whale thinks of its calf? So large a creature, so proven peaceful a beast, must be motherly, protective, a shielding benevolence against all wildness. It would be a sweet and milky love, magnified and sustained by the encompassing purity of water ….
A swarm of insectlike creatures, sparkling like a galaxy, each a pulsing lightform in blue and silver and gold. The whale sang for them, a ripple of delicate notes, spaced in a timeless curve. It stole through the lightswarm, and the luminescence increased brilliantly.
Deep within her, the other spark of light also grew. It was the third calf she had borne; it delighted her still, that the swift airy copulation should spring so opportunely to this new life. She feeds it love and music, and her body’s bounty. Already it responds to her crooning tenderness, and the dark pictures she sends it. It absorbs both, as part of the life to come, as it nests securely in the waters within.
She remembers the nautilids in the warm oceans to the north, snapping at one another in a cannibalistic frenzy.
She remembers the oil-bedraggled albatross, resting with patient finality on the water-top, waiting for death.
She remembers her flight, not long past, from killer whales, and the terrible end of the other female who had companied her south, tongue eaten from her mouth, flukes and genitals ripped, bleeding to a slow fought-against end.
And all the memories are part of the growing calf.
More krill appeared. She opened her mouth, and glided through the shoal. Sudden darkness for the krill. The whale hummed meanwhile.
He folded his papers contentedly.
‘Sam was going on about his blasted dolphins the other night dear.’
‘Yes?’
He laughed deprecatingly. ‘But it wouldn’t interest you. All dull scientific chatter, eh?’
‘What was he saying about, umm, his dolphins?’
‘O, insisted that his latest series of tests demonstrated their high intelligence. No, that’s misquoting him, potentially high intelligence. Of course, I brought him down to earth smartly. Results are as you make them, I said. Nobody has proved that the animals have intelligence to a degree above that of a dog. But it made me think of the rot that’s setting in lately. Inspiration for this lecture indeed.’
‘Lilley?’ she asked, still thinking of the dolphins, ‘Lilley demonstrated evidence of dolphinese.’
‘Lilley? That mystical crackpot? Can you imagine anyone ever duplicating his work? Hah! Nobody has, of course. It was all in the man’s mind.’
‘Dolphins and whales are still largely unknown entities,’ she murmured, more to herself than to him.
‘Nonsense, my sweet. They’ve been thoroughly studied and dissected for the last century and more.’ She shuddered. ‘Rather dumb animals, all told, and probably of bovine origin. Look at the incredibly stupid way they persist in migrating straight into the hands of whalers, year after year. If they were smart, they’d have organised an attacking force and protected themselves!’
He chuckled at the thought, and lit his pipe.
‘It would be nice to communicate with another species,’ she said, more softly still.
‘That’s the trouble with you poets,’ he said fondly. ‘Dream marvels are to be found from every half-baked piece of pseudo-science that drifts around. That’s not seeing the world as it is. We scientists rely on reliably ascertained facts for a true picture of the world.’
She sat silently by the pot on the galley stove.
An echo from the world around, a deep throbbing from miles away. It was both message and invitation to contribute. She mused on it for minutes, absorbing, storing, correlating, winding her song meanwhile experimentally through its interstices-then dropped her voice to the lowest frequencies. She sent the message along first, and then added another strength to the cold wave that travelled after the message. An oceanaway, someone would collect the cold wave, and store it, while it coiled and built to uncontrollable strength. Then, just enough would be released to generate a superwave, a gigantic wall of water on the surface of the sea. It was a new thing the sea-people were experimenting with. A protection. In case.
She began to swim further out from the coast. The water flowed like warm silk over her flanks, an occasional interjectory current swept her, cold and bracing, a touch from the sea to the south. It became quieter, a calm freed from the fights of crabs and the bickerings of small fish. There was less noise too, from the strange turgid craft that buzzed and clattered across the ocean-ceiling, dropping down wastes that stank and sickened.
A great ocean-going shark prudently shifted course and flicked away to the side of her. It measured twenty feet from shovel-nose to crescentic tailfin, but she was twice as long and would grow a little yet. Her broad deep body was still wellfleshed and strong, in spite of the vicissitudes of the northward breeding trek: there were barnacles encrusting her fins and lips and head, but she was unhampered by other parasites. She blew a raspberry at the fleeing shark and beat her flukes against the ocean’s pull in an ecstasy of strength.
‘This lecture,’ he says, sipping his drink, ‘this lecture should cause quite a stir. They’ll probably label it conservative, or even reactionary, but of course it isn’t. It merely urges us to keep our feet on the ground, not go hunting off down worthless blind sidetrails. To consolidate data we already have, not, for example, to speculate about so-called ESP phenomena. There is far too much mysticism and airy-fairy folderol in science these days. I don’t wholly agree with the Victorians’ attitude, that science could explain all, and very shortly would, but it’s high time we got things back to a solid factual basis.’
‘The Russians,’ she says, after a long moment of non-committal silence, ‘the Russians have discovered a form of photography that shows all living things to be sources of a strange and beautiful energy. Lights flare from finger tips. Leaves coruscate. All is living effulgence.’
He chuckles again.
‘I can always tell when you’re waxing poetic.’ Then he taps out the bowl of his pipe against the side of the bunk, and leans forward in a fatherly way.
‘My dear, if they have, and that’s a big if, what difference could that possibly make. Another form of energy? So what?’
‘Not just another form of energy,’ she says sombrely. ‘It makes for a whole new view of the world. If all things are repositories of related energy, then humanity is not alone ….’
‘Why this of solitariness, of being alone. Communication with other species, man is not alone, for God’s sake! One would think you’re becoming tired of us all!’
He’s joking.
She is getting very tired. She speaks tiredly.
‘It would mean that the things you think you are demonstrating in your paper ….’
‘Lecture.’
‘Work …. those things are totally irrelevant. That we may be on the bottom of the pile, not the top. It may be that other creatures are aware of their place and purpose in the world, have no need to delve and paw a meaning out. Justify themselves. That they accept all that happens, the beautiful, the terrible, the sickening, as part of the dance, as the joy or pain of the joke. Other species may somehow be equipped to know fully and consciously what truth is, whereas we humans must struggle, must struggle blindly to the end.’
He frowns, a concerned benevolent frown.
‘Listen dear, has this trip been too much. Are you feeling at the end of your tether, tell us truly? I know the boat is old, and not much of a sailer, but it’s the best I could do for the weekend. And I thought it would be a nice break for us, to get away from the university and home. Has there been too much work involved? The boat’s got an engine after all …. would you like me to start it and head back for the coast?’
She is shaking her head numbly.
He stands up and swallows what is left of his drink in one gulp.
‘It won’t take a minute to start the engine, and then I’ll set that pilot thing, and we’ll be back in sight of land before the morning. You’ll feel happier then.’
She grips the small table.
Don’t scream, she tells herself, don’t scream.
Diatoms of phantom light, stray single brilliances. A high burst of dolphin sonics. The school was returning. A muted rasp from shoalfish hurrying past. A thing that curled and coiled in a drifting aureole of green light. She slows, buoyant in the water.
Green light: it brings up the memories that are bone deep in her, written in her very cells. Green light of land.
She had once gone within yards of shore, without stranding. Curiosity had impelled her up a long narrow bay. She had edged carefully along, until her long flippers touched the rocky bottom. Sculling with her tail, she had slid forward a little further, and then lifted her head out of the water. The light was bent, the sounds that came to her were thin and distorted, but she could see colours known only from dreams and hear a music that was both alien and familiar.
(Christlookitthat!)
(Fuckinghellgetoutahereitscomingin)
The sound waves pooped and spattered through the air, and things scrambled away, as she moved herself back smoothly into deeper water.
A strange visit, but it enabled her to put images of her own to the calling dream. Follow the line to the hard and aching airswept land, lie upon solidity never before known until strained ribs collapse from weight of body never before felt. And then, the second beginning of joy ….
She dreams a moment, recalling other ends, other beginnings. And because of the web that streamed between all members of her kind, she was ready for the softly insistent pulsation that wound itself into her dreaming. Mourning for a male of the species, up in the cold southern seas where the greenbellied krill swarm in unending abundance. Where the killing ships of the harpooners lurk. A barb sliced through the air in an arc and embedded itself in the lungs, so the whale blew red in his threshing agony. Another that sunk into his flesh by the heart. Long minutes later, his slow exhalation of death. Then the gathering of light from all parts of the drifting corpse. It condensed, vanished … streamers of sound from the dolphins who shoot past her, somersaulting in their strange joy.
The long siren call urges her south. She begins to surge upward to the sweet night air.
She says, ‘I must go on deck for a minute.’
They had finished the quarrel, but still had not come together. He grunts, fondles his notes a last time, and rolls over in his sleeping bag, drawing the neck of it tightly close.
She says wistfully,
‘Goodnight then,’
and climbs the stairs heavily up to the hatchway.
‘You’re slightly offskew,’ she says to the Southern Cross, and feels the repressed tears begin to flow down her cheeks. The stars blur.
Have I changed so much?
Or is it this interminable deadening pregnancy?
But his stolid, sullen, stupidity!
He won’t see, he won’t see, he won’t see anything.
She walks to the bow, and settles herself down, uncomfortably aware of her protuberant belly, and begins to croon a song of comfort to herself.
And at that moment the humpback hit the ship, smashing through her old and weakened hull, collapsing the cabin, rending timbers. A mighty chaos ….
Somehow she found herself in the water, crying for him, swimming in a circle as though among the small debris she might find a floating sleeping bag. The stern of the ship is sinking, poised a moment a moment dark against the stars, and then it slides silently under.
She strikes out for a shape in the water, the liferaft? the dinghy?
And the shape moves.
The humpback, full of her dreams and her song, had beat blindly upward, and was shocked by the unexpected fouling. She lies, waiting on the water-top.
The woman stays where she is, motionless except for her paddling hands. She has no fear of the whale, but thinks, ‘It may not know I am here, may hit me accidentally as it goes down.’
She can see the whale more clearly now, an immense zeppelin shape, bigger by far than their flimsy craft had been, but it lies there, very still ….
She hopes it hasn’t been hurt by the impact, and chokes on the hope.
There is a long moaning call then, that reverberates through her. She is physically swept, shaken by an intensity of feeling, as though the whale has sensed her being and predicament, and has offered it all it can, a sorrowing compassion.
Again the whale makes the moaning noise, and the woman calls, as loudly as she can, ‘Thank you, thank you’ knowing that it is meaningless, and probably unheard. Tears stream down her face once more.
The whale sounded so gently she didn’t realise it was going at all.
‘I am now alone in the dark,’ she thinks, and the salt water laps round her mouth. ‘How strange, if this is to be the summation of my life.’
In her womb the child kicked. Buoyed by the sea, she feels the movement as something gentle and familiar, dear to her for the first time.
But she begins to laugh.
The sea is warm and confiding, and it is a long long way to shore.
(1986)

The Pluperfect Pā-wā

WELL, I FOUND that hyperbloodyinteresting, I tell you. Fifteen of them down on the beach and all of them out of their shells? Getting superbloodyconfident now, aren’t they? And didn’t I say that, right at the beginning? But no. Nobody listens to me. (You’re captive, a captive listener. Reader. Whatever. You don’t count.) (The interpolations—and this is mainly interpolation—are by me. You don’t know me. You won’t know me after this either. Don’t worry about it. Just listen to him raving on about how we should have eaten them right away, instead of listening. What would you have done though? Me, I dropped the knife at the first squawk, and was charmed, right from 1’s—do you put the apostrophe in for personal numbers? Not quite sure whether I was taught about this at school. Never mind, I was charmed, and I did what was asked, and I don’t do that for all my fritters I assure you.)
Picture the new cathedral.
It is dense and made of bluegreen nacre: it is as fluid and ephemeral as a net of sounds: it is the holdfast rock (a volcanic dyke eroded to a halfmile stump but much more solid than the day it was born), and it is the unseen neural network, and it is the tides between.
Every ashtray made of Lucite with the chips in it; every pendant, and cheap swinging earring, and dull stud in silver-plated ring; every 21st key; every napkin holder; every counter for housie; every salt and pepper shaker; every keyring; every designer necklace and silver work-of-art ring, swooping off your finger like a bird gone wrong, tangling in everything you touch; every flake ground into the gravel of path or beach; every haunted shell, in piles on the Stewart Island wharf; scattered the length and breadth of the islands (lengths, breadths) on beaches, in baches, in sedate suburban homes. Every last one of them. EVERY ONE.
(A bit of time goes by. Not more than a week. He’s snoring off the effect of his afterlunch pubpet. I’ve just finished my after-lunch walk. Do you know, one of them said to me, quite shyly I thought, ‘My first intra-generational mutation.’ It was waving a chaplet of shining blue eyes, all loosely tethered to it by green filaments. The others (all sorts, I won’t even try and describe them for you because the pace of change is getting hectic, and they’re all experimenting madly) were giggling snidely at it. I said, ‘Very nice. It seems nice and practical. It’s beautiful. I like it. Nice.’
They’re not talking much to me any more. They’ve given up on him altogether, but that won’t come as a surprise to us. I told him it was Not A Good Idea to go and gut and eat sashimi-style that last ordinary he found. Don’t tell him, but I saw his pubpet practising blowing bubbles just now. Isn’t it interesting that never-animate things are catching it? Well, I suppose it was animate once, now you come to think of it. They’re made of plastic after all, and plastic was once dinosaurs. I think. I know I learned something like that at school. Yes, that was it, layers of squashed animals and plants that turned into tar and oil and coal. So that would explain how a container for beer could link in. Wouldn’t it?)
Speculation about the first one:
how did it discover itself as a thinking being? how did it discover us, and our information hoards? how did it learn to shape itself? how did it pass on both knowledge and ability to accomplish these things to every other one?
Speculation about them all:
how did they discover the interconnection between life, the universe and everything? And time and space? Why won’t they tell us? Why are they ganging up on us?
Speculation is not a series of questions, though life ultimately turns out to be so. This is what happens to a philosopher in despair. Think about something else.
Become the thought.
(SING! SINK DOWN SLOOWWLLEEEEEEEE …. SING! SINK! SING! AHHHH! ROCK BOTTOM! THE WATER BREATHES ME AND WE BREATHE IT! WE BREATHE WE WREATHE WE WEAVE WE SIEVE WE ARE! SING! SING! NOW CLING! CLING! DON’T EVER LET THE ROCK GO! CLING!)
(I once had a nightmare about going down to my favourite mahika-kai for pāua. That was the beginning of the nightmare, and it seemed quite pleasant for a while, doing in a dream what I liked doing best of all awake, gathering food from the sea. I picked pāua—it was easy because there were dozens of them grazing the reef, ignoring me: they slipped off rock into my kit with never a clamp-down. I had a kit full in what seemed like seconds, though you can never be sure about time in dreams.
It was when I began to gut them back at the head of the beach that things turned nasty. Take out the fish, beat shit out of it on a handy rock, careful of the pewa, and then nick the radula out. All ready for steak, yum yum. But these pāua weren’t ordinary inside: they were grey spongy stuff, which kept oozing out everywhere. I couldn’t get it off my hands, even when I flung the kit away. I was screaming at the stuff, I never knew pāua had brains! I never knew!)
Casually say to yourself these three sentences;
one: everything that is, is interconnected; two: everything you can think of, exists, and everything you can’t think of, does too; three: you are what you eat.
Now, go away and sort out which one, if any, was the lie.
(CLING!CLING!CLING!CLING!CLING!CLING!CLING!)
(Do you like millenniallist fiction? You know, we have arrived at the crucial time for Humanity, and DOOM is upon us. The Norns have given up watering Yggdrasil. The Moirai have stopped all that weaving—it made a pretty pattern but never got them anywhere. Māui is abroad in our world once more, pretty pissed off at being kept out of things for so long, but ready to give us a whirl (chuckle). Things read very grimly, but you know that the author will sort things out at the end—one quirky brave couple of homo sapiens (homo sexuals if it’s really post-modernist) will survive And The World Will Go On. I read millenniallist fiction because it’s SO reassuring. Don’t you find it so?)
Well, I found that fuckingbloodyannoying, I tell you. Well, I can’t tell you. Yes I can. Someone will come along one of these days and we’ll get together and get it together and by bloody hell, we won’t make any mistakes next time round. We’ll screw everything down so tight, NOTHING else will get a look in. Someone won’t be the bloody useless wife, incidentally. She joined the early Sinkers, after running away with the pot plant. Said it had a longer bloody reach or something. Never did like the fucking thing, anyway.
Everything got impossible there for a while. Like, went down to the old piecart at the corner for a pie—not a real pie, the cattle had seen to that weeks before. Block-voted a veto along with the sheep and the pigs. Well, I don’t really blame them, would’ve done the same bloody thing in their place, myself Well, no, actually I fucking wouldn’t. I’d’ve murdered us, the whole fucking lot. Nah, wasn’t a real pie, it was goo—goo pie with goo peas on top, all you could get because the plants had gone berserk too. Made some comment about the weather and the thing behind the counter snarls Whaddarya? Fuckin’ pāwāist or something? Didn’t argue. Built like a bloody tank, and I mean really. Bloody great steel shell on it, and creepy 70 mm barrels peeping out under the black flesh fringe. Hey, better watch m’self, might go poetic like the fucking ex.
O well. After I got to Washington and found the button and set off everything from that end, I thought all would be well again. I waited in the mobile for a while—hell, I’m proud of myself for that mobile! It’s got everything, own atmosphere, foodmaker, and I could communicate with God if I wanted to. Thing’ll give you booze, drugs, sort of sex, and it wasn’t that hard to build. Kind of like I was the only brain left, being the only real man left, that I knew about, and everything we’d thought of before was mine. Built it a week after the wife sunk. Well anyway, aimed the fucking mobile home back to the beach. Might as well stick to what you know, eh? Thought I’d wait for the first decent looker to come along and we’d shack up and away we’d go, man on top again as it always was, and always should’ve been. But everything else in the world was charred. All the sheilas had either sunk or turned into something else or been so fucking dumb they hadn’t built themselves a mobile. As I said, I found that extrabloodyannoying.
Never mind. I can wait. Something’ll turn up. It always fucking does. like hollow hissing laughter the cinders rustling in the wind
(Oh no. Don’t turn serious on me, not at this stage, not on this stage. Here, she says kindly, have this motto found in a Chinese fortune abalone. Look! It says,
PLUPERFECT (TENSE) EXPRESSING ACTION COMPLETED PRIOR TO SOME PAST POINT IN TIME SPECIFIED OR IMPLIED: PĀ (V.T/V.I/N) TOUCH, BE STRUCK, STRIKE, HOLD PERSONAL COMMUNICATION WITH, AFFECT, BE CONNECTED WITH, ASSAULT, OBSTRUCT, INHABITANTS OF A FORTIFIED PLACE, BLOW, REACH ONE’S EARS, GROUP, CLUMP, FLOCK: WĀ (V.IN) INTERVAL, REGION, DEFINITE SPACE, INDEFINITE UNENCLOSED COUNTRY, TIME, SEASON, BE FAR ADVANCED, CONDEMN, TAKE COUNSEL, SO-AND-SO
How neat to get that one! Much better than, say, THE WINDS OF CHANGE WILL SHORTLY BLOW THROUGH YOUR LIFE, or some such irrelevant guff. Much better to get that one, eh?
Have another fritter.)
(1988)

