THE ROOTS OF RELIGION
AND POLITICS IN JUDAISM
Charles Kimball, ch. 2
GOD GAVE US THIS LAND
Cave of the Patriarchs or
Ibrahimi Mosque !"#$‫*&م ا('&ا‬+‫ا‬‎
The traditional
burial site for
Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac and
Rebecca, and Jacob
and Leah, the Cave
of the Patriarchs is
hallowed ground
for Jews,
Christians, and
Muslims.
Hebron, al-Khalil
History of the Holy Site
Baruch Goldstein
On February 25, 1994, this sacred
space became the venue for mass
murder. As hundreds of
Palestinian Muslim men and boys
were gathering for morning
prayer at the mosque, Baruch
Goldstein, an American medical
doctor living in the nearby Jewish
settlement of Kiryat Arba,
entered the mosque disguised as
an Israeli soldier. He opened fire
with an automatic weapon, killing
29 and wounding many more
before being subdued and then
killed by those he sought to
murder.
The vast majority of Jews in Israel and worldwide reacted in horror to
Goldstein’s deranged actions, but to some extremist Jewish settlers
and activists he was a hero.
His grave became a pilgrimage site, complete with streetlights, a
sidewalk and paved area for people to gather, and a cupboard with
prayer books and candles. The marble plaque on his grave reads, “To
the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah
and the nation of Israel.”
An estimated 10,000 people had visited his grave in six years.
Baruch Goldstein, a devoted follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane, moved
from the United States to join others in this highly controversial
settlement. Both men openly advocated forcing the Palestinians out of
the lands Israel conquered in the 1967 war.
The settlers from Kiryat Arba believe that God gave this land to the
Jewish descendants of Abraham. Contemporary proponents of this view
often overlook the fact that even when the ancient Israelites ruled
over the land, other inhabitants lived there as well.
The Promised Land
To Abraham (Genesis, 15:18-21)
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To
your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the
great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites,
Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites,
Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
To Isaac and his son Jacob (Genesis 28:13)
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the
God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you
and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
To Moses (Deuteronomy 1:8)
8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the
land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”
Different maps of the Promised Land?
Promised to Moses
(Exodus 23:31)
31 “I will establish your
borders from the Red
Sea[a] to the
Mediterranean Sea,[b]
and from the desert to
the Euphrates River. I
will give into your hands
the people who live in
the land, and you will
drive them out before
you.”
Promise to Moses (Numbers 34:1-12)
34 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites
and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land
that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have
these boundaries: 3 “‘Your southern side will include
some of the Desert of Zin along the border of
Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east
from the southern end of the Dead Sea, 4 cross
south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go
south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar
Addar and over to Azmon, 5 where it will turn, join
the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean
Sea. 6 “‘Your western boundary will be the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea. This will be your boundary
on the west. 7 “‘For your northern boundary, run a
line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor
8 and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the
boundary will go to Zedad, 9 continue to Ziphron
and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary
on the north. 10 “‘For your eastern boundary, run a
line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11 The boundary
will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east
side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the
Sea of Galilee.[a] 12 Then the boundary will go down
along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. “‘This
will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’”
Promise to Abraham (Genesis, 15:18-21)
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your
descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the great river, the
Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Promise to Abraham (Genesis, 15:18-21)
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your
descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the great river, the
Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Abraham - the Patriarch and Prophet of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
According to the Bible (Genesis
11-25), Abraham was a descendent
of prophet Noah through his son
Sham. So, he lived in Mesopotamia
in roughly 2,000 BCE.
Abraham moves from
Mesopotamia with his wife Sarah
to “the Promised land.”
Due to famine, Abraham & Sarah
move from “the Promised Land”
to Egypt.
Eventually, they return to the
promised Land, but have no
children
Ishmael - the Father of the Arabs
Acc. to Genesis, Sarah could not have
children due to her old age, so she devises a
plan whereby Abraham will produce a heir
through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.
The son was born and named Ishmael. Hagar
becomes proud of her motherhood and Sarah
becomes jealous of her. At one point, she
insists with Abraham to send Hagar and the
boy to the desert.
