As She Told Me — Mrs. Kobbe

She is a lady past forty; yet despite her constant work, her rare vitality, and her energetic drive in the field of social service, in American women's circles and others, she still keeps a fresh, blooming face, eyes brimming with the deepest meanings of life, and a lithe, slender figure...

Yes, she is an American — but she is indignant at her president... For there grew up in her heart a feeling of love for the Arabs, and sympathy for their cause and their right in Palestine; chivalry stirred in her blood, and the treachery of the Americans and their backing of the Zionists against the Arabs provoked her, so she opened a campaign against her own government to awaken American public opinion. She delivered a series of lectures in which she drew their attention to the facts over which — quite deliberately — a thick curtain of deception and evasion had been drawn. So we see her leaving her home district, moving among the great American cities, lecturing in their clubs and women's gatherings about 'the Arabs,' of whom the American people are utterly ignorant — and it appalled her to see her naive, impetuous young compatriots in manifest error concerning the truth of the Palestine question and the partition scheme.

Mrs. Kobbe vowed to herself to do all in her power to draw the points of view closer together and to prevent the execution of the partition scheme, in which she sees no successful solution to the painful situation in the Holy Land. She left America for Europe, then Egypt, then Palestine, then Lebanon; and wherever she alighted she delivered thorough addresses and enlightened public opinion on this subject, and she succeeded, to a certain degree, in carrying out her mission.

I had the good fortune to meet Mrs. Kobbe, and I was taken by the force of her personality and the fluency of her tongue. She made the following statements to me. She said:

"As a result of my direct contact with American circles, it has become clear to me that the American people's vote for the partition of Palestine took place under pressure, and that the Americans now feel, without a doubt, that in deciding this fate they strayed from right and justice; but they can find no way out of this resolution so long as their government continues to back it."

Her voice rose with fervor as she said:

"The West has cheated the Arabs and cheated the Jews alike. The first step is for the English and the Americans to stand aside from Palestine and evacuate it completely."

I asked her: "And what would become of the Jews then?" She answered:

"Nothing would happen to the Jews; rather, they would remain as a minority in Palestine, friendly relations between Arabs and Jews would return, and the rancors and hatreds would be wiped away in a short time — provided the ambitions of the great powers had no hand and no interest in stirring them up again!" I said: "And do you believe it would be easy for the Arabs to make peace with the Jews after their blood has been spilled and they have seen calamity at their hands?" She answered:

"The Arabs and the Jews lived in accord and harmony for hundreds of years in Palestine. History shows us that England and Scotland remained in a state of war for five hundred years, and in spite of this they now live in a peace whose serenity nothing troubles."

Her quickness of mind led her to see the doubt in my eyes and my want of faith in her theory, so she went on with her talk, explaining. She said: "I am an American, but I am a friend of the Arabs, and this friendship is disinterested, built on no aim or advantage. I have visited Palestine repeatedly and traveled through its districts, and I have witnessed the extent of the Jews' activity and their excellence in all branches of world civilization; and I see in their remaining in Palestine a great benefit to the Arabs — on condition that Jewish immigration stop, that the Jews be treated as a minority and nothing more, and that all the Western bodies — English and American — evacuate Palestinian territory and cease coveting interests that profit them alone!"

I thanked Mrs. Kobbe as I took my leave, and I could not but admire her — her crossing of the seas, her braving of dangers, and her bearing of heavy expenses in defense of a cause to which nothing binds her personally but pure affection. And I wished to make Mrs. Kobbe known to the women readers of The Woman's Voice.