David Lloyd George - Memoirs of the Peace Conference, Vol 2. Pub. 1939
(Image: Volume 2 Title Page)
[Beginning on Page 721]
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TURKISH TREATY (continued) PALESTINE
The intention of the Allied Powers regarding the future of Palestine up to the end of 1916 are practically embodied in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The country was to be mutilated and torn into sections. There would be no more Palestine. Canaan was to be drawn and quartered. But I9I7 saw a complete change in the attitude of the nations towards this historic land. It was no longer the end of a pipe-line here, the terminus of a railway there, a huddled collection of shrines over which Christian and Moslem sects wrangled under the protection of three great powers in every quarter. It was a historic and a sacred land, throbbing from Dan to Beersheba with immortal traditions, the homeland of a spiritual outlook and faith professed by hundreds of millions of the human race and fashioning more and more the destinies of mankind. The carving knife of the Sykes–Picot Agreement was a crude hacking of a Holy Land. At the beginning of the War, Palestine was not in the picture.
The mind of the Great Powers was on Belgium, Poland and Istria. The destiny of Palestine was left to the haggling of experts in the various Foreign Offices of the Allies.
In 1915 and 1916, Britain massed huge armies to check the menace of the Turk on the Suez Canal. At first they crawled drearily and without purpose across the desert towards the land of the Philistines. But in 1917, the attention of her warriors was drawn to the mountains of Judea beyond. The zeal of the Crusaders was relumed in their soul. The redemption of Palestine from the withering aggression of the Turk became like a pillar of flame to lead them on. The Sykes–Picot Agreement perished in its fire. It was not worth fighting for Canaan in order to condemn it to the fate of Agag and hew it in pieces before the Lord.
722 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
Palestine, if recaptured, must be one and indivisible to renew its greatness as a living entity. The next factor which produced a momentous change was the decision to come to terms with Jewry, which was clamouring for an opportunity to make Canaan once more the homeland of their race. There are more Irishmen living outside Ireland than dwell in the old country. Still, Ireland is the homeland of the Irish People. No one imagined that the 14,000,000 of Jews scattered over the globe could find room and a living in Palestine. Nevertheless this race of wanderers sought a national hearth and a refuge for the hunted children of Israel in the country which the splendour of their spiritual genius has made for ever glorious.
It seems strange to say that the Germans were the first realise the war value of the Jews of the dispersal. In Poland it was they who helped the German Army to conquer the Czarist oppressor who had so cruelly persecuted their race. They had their influence in other lands-notably in America, where some of their most powerful leaders exerted a retarding influence on President Wilson's impulses in the direction of the Allies. The German General Staff in 1916 urged the Turks to concede the demands of the Zionists in respect of Palestine. Fortunately the Turk was too stupid to understand or too sluggish to move. The fact that Britain at last opened her eyes to the opportunity afforded to the Allies to rally this powerful people to their side was attributable to the initiative, the assiduity and the fervour of one of the greatest Hebrews of all time: Dr. Chaim Weizmann. He found his opportunity in this War of Nations to advance the cause to which he had consecrated his life. Dr. Weizmann enlisted my adhesion to his ideals at a time when, at my request, he was successfully applying his scientific skill and imagination to save Britain from a real disaster over the failure of wood alcohol for the manufacture of cordite. In addition to the gratitude I felt for him for this service, he appealed to my deep reverence for the great men of his race who were the authors of the sublime literature upon which I was brought up. I introduced him to Mr. Balfour, who was won over completely by his charm, his persuasiveness and his intellectual power. Dr. Weizmann then
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 723
brought to his aid the eager and active influence of Lord Milner, Lord Robert Cecil, and General Smuts.
During the summer of 1917, Mr. Balfour, with my zealous assent as Prime Minister, entered into negotiations with Lord Rothschild on the subject of the Zionist aims. Ultimately it is recorded that the War Cabinet on September 3rd, 1917, "had under consideration correspondence which had passed between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Lord Rothschild on the question of the policy to be adopted towards the Zionist movement.' That policy was after prolonged enquiry and reflexion decided by the Cabinet on merits, and I have no doubt in my mind that some such provision would by common consent of all the Allied Powers have been inserted in the Peace Treaty even had there been no previous pledge or promise. But the actual time of the declaration was determined by considerations of war policy. It was part of our propagandist strategy for mobilizing every opinion and force throughout the world which would weaken the enemy and improve the Allied chances. Propaganda on both sides probably played a greater part in the last war than in any other. As an illustration I might take the public declarations we made of the Allied intention to liberate and Confer self-government on nationalities inside the enemy Empires, — Turkey, Germany, and Austria. These announcements were intended to have a propagandist effect, not only at home, but also in neutral countries and perhaps most of all in enemy countries.
On principle, the democratic Powers of Europe and America had always advocated emancipation of the subject races held down by the great Empires. But we were also aware that the proclamation of liberation as part of our war aims would help to disintegrate the solidarity of the enemy countries, and so it did. It would have the effect of detaching from the governing races in those countries Poles, Alsace-Lorrainers, Czechoslovakians, Croatians, Roumans and Arabs dwelling within the boundaries of the Central Empires. The Allies redeemed the promises made in these declarations to the full. No race has done better out of the fidelity with which the Allies redeemed their promises to the oppressed races than
724 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
the Arabs. Owing to the tremendous sacrifices of the Allied nations, and more particularly of Britain and her Empire, the Arabs have already won independence in Iraq, Arabia, syria, and Trans-Jordania, although most of the Arab races fought throughout the War for their Turkish oppressors, Arabia was the only exception in that respect. The Palestinian Arabs fought for Turkish rule.
The Balfour Declaration represented the convinced policy of all parties in our country and also in America, but the launching of it in 1917 was due, as I have said, to propagandist reasons. I should like once more to remind the British public, who may be hesitating about the burdens of our Zionist Declaration to-day, of the actual war position at the time of that Declaration. We are now looking at the War through the dazzling glow of a triumphant end, but in 1917 the issue of the War was still very much in doubt. We were convinced-but not all of us-that we would Pull through victoriously, but the Germans were equally persuaded that victory would rest on their banners, and they had much reason for coming to that conclusion. They had smashed the Roumanians. The Russian Army was completely demoralised by its numerous defeats. The French Army was exhausted and temporarily unequal to striking a great blow. The Italians had sustained a shattering defeat at Caporetto. The unlimited submarine campaign had sunk millions of tons of our shipping. There were no American divisions at the front, and when I say at the front, I mean available in the trenches. For the Allies there were two paramount problems at that time. The first was that the Central Powers should be broken by the blockade before our supplies of food and essential raw material were cut off by sinkings of our own ships. The other was that the war preparations in the United States should be speeded up to such an extent as to enable the Allies to be adequately reinforced in the critical campaign of 1918 by American troops. In the solution of these two problems, Public opinion in Russia and America played a great part, and we had every reason at that time to believe that in both countries the friendliness or hostility of the Jewish race might make a considerable difference.
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 725
The solution of Germany's food and raw material difficulties depended on the attitude of Russia and the goodwill of its people. We realised, and so did the Germans, that Russia could take no further part in the War with her army, but the question was: when would she conclude peace with Germany and what manner of peace would it be? Time counted for both sides, and the conditions and the temper of the peace between Germany and Russia counted even more. Would the peace be of a kind which would afford facilities for the Germans to secure supplies of grain, oil, and copper from the immeasurable natural resources of that vast and rich country, or would it be a sulky pact which would always stand in the way of Germany's attempt to replenish her stores from Russian resources? In the former case, we could not hope for a better issue of the War than a stalemate after another year or two of carnage. In the latter case, the stranglehold of our fleet would be effective, and the Central Powers would be deprived of essential food and material and their will and power of resistance would be weakened to a breaking-point. The Germans were equally alive to the fact that the Jews of Russia wielded considerable influence in Bolshevik circles. The Zionist Movement was exceptionally strong in Russia and America. The Germans were, therefore, engaged actively in courting favour with that Movement all over the world. A friendly Russia would mean not only more food and raw material for Germany and Austria but fewer German and Austrian troops on the Eastern front and therefore, more available for the West. These considerations we brought to our notice by the Foreign Office, and reported to the War Cabinet.
The support of the Zionists for the cause of the Entente would mean a great deal as a war measure. Quite naturally Jewish sympathies were to a great extent anti-Russian, and therefore in favour of the Central Powers. No ally of Russia, in fact, could escape sharing that immediate and inevitable penalty for the long and savage Russian persecution of the Jewish race. In addition to this, the German General Staff, with their wide outlook on possibilities, urged, early in 1916, the advantages of promising Jewish restoration to Palestine under an arrangement
726 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
to be made between Zionists and Turkey, backed by a German guarantee. The practical difficulties were considerable; the subject was perhaps dangerous to German relations with Turkey; and the German Government acted cautiously. But the scheme was by no means rejected or even shelved, and at any moment the Allies might have been forestalled in offering this supreme bid. In fact in September, 1917, the German Government were making very serious efforts to capture the Zionist Movement. Another most cogent reason for the adoption by the Allies of the policy of the declaration lay in the state of Russia herself. Russian Jews had been secretly active on behalf of the Central Powers from the first; they had become the chief agents of German pacifist propaganda in Russia; by 1917 they had done much in preparing for that general disintegration of Russian society, later recognised as the Revolution. It was believed that if Great Britain declared for the fulfilment of Zionist aspirations in Palestine under her own pledge, one effect would be to bring Russian Jewry to the cause of the Entente.
It was believed, also, that such a declaration would have a Potent influence upon world Jewry outside Russia, and secure for the Entente the aid of Jewish financial interests. In America, their aid in this respect would have a special value when the Allies had almost exhausted the gold and marketable securities available for American purchases. Such were the chief considerations which, in 1917, impelled the British Government towards making a contract with Jewry.
Men like Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, Lord Robert Cecil, and myself were in whole-hearted sympathy with the Zionist ideal. The same thing applied to all the leaders of public opinion in our country and in the Dominions, Conservative, Liberal, and Labour. There were only one or two who were not so favourably inclined to the policy. One, in particular, doubted the wisdom from the Jewish point of view; that was Mr. Edwin Montagu. Lord Curzon, whilst professing a certain measure of interest in Zionist dreams, was anxious not to excite unattainable hopes in the breasts of Jewish zealots. He doubted the feasibility of any substantial achievement because of the barrenness of the Pales-
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 727
tinian soil. He prepared a careful statement of his opinion, which can be read with interest to-day in view of developments in Palestine since the War. It is written in Lord Curzon's best and most characteristic style. There is a great fund of detailed knowledge of his subject, acquired by a study of the authorities on the matter, stimulated by a flying visit through the country in his youthful days. But he had, by instinct and inheritance, profound distrust of the success of any bold experiment designed to change existing conditions. The writing has much distinction of phrasing. It is also lightened by some amusing passages.