In spite of Abraham’s distress, he does so, for
God tells him to do so.
The boy becomes the birth father of the
Arabs and spiritual father of all Muslims.
Acc. to Islam, Ishmael, the first-born son is
the one whom Abraham offers to God as a
sacrifice to prove his faith in Him.
Isaac - the Father of the Israelites
Some 15 years later, Sarah miraculously
conceives and gives birth to her son Isaac who
becomes the father of all Israelites.
According to Jewish and Christian beliefs, it
was Isaac whom Abraham wanted to sacrifice
to God to prove his submission. Isaac is the
birth father of Jews and spiritual father of
Christians, too
Though in Genesis 15:18-21, the Holy Land
was promised to “the descendants” of
Abraham, which would include the Arabs, too.
It is clear from other quoted sources (Genesis
28:13, Deuteronomy 1:8, Exodus 23:31,
Numbers 34:1-12) that the land was meant to
the descendants of Isaac and Jacobs only, i.e.,
the grandchildren of Sarah, not Hagar.
Muslims & the Biblical Prophets
A vast majority of Biblical prophets are mentioned in the
Qur’an as the prophets of Islam. Therefore, Muslims are
obliged by their faith to respect them as their spiritual
fathers. For the Arabs, Isaac, Jacob, even David and
Solomon are their uncles and it is very common among
the Arabs and Muslims in general to find men with the
names like Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Dawd (David),
Suleyman (Solomon), even Isa (Jesus) and female names
like Meryam (Mary), Sarah (Sarah), etc.
The Generation of Patriarchs and
Matriarchs
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and his son Jacob, continue living in
the Promised Land.
Jacob has 12 sons - the forefathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.
10 brothers conspire to get rid of Joseph (Arab. Yusuf), Jacob’s most
beloved son. But, Joseph survives and becomes a prominent figure in
pharaonic Egypt.
Famine (punishment) strikes again the Promised Land, and the brothers
move to Egypt where they face Joseph whom they left for dead.
Several centuries of slavery begins for the Israelites.
God calls on Moses to lead the children of Israel back to the Promised
Land (Exodus).
Moses, however, does not live to enter the Promised Land, but his
successor Joshua completes the Divine plan.
Joshua and the Canaanites
Genocide or God’s Judgment
Joshua was one of Moses’s assistants and one of 12 spies sent to Canaan before
the Israelites attacked the country.
Atheists, like Austine Cline, describe Joshua’s attack as “a genocidal
campaign against the unsuspecting inhabitants of Canaan. The Canaanites
never attacked the Israelites, never enslaved the Israelites, and aren't described
as ever having done anything to warrant mistreatment of any sort. Their only
crime was living in the wrong place at the wrong time — land promised to the
Israelites by God at the time when God decided to make good on that promise.”
Already in Exodus, Yahweh promises that the Canaanites would "melt away" and
that he would drive away the Canaanites when the Israelites arrive. By
Deuteronomy, Yahweh says:
2 and
when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you
sha$ utterly destroy them. You sha$ make no covenant with them and show no favor to
them. 3 Furthermore, you sha$ not intermarry with them; you sha$ not give your
daughters to their sons, nor sha$ you take their daughters for your sons.
(Deuteronomy 7:2-3)
Joshua and the Canaanites
Atheist view: A Biblical Enticement to Genocide
Before attacking the Canaanites, the Israelites, during Moses’s life,
first attack the Midianites:
And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses;
and they slew a$ the males. ...And the children of Israel took a$ the women
of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of a$ their cattle,
and a$ their flocks, and a$ their goods. ...
And Moses said unto them...Now therefore ki$ every male among the
little ones, and ki$ every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
But a$ the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him,
keep alive for yourselves. (Numbers 31:7-18)
Hence, the young virgin girls weren’t slaughtered like the rest of
their people, but they were essentially taken as sex slaves to be used
to satiate the lusts of the soldiers who slaughtered their fathers,
mothers, brothers, and older sisters.
