THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 285, October 31, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
EARLY ZIONISTS & ARABS
By Dr. Judea Pearl
HISTORY OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT: JEWS & ARABS IN THE MIDDLE EAST PRIOR TO 1948 -- EARLY ZIONIST
ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ARAB POPULATION OF PALESTINE -- DAVID BEN-GURION ON THE ORIGIN OF THE FALAHIN --
BEN-GURION ON PALESTINIAN ARAB RIGHTS -- CHAIM WEIZMANN ON THE NATIONAL RIGHTS OF PALESTINIANS --
BEN-GURION ON PALESTINIAN SELF-DETERMINATION -- ZE'EV JABOTINSKY ON JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO PALESTINE & ON
PALESTINIAN ARAB FEARS OF A MASSIVE IMMIGRATION
FULL STORY:
Many Arab officials and Israeli "New Historians" describe early Zionist attitudes toward the Arab population of Palestine
as dismissive or arrogant. Books and pamphlets from the time tell a different story.
BEN-GURION: OUR ARAB BRETHREN
During World War I, Israel's future first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, spent three years in New York, exiled from
Palestine "for conspiring against Ottoman rule." He devoted most of his time to organizing the He-Halutz youth movement
with Yitzhak Ben Zvi, but he also published, a few months before issuance of the Balfour Declaration, an interesting
treatise: On the Origin of the Falahin. [1] In this work, Ben-Gurion, the scholar and historian, argued that the
Falahin, the Arab peasants in Palestine at the time, were descendants of Jews who remained in Palestine after the Roman
expulsion and who later converted to Islam:
The logical, self-evident conclusion of all the above is as follows: The agricultural community that the Arabs found in
Eretz Israel in the Seventh. Century was none other than the Hebrew farmers that remained on their land, despite all the
persecution and oppression of the Roman and Byzantine emperors. Some of them accepted Christianity, at least on the
surface, but many held on to their ancestral faith and occasionally revolted against their Christian oppressors. After the
Arab conquest, the Arabic language and Muslim religion spread gradually among the countrymen. In his essay "Ancient
Names in Palestine and Syria in Our Times," Dr. George Kampmeyer proves, based on historico-linguistic analysis, that,
for a certain period of time, both Aramaic and Arabic were in use and only slowly did the former give way to the latter.
The greater majority and main structures of the Muslim Falahin in western Eretz Israel present to us one racial strand and a
whole ethnic unit, and there is no doubt that much Jewish blood flows in their veins the blood of those Jewish farmers,
"lay persons," who chose in the travesty of times to abandon their faith in order to remain on their land.
Ben-Gurion's theory may not withstand modern DNA analysis, but his essay reveals a genuine attempt to establish an
ancestral kinship with the Arab population and to bridge cultural and religious divides.
BEN-GURION: PALESTINIAN ARAB RIGHTS
In 1918, Israel Zangwill, an on-again, off-again member of the Zionist movement and author of the influential novel
Children of the Ghetto, [2] wrote an article suggesting that the Arabs should be persuaded to "trek" from
Palestine. [3] Ben-Gurion was quick to distance the Zionist movement from any such notion. In an article published that
year in the Yiddish-language newspaper Yiddishe Kemper, Ben-Gurion ridiculed Zangwill:
"Eretz Israel is not an empty country. . . . West of Jordan
alone houses three quarter of a million people. On no
account must we injure the rights of the inhabitants.
Only 'Ghetto Dreamers' like Zangwill can imagine that
Eretz Israel will be given to the Jews with the added right
of dispossessing the current inhabitants of the country.