• [AUTHOR QUOTES LORD CURZON– ~1917]

THE FUTURE OF PALESTINE
I am not concerned to discuss the question in dispute between the Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews, viz., whether it is possible to reconcile the reconstitution of a national home for the Jewish race in Palestine with the contented assimilation of many millions of Jews in other countries where they have acquired nationality and made a home.
I am only interested in the more immediately practical questions:
(a) What is the meaning of the phrase "a National Home for the Jewish Race in Palestine," and what is the nature of the obligation that we shall assume if we accept this as a principle of British policy?
(b) If such a policy be pursued what are the chances of its successful realisation?
For important as may be the political reasons (and they seem to me almost exclusively political) for adopting such a line of action, we ought at least to consider whether we are encouraging a practicable ideal, or preparing the way for disappointment and failure.
If I seek guidance from the latest collection of circulated papers (The Zionist Movement, G-164) I find a fundamental disagreement among the authorities quoted there as to the scope and nature of their aim. A "National Home for the Jewish race or people" would seem, if the words are to bear their ordinary meaning, to imply a place where the Jews can be reassembled as a nation, and where they will enjoy the privileges of an independent national existence. Such is clearly the conception of those who, like Sir A. Mond, speak of the creation in Palestine of "an autonomous Jewish State," words which appear to contemplate a State, i.e. apolitical entity, composed of Jews, governed by Jews, and administered mainly in the interests of Jews. Such a State might naturally be expected to have a capital, a form of government, and institutions of its own. It would possess the soil or the greater part of the soil of the country. It would take its place among the smaller nations of the earth.
728 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
The same conception appears to underlie several other of the phrases employed in these papers, e.g., when we are told that Palestine is to become "a home for the Jewish nation," "a national home for the Jewish race," "a Jewish Palestine," and when we read of "the resettlement of Palestine as a national centre,' and "the restoration of Palestine to the Jewish people." All these phrases are variants of the same idea, viz., the recreation of Palestine as it was before the days of the dispersion.
On the other hand, Lord Rothschild, when he speaks of Palestine as "a home where the Jews could speak their own language, have their own education, their own civilisation, and religious institutions under the protection of Allied Governments, "seems to postulate a much less definite form of political existence, one, indeed, which is quite compatible with the existence of an alien (so long as it is not a Turkish) Government.
At the other extreme the late Lord Cromer, who favoured the Zionist cause, explains that the resuscitated Palestine is only to be "the spiritual centre of the Jews' and a reservoir of Jewish culture aspirations which are wholly different from those which I have just recorded, and which appear to be incompatible with the evolution of a comparatively small and for the most part agricultural or pastoral community.
I call attention to these contradictions because they suggest some hesitancy in espousing a cause whose advocates have such very different ideas of what they mean.
But I must proceed further to point out that, whichever interpretation we adopt, Palestine would appear to be incapacitated by physical and other conditions from ever becoming in any real sense the national home of the Jewish people.
That people number, we are told, about 12 millions, scattered in all parts of the world. Of this total, 9 1/4 millions are in Europe (including 6 millions in Russia) and 2 millions in North America. The number in the United Kingdom is 245,000; the number already in Palestine was, before the war, 125,000.
Now what is the capacity as regards population of Palestine within any reasonable period of time? Under the Turks there is no such place or country as Palestine, because it is divided up between the sajak of Jerusalem and the vilayets of Syria and Beirut. Butletus assume that in speaking of Palestine in the present context we mean the old Scriptural Palestine, extending from Dan to Beersheba, i.e., from Banias to Bir Saba. This is a country of less than 10,000 square miles, including 4,000 to the east of the Jordan, i.e., it is a country which, excluding desert lands, is not much bigger than Wales. Now Wales, in
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 729
spite of having one city of nearly 200,000 people, and two others of 200,000 between them, only supports a population of 2,000,000 Persons.
Palestine, on the other hand, before the war contained a population the highest estimate of which was between 600,000 and 700,000 persons, of which less than one-quarter were Jews and the remainder except for small Christian communities or settlements) Moslems. The Jews were to a large extent congregated in the few towns, e.g., in Jerusalem, where, out of a total population of 80,000, 55,000 were Jews-for the most part living on alms or charity, or old men to end their days in the Holy City. The Jewish colonies, about which much has been said, contained a population of only 11,000. The remainder of the Jews were in the other towns and parts of the country.
Since the War the Turks have reduced the country to a condition of abject debasement. The Jewish colonies have either been dislocated or broken up, the various missionary establishments, except the German and Spanish, have disappeared, the local inhabitants have been conscripted and to a large extent destroyed on the front, the urban populations have been reduced to beggary, and colonies of Turkomans, Circassians, Kurds, and other savage races have been planted about to hold the country in subjection.
Before the War it was calculated by competent authorities who had lived for years in the country that for many years it could not support an increased population. After the devastation wrought by the war it will be many decades before we can contemplate a population that will even remotely approximate to that of Wales. This is a position due not merely to the ravages of war, but to the present physical conditions of the country, brought about by centuries of neglect and misrule. Before any considerable revival can be expected there must be a colossal expenditure on aforestation, on irrigation, on the rebuilding of the broken-down terraces which formerly supported the cultivation. The scriptural phrase, a land "flowing with mind honey," which suggests an abounding fertility, must be read in relation to the desert features of Sinai, to which it stood in glowing contrast, and loses somewhat of its picturesque charm when we realise that the milk was that of the flocks of goats that roamed, and still roam, the hills, while the honey was the juice of the small grape that was used as a substitute for sugar and still makes a Palatable wine.
Further, let it be borne in mind, when we speak of this devastated country as a national home for a great people, that in the seary Jordan valley no Europeans can live or rear children, that only the higher parts of the country are suited for settlers who come from more northerly climes, that malaria, fever, ophthalmia, and other ailments
730 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
abound, not to be eradicated save by great outlay and after a long time.
Palestine is, in fact, a poor land, containing no mineral wealth, no coal, no iron ore, no copper, gold or silver. It depends entirely on live stock (i.e. mainly, goats, which crop the bare hills) and agriculture. In parts, but in parts only, where there is sufficient water and a good climate, excellent crops of wheat and barley are produced. Olive oil, sesame, and oranges are the chief exports.
Such is the country-a country calling for prolonged and patient toil from a people inured to agriculture and even so only admitting after generations of a relatively small population-that we are invited (if we can get hold of it, which we have not yet done) to convert into the national home of a people, numbering many millions, brought from other and different climates, and to a large extent trained in other industries and professions.
There arises the further question, what is to become of the people of this country, assuming the Turk to be expelled, and the inhabitants not to have been exterminated by the War? There are over half a million of these, Syrian Arabs-a mixed community with Arab, Hebrew, Canaanite, Greek, Egyptian, and possibly Crusaders' blood. They and their forefathers have occupied the country for the best part of 1,500 years. They own the soil, which belongs either to individual landowners or to village communities. They profess the Mohammedan faith. They will not be content either to be expropriated for Jewish immigrants, or to act merely as hewers of wood and drawers of water to the latter.
Further, there are other settlers who will have to be reckoned with. There are 100,000 Christians, who will not wish to be disturbed; east of the Jordan are large colonies of Circassian Mohammedians, firmly established; there are also settlements of Druses and Moslems from Algeria, Bulgaria, and Egypt.
No doubt a prodigal expenditure of wealth will secure the expropriation of some of these. But when we reflect that the existing Jewish colonies, in the most favoured spots, after a prodigious outlay, extending over many years, have only in a few cases as yet become self-supporting, it is clear that a long vista of anxiety, vicissitude, and expense lies before those who desire to rebuild the national home.
I spoke earlier of the dreams of those who foresee a Jewish State, with possibly a Jewish capital at Jerusalem. Such a dream is rendered wholly incapable of realisation by the conditions of Jerusalem itself. It is a city in which too many peoples and too many religions have a passionate and permanent interest to render any such solution even dimly possible. The Protestant communities are vitally interested in
THE TURKISH TREATY--PALESTINE 731
the churches and in the country as the scenes of the most sacred events in history. The Roman Catholics collect annually large sums and maintain extensive establishments at Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Greek Orthodox Church regards the Holy Places with an almost frenzied reverence. Great pilgrimages come annually from the Slav countries and Russia. I recall a flourishing Russian monastery on Mount Tabor. The Hellenic clergy have large properties in the country.
Finally, next to Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is the most sacred city of the Mohammedian faith. The Mosque of Omar, on the site of the Temple of Solomon, is one of the most hallowed of the shrines of Islam. It contains the great rock or stone, from which Mohammed ascended on the back of his miraculous steed to Heaven, and which is regarded with so much awe in the Moslem world that when, a few years ago, an Englishman was alleged to have been digging under it, the uproar spread throughout the Moslem world. It is impossible to contemplate any future in which the Mohammedians should be excluded from Jerusalem. Hebron is a site scarcely less sacred to Islam. It is no doubt from a full consciousness of these facts that the wisest of the Zionists forgo any claim to the recovery of Jerusalem as the centre and capital of a revived Jewish State, and hope only that it may remain as a sort of enclave in international, if not in British, hands.
But is it not obvious that a country which cannot within any approximate period contain anything but a small population, which has already an indigenous population of its own of a different race and creed, which can possess no urban centre or capital, and which is suited only to certain forms of agricultural and pastoral development, cannot, save by a very elastic use of the term, be designated as the national home of the Jewish people? It may become the home of a considerably larger number of Jewish settlers than now, mainly brought from the eastern parts of Europe (though the chance of their coming in large numbers or being sent for political reasons from Austria and Germany is by no means to be ignored); this colonisation may be supported by the expenditure of large sums of money; the productiveness and health of the country may be slowly improved by the application of enterprise and science; a Jewish community, freed from the misrule of the Turks and enjoying equal rights with other sections of the population, may become prosperous and even powerful. But again I ask, is this what we contemplate when we say in our proposal formula that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish race'? If we contemplate no more, is it wise to use language which suggests so much more?
In reality is not the maximum policy that we can possibly hope to
732 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
realise one which, if the Turks are defeated and turned out of Palestine, will:
a. Set up some form of European administration - (it cannot be Jewish administration) in that country. b. Devise a machinery for safeguarding and securing order both in the Christian and in the Jewish Holy Places. c. Similarly guarantee the integrity vest it in some Moslem body. egrity of the Mosque of Omar and vest it in some Moslem body. d. Secure to the Jews (but not to the Jews alone) equal civil and religious rights with the other elements in the population. e. Arrange as far as possible for land purchase and settlement of returning Jews
If this is Zionism there is no reason why we should not all be Zionists, and I would gladly give my adhesion to such a policy, all that it appears to be recommended by considerations the highest expediency, and to be urgently demanded as a check or counterblast to the scarcely concealed and sinister political designs of the Germans. But in my judgment it is a policy very widely removed from the romantic and idealistic aspirations of many of the Zionist leaders whose literature I have studied, and, whatever it does, it will not in my judgment provide either a national, or material, or even a spiritual home for any more than a very small section of the Jewish people.

• C. of K. October 20, 1917.
  
• [END AUTHOR QUOTE OF LORD CURZON– ~1917]
  

His objection, it will be seen, is not so much to a systematic settlement of Jewish emigrants in Palestine, but extravagant expectations formed by extreme Zionists as to the Possibilities of Jewish settlement in so small and arid a land. He was clearly of opinion that the population of Palestine had already reached its possible limits of expansion, certainly on anything like a big scale. The evidence given by the Zionists at the Peace Conference completely destroyed his arguments in this respect, and the success of Jewish colonisation since then, despite the timidities of successive governors, has neutralised his anticipations, Mr. Montagu's objections were of a different order. He belonged to a small and dwindling minority of Jews--mostly wealthy--who had no desire that Israel should be regarded as a separate race, and a distinct nationality. Such of them as still professed their adhesion to Judah regarded it as a definite religion and not
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 733
as a peculiar people, Mr. Montagu had not even these religious predilections. As he himself once mournfully said to the late Lord Morley, "I have been striving all my life to escape from the Ghetto.” He was therefore a convinced and a bitter anti-Zionist. This was his statement:

• [AUTHOR LLOYD GEORGE QUOTING MONTAGU]

It was suggested that a question raising such important issues as to the future of Palestine ought, in the first instance, to be discussed with our Allies, and more particularly with the United States,
On the question of submitting Lord Milner's draft for the consideration of the United States Government, Mr. Montagu urged that the use of the phrase "the home of the Jewish people' would vitally prejudice the position of every Jew elsewhere and expand the argument contained in his Memorandum. Against this it was urged that the existence of a Jewish State or autonomous community in Palestine would strengthen rather than weaken the situation of Jews in countries where they were not yet in possession of equal rights, and that in countries like England, where they possessed such rights, and were identified with the nation of which they were citizens, their position would be unaffected by the existence of a national Jewish community elsewhere. The view was expressed that, while a small influential section of English Jews were opposed to the idea, large numbers were sympathetic to it, but in the interests of Jews who wished to go from countries where they were less favourably situated, rather than from any idea of wishing to go to Palestine themselves.

• [END AUTHOR QUOTING MONTAGU]

Mr. Montagu urged strong objections to any declaration in which it was stated that Palestine was the "national home" of the Jewish people. He regarded the Jews as a religious community and himself as a Jewish Englishman. He based his argument on the prejudicial effect on the status of Jewish Britons of a statement that His Majesty's Government regarded Palestine as the national home of Jewish people, Whatever safeguarding words might be used in the formula, the civil rights of Jews as nationals in the country in which they were born might be endangered. How would he negotiate with the peoples of India on behalf of His Majesty's Government if the world had just been told that His Majesty's Government regarded his national home as being in Turkish territory?
But urgent diplomatic and military reasons at last ensured complete unanimity on the subject. Even Mr. Montagu surrendered his opposition, and accepted the declaration as a military expedient.
734 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
Mr. Balfour had been in communication with Lord Rothschild, who was the head of the Zionist Movement in this country, and who was pressing on behalf of his fellow Zionists for a declaration which could be issued to the Jews throughout the world, guaranteeing that the Allies would make it one of the conditions of the Peace Settlement with Turkey that there should be a National Home for the Jews in the land from which they had been driven as a people, but with which their name would always be associated. When the matter was brought to the attention of the Cabinet on the 3rd of September, 1917, it was decided to communicate with President Wilson informing him that the Government were being pressed to make a declaration in sympathy with the Zionist Movement, and seeking his views as to the advisability of such a declaration being made. It took some weeks to obtain his personal opinion on the subject, but, when it arrived, Mr. Balfour reported that "President Wilson was extremely favourable to the Movement." He also informed the Cabinet that "the German Government were making great efforts to capture the sympathy of the Zionist Movement." He and Lord Milner urged the Cabinet to issue a declaration in favour of the Zionist demand. Mr. Balfour, in support of it, said:
“This movement, though opposed by a number of wealthy Jews in this country, had behind it the support of a majority of Jews, at all events in Russia and America, and possibly in other countries.["] He saw nothing inconsistent between the establishment of a Jewish national focus in Palestine and the complete assimilation and absorption of Jews into the nationality of other countries. Just as English emigrants to the United States became, either in the first or subsequent generations, American nationals, so, in future, should a Jewish citizenship ble established in Palestine, would Jews become either Englishmen, Americans, Germans, or Palestinians. What was at the back of the Zionist Movement was the intense national consciousness held by certain members of the Jewish race. They regarded themselves as one of the great historic races of the world, whose original home was Palestine, and these Jews had a passionate longing to regain once more this ancient national home. Other Jews had become absorbed into the nations among whom they and their forefathers had dwelt for many generations. Mr. Balfour then read a very sympathetic declaration by the French Government which had been conveyed to the
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 735
Zionists, and he stated that he knew that President Wilson was extremely favourable to the Movement.”
The question came up for final decision before the War Cabinet. By that time Lord Curzon had withdrawn his objection. Mr. Balfour then proposed the now famous declaration of sympathy with the Zionist aspirations:

• [TEXT OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION]

“His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
In support of it he stated
that he gathered that everyone was now agreed that, from a purely diplomatic and political point of view, it was desirable that some declaration favourable to the aspirations of the Jewish nationalists should now be made. The vast majority of Jews in Russia and America, as, indeed, all over the world, now appeared to be favourable to Zionism. If we could make a declaration favourable to such an ideal, we should be able to carry on extremely useful propaganda both in Russia and America. He gathered that the main arguments still put forward against Zionism were twofold:
(a) That Palestine was inadequate to form a home for either the Jewish or any other people.
(b) The difficulty felt with regard to the future position of Jews in Western countries.
As to the meaning of the words "national home," to which the Zionists attach so much importance, he understood it to mean some form of British, American, or other protectorate, under which full facilities would be given to the Jews to work out their own salvation and to build up, by means of education, agriculture, and industry, a real centre of national culture and focus of national life. It did not necessarily involve the early establishment of an independent Jewish State, which was a matter for gradual development in accordance with the ordinary laws of political evolution.
Lord Curzon stated that he admitted the force of the diplomatic arguments in favour of expressing sympathy, and agreed that the bulk of the Jews held Zionist rather than anti-Zionist opinions. He
736 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
added that he did not agree with the attitude taken up by Mr. Montagu. On the other hand, he could not share the optimistic views held regarding the future of Palestine. These views were not merely the result of his own personal experiences of travel in that country, but of careful investigations from persons who had lived for many years in the country. He feared that by the suggested declaration we should be raising false expectations which could never be realised. He attached great importance to the necessity of retaining the Christian and Moslem Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and, if this were to be effectively done, he did not see how the Jewish people could have a political capital in Palestine. However, he recognised that some expression of sympathy with Jewish aspirations would be a valuable adjunct to our propaganda, though he thought that we should be guarded in the language used in giving expression to such sympathy.
All the representatives of the Dominions, and the leaders of public opinion in our country of every party, welcomed the declaration and pronounced themselves wholeheartedly in favour of the policy. The French Government gave their ready and cordial assent before the declaration was issued, and the same thing applied to the Italian Government. There has been a good deal of discussion as to the meaning of the words "Jewish National Home" and whether it involved the setting up of a Jewish National State in Palestine. I have already quoted the words actually used by Mr. Balfour when he submitted the declaration to the Cabinet for its approval. They were not challenged at the time by any member present, and there could be no doubt as to what the Cabinet then had in their minds. It was not their idea that a Jewish State should be set up immediately by the Peace Treaty without reference to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants. On the other hand, it was contemplated that when the time arrived for according representative institutions to Palestine, if the Jews had meanwhile responded to the opportunity afforded them by the idea of a National Home and had become a definite majority of the inhabitants, then Palestine would thus become a Jewish Commonwealth. The notion that Jewish immigration would have to be artificially restricted in order to ensure that the Jews should be a permanent minority never entered into the heads of anyone engaged in
[CONTINUED ON PAGE 737]