Joshua and the Canaanites
Atheist view: A Biblical Enticement to Genocide
The Book of Joshua describes the conquests in the following way:
And a$ the cities of those kings, and a$ the kings of them, did Joshua take,
and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as
Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. ...every man they smote with
the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither le' they any to
breathe. As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command
Joshua, and so did Joshua; he le' nothing undone of a$ that the Lord
commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:12-15)
Raphael Lemkin argues in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe that one of
the distinguishing features of genocide is not simply mass killing,
which happens frequently in war, but the goal-oriented mass killing
that is designed to destroy or culture or society with the purpose of
replacing it entirely. This is definitely what we see happening in
Joshua: the Israelites kill all the people in order to destroy their
culture then move in to take over their fields, vineyards, cities, and
lands.
Joshua and the Canaanites
Atheist view: A Biblical Enticement to Genocide
Why did the Israelites obey the command to commit a genocide?
Cline believes they did so out of fear. Given their experience of what
Yahweh did to their enemies, they didn’t want to become Yahweh's
enemies, too. Yahweh certainly made threats about what would
happen if the Israelites didn't do as they were told:
But if ye wi$ not drive out the inhabitants of the land (om before you; then it
sha$ come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them sha$ be pricks in your
eyes, and thorns in your sides, and sha$ vex you in the land wherein ye dwe$.
Moreover it sha$ come to pass, that I sha$ do unto you, as I thought to do unto
them. (Numbers 33:55-56)
This is of course not the only threat issued to the Israelites, but it is
the one which most closely associates Yahweh's actions against the
Canaanites with possible action against them: if they don't follow
orders to commit genocide, Yahweh might decide to cause genocide
against them instead.
Joshua and the Canaanites
Atheist view: A Biblical Enticement to Genocide
Committing genocide against the indigenous people of Canaan
was made easier by the fact that they were willing to fight for their
ancestral homes. It's easier to slaughter people who are trying to
kill you, even if you're the one who started the fight. Had the
Canaanites tried to welcome the newcomers and pursue peaceful
treaties, genocide might have been harder. Even the most fanatical
religious zealot has a harder time slaughtering unarmed, peaceful
people. Apparently Yahweh thought of this and took steps to
ensure that nothing like this would interfere with his plans:
There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the
Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: a$ other they took in battle. For it was
of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in
battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no
favor, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.
(Joshua 11:19-20)
Joshua and the Canaanites
Atheist view: A Biblical Enticement to Genocide
So Yahweh "hardened" the hearts of the Canaanites to guarantee
that they would "come against Israel in battle." Had he not done
that, some of the Canaanites might have chosen a more peaceful
solution and the Israelites might have been tempted to befriend
them. Instead, they slaughtered everyone.
Where else have we seen this? Not long before, Yahweh did the
same thing with the pharaoh in Egypt: every time the pharaoh was
about to let the Israelites god, Yahweh hardened his heart to ensure
that he would say "no" and keep them a while longer as slaves. This
guaranteed that Yahweh would get to kill all the firstborn sons of all
the Egyptians as a show of psychopathic power.
This is, thus, a persistent pattern for Yahweh: order one group of
humans to harm a second group of humans, then take away the free
will of the second group and force them to act in a way that ensures
conflict can occur.
Joshua and the Canaanites
Apologists’ view: God’s Judgment
Religious apologists, like William Lane Craig, describe Joshua’s attack on the
Canaanites as “God’s judgment.”
Thus, Craig claims:
“By the time of their destruction, Canaanite culture was, in fact, debauched and
cruel, embracing such practices as ritual prostitution and even child sacrifice. The Canaanites are to be destroyed “that they may not teach you to do according to a$
their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the
Lord your God” (Deut. 20.18). God had morally sufficient reasons for His
judgement upon Canaan, and Israel was merely the instrument of His justice,
just as centuries later God would use the pagan nations of Assyria and Babylon
to judge Israel.
But why take the lives of innocent children? Craig answers that question by stating, “The terrible totality of the destruction
was undoubtedly related to the prohibition of assimilation to pagan nations on
Israel’s part.... Clear lines of distinction are being drawn: this and not that.