This is not the mission of Zionism. Had Zionism to
aspire to inherit the place of these inhabitants it
would be nothing but a dangerous utopia and an empty,
damaging and reactionary dream. . . . Not to take from
others but to build the ruins. [We claim] no rights on
our past but on our future. Not the preservation of
historic inheritance but the creation of new national
assets this is the core claim and right of the Hebrew
nation in its country." [4]
WEIZMANN: ARAB GLORY & ARAB RIGHTS
In 1918, the British government sent Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), the future first President of Israel and a key player
behind the Balfour Declaration, to Palestine to advise on the future development of the country. There, he met with Arab
and Armenian representatives and delivered the following speech in the house of the High Commissioner in Jerusalem:
"With heartfelt admiration and great interest, we are
viewing today the current war of liberation conducted
by the ancient Arabic nation. We see how the scattered
Arab forces are being united under the good will of
Western governments and other peace-loving nations,
and how, from the mist of war there emerge new and
immense political possibilities. We see again the
formation of a strong and united Arab political body,
freshly renovated and aiming to renovate the great
tradition of Arab science and literature that are so close
to our heart. This kinship found its glorious expression
particularly in the Spanish period of the Hebrew-Arabic
development when our greatest authors wrote and
thought in the Arabic language, as well as in Hebrew." [5]
Perhaps anticipating future criticism that Zionism, while promising Palestinians human and civil rights, denied them national
rights, Weizmann wrote in the newspaper Ha'aretz:
"If indeed there is among the Arabs a national movement,
we must relate to it with the utmost seriousness. . . . The
Arabs are concerned about two issues: 1. The Jews will
soon come in their millions and conquer the country and
chase out the Arabs. . . . Responsible Zionists never said
and never wished such things. 2. There is no place in Eretz
Israel for a large number of inhabitants. This is total
ignorance. It is enough to notice what is happening now
in Tunis, Tangier, and California to realize that there is a
vast space here for a great work of many Jews, without
touching even one Arab." [6]
BEN-GURION: PALESTINIAN SELF-DETERMINATION
In November 1930, about a year after the Arab riots that led to the Hebron massacre, Ben-Gurion addressed the First
Congress of Hebrew Workers and delivered a lecture entitled "The Foreign Policy of the Hebrew Nation." In this lecture,
later published in Ben-Gurion's first book, We and Our Neighbors, [7] he not only acknowledged the national
aspirations of the Palestinian Arabs, but also recognized Arab self-determination as an inalienable right, regardless of its
impact on the Zionist plan.
"There is in the world a principle called 'the right for
self-determination.' We have always and everywhere been
its worshipers and champions. We have defended that
right for every nation, every part of a nation, and every
collective of people. There is no doubt whatsoever that the
Arab people in Eretz Israel have this right. And this right is
not limited by or conditional upon the result of its influence
on us and our interests. We ought not to diminish the
Arabs' freedom for self-determination for fear that it would
present difficulties to our own mission. The entire moral
core encapsulated in the Zionist idea is the notion that a
nation every nation is its own purpose and not a
tool for the purposes of other nations. And, in the same
way that we want the Jewish people to be master of its
own affairs, capable of determining its historical destiny
without being dependent on the will even good will
of other nations, so, too, we must seek for the Arabs. . . ."
"The characteristic feature of a political movement is its
ability to rally the masses behind it. In this sense, there
is no doubt that we are witnessing a political movement.
And we should not dismiss it, our way should not be
through the [British] government. . . ."
"We should not attempt to turn the Arabs into Zionists.
I do not see why an Arab need be a Zionist. But we must
explain to him what Zionism is, what it aspires to achieve,
on what it rests, what its power and promises are and
what its attitude is toward the Arabs in this land and the
Arab nation in our neighborhood. It is imperative that the
Arab knows that we have not come here to dispossess
him, to subjugate him, or to worsen his condition. The
Arab must know that Zionism is not an accidental,
temporary phenomenon, but a historical imperative, that
it relies on the needs and strength of the entire Jewish
nation, and that it is impossible to dismiss or silence it. . . ."
"In much the same way that we need to educate the Arab
public to understand our interest, so also we need to
educate our public to understand the Arabs and work
toward decent neighborly relations ... mutual recognition
is prerequisite to mutual understanding."
The total Arab rejection of his overtures, followed by the bloody riots of 1936-1939, eroded Ben-Gurion's confidence in
achieving Arab understanding through education and cooperation. It remains an interesting exercise, though, to imagine
what the Middle East would be like today had Arab leadership reciprocated with some recognition, however mild, of the
Jewish right to self-determination.
JABOTINSKY BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST
Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Ben-Gurion's rival, garnered a reputation as an advocate of an "iron wall" approach toward the Arabs.
Yet, even he expressed respect for Arab nationalism and explained Arab fears of reciprocating Ben-Gurion's offer. Not
only does Jabotinsky's article "The Arabs of Eretz Israel" [8] dispel the myth of Zionist denial and naοvetι, but it also
disproves the popular notion that Arabs feared dispossession by Jewish immigrants:
"There is no point talking about the possibility that the
Arabs in Eretz Israel would consent to the Zionist plan
while we are a minority here. I express it with such
confidence not because I enjoy disappointing decent
people but, simply, to save them disappointments: All
these decent people, except those blind from birth, have
understood already that this is something that is utterly
illogical to obtain the Arabs' consent and goodwill to
turn Eretz Israel from an Arabic country to a country
with a Jewish majority.