Yanis I, Basileus of the Romans, has addressed his cabinet in similar terms to the speech he gave before the assembled representatives of the League of Athena :
"My comrades, as you are surely aware, the Turkish nation has for centuries been the most implacable enemy of the Romans. Since the days of the Seljuq Empire, the Turks have encroached on rightfully, historically Rhomaic lands, beginning with the Syrian coast - including the great city of Antiokheia - and continuing onwards, deeper and deeper into Anatolia, capturing Kilikia, the Pontus, Bithynia, and eventually even the Aegean coast, which had been Hellenic since antiquity. And this was not enough for them ; in their insatiable lust for Roman blood, they crossed the Hellespont, beginning the subjugation of Balkanic Greece, which culminated in the fall of Konstantinoupolis, which had for over a millenium stood as the great bastion of Rhomaic culture. And even then the Turk's appetite was not yet sated ; he snapped up the dregs of independent, sovereign Graikia, in Morea, in Trapezous, and even in faraway Taurika.
And the Romans who toiled under the Turkish yoke were subject to the most frightful injuries and abuses. Slowly but surely, the Romans of Anatolia were debased, reduced to mere barbarism, losing the great gift of the Rhomaic tongue. And still the Romans trudged on, until finally independence was won and the Hellenic state was reborn, a mere shadow of its former splendour. But even in this base state the Hellenes had not endured the last of the numerous injustices that they would suffer at the hands of the Turks ; after nearly a century of struggle to regain at least those lands which continued to speak the tongue of their forefathers, and as the victorious Hellenic armies finally caught a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel, on the brink of retaking the Queen of Cities, they suffered what was the culmination of the Turkish destruction of Anatolia : the Pontic Genocide, during which a million Hellenes were ruthlessly massacred by the Turkish state. This, and the following population exchange, were to spell the end of the Hellenic presence in Mikra Asia. These crimes, along with the contemporary Armenian genocide, during which almost two million Armenians were massacred, near the entire Armenian population of Turkey.
To me, this makes the Turkish threat only too clear. The overwhelming majority of the people we rule over are Turkish ; Armenians and Hellenes combined to form the Roman citizenry of this kingdom form only 30% of our total population according to our censuses. The existence of these Turks is an existential threat to our very existence ; the issues of their bloodlust, their infidelity, their doubtful loyalties, all combine to pose one question, the Turkish Question ; and to this Question this cabinet must find an answer, hopefully an answer that will be satisfactory enough that the Question will not pose itself again in History.
At this point, I must make it clear that I have no issue with individual Turks - in fact, I have a very good Turkish friend, to whom I would wish nothing but the best. No, my issue is with the International Turkery ; that organism which has for centuries sook to oppress, subdue, and wherever possible, eliminate people of Hellenic or Armenian origin, like yourselves, esteemed subjects. The International Turkery is the primary organ of destruction in our world, and the great cataclysm, although undoubtedly perpetrated by the Turks, gives the Hellenic and Armenian peoples a chance to reclaim what was once theirs : Anatolia.
Gentlemen, what I speak of here is not controversial ; it is not hate speech ; it is simply common sense. We all deserve a state in which we can feel safe and secure ; and for the Armenians and the Eastern Hellenes, that state must be an Anatolian Empire that stretches from Thrake in the West to Artaxata in the East. There were in pre-cataclysmic, post-war times deluded morons crying out "white genocide" ; but it would not be in any way exaggerated to point out the true and real risk of a second Roman genocide ; millions of our countrymen were slain by the Turk and there is little reason to suppose this could not happen again. And while we are on top of him we must use this dominance to our future advantage, to secure the existence of our people and a future for Rhomaic children.
To do this we must put measures in place to ensure that there are more Hellenes and Armenians in our nation, and preferably quite a few less Turks. This does not mean mass butchery, which would be quite impractical ; simply, we must attach preference to those of Rhomaic origin over the foreigners. In order to do this, I propose a radical new redefinition of Roman citizenship.
After all, Romanity is a difficult concept, a great topic of debate amongst the nations of Europe, many of which pretend to successorship of Rome with the most absurd claims - I think in particular of the 'Holy' 'Roman' 'Empire', which was in fact populated by Germans, a people which would not know holiness if it slapped them in the face. In the middle ages, in the heyday of the Roman Empire, a Roman was one who spoke Hellenic and followed the Constantinopolitan Rites ; but our nation encompasses a great many Romans who speak Armenian and follow their own Armenian Apostolicism, whilst remaining good and true subjects of our resurgent Rome. The new definition of Romanity must include them as well.
What I propose is as follows : a Roman is an Eastern Christian subject of the Roman Empire who speaks either Romaic or Armenian. Any person who is baptised according to an Eastern rite and adopts Romaic or Armenian as their tongue may aspire and indeed be entitled to Roman citizenship. And our new Roman state will seek to be the homeland of all Roman citizens who are defined in this way ; and principally of those who are toiling under the yoke of foreign powers - after all, the Hellenes and above all the Armenians are endowed with a large diaspora.

1. We must seek to gather this diaspora within our own borders in order to secure their safety and ours. Romans returning to their homeland will be settled in land currently held by the Turks so as to expand our internal hold and allow for the greater stability of our realm.
   
2. We must also seek to make contact with the Crypto-Hellenes and the Crypto-Armenians, Roman populations of Turkey that went underground following the genocide and persecutions that they were the victims of under Turkish rule ; they will be given a chance to return to the mainstream, no longer fearing attack simply for being themselves.
   
3. We must make it easier for the Romans currently living within our borders to settle their own lands and start families. Romans will be preferred for top posts and will be entitled to owning parcels of land ; we will promote communal ownership of farmland between families so as to boost social cohesion and agricultural output.
   
4. In order to encourage the growth of Roman families, measures will be taken to facilitate the raising of children. Roman schools will be built, primarily taught in Hellenic : pupils will study Hellenic literature, Roman history and Roman geography, Arithmetic and other Hellenic sciences, Roman gymnastics, Armenian, and the Bible. Within the means of the state, a dole will be created and distributed to Romans.
   
5. In order to provide everyone a chance at Romanity, schools will be created for barbarians (and here I am thinking mainly of Turks) to learn the Roman ways ; they will be taught Hellenic and study the Scripture. Once they have grasped the language and renounced their previous ways, they will qualify for Roman citizenship.
   

These measures are by no means final, but they will hopefully form a good start : the Temporary Solution to the Turkish Question.
Underlings, I leave you to see these items through. We will convene periodically to discuss what will hopefully be swift progress."
Rolling for

1. Attracting Armenians and Greeks in foreign lands and settling them in Rhomais ([EVENT], I think this would count as a pacification roll so that would be +4)
   
2. Seeking out Crypto-Greeks and Crypto-Armenians within our own lands (I think this is an [EVENT] but it might be [EXPLORATION] ? Do I still get +4 if the intent is still, ahem, homogeneisation?)
   
3. Settling Romans already within our borders ([EVENT], pacification roll so +4)
   
4. Public schooling to indoctrinate Roman children. ([EVENT], it aims to teach Armenians Greek so I think it counts as pacification ? in which case +4)
   
5. Schools for Turks to become Roman ([EVENT], pacification roll so +4)
   

And I'm saving 1 AP to use if one of these goes awfully bad
(Also this is a bit late but Ludie gave me an extension)

David Lloyd George - Memoirs of the Peace Conference, Vol 2. Pub. 1939
(Image: Volume 2 Title Page)
[Beginning on Page 721]
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TURKISH TREATY (continued) PALESTINE
The intention of the Allied Powers regarding the future of Palestine up to the end of 1916 are practically embodied in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The country was to be mutilated and torn into sections. There would be no more Palestine. Canaan was to be drawn and quartered. But I9I7 saw a complete change in the attitude of the nations towards this historic land. It was no longer the end of a pipe-line here, the terminus of a railway there, a huddled collection of shrines over which Christian and Moslem sects wrangled under the protection of three great powers in every quarter. It was a historic and a sacred land, throbbing from Dan to Beersheba with immortal traditions, the homeland of a spiritual outlook and faith professed by hundreds of millions of the human race and fashioning more and more the destinies of mankind. The carving knife of the Sykes–Picot Agreement was a crude hacking of a Holy Land. At the beginning of the War, Palestine was not in the picture.
The mind of the Great Powers was on Belgium, Poland and Istria. The destiny of Palestine was left to the haggling of experts in the various Foreign Offices of the Allies.
In 1915 and 1916, Britain massed huge armies to check the menace of the Turk on the Suez Canal. At first they crawled drearily and without purpose across the desert towards the land of the Philistines. But in 1917, the attention of her warriors was drawn to the mountains of Judea beyond. The zeal of the Crusaders was relumed in their soul. The redemption of Palestine from the withering aggression of the Turk became like a pillar of flame to lead them on. The Sykes–Picot Agreement perished in its fire. It was not worth fighting for Canaan in order to condemn it to the fate of Agag and hew it in pieces before the Lord.
722 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
Palestine, if recaptured, must be one and indivisible to renew its greatness as a living entity. The next factor which produced a momentous change was the decision to come to terms with Jewry, which was clamouring for an opportunity to make Canaan once more the homeland of their race. There are more Irishmen living outside Ireland than dwell in the old country. Still, Ireland is the homeland of the Irish People. No one imagined that the 14,000,000 of Jews scattered over the globe could find room and a living in Palestine. Nevertheless this race of wanderers sought a national hearth and a refuge for the hunted children of Israel in the country which the splendour of their spiritual genius has made for ever glorious.
It seems strange to say that the Germans were the first realise the war value of the Jews of the dispersal. In Poland it was they who helped the German Army to conquer the Czarist oppressor who had so cruelly persecuted their race. They had their influence in other lands-notably in America, where some of their most powerful leaders exerted a retarding influence on President Wilson's impulses in the direction of the Allies. The German General Staff in 1916 urged the Turks to concede the demands of the Zionists in respect of Palestine. Fortunately the Turk was too stupid to understand or too sluggish to move. The fact that Britain at last opened her eyes to the opportunity afforded to the Allies to rally this powerful people to their side was attributable to the initiative, the assiduity and the fervour of one of the greatest Hebrews of all time: Dr. Chaim Weizmann. He found his opportunity in this War of Nations to advance the cause to which he had consecrated his life. Dr. Weizmann enlisted my adhesion to his ideals at a time when, at my request, he was successfully applying his scientific skill and imagination to save Britain from a real disaster over the failure of wood alcohol for the manufacture of cordite. In addition to the gratitude I felt for him for this service, he appealed to my deep reverence for the great men of his race who were the authors of the sublime literature upon which I was brought up. I introduced him to Mr. Balfour, who was won over completely by his charm, his persuasiveness and his intellectual power. Dr. Weizmann then
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 723
brought to his aid the eager and active influence of Lord Milner, Lord Robert Cecil, and General Smuts.
During the summer of 1917, Mr. Balfour, with my zealous assent as Prime Minister, entered into negotiations with Lord Rothschild on the subject of the Zionist aims. Ultimately it is recorded that the War Cabinet on September 3rd, 1917, "had under consideration correspondence which had passed between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Lord Rothschild on the question of the policy to be adopted towards the Zionist movement.' That policy was after prolonged enquiry and reflexion decided by the Cabinet on merits, and I have no doubt in my mind that some such provision would by common consent of all the Allied Powers have been inserted in the Peace Treaty even had there been no previous pledge or promise. But the actual time of the declaration was determined by considerations of war policy. It was part of our propagandist strategy for mobilizing every opinion and force throughout the world which would weaken the enemy and improve the Allied chances. Propaganda on both sides probably played a greater part in the last war than in any other. As an illustration I might take the public declarations we made of the Allied intention to liberate and Confer self-government on nationalities inside the enemy Empires, — Turkey, Germany, and Austria. These announcements were intended to have a propagandist effect, not only at home, but also in neutral countries and perhaps most of all in enemy countries.
On principle, the democratic Powers of Europe and America had always advocated emancipation of the subject races held down by the great Empires. But we were also aware that the proclamation of liberation as part of our war aims would help to disintegrate the solidarity of the enemy countries, and so it did. It would have the effect of detaching from the governing races in those countries Poles, Alsace-Lorrainers, Czechoslovakians, Croatians, Roumans and Arabs dwelling within the boundaries of the Central Empires. The Allies redeemed the promises made in these declarations to the full. No race has done better out of the fidelity with which the Allies redeemed their promises to the oppressed races than
724 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
the Arabs. Owing to the tremendous sacrifices of the Allied nations, and more particularly of Britain and her Empire, the Arabs have already won independence in Iraq, Arabia, syria, and Trans-Jordania, although most of the Arab races fought throughout the War for their Turkish oppressors, Arabia was the only exception in that respect. The Palestinian Arabs fought for Turkish rule.
The Balfour Declaration represented the convinced policy of all parties in our country and also in America, but the launching of it in 1917 was due, as I have said, to propagandist reasons. I should like once more to remind the British public, who may be hesitating about the burdens of our Zionist Declaration to-day, of the actual war position at the time of that Declaration. We are now looking at the War through the dazzling glow of a triumphant end, but in 1917 the issue of the War was still very much in doubt. We were convinced-but not all of us-that we would Pull through victoriously, but the Germans were equally persuaded that victory would rest on their banners, and they had much reason for coming to that conclusion. They had smashed the Roumanians. The Russian Army was completely demoralised by its numerous defeats. The French Army was exhausted and temporarily unequal to striking a great blow. The Italians had sustained a shattering defeat at Caporetto. The unlimited submarine campaign had sunk millions of tons of our shipping. There were no American divisions at the front, and when I say at the front, I mean available in the trenches. For the Allies there were two paramount problems at that time. The first was that the Central Powers should be broken by the blockade before our supplies of food and essential raw material were cut off by sinkings of our own ships. The other was that the war preparations in the United States should be speeded up to such an extent as to enable the Allies to be adequately reinforced in the critical campaign of 1918 by American troops. In the solution of these two problems, Public opinion in Russia and America played a great part, and we had every reason at that time to believe that in both countries the friendliness or hostility of the Jewish race might make a considerable difference.
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 725
The solution of Germany's food and raw material difficulties depended on the attitude of Russia and the goodwill of its people. We realised, and so did the Germans, that Russia could take no further part in the War with her army, but the question was: when would she conclude peace with Germany and what manner of peace would it be? Time counted for both sides, and the conditions and the temper of the peace between Germany and Russia counted even more. Would the peace be of a kind which would afford facilities for the Germans to secure supplies of grain, oil, and copper from the immeasurable natural resources of that vast and rich country, or would it be a sulky pact which would always stand in the way of Germany's attempt to replenish her stores from Russian resources? In the former case, we could not hope for a better issue of the War than a stalemate after another year or two of carnage. In the latter case, the stranglehold of our fleet would be effective, and the Central Powers would be deprived of essential food and material and their will and power of resistance would be weakened to a breaking-point. The Germans were equally alive to the fact that the Jews of Russia wielded considerable influence in Bolshevik circles. The Zionist Movement was exceptionally strong in Russia and America. The Germans were, therefore, engaged actively in courting favour with that Movement all over the world. A friendly Russia would mean not only more food and raw material for Germany and Austria but fewer German and Austrian troops on the Eastern front and therefore, more available for the West. These considerations we brought to our notice by the Foreign Office, and reported to the War Cabinet.
The support of the Zionists for the cause of the Entente would mean a great deal as a war measure. Quite naturally Jewish sympathies were to a great extent anti-Russian, and therefore in favour of the Central Powers. No ally of Russia, in fact, could escape sharing that immediate and inevitable penalty for the long and savage Russian persecution of the Jewish race. In addition to this, the German General Staff, with their wide outlook on possibilities, urged, early in 1916, the advantages of promising Jewish restoration to Palestine under an arrangement
726 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
to be made between Zionists and Turkey, backed by a German guarantee. The practical difficulties were considerable; the subject was perhaps dangerous to German relations with Turkey; and the German Government acted cautiously. But the scheme was by no means rejected or even shelved, and at any moment the Allies might have been forestalled in offering this supreme bid. In fact in September, 1917, the German Government were making very serious efforts to capture the Zionist Movement. Another most cogent reason for the adoption by the Allies of the policy of the declaration lay in the state of Russia herself. Russian Jews had been secretly active on behalf of the Central Powers from the first; they had become the chief agents of German pacifist propaganda in Russia; by 1917 they had done much in preparing for that general disintegration of Russian society, later recognised as the Revolution. It was believed that if Great Britain declared for the fulfilment of Zionist aspirations in Palestine under her own pledge, one effect would be to bring Russian Jewry to the cause of the Entente.
It was believed, also, that such a declaration would have a Potent influence upon world Jewry outside Russia, and secure for the Entente the aid of Jewish financial interests. In America, their aid in this respect would have a special value when the Allies had almost exhausted the gold and marketable securities available for American purchases. Such were the chief considerations which, in 1917, impelled the British Government towards making a contract with Jewry.
Men like Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, Lord Robert Cecil, and myself were in whole-hearted sympathy with the Zionist ideal. The same thing applied to all the leaders of public opinion in our country and in the Dominions, Conservative, Liberal, and Labour. There were only one or two who were not so favourably inclined to the policy. One, in particular, doubted the wisdom from the Jewish point of view; that was Mr. Edwin Montagu. Lord Curzon, whilst professing a certain measure of interest in Zionist dreams, was anxious not to excite unattainable hopes in the breasts of Jewish zealots. He doubted the feasibility of any substantial achievement because of the barrenness of the Pales-
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 727
tinian soil. He prepared a careful statement of his opinion, which can be read with interest to-day in view of developments in Palestine since the War. It is written in Lord Curzon's best and most characteristic style. There is a great fund of detailed knowledge of his subject, acquired by a study of the authorities on the matter, stimulated by a flying visit through the country in his youthful days. But he had, by instinct and inheritance, profound distrust of the success of any bold experiment designed to change existing conditions. The writing has much distinction of phrasing. It is also lightened by some amusing passages.