These serve as daily, tangible reminders that Israel is a special people set apart
for God Himself.” Read more.
Joshua and the Canaanites
An Islamic View
Although Joshua is not mentioned in the Qur’an by name and is not considered
a prophet of Islam by a vast majority of Islamic scholars, he is mentioned in
other Islamic literature.
The Qur’an refers to him and Caleb only indirectly in the verses 5:22-23 (alMa’ida) by calling them two "God-fearing men" on whom God "had bestowed
His grace."
Muslim literature also preserves traditions of Joshua not found in the Hebrew
Bible. Joshua is credited with being present at Moses's death and literature
records that Moses's garments were with Joshua at the time of his departure. A
hadith was narrated from Abu Hurairah that Muhammad said: "Surely, the sun
has never been stopped from setting down for a human being except for
Joshua..."
The later idea is also mentioned in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua 10:12-14. In
the verses, God stops the Sun to help the Israelites in their struggle against their
enemies.
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Prophets, Patriarchs, & Judges
Jewish history began about 4,000 years ago (c. 17th century BCE) with the
patriarchs - Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob. Documents
unearthed in Mesopotamia, dating back to 2000-1500 BCE, corroborate
aspects of their nomadic way of life as described in the Bible. The Book of
Genesis relates how Abraham was summoned from Ur of the Chaldeans to
Canaan to bring about the formation of a people with belief in the One God.
When a famine spread through Canaan, Jacob (Israel), his sons, and their
families settled in Egypt, where their descendants were reduced to slavery
and pressed into forced labor.
After 400 years of bondage, the Israelites were led to freedom by Moses
who, according to the biblical narrative, was chosen by God to take his
people out of Egypt and back to the Land of Israel promised to their
forefathers (c.13th-12th centuries BCE). They wandered for 40 years in
the Sinai desert, where they were forged into a nation and received the Torah
(Pentateuch), which included the Ten Commandments, and gave form and
content to their monotheistic faith.
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Monarchs
During the next two centuries (12-10th century BCE), the Israelites conquered
most of the Land of Israel and became farmers and craftsmen; a degree of economic
and social consolidation followed. Periods of relative peace alternated with times of
war, during which the people rallied behind leaders known as judges, chosen for their
political and military skills as well as for their leadership qualities.
The Jewish elders requested from Prophet Samuel to name a ruler who would unite
the Israelite tribes and govern them (I Sam 8:5). Samuel anoints Saul (1079-1007
BCE) as the first king of Israel.
When Saul refuses God’s order to completely destroy the kingdom of Amalikites
(including infants and animals), he loses God’s favor and is soon replaced by David
as the King of Israel and Judea (reign: 1010-970 BCE).
With David, the dynastic succession is established. His son Solomon (reign:
970-931 BCE) inherits the kingdom from him.
Under David and Solomon, Israel at its zenith. David establishes Jerusalem as its
capital and Solomon builds the First Temple as the permanent home of the Ark
of the Covenant.
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Monarchs
In David and Solomon, the political and religious power is united. Besides being
secular leaders, David is considered the author of many Psalms and Solomon of
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
After David and Solomon, for the next two centuries, the Israelite leaders (from
931 BCE - 722 BCE) become self-serving, oppressive, authoritarian, and disunited.
Immediately after Solomon’s death, the kingdom split into two - Israel in the
North and Judea in the South. Even warfare between them ensues.
The Prophets Amos (750 BCE), Jeremiah (605 BCE), and others, warn the
ancient Hebrews of impending doom if they keep on abandoning their
responsibilities towards God and people in need. Jeremiah announces the
destruction of Jerusalem.
In 722 BCE, Israel conquered by the Assyrians and the ancient Hebrews are
dispersed.
In 587 BCE, 135 years later, Judea is conquered by the Babylonians and a great
many ancient Hebrews are enslaved and sent to Babylon. Jerusalem and the First
Temple are destroyed.