"Every indigenous people, regardless of whether it is
primitive or advanced, views its country as a national
home and aspires to be and remain its sole and eternal
landlord; it does not voluntarily agree to accommodate,
not only new landlords, but even new partners or new
participants. And our most misleading argument would
be if we rely on the fact that our agricultural settlements
bring them economical advantages; though this is an
undisputed truth, there is no nation in the world that
sold its national aspirations for bread and butter." [9]
"Many of us still think in full honesty that a terrible
misunderstanding has occurred, that the Arabs did not
understand us, and that this is the reason why they
oppose us; but, if only we could explain to them how
benevolent our intentions, they would stretch their
hands back to us. This is a mistake that has been
proven so again and again. I will bring up one such
incident. Several years ago, when the late Nahum
Sokolov visited Eretz Israel, and he was one of the
most moderate and diplomatic Zionists at that time, he
delivered an elaborate speech on this misunderstanding.
He explained clearly how mistaken Arabs are in thinking
that we wish to steal their property or dispossess them
or oppress them. 'We do not even want to have a Jewish
government; we want merely a government representing
the League of Nations.' Sokolov's speech received an
immediate response in the main editorial of the Arab
newspaper Carmel, the content of which I convey
here from memory:"
"'The Zionists, so wrote the Arab editor, are tormenting
their nerves unnecessarily. There is no misunderstanding
here whatsoever. The Arabs never doubted that the
potential absorption capacity of Eretz Israel is enormous
and, therefore, that it is possible to settle here enough
Jews without dispossessing or constraining even a single
Arab. It is obvious that this is all the Zionists want. But it
is also obvious that this is precisely what the Arabs do
not want; for, then, the Jews will turn into a majority and,
from the nature of things, a Jewish government will be
established and the fate of the Arab minority will depend
on Jewish good will; Jews know perfectly well what
minority existence is like. There is no misunderstanding
here whatsoever.'"
The Arab editor's argument is rather compelling, but Jabotinsky confronts it with a moral dilemma that is no less compelling:
"Whoever thinks that our arguments [for Jewish
immigration] are immoral, I would beg him to address the
following question: If this [Jewish immigration] is immoral,
what should the Jewish people do. . . ?"
"Our planet is no longer blessed with uninhabited islands.
Take any oasis in any desert, it is already taken by the
native who inhabits that place from time immemorial and
rejects the coming of new settlers that will become a
majority, or just come in great numbers. In short, if there is
a homeless nation in the world, its very yearning for a
homeland is immoral. The homeless must forever remain
homeless; all the land in the universe has already been
divided that's it. These are the conclusions of 'morality.'"
"This sort of morality has a place among cannibals, not in
the civilized world. The land belongs not to those who have
too much land, but to those who have none. If we
appropriate one parcel of land from the owners of
mega-estates and give it to an exiled nation it is a just
deed."
New Historians often cite anecdotal and secondhand evidence or diary entries lacking in context that depict an exaggerated,
hostile attitude of early Zionist leaders toward the Arabs. In contrast, the quotations cited above were articulated in
prominent and open public forums and published widely for Hebrew readers in Palestine and the Diaspora. It is these
quotations, therefore, that are true representations of the dominant attitude of the Yishuv, the pre-1948 Jewish community in
Palestine. They were annunciated broadly, with the aim of shaping public opinion, educational norms and cultural molds,
which no doubt contributed to the culture of accommodation that governs the Israeli mindset today.
NOTES:
[1] "Leverur Motsa Ha'Falahim," Luach Achiezer, New York, 1917, pp. 118-27, reprinted in Anachnu U'Shcheneinu (Tel Aviv: Davar. 1931), pp. 13-25.
[2] Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1892.
[3] Diana Muir, "A Land without a People for a People without a Land," Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2008, pp. 55-62.
[4] "Zechuyot Ha'Yehudim Ve'Zulatam B'Eretz Yisrael," reprinted in Anachnu U'Shcheneinu, p. 31. For more on Zangwill, see Muir, "A Land without a People."
[5] Chaim Weizmann, Devarim, vol. 1 (Tel Aviv: Mizpah Publishers, 1936), p. 99.
[6] Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv), Dec. 15, 1919, as reprinted in Devarim, vol. 1, p. 129.
[7] Anachnu U'Shcheneinu, p. 257.
[8] "Arviyey Eretz Yisrael," in Medina Ivrit (Tel Aviv: T. Kopp, 1937).
[9] Ibid., pp. 73-4.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Judea Pearl, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York, N.Y., 1965), is Professor of
Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and President of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, named after
his son. With his wife, Ruth, Dr. Pearl co-edited, I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel
Pearl (Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Light, 2004), winner of the National Jewish Book Award.
The foregoing article by Dr. Pearl was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Fall, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-ΰ-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2001)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
October 31, 2008
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