• [AUTHOR QUOTES LORD CURZON– ~1917]

THE FUTURE OF PALESTINE
I am not concerned to discuss the question in dispute between the Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews, viz., whether it is possible to reconcile the reconstitution of a national home for the Jewish race in Palestine with the contented assimilation of many millions of Jews in other countries where they have acquired nationality and made a home.
I am only interested in the more immediately practical questions:
(a) What is the meaning of the phrase "a National Home for the Jewish Race in Palestine," and what is the nature of the obligation that we shall assume if we accept this as a principle of British policy?
(b) If such a policy be pursued what are the chances of its successful realisation?
For important as may be the political reasons (and they seem to me almost exclusively political) for adopting such a line of action, we ought at least to consider whether we are encouraging a practicable ideal, or preparing the way for disappointment and failure.
If I seek guidance from the latest collection of circulated papers (The Zionist Movement, G-164) I find a fundamental disagreement among the authorities quoted there as to the scope and nature of their aim. A "National Home for the Jewish race or people" would seem, if the words are to bear their ordinary meaning, to imply a place where the Jews can be reassembled as a nation, and where they will enjoy the privileges of an independent national existence. Such is clearly the conception of those who, like Sir A. Mond, speak of the creation in Palestine of "an autonomous Jewish State," words which appear to contemplate a State, i.e. apolitical entity, composed of Jews, governed by Jews, and administered mainly in the interests of Jews. Such a State might naturally be expected to have a capital, a form of government, and institutions of its own. It would possess the soil or the greater part of the soil of the country. It would take its place among the smaller nations of the earth.
728 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
The same conception appears to underlie several other of the phrases employed in these papers, e.g., when we are told that Palestine is to become "a home for the Jewish nation," "a national home for the Jewish race," "a Jewish Palestine," and when we read of "the resettlement of Palestine as a national centre,' and "the restoration of Palestine to the Jewish people." All these phrases are variants of the same idea, viz., the recreation of Palestine as it was before the days of the dispersion.
On the other hand, Lord Rothschild, when he speaks of Palestine as "a home where the Jews could speak their own language, have their own education, their own civilisation, and religious institutions under the protection of Allied Governments, "seems to postulate a much less definite form of political existence, one, indeed, which is quite compatible with the existence of an alien (so long as it is not a Turkish) Government.
At the other extreme the late Lord Cromer, who favoured the Zionist cause, explains that the resuscitated Palestine is only to be "the spiritual centre of the Jews' and a reservoir of Jewish culture aspirations which are wholly different from those which I have just recorded, and which appear to be incompatible with the evolution of a comparatively small and for the most part agricultural or pastoral community.
I call attention to these contradictions because they suggest some hesitancy in espousing a cause whose advocates have such very different ideas of what they mean.
But I must proceed further to point out that, whichever interpretation we adopt, Palestine would appear to be incapacitated by physical and other conditions from ever becoming in any real sense the national home of the Jewish people.
That people number, we are told, about 12 millions, scattered in all parts of the world. Of this total, 9 1/4 millions are in Europe (including 6 millions in Russia) and 2 millions in North America. The number in the United Kingdom is 245,000; the number already in Palestine was, before the war, 125,000.
Now what is the capacity as regards population of Palestine within any reasonable period of time? Under the Turks there is no such place or country as Palestine, because it is divided up between the sajak of Jerusalem and the vilayets of Syria and Beirut. Butletus assume that in speaking of Palestine in the present context we mean the old Scriptural Palestine, extending from Dan to Beersheba, i.e., from Banias to Bir Saba. This is a country of less than 10,000 square miles, including 4,000 to the east of the Jordan, i.e., it is a country which, excluding desert lands, is not much bigger than Wales. Now Wales, in
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 729
spite of having one city of nearly 200,000 people, and two others of 200,000 between them, only supports a population of 2,000,000 Persons.
Palestine, on the other hand, before the war contained a population the highest estimate of which was between 600,000 and 700,000 persons, of which less than one-quarter were Jews and the remainder except for small Christian communities or settlements) Moslems. The Jews were to a large extent congregated in the few towns, e.g., in Jerusalem, where, out of a total population of 80,000, 55,000 were Jews-for the most part living on alms or charity, or old men to end their days in the Holy City. The Jewish colonies, about which much has been said, contained a population of only 11,000. The remainder of the Jews were in the other towns and parts of the country.
Since the War the Turks have reduced the country to a condition of abject debasement. The Jewish colonies have either been dislocated or broken up, the various missionary establishments, except the German and Spanish, have disappeared, the local inhabitants have been conscripted and to a large extent destroyed on the front, the urban populations have been reduced to beggary, and colonies of Turkomans, Circassians, Kurds, and other savage races have been planted about to hold the country in subjection.
Before the War it was calculated by competent authorities who had lived for years in the country that for many years it could not support an increased population. After the devastation wrought by the war it will be many decades before we can contemplate a population that will even remotely approximate to that of Wales. This is a position due not merely to the ravages of war, but to the present physical conditions of the country, brought about by centuries of neglect and misrule. Before any considerable revival can be expected there must be a colossal expenditure on aforestation, on irrigation, on the rebuilding of the broken-down terraces which formerly supported the cultivation. The scriptural phrase, a land "flowing with mind honey," which suggests an abounding fertility, must be read in relation to the desert features of Sinai, to which it stood in glowing contrast, and loses somewhat of its picturesque charm when we realise that the milk was that of the flocks of goats that roamed, and still roam, the hills, while the honey was the juice of the small grape that was used as a substitute for sugar and still makes a Palatable wine.
Further, let it be borne in mind, when we speak of this devastated country as a national home for a great people, that in the seary Jordan valley no Europeans can live or rear children, that only the higher parts of the country are suited for settlers who come from more northerly climes, that malaria, fever, ophthalmia, and other ailments
730 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
abound, not to be eradicated save by great outlay and after a long time.
Palestine is, in fact, a poor land, containing no mineral wealth, no coal, no iron ore, no copper, gold or silver. It depends entirely on live stock (i.e. mainly, goats, which crop the bare hills) and agriculture. In parts, but in parts only, where there is sufficient water and a good climate, excellent crops of wheat and barley are produced. Olive oil, sesame, and oranges are the chief exports.
Such is the country-a country calling for prolonged and patient toil from a people inured to agriculture and even so only admitting after generations of a relatively small population-that we are invited (if we can get hold of it, which we have not yet done) to convert into the national home of a people, numbering many millions, brought from other and different climates, and to a large extent trained in other industries and professions.
There arises the further question, what is to become of the people of this country, assuming the Turk to be expelled, and the inhabitants not to have been exterminated by the War? There are over half a million of these, Syrian Arabs-a mixed community with Arab, Hebrew, Canaanite, Greek, Egyptian, and possibly Crusaders' blood. They and their forefathers have occupied the country for the best part of 1,500 years. They own the soil, which belongs either to individual landowners or to village communities. They profess the Mohammedan faith. They will not be content either to be expropriated for Jewish immigrants, or to act merely as hewers of wood and drawers of water to the latter.
Further, there are other settlers who will have to be reckoned with. There are 100,000 Christians, who will not wish to be disturbed; east of the Jordan are large colonies of Circassian Mohammedians, firmly established; there are also settlements of Druses and Moslems from Algeria, Bulgaria, and Egypt.
No doubt a prodigal expenditure of wealth will secure the expropriation of some of these. But when we reflect that the existing Jewish colonies, in the most favoured spots, after a prodigious outlay, extending over many years, have only in a few cases as yet become self-supporting, it is clear that a long vista of anxiety, vicissitude, and expense lies before those who desire to rebuild the national home.
I spoke earlier of the dreams of those who foresee a Jewish State, with possibly a Jewish capital at Jerusalem. Such a dream is rendered wholly incapable of realisation by the conditions of Jerusalem itself. It is a city in which too many peoples and too many religions have a passionate and permanent interest to render any such solution even dimly possible. The Protestant communities are vitally interested in
THE TURKISH TREATY--PALESTINE 731
the churches and in the country as the scenes of the most sacred events in history. The Roman Catholics collect annually large sums and maintain extensive establishments at Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Greek Orthodox Church regards the Holy Places with an almost frenzied reverence. Great pilgrimages come annually from the Slav countries and Russia. I recall a flourishing Russian monastery on Mount Tabor. The Hellenic clergy have large properties in the country.
Finally, next to Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is the most sacred city of the Mohammedian faith. The Mosque of Omar, on the site of the Temple of Solomon, is one of the most hallowed of the shrines of Islam. It contains the great rock or stone, from which Mohammed ascended on the back of his miraculous steed to Heaven, and which is regarded with so much awe in the Moslem world that when, a few years ago, an Englishman was alleged to have been digging under it, the uproar spread throughout the Moslem world. It is impossible to contemplate any future in which the Mohammedians should be excluded from Jerusalem. Hebron is a site scarcely less sacred to Islam. It is no doubt from a full consciousness of these facts that the wisest of the Zionists forgo any claim to the recovery of Jerusalem as the centre and capital of a revived Jewish State, and hope only that it may remain as a sort of enclave in international, if not in British, hands.
But is it not obvious that a country which cannot within any approximate period contain anything but a small population, which has already an indigenous population of its own of a different race and creed, which can possess no urban centre or capital, and which is suited only to certain forms of agricultural and pastoral development, cannot, save by a very elastic use of the term, be designated as the national home of the Jewish people? It may become the home of a considerably larger number of Jewish settlers than now, mainly brought from the eastern parts of Europe (though the chance of their coming in large numbers or being sent for political reasons from Austria and Germany is by no means to be ignored); this colonisation may be supported by the expenditure of large sums of money; the productiveness and health of the country may be slowly improved by the application of enterprise and science; a Jewish community, freed from the misrule of the Turks and enjoying equal rights with other sections of the population, may become prosperous and even powerful. But again I ask, is this what we contemplate when we say in our proposal formula that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish race'? If we contemplate no more, is it wise to use language which suggests so much more?
In reality is not the maximum policy that we can possibly hope to
732 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
realise one which, if the Turks are defeated and turned out of Palestine, will:
a. Set up some form of European administration - (it cannot be Jewish administration) in that country. b. Devise a machinery for safeguarding and securing order both in the Christian and in the Jewish Holy Places. c. Similarly guarantee the integrity vest it in some Moslem body. egrity of the Mosque of Omar and vest it in some Moslem body. d. Secure to the Jews (but not to the Jews alone) equal civil and religious rights with the other elements in the population. e. Arrange as far as possible for land purchase and settlement of returning Jews
If this is Zionism there is no reason why we should not all be Zionists, and I would gladly give my adhesion to such a policy, all that it appears to be recommended by considerations the highest expediency, and to be urgently demanded as a check or counterblast to the scarcely concealed and sinister political designs of the Germans. But in my judgment it is a policy very widely removed from the romantic and idealistic aspirations of many of the Zionist leaders whose literature I have studied, and, whatever it does, it will not in my judgment provide either a national, or material, or even a spiritual home for any more than a very small section of the Jewish people.

• C. of K. October 20, 1917.
  
• [END AUTHOR QUOTE OF LORD CURZON– ~1917]
  

His objection, it will be seen, is not so much to a systematic settlement of Jewish emigrants in Palestine, but extravagant expectations formed by extreme Zionists as to the Possibilities of Jewish settlement in so small and arid a land. He was clearly of opinion that the population of Palestine had already reached its possible limits of expansion, certainly on anything like a big scale. The evidence given by the Zionists at the Peace Conference completely destroyed his arguments in this respect, and the success of Jewish colonisation since then, despite the timidities of successive governors, has neutralised his anticipations, Mr. Montagu's objections were of a different order. He belonged to a small and dwindling minority of Jews--mostly wealthy--who had no desire that Israel should be regarded as a separate race, and a distinct nationality. Such of them as still professed their adhesion to Judah regarded it as a definite religion and not
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 733
as a peculiar people, Mr. Montagu had not even these religious predilections. As he himself once mournfully said to the late Lord Morley, "I have been striving all my life to escape from the Ghetto.” He was therefore a convinced and a bitter anti-Zionist. This was his statement:

• [AUTHOR LLOYD GEORGE QUOTING MONTAGU]

It was suggested that a question raising such important issues as to the future of Palestine ought, in the first instance, to be discussed with our Allies, and more particularly with the United States,
On the question of submitting Lord Milner's draft for the consideration of the United States Government, Mr. Montagu urged that the use of the phrase "the home of the Jewish people' would vitally prejudice the position of every Jew elsewhere and expand the argument contained in his Memorandum. Against this it was urged that the existence of a Jewish State or autonomous community in Palestine would strengthen rather than weaken the situation of Jews in countries where they were not yet in possession of equal rights, and that in countries like England, where they possessed such rights, and were identified with the nation of which they were citizens, their position would be unaffected by the existence of a national Jewish community elsewhere. The view was expressed that, while a small influential section of English Jews were opposed to the idea, large numbers were sympathetic to it, but in the interests of Jews who wished to go from countries where they were less favourably situated, rather than from any idea of wishing to go to Palestine themselves.