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Exile & Return
The captivity in Babylon was relatively short-lived. Some 50 years after
Babylonian conquest, Persian forces led by Cyrus II conquered
Babylon as well as Jerusalem.
Cyrus II issued an edict allowing Jews in Babylon to return home and
encouraged the rebuilding of the Temple. The large majority, however,
decided to stay in Babylon.
This Babylonian (later Baghdadi) Jewish community will become the
primary intellectual center for new forms of Judaism.
The Jewish community survived over centuries in the area until the
mid 20th century when a massive exile of the local Jews (125,000 out of
150,000) from Iraq to the newly established state of Israel ensued.
By WWI, Jews made about 40% of Baghdad’s population (80,000 out
of 202,000. See Nissim Rejwan, The Last Jews in Baghdad, intro & Ch 1)
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Occupation & Independence
Alexander the Great capture the Holy Land from the Persians and
rule it from 334-322 BCE. After Alexander, the country is controlled by
the Macedonian Ptolemy and the Seleucids.
The Maccabean Revolt (168-164 BCE) against the Greeks who
disrespect the Jewish faith and want to turn the Second Temple into
Zeus’s temple.
The Hasmonean Dynasty established (140-137 BCE) by Simon,
Judas’s brother. The Hasmoneans annex a large portion of Palestine and
even convert many Gentiles, some by force, living within their borders.
The Hasmoneans tyranny over the populace fueled “excesses, like those
of a succession of David’s heirs.” “The Divine punishment is arriving.”
The Romans conquer the area in 63 BCE.
Jewish History: Biblical Times
The Age of Herodian Rule
The Hasmonean dynasty replaced by the Herodian rule when Herod the
Great was installed as king in 37 BCE.
Jews under Roman rule for more than 130 years.
The Jewish kings at the time are Herod and Herod Antipas, however, the
ultimate power was in the hands of Rome.
The Jewish revolt against the Roman control ends in 70 CE with the Roman
destruction of the Second Temple and scattering of the Jews from the Roman
District of Palestine.
For almost two millennia following the destruction of the Second Temple,
the Jews lived as minority communities in the Diaspora. Synagogues and
rabbis replace the Temple, priests, and ritual sacrifices.
For the next 19 centuries, Jewish scholars interpret the Exile as a punishment
by God that needs to be accepted and endured until the return of Messiah.
(see the video by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the Neturei Karta)
Politics & Religion in Judaism
The interpretations of the Jewish holy scriptures, as it is the case with
the Christian and Islamic ones, are so wide that different schools of
theological thought hold completely opposite views on some key issues.
Thus, while the Orthodox Jewish rabbis of the Neturei Karta school
consider the state of Israel an artificial creation, an obstacle to peace,
and object its very existence, the majority of Orthodox Jewish rabbis
support it, especially since the 1967 war after which Jerusalem, West
Bank, Gaza, Sinai, and Golan Heights came under the Israeli control.
The theological conclusion was that the arrival of the awaited Messiah
could have been hastened even by the moves of earthly political leaders.
In this video an Orthodox rabbi advises the Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu to hasten the arrival of the Messiah.
In the classical Judaism, the Messiah was supposed to be the one who
would lead the Jews to the Promised Land and bring peace to the world.
The Rise of Modern Zionist Movement
The Origins of
the Israeli-Palestinian Dispute
Chapter 14 in James Gelvin’s “The Modern Middle East”
notes by Denis Bašić
Some statistics
Israel’s population is about 7.5 million, which is less than 10% of
the population of Turkey (80 mil), Iran (79 mil) or Egypt (84 mil).
There are approximately 4 million Palestinians in the occupied
areas (roughly the population of Chicago)
Estimates for total number of Palestinians in the world run as high
as 9 million.
Since 1948, wars between Israel and its neighbors have claimed
upward of 150,000 casualties.
As a comparison, during the Iraq-Iran war from 1980-88, there
were 500,000-1 million deaths and 1-2 million wounded.