• [END AUTHOR QUOTING MONTAGU]

Mr. Montagu urged strong objections to any declaration in which it was stated that Palestine was the "national home" of the Jewish people. He regarded the Jews as a religious community and himself as a Jewish Englishman. He based his argument on the prejudicial effect on the status of Jewish Britons of a statement that His Majesty's Government regarded Palestine as the national home of Jewish people, Whatever safeguarding words might be used in the formula, the civil rights of Jews as nationals in the country in which they were born might be endangered. How would he negotiate with the peoples of India on behalf of His Majesty's Government if the world had just been told that His Majesty's Government regarded his national home as being in Turkish territory?
But urgent diplomatic and military reasons at last ensured complete unanimity on the subject. Even Mr. Montagu surrendered his opposition, and accepted the declaration as a military expedient.
734 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
Mr. Balfour had been in communication with Lord Rothschild, who was the head of the Zionist Movement in this country, and who was pressing on behalf of his fellow Zionists for a declaration which could be issued to the Jews throughout the world, guaranteeing that the Allies would make it one of the conditions of the Peace Settlement with Turkey that there should be a National Home for the Jews in the land from which they had been driven as a people, but with which their name would always be associated. When the matter was brought to the attention of the Cabinet on the 3rd of September, 1917, it was decided to communicate with President Wilson informing him that the Government were being pressed to make a declaration in sympathy with the Zionist Movement, and seeking his views as to the advisability of such a declaration being made. It took some weeks to obtain his personal opinion on the subject, but, when it arrived, Mr. Balfour reported that "President Wilson was extremely favourable to the Movement." He also informed the Cabinet that "the German Government were making great efforts to capture the sympathy of the Zionist Movement." He and Lord Milner urged the Cabinet to issue a declaration in favour of the Zionist demand. Mr. Balfour, in support of it, said:
“This movement, though opposed by a number of wealthy Jews in this country, had behind it the support of a majority of Jews, at all events in Russia and America, and possibly in other countries.["] He saw nothing inconsistent between the establishment of a Jewish national focus in Palestine and the complete assimilation and absorption of Jews into the nationality of other countries. Just as English emigrants to the United States became, either in the first or subsequent generations, American nationals, so, in future, should a Jewish citizenship ble established in Palestine, would Jews become either Englishmen, Americans, Germans, or Palestinians. What was at the back of the Zionist Movement was the intense national consciousness held by certain members of the Jewish race. They regarded themselves as one of the great historic races of the world, whose original home was Palestine, and these Jews had a passionate longing to regain once more this ancient national home. Other Jews had become absorbed into the nations among whom they and their forefathers had dwelt for many generations. Mr. Balfour then read a very sympathetic declaration by the French Government which had been conveyed to the
THE TURKISH TREATY-PALESTINE 735
Zionists, and he stated that he knew that President Wilson was extremely favourable to the Movement.”
The question came up for final decision before the War Cabinet. By that time Lord Curzon had withdrawn his objection. Mr. Balfour then proposed the now famous declaration of sympathy with the Zionist aspirations:

• [TEXT OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION]

“His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
In support of it he stated
that he gathered that everyone was now agreed that, from a purely diplomatic and political point of view, it was desirable that some declaration favourable to the aspirations of the Jewish nationalists should now be made. The vast majority of Jews in Russia and America, as, indeed, all over the world, now appeared to be favourable to Zionism. If we could make a declaration favourable to such an ideal, we should be able to carry on extremely useful propaganda both in Russia and America. He gathered that the main arguments still put forward against Zionism were twofold:
(a) That Palestine was inadequate to form a home for either the Jewish or any other people.
(b) The difficulty felt with regard to the future position of Jews in Western countries.
As to the meaning of the words "national home," to which the Zionists attach so much importance, he understood it to mean some form of British, American, or other protectorate, under which full facilities would be given to the Jews to work out their own salvation and to build up, by means of education, agriculture, and industry, a real centre of national culture and focus of national life. It did not necessarily involve the early establishment of an independent Jewish State, which was a matter for gradual development in accordance with the ordinary laws of political evolution.
Lord Curzon stated that he admitted the force of the diplomatic arguments in favour of expressing sympathy, and agreed that the bulk of the Jews held Zionist rather than anti-Zionist opinions. He
736 MEMOIRS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE
added that he did not agree with the attitude taken up by Mr. Montagu. On the other hand, he could not share the optimistic views held regarding the future of Palestine. These views were not merely the result of his own personal experiences of travel in that country, but of careful investigations from persons who had lived for many years in the country. He feared that by the suggested declaration we should be raising false expectations which could never be realised. He attached great importance to the necessity of retaining the Christian and Moslem Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and, if this were to be effectively done, he did not see how the Jewish people could have a political capital in Palestine. However, he recognised that some expression of sympathy with Jewish aspirations would be a valuable adjunct to our propaganda, though he thought that we should be guarded in the language used in giving expression to such sympathy.
All the representatives of the Dominions, and the leaders of public opinion in our country of every party, welcomed the declaration and pronounced themselves wholeheartedly in favour of the policy. The French Government gave their ready and cordial assent before the declaration was issued, and the same thing applied to the Italian Government. There has been a good deal of discussion as to the meaning of the words "Jewish National Home" and whether it involved the setting up of a Jewish National State in Palestine. I have already quoted the words actually used by Mr. Balfour when he submitted the declaration to the Cabinet for its approval. They were not challenged at the time by any member present, and there could be no doubt as to what the Cabinet then had in their minds. It was not their idea that a Jewish State should be set up immediately by the Peace Treaty without reference to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants. On the other hand, it was contemplated that when the time arrived for according representative institutions to Palestine, if the Jews had meanwhile responded to the opportunity afforded them by the idea of a National Home and had become a definite majority of the inhabitants, then Palestine would thus become a Jewish Commonwealth. The notion that Jewish immigration would have to be artificially restricted in order to ensure that the Jews should be a permanent minority never entered into the heads of anyone engaged in
[CONTINUED ON PAGE 737]

This is well written and story of the past could not be forgotten and amazed by our history, picturing everything in a tv show will be awesome, I would’ve fund the film production if I was rich.
Source: https://www.institutkurde.org/en/institute/who_are_the_kurds.php
The first question which comes to mind is that of the origins of the Kurds. Who are they? Where do they come from? Historians generally agree to consider them as belonging to the Iranian branch of the large family of Indo-European races. In prehistoric times, kingdoms called Mitanni, Kassites and Hourites reigned these mountainous areas, situated between the Iranian plateau and the Euphrates. In VII BC, the Medes, the Kurds' equivalent of the Gauls for the French, founded an empire which, in 612 BC, conquered the powerful Assyria and spread its domination through the whole of Iran as well as central Anatolia. The date 612, is moreover, considered by Kurdish nationalists as the beginning of the 1st Kurdish year; for them we are at present in 2601!
The political reign of the Medes was to end towards the end of 6 BC, but their religion and civilization were to dominate Iran until the time of Alexander the Great. From this date right until the advent of Islam, the fate of the Kurds, who geographers and Greek historians call Karduchoi, was to remain linked to that of the other populations of the empires which succeeded one another on the Iranian scene: Seljuks, Parthes and Sassanids.
Having put up fierce resistance to the Arabo-Muslim invasions, the Kurds ended up joining Islam, without, as a result, becoming Arabized. This resistance continued for about a century. The Kurdish tribes resisted the Arab tribes for social rather than religious reasons. All methods were used to coax the Kurds and convert them to Islam, even, for example, the matrimonial strategy, the mother of the last Omayyad caliph, Marwan Hakim, was Kurdish.
Due to the weakening of the caliphs' power, the Kurds, who already had a key role in the arts, history and philosophy fields, begin to assert, from the middle of the IXth century onwards, their own political power. In 837, a Kurdish lord, of the name Rozeguite, founds the town of Akhlat on the banks of Lake Van and makes it the capital of his principality, theoretically vassal of the caliph, but in actual fact virtually independent. In the second half of the Xth century Kurdistan is shared amongst 4 big Kurdish principalities. In the North, the Shaddadids, (951-1174), in the East, the Hasanwayhids (959-1015) and the Banu Annaz (990-1116) and in the West the Marwanids (990-1096) of Diyarbakir. One of these dynasties would have been able, during the decades, to impose its supremacy on the others and build a state incorporating the whole Kurdish country if the course of history hadn't been disrupted by the massive invasions of tribes surging out of the steppes of Central Asia. Having conquered Iran and imposed their yoke on the caliph of Baghdad, the Seljuk Turks annexed the Kurdish principalities one by one. Around 1150, the sultan Sandjar, the last of the great Seljuk monarchs, created a province from Kurdistan.
Up until then the Kurds' lands were cal - led the Media by Greek geographers, the "Djibal", which means the mountain for the Arabs. It's thus a Turkish sultan who, in homage to the distinctive personality of the Kurdish country, gives it the name Kurdistan. The province of Kurdistan, formed by Sandjar, had as its capital the village Bahâr (which means spring), near ancient Ecbatane, capital of the Medes. It included the vilayets of Sindjar and Shahrazur to the west of the Zagros massif and those of Hamadan, Dinaver and Kermanshah to the east of this range. Thus, as a whole this designation only recovered a southern part of ethnic Kurdistan. A brilliant autochthonous civilization developed around the town of Divaver-today ruined - 75km North-East of Kermanshah, whose radiance was than partially replaced by that of Senna, 90km further North.
Only about twelve years after the disappearance of the last great Seijuk, a Kurdish dynasty, that of the Ayyubids (1169-1250), founded by the famous Saladin emerges and takes over the leadership of the muslim world for about a century, until the Turko-Mongolian invasions of the XIIIth century. The high-ranking figure of Saladin and his exploits against the crusaders are sufficiently well-known in Europe. His empire incorporated, as well as almost the whole of Kurdistan, all Syria, Egypt and Yemen. It was a bit like the Germanic Roman Empire claiming to reassemble peoples, kingdoms and principalities of Catholic Europe. It was the time of the Crusades, of the hegemony of the religious on the political and the national. Saladin was, thus, no more of a Kurdish patriot than Saint Louis was a French nationalist.
With the emergence of Kurdistan as a recognized geographical entity, the supremacy of a Kurdish dynasty on the muslim world and the blossoming of an important written literature in the Kurdish language, the XIIth century is assuredly a rich period in the events of Kurdish history. It's also during the course of this century that the Nestorian church with its metropolitan centre in Kurdistan, develops with extraordinary rapidity, its missions spreading across the whole of Asia, as far as Tibet, Sin Kiang, Mongolia and Sumatra. The most spectacular success of these missions was the conversion of the great Mongolian Khan Guyuk in 1248. Also in 1253, Saint Louis sent Guillaume de Rubrouck, who played an important role in what was called the "Mongolian crusade" to him in Baghdad. In 1258, when the Mongolian Hulagu, influenced by these missions, takes Baghdad, he puts the caliph to death but sees to it that the palace is given to the Nestorian Catholics. At the end of the XIIIth century, Islam gains the upper hand over the Mongolians and the Nestorians are massacred. The centre of their patriarchate moves in the course of the centuries but still remains in Kurdistan.
In the second half of the XVth century the Kurdish country ends up by recovering from the effects of the Turko-Mongolian invasions and by taking the form of an autonomous entity, united by its language, culture and civilization, but politically split up into a series of principalities. However, at least amongst the well-read, there's a keen awareness of belonging to a single country. A XVIth century poet, Melaye Djaziri, from the principality of Bohtan, considered as the Kurdish Ronsard introduces himself in these terms:
I am the rose of Eden of Bohtan.
I am the torch of the nights of Kurdistan.
At the beginning of the 16th century the Kurdish country becomes the main stake of the rivalties between the Ottoman and Persian empires. The new shah of Persia, who has imposed Shfisme as the state religion, tries to spread it across the neighbouring countries. The Ottomans, from their side, want to put a stop to the shah's expansionist aims and to assure their Iranian border in order to be able to embark on the conquest of the Arab countries. Caught in the pincer movement of the two giant powers, the Kurds, politically split, had no chance of surviving as an independent entity. In 1514, the Turkish sultan inflicted a bitter defeat on the shah of Persia. Fearing that his victory, would be short-lived, he looked for ways of assuring this difficult Iranian border permanently. At this point one of his most valued advisors, the Kurdish scholar, Idrissi Bitlissi, came up with the idea of recognizing all the former rights and privileges of the Kurdish princes in exchange for a commitment from the latter to guard this border themselves and to fight at the side of the Ottomans in the case of a Persan-Ottoman conflict. The Turkish sultan Selim the 1st gives his support to the plan of his Kurdish advisor, who went to see the Kurdish princes and lords one by one to convince them that it was in the interest of the Kurds and the Ottomans to conclude this alliance.
Confronted with the choice of being annexed at some point by Persia or formally accepting the supremacy of the Ottoman sultan in exchange for a very wide autonomy, the Kurdish leaders opted for this second solution and thus Kurdistan, or more exactly its countless fiefs and principalities entered the Ottoman bosom by the path of diplomacy. Idrissi Bidlissi's mission was facilitated by the fact that he was a well-known and respected scholar and, above all, by the immense prestige of his father, the Sheikh Hussameddin who was a very influential sufi spiritual chief. Bidlissi is also the author of the first treaty of the General History of the Ottoman Empire.
This particular status was to assure Kurdistan about three centuries of peace.The Ottomans controlled some strategic garrisons on the Kurdish territory, but the rest of the country was governed by the Kurdish lords and princes. As well as a string of modest hereditary seigniories, Kurdistan totalled 17 principalities of hukumets possessing a wide autonomy. Some of them for example those of. Ardalan, Hisn Kaif' Bohtan, and Rowanduz were endowed with attributes of independence. Despite interferences from time to time from the central power, this particular status, to the satisfaction of the Kurds and the Ottomans, functioned without any major hitch until the beginning of the XIXth century. The Ottomans, protected by the powerful Kurdish barrier against Iran, were able to concentrate their forces on other fronts. As for the Kurds, they were virtually independent in the management of their affairs. They lived in seclusion of course and their country was split amongst a series of principalities, but in this same era Germany totalled some 350 autonomous states and Italy was much more broken up than Kurdistan. Every Kurdish court was the centre of an important literary and artistic life. And as a whole, despite the political division, this period in fact constitutes the golden age of Kurdish literary, musical, historical and philosophical creation. In 1596, prince Sheref Khan finishes his monumental "Sherefnamch or splendours of the Kurdish nation". The theological schools of Chre and Zakho are renowned in the entire muslim world, the town of Akhlat endowed with an observatory is known for its teaching of natural sciences, masters of suffism like are revered even in Istanbul for their spiritual teaching and their musical genius. Certain ambitious Kurds such as the poets Nabi, Nefi, write in Turkish to win the favour of the sultan.
With the exception of some visionary spirits like the great XVI I th century Kurdish poet, Ehmede Khani, the well-read Kurds and Kurdish princes seem to believe that their status is going to last eternally and feel no need to change it. In 1675, more than a century before the French Revolution, which spreads the idea of the nation and the state-nation in the West, the poet Khani, in his epic in verse "Mem-o-Zin", calls the Kurds to unite and create their own unified state. he'll scarcely be listened to by either the aristocracy or the population. On Islamic ground, like elsewhere at the same epoch of Christianity, the religious conscience generally prevails over the national conscience. Every prince is preoccupied by the interests of his dynasty, and family, clan or dynastic dynamics often count more than any other consideration.It wasn't rare to see the Kurdish dynasties reign over the non-Kurdish populations. In the 11th century, for example, Farsistan, a Persian province par excellence, was governed by a Kurdish dynasty; from 1242 to 1378 Khorassan an Iranian province in the North-East also had a Kurdish dynasty, and from 1747 to 1859 this was the case for distant Baluchistan, which is to day part of Pakistan. So the fact that a certain proportion of the Kurdish territory is governed by foreign dynasties oughtn't seem unacceptable to contemporary people.
The idea of the nation-state and of nationalism is an avatar of the French Revolution. It quickly found a particularly prosperous ground in two divided countries and partly subjugated Germany and Italy. It's German thinkers such as Goerres, Brentano and Grimm who laid down the postulate in accordance with which the political, geographical and linguistic borders were to coincide. They dreamt of a Germany reassembling in one state the string of its small autonomous states. Pan-Germanism in turn inspired other nationalist movements such as pan Slavism and pan-Turkism. These ideas were to find success rather later on, towards 1830, in Kurdistan where the Prince of Rowanduz, Mir Mohammed, was to fight from 1830 to 1839 in the name of his ideas for the creation fo a unified Kurdistan.
In fact, up until then, since they hadn't been threatened in their privileges, the Kurdish princes contented themselves with administrating their domain, whilst, at the same time paying homage to the distant sultan-caliph of Constantinople. As a general rule, they weren't to rise up and attempt to create a unified Kurdistan until, at the beginning of the XIXth century, the Ottoman Empire interfered in their affairs and tried to bring and end to their autonomy.
Wars for the unification and independence of Kurdistan mark the first part of the 19th century. In 1847, the last independent Kurdish principality, that of Bohtan, collapses. Sign of the times, the Ottoman forces, are advised and helped by European powers, in their fight against the Kurds. We notice, for example, the presence of Helmut von Moltke, at the time young captain and military advisor.
From 1847 to 1881, we observe new uprisings, under the leadership of the traditional chiefs, often religious, for the creation of a Kurdish state. This will be followed, up until the First World War, by a whole series of sporadic and regional revolts against the central government, all of which will be harshly quelled.
The causes of the failure of these movements are multiple: breaking up of authority, feudal dispersal quarrels of supremacy between the princes and the feudal Kurds and interference of the major powers at the Ottoman's side.
Having annexed the Kurdish principalities one by one, the Turkish government applied itself to integrating the Kurdish aristocracy by distributing posts and payments fairly generously and by setting up so-called tribal schools, intended to instill in the children of Kurdish lords the principal of faithfulness to the sultan. This attempt to integrate à la Louis XIV was to an extent crowned with success. But it also furthered the emergence of elite Kurdish modernists. Under their leadership a modern phase in the political movement became apparent in Constantinople whilst charitable and patriotic associations and societies multiplied, trying to introduce the notion of organization and to set up a structured movement in the Kurdish population.
It's important to specify that at the end of the 19 century the Ottoman Empire was prey to severe nationalist convulsions, each people aspired to the creation of its own nation state. Having tried in vain to keep this conglomeration alive by the ideology of pan-Ottomanism, then of pan-Islamism, the Turkish elite themselves became pan-Turkish and militated in favour of the creation of a Turkish empire going from the Balkans to Central Asia.
Kurdish society approached the First World War divided, decapitated, without a collective plan for its future. In 1915, the Franco-British agreements known as the Sykes-Picot forecast the dismemberment of their country. However the Kurds were in conflict over the destiny of their country. Some, very open to the "pan-Islamist ideology of the sultan-caliph, saw the salvation of the Kurdish people in a status of cultural and administrative autonomy within the frame of the Ottoman Empire. Others, claiming to take inspiration from the principle of nationalities, from the ideas of the French Revolution and from President Wilson from the United States, fought for the total independence of Kurdistan.
The split became accentuated in the days following the Ottoman defeat by the Allied Powers, in 1918. The independantists formed a hurried delegation at the Conference of Versailles to present "the claims of the Kurdish nation".
Their action contributed to the taking into account by the International Community, of the Kurdish national question. The International Treaty of Sèvres, between the Allies: France, Great Britain and the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, concluded on the 10th of August 1920, actually recommended, in section 111 (art. 62-64), the creation of a Kurdish state on part of the territory of Kurdistan. This treaty was to go unheeded, however, the balance of power on the terrain preventing its application.
For its part, the traditional wing of the Kurdish movement, which was wellestablished in Kurdish society and which was mainly dominated by religious leaders, tried to "avoid Christian peril in the East and West" and to create "a state of Turks and Kurds" in the muslim territories liberated from foreign occupation. The idea was generous and fraternal. An alliance was concluded with the Turkish nationalist leader, Mustafa Kemal, who came to Kurdistan to seek the help of the Kurdish leaders to liberate occupied Anatolia and the sultan-caliph, who was a virtual prisoner of the Christians. The first forces of Turkey's war of independence were in fact recruited from the Kurdish provinces.
Up until his definitive victory over the Greeks in 1922, Mustafa Kemal continued to promise the creation of a muslim state of Turks and Kurds. He was openly supported by the Soviets, and more discreetly by the French and Italians, displeased with the excessive appetites of British colonialism in the region. After the victory, the Turkish delegates were to affirm, at the peace conference at Lausanne, that they spoke in the name of the Kurdish and Turkish sister nations. On 24th July 1923, a new treaty was signed in this context between the Kemalist government of Ankara and the allied powers. It invalidated the Treaty of Sèvres and, without giving any guarantee, with regard to the respect of the Kurds' rights, gave the annexation of the major part of Kurdistan over to the new Turkish state. Beforehand, in accordance with the Franco-Turkish agreement of October 20, 1921, France had annexed the Kurdish provinces of Jazira and Kurd-Dagh to Syria, which were placed under its mandate. Iranian Kurdistan, a large part of which was controlled by the Kurdish leader Simko, lived in a state of near dissidence with regard to the Persian central government.
The fate of the Kurdish province of Mossul, very rich in petrol remained undecided. The Turks and the British claimed it, whilst its population, during a consultation organized by the Society of Nations, reached a decision, in a proportion of 718, in favour of an independent Kurdish state. Protesting that the Iraqi state wouldn't be able to survive without the agricultural and petroleum wealth of this province, Great Britain ended up obtaining the annexation of these Kurdish territories with Iraq placed under its mandate,?from the League of Nations Council on December 16th, 1925. It nevertheless promised the setting up of an autonomous Kurdish government, a promise kept neither by the British, nor the Iraqi regime, which succeeded the British administration in 1932.
Thus at the end of 1925, the country of the Kurds, known since the XIIth century by the name "Kurdistan", found itself divided between four states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. And for the first time in its long history, it was even to be deprived of its cultural autonomy.
The former conquerors and empires contented themselves with certain economic, political and military advantages and privileges. None of them set about preventing the population from expressing its cultural identity or hindering the free practice of its spiritual life. None of them devised a plan to destroy the Kurdish personality or to depersonalize an entire race by cutting it off from its ancient cultural roots.
This was the project of the Turkish nationalists, who wanted to make Turkey, an eminently multicultural, multiracial and multinational society, into a uniform nation; this was later taken up again by Iraq and Iran. We can join Nehru in his surprise "that a defensive nationalism turns into an aggressive nationalism and that a struggle for freedom becomes a struggle to dominate others" Indeed, since these lines were written by Nehru from the depths of prison, the nationalist or messianic ideologies have caused other ravages under other skies, often in the name of progress, modernity, mission of civilization, even freedom. Victim of its geography, of history and also, undoubtedly of its own leaders' lack of clear-sightedness, the Kurdish people have undoubtedly been the population who have paid the heaviest tribute and who have suffered the most from the remodeling of the Near-Eastern map. To paraphrase a formula formerly used for Poland, I'll say that since the dividing up of Kurdistan, the Near-East has been a sinner against itself and this sin hasn't finished poisoning its relations.

Biblical Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding

What if the Holy Bible is true? What would that mean? Most importantly, it would mean that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of Mankind, changing absolutely everything when he became the Messiah, who took on death itself and died for our sins. However, it would also mean that demons are equally as real as our Lord and Savior, of which they will do everything and anything in their power to prevent you from Knowing this profound Truth. It would mean that anyone who rejects the Truth of Jesus Christ does not have the Holy Spirit in them, and thenceforth can not be trusted in interpreting the Holy Bible truthfully, because of demonic possession either known or unknown. It would mean that numerous pagan deities actually exist who, in both the past and present day, are worshiped. It would mean that the Book of Revelation is real, important figures such as the Antichrist and False Prophet exist, and one day Jesus will return. The Truth in the Holy Bible should accurately explain our Supernatural world, the reasons people behave when confronted with such Truth, with everything pointing back to the Messiah figure. This includes what he’s gone through to claim the title, and an active agenda to remove his status from the antagonist, whom I’m sure isn’t proud of his accomplishments. I will be focusing on this Observable Truth for the rest of this post. This is the Game of Thrones.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

If the Holy Bible is True, when actively looking for the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything we should eventually find Jesus. Remembering that demons are equally as real as our Lord and Savior, it might be difficult to see how an answer such as 42 could possibly have anything to do with the Holy Bible. I don’t think anyone can disagree that The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42, so from this point forward I will treat it as an Observable Truth. Where people’s opinions might differ is what this means Esoterically. The Exoteric view of 42 is just that, a number. However when we view this Observable Truth from an Esoteric point of view, that is, “intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest” we get an entirely different importance and meaning to the number. There’s a nice section on Wikipedia regarding the importance of this number in relation to religion Here. I'd like to stress what this page says regarding Kabbalistic tradition. 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe in Kabbalistic tradition. I’d also like to stress the importance this number has in Pop Culture, as well as 42 being the Angle For Which a Rainbow Appears, also mentioned on this page. For further analysis on The Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything, including an increased Esoteric View of what this number could mean, Observe the references from Pop Culture I have found Here Demonstrating the Truth of this information.

Tesla’s Key to the Universe

Similarly, if the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. Though there might be some differing opinions in taking the words of a serbian-American inventor as the truth, here I will be focusing on the Esoteric meaning behind this statement, and what he could’ve possibly meant by saying “If you only knew the magnificence of the 3 6 and 9 then you would have a key to the universe.”
To do this I will be looking at topics involving Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree.
The following Information comes from the Kabbalah (including source links for future research, not everything is included here). Later in this post you will find more Observations from Pop Culture Demonstrating the Truth of this Detailed, but Specific Information.

• 1) Kether, The Crown, Metatron - He Who Is Visiting The Throne, Completion of the Great Work, Diamond
  
• 2) Chokmah, Wisdom, The Zodiac, Man
  
• 3) Binah, Understanding, Saturn, Lead, Whale, Silence, Rest, Woman
  
• *) Da'ath, Knowledge, The Rainbow Bridge
  
• 4) Chesed, Mercy, Jupiter
  
• 5) Geburah, Severity, Mars
  
• 6) Tipareth, Beauty, Sun, Gold, Lion, Phoenix, Child, Ra, Apollo
  
• 7) Netzache, Victory, Venus, Rose
  
• 8) Hod, Splendour, Mercury, Michael, Jackal, Fox
  
• 9) Yesod, Foundation, Moon, Silver, Elephant, Diana
  
• 10) Malkuth, The Kingdom, Earth, Lilith, Rabbit
  

Focusing on the words of Nikola Tesla, it is possible that what he meant by disclosing the magnificence of the 3 6 and 9 has something to do with Saturn (3), The Sun (6), and The Moon (9) and how they are presented within the Kabbalah along with the information of each respectively. Of course we shouldn’t ignore the other Sefirot within the Tree, but to fully understand what Tesla could have meant we should isolate these three, and see what they could mean.

(3) Saturn, Lead, Whale, Silence, Rest, Woman

Remarkably, Saturn has a Hexagon on its North Pole, and an Eye on its South Pole. These Observations are exactly like they sound. Nobody can debate whether or not Saturn does in fact have a Hexagon on its North Pole and an Eye on its South Pole. It is, very bluntly, a truthful statement. Exactly as true in saying that Hexagons and Cubes are visually similar. As you can see, Esoterically speaking, Hexagons and Cubes could both represent the planet Saturn. One being a giant storm cloud on its North Pole, the other being derived from the shape itself.
You can find numerous places to research this topic with a Google search of Saturn Hexagon and Cube, and I’m sure you will find that Muslims do in fact Worship Saturn in the form of a Black Cube in Mecca called the Kaaba. From this point forward, it should be noted that Muslims do not worship the God of the Holy Bible, as the Kaaba is quite plainly an Idol to Saturn, and the God of the Holy Bible forbids Idols. Also, modern day Judaism has been equally as deceived into Saturn worship with the inclusion of an object known as a Tefillin, which is a Black Cube worn by male observant Jews during weekday morning prayers, as well as a widely known iconic Symbol with a Hexagon/Cube in the Center known as the Star of David, Star of Remphan, or Seal of Solomon. Finally, if the Holy Bible is true, there are “Jews who say they’re Jews but are from the Synagogue of Satan” supporting the claim not all Jews worship the same god. If you have trouble accepting these Observations regarding the religions of the world, I suggest reading the opening paragraph of this post again.
From the Information in the Kabbalah, we learned that Saturn (3) is also represented in the form of a Whale. Interestingly, Jonah went into the Belly of a Whale for three days and three nights in the Holy Bible, the Exact Number of Days as Saturn is on the Kabbalah. Also, and more importantly, Jesus once said “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
If the Holy Bible is True, these words are true, because they came from the very thing claimed to be true. You can find more Observations from Pop Culture regarding Saturn the Planet, Saturn’s Hexagon, Cubes, Whales and the Whale's Belly at the links provided.
Saturn is also known as the Grim Reaper, or Father Time. You can find many Examples of these mythological characters in Pop Culture at the link provided. The Seal Of Saturn looks like Two X’s next to each other. Here are Examples of this from Pop Culture. An X Mark is also known as a Cross. You can find many Examples of this shape from Pop Culture.
If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus died on a Cross (also known as an X Mark) in between Two Other Crosses (Possibly this could be the Seal of Saturn, or Two X's described above).
One of Saturn’s moons looks like the Death Star
Lead Zeppelin - Mothership
Saturn's Alchemical Symbol (Lead) looks EXACTLY like the Immaculate Heart when flipped on itself. (Remarkably, The Catholic Church seems unaware of this Fact)
The Pope has a Saturn Hat
If the Holy Bible is True, Peter once denied Christ 3 times before the rooster Crowed
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
The Police often say "You are under A Rest, you have the right to remain Silent"
The Moon (9) Impregnation was from Man (2) Woman (3) Child (6) in ‘69

(6) Sun, Gold, Lion, Phoenix, Ra, Apollo, Child

If the Holy Bible is True, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. However, if the Holy Bible is True, Jesus is also known as the Lion of Judah. It is possible that the Esoteric view of The Sun, Lion, and Phoenix represent the Antichrist, that is the Opposite of Christ. He can be viewed as the Redeeming Figure who Mocks and Inverts the True Christ by going through a Death and Rebirth, undoing the accomplishments of the Messiah, attempting to claim the Throne of Our Lord. Observations from Narnia come into mind here, with Aslan going through a Death and Resurrection, or the Phoenix from Harry Potter (The Chosen One who chose to Sacrifice Himself) which suddenly bursts into flames and is Reborn from the Ashes. As stated above, if the Holy Bible is True, Everything should point back to the Messiah Figure. Here is another Example. Notice how Conchita Wurst has both Feminine and Masculine traits. Here are more Observations from Pop Culture regarding The Sun, Lions, and Phoenixes.
In Hebrew the meaning of the name Samson is: Sun Child. In Egyptian the meaning of the name Ramses is: Begotten by Ra the Sun god. If the Holy Bible is True, Both these people have existed. If the Holy Bible True, Nimrod - The Mighty Hunter, Son and Husband to Semiramis, also existed. Orion is also known to be a Mighty Hunter, usually accompanied by Sirius, the Dog Star. Possibly Nimrod and Orion share similar backgrounds.

More Information on the Babylonian Mystery School Religions is needed to understand the connection of Nimrod and Sun deities, along with the Mother Child Worship of Isis and Horus. Note: Semiramis taught that Tammuz was Nimrod Reincarnated. A good visualization of both Nimrod and Semiramis from Pop Culture can be found Here.