See: Israel-Palestine: Population statistics
The essence of the dispute
The so-called Arab-Israeli dispute has gone
on for such a long time and has been a
subject to so much heated debate that it is
easy to lose sight of the fundamental issues
involved.
The dispute is, simply put, a real estate
dispute.
Zionism
ZIONISM is a national movement that defined a
religious community - Jews - as a national
community.
The word "Zionism" itself is derived from the
word "Zion" (Hebrew: ‫ציון‬, Tziyyon), one of the
names of Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Bible. It
was coined as a term for Jewish nationalism by
Austrian Jewish publisher Nathan Birnbaum in
his journal Self-Emancipation in 1890.
Theodor Herzl (1860-1904)
... is perhaps the most important figure
in the early history of Zionism.
Herzl received a secular education and
acquired doctorate in law.
As a journalist for a Viennese paper, he
went to Paris to work there as a
correspondent and to report on the
Dreyfus Affair, which captured attention
of Europeans in 1894.
Dreyfus Affair
was a political scandal which divided France during the
1890s and early 1900s. It involved the wrongful conviction
of Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus for treason, i.e.
passing some secrets to Germany.
Dreyfus was put on trial in 1894 and was accused of
espionage, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on
Devil's Island. In September of 1899, he was offered a
pardon from the president of France, which he declined.
It was not until 1906 that Dreyfus was exonerated of the
charges and readmitted into the army. He was also made a
knight in the Legion of Honor.
He served his nation with distinction beyond his natural
retirement age.
Herzl and Zionism
The Dreyfus Affair demonstrated to Herzl that if France could
play host to virulent anti-Jewish sentiments, Jews could not be
secure anywhere.
Though initially an anti-Zionist, after the Dreyfus Affair, Herzel
himself started advocating that Jews needed a homeland of their
own in which they would form a majority of citizens.
He imagined this “Jewish home” (not yet state) in Argentina or in
the western United States.
Other Zionists were not so ambivalent and wanted the Jewish
national home to be built in Palestine, the place remembered in
Jewish holy texts and rituals.
World Zionist Organization
In 1897, Herzl organized the first Zionist Congress in Basel,
Switzerland.
The Zionist Congress created the World Zionist Organization
(WZO), which continues to speak for the World Zionist Movement.
Herzl became the first president of the WZO.
The Congress also issued the Basel Program, which not only called
for the establishment of a “Jewish home” in Palestine, but specified
the tactic to achieve the goal.
The Basel Program stipulated that that goal should be achieved
through diplomacy.
Balfour Declaration 1917
While Herzl and other tried to achieve the support from a variety of
powers (including the Ottoman Empire), the Zionist movement
achieved its first real success in 1917 when the British issued the
Balfour declaration.
The Balfour declaration stated, in part,
“His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use
their best endeavors 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.”
The British government and the Balfour Declaration
Historians disagree as to why the British would give the promise
they gave in the Balfour Declaration (see Gelvin, ch.11, p. 188) :
1. Some assert that the British did so for strategic reasons. Because the
Jewish settlers in Palestine would be far outnumbered by the Muslim
Arabs, they would remain dependent on the British and be more than
willing to help the British preserve the security of the nearby Suez Canal.
2. Others attribute the Balfour Declaration to a British overestimation of
Jewish power in the U.S. and Russia. Britain wanted to maintain support
in the U.S. for the Entente side. It also wanted to keep Russia, which had
just experienced a revolution, in the war. Thinking that Jews had a great
deal of influence over the American president, Woodrow Wilson, and within
the Bolshevik movement, the British figured that they had nothing to lose.
As we know, the British underestimated the effects of the Balfour
Declaration. Their wartime promise had consequences far beyond those
they anticipated at the time.
Palestinian Arabs &
the Balfour Declaration
The Palestinian Arabs themselves had rejected the Balfour
Declaration outright. According to Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.
(author of A Concise History of the Middle East Westview Press,
1979), they made up over 90% of Palestine and refused to
accept that a homeland be created for another people on their
territory. Furthermore, they resented not being consulted by the
British about a Declaration that neglected the political rights of
the non-Jewish majority in Palestine.