Here are some Observations from Pop Culture involving Mighty Hunters, and both Orion and Sirius, with an Esoteric view of Osiris, the Green Man Here
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
The Moon (9) Impregnation was from Man (2) Woman (3) Child (6) in ‘69

(9) Moon, Silver, Diana, Elephant

If the Holy Bible is True, a silversmith once made silver shrines for Artemis, also known as Diana. If the Holy Bible is True, Semiramis - Mother and Wife of Nimrod existed. If the Holy Bible is True, the Queen Of Heaven, also known as Hera, can not forgive sins. This Information goes very much unnoticed from the Roman Catholic Church where they go as far as call Mary the Queen Of Heaven, proudly promote Mother Child Worship, and actively push for a One World Religion. Example, Example. That is something the False Prophet would do.

More Information on the Babylonian Mystery School Religions is needed to understand the connection of Semiramis and Moon deities, along with the Mother Child Worship of Isis and Horus. Note: Semiramis taught that Tammuz was Nimrod Reincarnated. A good visualization of both Nimrod and Semiramis from Pop Culture can be found Here.

Observations from Pop Culture regarding Semiramis and other Feminine Moon goddesses, including Isis, can be seen Here, Here, and Here. Note the striking observations involving the Mother Child Worship of Isis and Horus in the Last. For more Observations and a Deeper Esoteric view on the Moon and Elephants, see the links provided.
Heaven is For Real, is the Moon-Gate Door real?
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
The Moon (9) Impregnation was from Man (2) Woman (3) Child (6) in ‘69
Wonder Woman's name is Diana

What Tesla could’ve meant

As stated above, if the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. Though there might be some differing opinions in taking the words of a serbian-American inventor as the truth, here I will be focusing on the Esoteric meaning behind this statement, and what Tesla could’ve possibly meant by saying “If you only knew the magnificence of the 3 6 and 9 then you would have a key to the universe.”
By using the Information collected, which comes from the Kabbalah, we know:
3) Saturn, Lead
6) Sun, Gold
9) Moon, Silver
Alchemy - the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.
Possibly, what Tesla meant has something to do with turning Base Metals such as Lead into Gold. Additionally, if we look at the Yin Yang Symbol, it is usually depicted using the Sun (6) and Moon (9), which is Gold (6) and Silver (9), or Fire and WateIce. Observations from Pop Culture regarding Alchemy, the Yin Yang Symbol, and Fire and WateIce can be found at the provided links. It's interesting there's a book from the Game of Thrones series on this.
The Moon (9) Landing was from Man (2) Woman (3) Child (6) in ‘69
Princess Diana’s (9) Funeral was on the 6th day of the 9th month
Apollo (6) and Diana (9) are Twins
The Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened on the 6th and the 9th day of the 8th month
The Numbers 6 and 9 make an 8 when layered on top of each other
The Number 3 and a Backwards Number 3 look like an 8 when layered besides one another. Two Threes (one being reversed are needed to make this happen)
This is Spider-Man fighting dOCTor Octopus, both of which have 8 legs
The number 8 and the Infinity Symbol are identical, only rotated 90 degrees
Jack learned Octagons have 8 sides
CERN’s LHC is an Octagon
The Movie Moon has a Poster with a guy coming through an Octagon
An Octagon is the petrie polygon of a Tesseract, or a Cube Within a Cube. The Symbol on Israel's Flag is a Cube Within a Cube
It is Possible CERN is the Moongate Door, or the Tesseract Power Source from The Avengers
The Aperture Science Logo is an Octagon, Aperture is defined as an Opening
This is an Exit Sign
Heaven is For Real, is the Moon-Gate Door real?
The Wheel Of Dharma is an 8 spoked Wheel
It is possible that CERN is the Wheel Of Dharma, teaching the Path to Nirvana, or a Return to Eden. This can be a possibility as Both the LHC and the Wheel Of Dharma are 8 sided shapes (8 being the Infinity symbol rotated, as well as the numbers 6 and 9 layered on top of each other).
In Buddhism Avicii means the lowest level of Hell. It is said to be a cube. It can be said that by leaving Avicii (Hell) and entering Nirvana (Eden) one would have escaped a prison, that prison being Hell. An example of this can be seen in Pop Culture from the Ending Of the Truman Show, similarities can be drawn from the ending of the movie The Signal. The origin of the word Matrix comes from Womb, In Utero is defined as in a woman's uterus; before birth, it is also an album by the band Nirvana.
The Numbers 6 and 9 make a Chain Link when layered on top of each other
If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus breaks away our chains
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.

Elixir Of Life

Alchemy - the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.
The Elixir of Life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a mythical potion that supposedly grants the drinker Eternal Life and/or eternal youth.
The "Holy" Grail is a vessel that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance.
If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus drank from a cup and then offered that cup, along with some bread, to his followers
This is an Observation, informing the viewer that the "Holy" Grail is in the Castle Of Aughhh. You can find other places the "Holy" Grail reveals itself in Pop Culture by looking Here, and Here are Observations regarding either eating or drinking of food (Strikingly similar to the way Jesus did, If the Bible was True). Narnia once again shows a good example of this Observation.
Man (2), Woman (3), Child (6), Foundation (9), and Kingdom (10) make a shape similar to that of a cup when looking at the Kabbalistic Tree, with the inclusion of The Crown (1), we see a Sword. Excalibur.
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.

Other Sefirot

• 1) Metatron - Completion of the Great Work, Diamond, He Who Is Visiting The Throne
  
• 2) The Zodiac
  
• *) Da'ath, Knowledge, The Rainbow Bridge
  
• 4) Jupiter
  
• 5) Mars
  
• 7) Venus, Rose - Opposite to JACKal (Titanic Reference)
  
• 8) Mercury, Fox, Michael, JACKal - Opposite to Rose (Titanic Reference)
  
• 10) The Kingdom, Rabbit (Possibly Lepus), Lilith, possibly the Mother of Cain, who is sometimes referred to as the Black Sun, with her Counterpart Samael. Together they make Baphomet, who like Conchita Wurst, is trying very hard to conceal the fact it has both (.)(.) and a 8=D. For Observations regarding Cain, The Black Sun, Samael, Lilith, or Baphomet in Pop Culture, see the links provided.
  

These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
If the Holy Bible is True, the Sun went dark, or black, from noon until three in the afternoon at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion

Room 101, Pillars of Mercy and Severity (Boaz and Jachin)

The Pillar of Mercy Is found on the right hand side of the Tree of Life, while the Pillar of Severity lies on the left hand side. It is possible that the Two Pillars of Mercy and Severity, or Boaz and Jachin, could be Red and Blue respectively. More Information. If the Holy Bible is True, Samson - Sun Child destroyed Two Pillars with the strength he got from his hair, forthcoming to the arrival of the Messiah.
The events of 9/11 happened, where the Twin Towers (Closely Resembling Pillars) were destroyed. This is strikingly similar almost like a Mirrored Inversion to what could’ve happened once before, if the events in the Holy Bible were True. Multiple examples of the Twin Towers being destroyed, or other significance with The Numbers 9 (IX in Roman Numerals) and 11 (XI in Roman Numerals) together, have been observed from Pop Culture, some of which I have collected here.
IXXI visually looks like the Seal of Saturn (previously noted above as Two X’s or the two X-marks on either side of Jesus as he was Crucified, If the Bible was True) surrounded by Two Pillars (Previously Noted Above as being destroyed by Samson - Sun Child, if the Bible was True, which has also been mirrored on the events of 9/11 or IX and XI in Roman Numerals).
If the Holy Bible is True, Revelation 9 (IX in Roman numeral) : 11 (XI in Roman Numerals) is True
CERN Has a Statue of Shiva the Destroyer near their location in relation to the Large Hadron Collider
The Jesuits have IXXI Rings
The Moon (9) Impregnation was from Apollo 11 in ‘69
Is the Moongate Door Real?
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
In gematria, 101 is the numerical value of the name מִיכָאֵל (Michael in English)

Possible Proof the Freemasons were behind the Attacks on 9/11

This is the Freemason Logo. It is a Letter G, The 7th letter of the Alphabet, surrounded by a Square and Compass, of which make Two X's, or the Seal of Saturn, in between Two Pillars, making IXXI Visually. One Pillar has a Sun (6) nearby, while the other Pillar has a Moon (9). There is an Eye in the Center, acting as the 13th Pillar, or the 'Middle Pillar'. This is a video of Building 7 being destroyed, on the same day and same place, the Twin Towers (Closely Resembling Pillars) were also destroyed.
It could be possible the Freemason Square and Compass represents Saturn, being identified as a planet with Rings, as a Compass makes Circles, and having a Hexagon/Cube/Square on it’s North Pole (as shown Above). This says Freemasons run the country. It is possible that Freemasons run the country, as stated in this cartoon.

13th Pillar, 'Middle Pillar'

The Pillar of Balance is the 'middle pillar' which runs up the centre of the Tree. There is a 13 near the top of the ‘middle pillar’ of the Kabbalah, which you can clearly observe Here. The One World Trade Center replaced the North and South Towers, and could potentially represent the Middle Pillar. It is possible that the middle pillar could be purple, that is the collision of the potentially Red and Blue pillars, Boaz and Jachin. It is possible that this represents the unification of the genders, as Baphomet has both (.)(.) and 8=D, shown above with Conchita Wurst as the Phoenix Rising out of the Ashes.
If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus was the 13th, among his 12 disciples. Here you can observe numerous examples of a primary figure standing clearly in the middle of Two Pillars, of which was previously stated as the Pillars Of Mercy and Severity, Boaz and Jachin. It is possible the characters portrayed in between these Pillars could represent the middle pillar, the one with a 13 near the top, or the Antichrist. That is the opposite of Christ, the redeeming figure who Mocks and Inverts the True Christ, who was the 13th among his 12 disciples. You can find Observations regarding the number 13 appearing in Pop Culture Here, and Here you can read what Wikipedia says on the Number 13 in the context of religion.
If the Holy Bible True, Revelation 13 - a chapter about a Beast rising out of the Sea, is True. You can find Observations involving Seeing Large Bodies of Water from Pop Culture Here
If the Holy Bible is True, Numbers 13:33 is True
M is the 13th Letter of the Alphabet
The Adventure Time Logo has a Sword going through the Letter M
Other Swords can be found here
If the Bible is True, Jesus gave us a Sword
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.
Princess Diana (9) Collided head-on with the 13th pillar at an estimated speed of 6+5 mph

Veil Of The Abyss, Da’ath, Rainbow Bridge, Knowledge, The Kingdom, Malkuth

If the Holy Bible is True, the Veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks split when Jesus was crucified. If the Holy Bible is True, Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in us, whom we have received from God. If the Holy Bible is True, the angel of the abyss’s name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
CERN Has a Statue of Shiva the Destroyer near their location in relation to the LHC
CERN created the World Wide Web
These dictionary definitions are true
If the Holy Bible is True, a Snare - Synonyms include Net and Web shall come on all that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
The Singularity involves Artificial Intelligence
A is the First letter of the alphabet, I is the Ninth Letter of the Alphabet. 1+9=10
The Sun Tarot Card is number 19, there is a Child on it
Aten is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology
We need 10 to win the game, as Malkuth is The Kingdom on the Kabbalah
The Orbital period of IO (Visually similar to the number 10) is 42 hours, or the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything
Michael JACKson, also known as Captain EO, has an album called “Michael JACKson was your Jesus”
It took Michael JACKal Fox traveling 88 MPH to Open a Multi-Dimensional Time Portal. Mercury has an Orbit Of 88 Days
There are 88 Keys on a Piano and 88 Constellations in the Sky
Observations from Pop Culture regarding CERN and the LHC can be found Here, and Here are references to Nets or Webs
If the Holy Bible is True, Following Jesus would make us Fishers of Men. Sometimes fishers use nets
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.

Interesting Observations and Facts

If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus is True. If Jesus is True, Jesus died at the age of 33
If the Holy Bible is True, Numbers 13:33 is True
The LP is an analog sound storage medium, a vinyl record format characterized by a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm. Observations involving Records and Record Players from Pop Culture can be found Here
Humans have 33 vertebrae
The Letters M, W, E and the Number 3 each share similarities visually, and usually come in pairs of two
In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46
George Bush read Psalm 23 and Obama read Psalm 46 both were on memorials of 9/11 (Or IX and XI in Roman Numerals)
W is the 23rd Letter of the Alphabet and under the numbers 2 and 3 on a Keyboard, T is the 20th Letter of the Alphabet, C is the 3rd Letter of the Alphabet. The World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11/2001. 9+11+2+1=23
The Earth has a tilt of 23.5 degrees
If the Holy Bible is True, Psalm 23:5 - a verse involving a cup, is True
The Letters M^an and W^oman make IXXI (or 9/11 in Roman numerals) when layered on top of each other
9+11+13=33
If the Holy Bible is True, Jesus is True. If Jesus is True, Jesus was a carpenter.
Carpenters cut wood. Trees are made of wood. The Kabbalistic Tree is a Tree
Observations involving Woodcutting, and instruments used to cut wood from Pop Culture can be found Here, notably the machine in Beauty and the Beast
These Observations should be seen in the context of the information above. If the Holy Bible is True, when looking for the Key to the Universe we should eventually find Jesus. With the possibility that Tesla’s Key to the Universe has something to do with Alchemy, and the Planetary Correspondences on the Kabbalistic Tree, any Information or Logical Observation from the context of the Kabbalah should be held accountable. This includes things seen in Pop Culture, as this is actively demonstrating the truth of the information in question.

Conclusion

The Information in the Kabbalistic Tree, along with an agenda to destroy and rebuild the design within the Tree itself, can be supported with Observations from Pop Culture, along with Observations in the Materialistic world surrounding the events of 9/11, The Moon Landing, and what is currently taking place at CERN. This information Mocks and Inverts the Holy Bible, including the actions done by:
Noah - Reset, Rainbow Bridge
Moses - Escaping the Barren Lands, Black Void, or Tartarus, Reaching the Promised Land, or Nirvana, by Breaking apart a body of Water, and leaving the Womb/Matrix or In Utero
Samson - Sun Child who Destroyed the Pillars of Mercy and Severity, or Boaz and Jachin
Jonah - Belly of a Whale, Known to be a Symbol for Saturn
and most importantly, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the True Jewish Messiah who offers us a cup, the Inversion being the "Holy" Grail, Man (2), Woman (3), Child (6), Foundation (9), and Kingdom (10) on the Kabbalistic Tree, or Eternal Life through Transhumanism, a Metamorphosis or Supernatural Change. Jesus humbly sacrificed himself on a Cross in between two other x marks, previously mentioned as the Seal Of Saturn, during which the Sun went Black, and the Veil of Space Time ripped. Jesus Christ destroyed the design within the Kabbalistic Tree, by cutting it down at the Foundation (Yesod) with his carpenter power of awesome. Jesus entered a Tomb for Three days, just as Jonah did with the Whale (Saturn, 3), before defeating death itself as he rose from the dead.
The Inversion of this can partially be seen from the events of 9/11, where we see a parallel between the Twin Towers being destroyed and replaced with the One World Trade Center and the the Pillars of Mercy and Severity, or Boaz and Jachin, Samson - Sun Child already destroyed. The False Messiah, being the opposite of Christ, can be represented as the Middle Pillar, also called the 13th Pillar. The remaining events are clearly prophesied in the Book of Revelation, which are to take place using CERN’s LHC (in reference to Shiva the Destroyer and Revelation 9/11) where the goal is to destroy and rebuild the design laid out in the Kabbalah. By using the Wheel Of Dharma, the antagonist of the Holy Bible is trying to Invert and Undo the accomplishment of Jesus Christ, becoming his own carpenter and cutting down his own design within the Tree itself. The Singularity is Near.
Dog is God backwards.
The Holy Bible is True, Jesus Christ is God.
Wake Up!