Conflicting Promises
Besides promising Palestine to the Zionist in 1917 for the
establishment of their “national home,” in 1915 the British promised
the same and much larger area to their Arab allies - Sharif Hussein
bin Ali, the King of the Arabs and Hejaz (modern day Saudi Arabia)
and his two sons Faisal (future King of Iraq) and Abdullah I (future
King of Jordan) in exchange for their support in their struggle against
the Ottomans in WWI.
As a matter of fact, the British promised to the Arabs the whole area of
Sham (modern day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, West Bank, Gaza, Jordan),
as well as the whole Arabian peninsula. The Arab fighters entered
Jerusalem and Damascus together with the British and expected their
promised reward.
However, the Brits promised the same areas to their French allies, too,
in the famous Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Here lies the the seed for
all future conflicts in the region. (Here is a brief summary.)
Balfour Declaration & Aliyot
As a result of the Balfour Declaration, the British, as mandatories in
Palestine, allowed the immigration of Jews into the country.
However, Jewish immigrations to Palestine started before the Balfour
Declaration.
The first immigration “aliya” (pl. aliyot) started in the time of Baron
de Rotschild’s initiative in 1882 as he tried to create a settler
plantation colony in Palestine, similar to the French settler
plantation colonies in Algeria.
During the second and third “aliyot”, which took place during
1904-1914 and 1918-1923, 65,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine
from Europe.
Moshavot & Kibbutzim
Influenced by socialist and romantic back-to-the-land ideas that
were then popular in Germany, these new immigrants established
agricultural settlements including collective farms - moshavot
(sg. moshav) and communal farms - kibbutzim (sg. kibbutz).
the settlers also resurrected the Biblical language of Hebrew for
use as their national language.
the most important for the future of the region was, however, the
new adopted labor policy, which is condensed in two slogans
“conquest of land” and “conquest of labor”.
the socialist nature of the Israeli society helped Israel gain
recognition from Stalin and the USSR in 1948
Conquest of land
The slogan “Conquest of land” refers to
the need the Zionists felt to make their
imprint on the land of Palestine by “taming
the wilderness” though settlement activity.
Conquest of labor
The slogan “Conquest of labor” refers to the need the
Zionist felt to remake the Jewish people by having Jews fill
all jobs in the economy.
While in Europe, these Jews were allowed to participate
only in certain urban occupations (trade, medicine,
pharmacy, clerkship, academics, etc.)
They believed that only by conquering the entire economy,
Jews could become a true nation.
Conquest of labor cont’d.
Although the idea of the “conquest of labor” initially had
its utopian, socialist and romanticist roots, there were
practical reasons for Jewish settlers to shun Arab labor.
The Zionist slogan “a land without a people for a people
without land” did not make much sense, for Arabs were
there and they were willing to work on land for much lower
wages than the new Jewish settlers.
The expansion of the labor force to include low-wage
workers would drive wages down and discourage the
immigration of new settlers.
Well, Zionists felt that the success of their
project depended on severing the economic
links connecting the two communities.
Thus, after the Zionists bought land, often
from absentee Ottoman landlords, they
frequently displaced Palestinian farmers
whose services were not longer required.
Escalation of tensions
The escalation of tensions between the Palestinian and Jewish
community happened during the late 1920’s and 1930’s.
The escalation was due to the dramatically intensified Jewish
immigration to Palestine during the rise of Nazism and Fascism
in Europe.
From 1931-1935 the Jewish population of Palestine rose from
175,000 to 400,000.
In other words it grew from 17% to 31% of the total population.
By 1931, Zionist land purchases had led to the ejection of
approximately 20,000 Palestinian families from their land.
Close to 30% Palestinian farmers were landless.
Another 75-80% did not have enough land for subsistence.
Great Revolt - 1936
In 1936 Palestine exploded in violence.
This revolt Palestinians call the Great Revolt and it is the most
traumatic event in modern Palestinian history after the 1948
war.
To put down the revolt, the British launched a brutal
counterinsurgency campaign employing tactics all too familiar
to Palestinians today collective punishment of villages,
“targeted killings” (assassinations),
mass arrests, deportations, and
the dynamiting of homes of suspected guerrillas and the
sympathizers.
The revolt and the British reaction to it ravaged the natural
leadership of the Palestinian community and opened up
new cleavages in that community.
Many wealthy Palestinians fled having faced the
extortionate demands of rival Palestinian gangs.
Many wealthy Palestinians were imprisoned by the British
or forced to exile.
The Palestinian society never recovered.
The roots of what Palestinians called the nakba (calamity)
of 1948 can be found in the Great Revolt.
The White Paper
In the wake of the Great Revolt, in 1937, the British
proposed dividing Palestine into two separate territories,
one Zionist, one Palestinian.
In 1939, they backed away from partition and issued a
dubious document called the White Paper, which was not
satisfactory to either side.
The White Paper of 1939 advocated putting restrictions on
(but not ending) Jewish immigration, closer supervision of
(but not ending) land sales, and independence within 10
years.
Both community rejected the document.
The bombing of the King David Hotel was
as shocking to contemporaries in 1946 as the
destruction of the World Trade Center in
2001. British prime minister Clement Attlee
declared in the House of Commons, “On July
22nd, [1946], one of the most dastardly and
cowardly crimes in recorded history took
place.” The Jewish Agency, the body
officially recognized by the British as
representing Palestine’s 450,000 Jews,
expressed its “feelings of horror at the base
and unparalleled act perpetrated today by a
gang of criminals.”
The “gang of criminals” responsible for bombing the King David Hotel was a Jewish
underground group known as “The National Military Organization” or, in Hebrew,
Irgun Zwei Leumi. Its leader was a thirty-three-year-old Polish Jew called Menachem
Begin [future prime minister of Israel], for whose capture the British had posted a
£2,000 reward, dead or alive. Just as Osama bin Laden is a hero for fundamentalists
Islamists today, Begin was seen by many Jews in Palestine and in the Jewish Diaspora
as a fearless freedom fighter combating an alien tyranny. (from Baker, James, “The
Bombing of the King David Hotel,” in History Today, Vol. 56, # 7, 2006)
In the aftermath of WWII
By 1947, at the time when India was about to
achieve independence and the cold war was in its
initial stages, the British had stationed more
soldiers in Palestine than many thought prudent.
Their soldiers and diplomats targeted by the Zionist
splinter groups, their economy in shambles, the
British decided to forward the Palestinian issue to
the hands of newly established United Nations.
The General Assembly of the UN voted to terminate
the British mandate and partition Palestine
between Zionist and Palestinian communities.
First Palestine War 1947-49
In the wake of the UN vote to partition Palestine, a civil
war broke out between the two communities.
The civil war was followed by the intervention of
surrounding Arab nations on behalf of the Palestinians.
The First Palestine war became to be called the War of
Independence by Israelis and Nakba (Calamity) by
Palestinians.
The First Palestine War
Consequences for Israelis
As a result of the war, the state of Israel was created and
its borders corresponded to the ceasefire lines.
Israel quickly received international recognition.
No peace treaty was signed between Israel and its
neighbors only armistice agreements.
No Arab state recognized Israel until Egypt did in 1979.
The First Palestine War
Consequences for Palestinians
About 720,000 Palestinians became refugees.
Modern scholars agree that this refugee population
emerged as a result of:
escape from war zones,
expulsions (particularly in the North), and
frightening them with terror.
In the case of the village of Dayr Yassin alone, upward of
240 men, women, and children were butchered and stuffed
in the village well.
Acts like this were hardly kept secret, for, as Lenin said, the
purpose of terrorism is to terrorize.
Most Palestinian refugees ended up in the West Bank (of
the Jordan river, which was occupied by Jordan until
1967), the Gaza strip (which was occupied by Egypt until
the same year), and neighboring Arab countries.
Those Arabs who remained in Israel were subject to
martial law until 1966.
After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation of West Bank
and Gaza, many Palestinian refugees from the 1947-49
war had to leave once again and resettle.