Role in the colonialism dossier
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Image and Reality - Norman Finkelstein
Berl Katznelson, known as the ‘conscience’ of the Labor Zionist movement, had maintained that ‘there has never been a colonizing enterprise as typified by justice and honesty toward others as our work here in Eretz Israel.’
Image and Reality of the Israel - Norman Finkelstein, page 14 (file not included in this release)
The Jews have no aspirations to rule in Palestine – they are coming to colonize the wilderness and to develop regions that to date have gone unploughed. They bring tidings of progress and development to the land, for the benefit of all its inhabitants. The clash of interests between Jews and Arabs is not the product of a genuine contradiction of interests between two peoples. Rather, it is the result of agitation and incitement by the reactionary elements among the Arab people, who are motivated by the fear of the progress and change now being ushered in by the Zionist colonization. In addition, the ruling power, guided by imperialist motives, has acted to undermine relations between the two peoples in Palestine: In order to maintain power, it is pursuing a policy of ‘divide and rule’. (p. 117)42
Image and Reality of the Israel - Norman Finkelstein, page 170 (file not included in this release)
- For the enormous distance that Shapira has traveled in making these admissions, cf. Bernard Avishai’s supposedly critical account, The Tragedy of Zionism, New York 1985, pp. 147f, where the ‘anti-colonialist ethos’ of labor Zionism is acclaimed, and the ‘myth of Zionist colonialism’ is contemptuously dismissed as a ‘test of faith for the PLO’s radical factions’. To be sure, Jabotinsky freely referred to Zionism as a colonizing enterprise. Mainstream, labor Zionism’s preferred self-image was the morally more edifying and politically less incriminating one of the ‘pioneer’ (halutz).
Shapira maintains that, in Palestine, unlike colonial encounters elsewhere, ‘hatred of the “natives” among immigrants … did not surface except among certain fringe groups’ (p. 130; cf. pp. 305, 310).
Image and Reality of the Israel - Norman Finkelstein, page 178 (file not included in this release)
A correspondent from Palestine in 1886 wrote that his Zionist comrades did not ‘regard the fellahin as human beings; and for every small thing, they beat and punish them with whips’. Ahad Ha’am similarly observed in 1891 that ‘[t]hey behave hostilely and cruelly toward the Arabs, encroaching upon them unjustly, beating them disgracefully for no good reason, and then they do not hesitate to boast about their deeds’; and in 1903 that ‘the attitude of the colonists toward their land tenants and families is really very much like their attitude towards their animals’. Negative stereotypes of Arabs as ‘sly’, ‘underhanded’, ‘cruel’, ‘cunning’, ‘immoral’, ‘lazy’, etc. were pervasive. Arabs were typically described as ‘a people like a donkey’, echoing the Talmudic description of the Canaanite slaves. On disembarking at Haifa harbor, the eminent Hebrew writer Y.H. Brenner reflected ‘So … once again … there’s another sort of alien in the world that one must suffer from. … Even from that filthy, contaminated lot, you have to suffer.’ Shapira adds that, ‘for Brenner, the dirt and filth symbolized the characteristic feature of that society’ (pp. 43, 53–9, 69, 77, 377, note 14; emphasis in original)
Image and Reality of the Israel - Norman Finkelstein, page 179 (file not included in this release)
- The belief that the ‘natives’ only understand the ‘language of force’ is a mainstay of conquest ideologies. Thus, as ‘the beaten nigger groaned’ in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a clerk in the colonial outpost mused: ‘Serve him right. Transgression – punishment – bang! Pitiless, pitiless. That’s the only way. This will prevent all conflagration for the future.’ On this theme, cf. also Chap. 6 below.
Peters speculates (pp. 252–4) that, even as early as 1878–93, literally thousands of Arab immigrants and in-migrants may have been flocking to the Jewish settlements in Palestine because of their ‘economic attractions’. Further, to judge by the base figures in her demographic study (p. 255, Table G), the Zionist colonies attracted, not thousands, but nearly a half million Arab immigrants during these years. Yet, according to Walter Laqueur, the impoverished first aliya settlements established in 1881 and thereabouts did not even become ‘going concerns’ until the first decade of the twentieth century (A History of Zionism, New York 1976, p. 79). Neville Mandel, in his authoritative study of the period, writes that ‘only a limited number of Arab villagers and a few passing Bedouin could have directly felt the presence of the Jewish settlers during the years
Image and Reality of the Israel - Norman Finkelstein, page 303 (file not included in this release)
Ze'ev Jabotinsky
The political is the most important. That is the eternal heritage left us by Herzl. His lore says that in order to create a Jewish state, one must first gain the official sanction of the governmental power concerned. Only then can a colonization be a true colonization, a process that leads towards Jewish government. Without political guarantees this is simply impossible. What is possible without political guarantees is not ‘colonization’, but only something that looks nearly like colonization — but in miniature — and is called ‘colonial policy’. That is immediate concrete undertakings, which are never able to give you the majority in the country — but they strengthen your positions, they spread your idea and give it a con- crete form. In short, they assist you towards the main thing — the political struggle for the political ‘charter’.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 45 (file not included in this release)
agricultural colonization
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 60 (file not included in this release)
However, in a colonizing enterprise, it should not be permitted to reach open conflict. The contacts and mutual agreement must be based first and foremost on arbitration. …
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 108 (file not included in this release)
Every Jew desirous of settling in the country who cannot become a labourer should seek a livelihood as a merchant. The affluent will come with their enterprises. I had a dream of establishing a paper- mill in Palestine which I was unable to accomplish. But had I succeeded, within three months I would suddenly have found myself on the list of the class of exploiters, those blood-suckers, whose every action is nothing but a sin, every success an offence and every triumph contemptible. And this Yishuv — possessing the pathos of social reform I am taking advantage of, the unreformed situation — this would rob me of the joy of creativity and the desire to partici- pate in the colonizing enterprise. If Ihad within me the pride of the bourgeoisie, and had I come as an active bourgeois, and had my name been placed on the list of exploiters — I, who was born in Russia and was regarded as a second-class citizen there and who afterwards lived abroad with no homeland and once again a second- class citizen — would they again turn me into a second-class citizen here? I would climb up a high pole and shout in protest: I am a bourgeois, son of a bourgeois. By the grace of God I am a bourgeois!
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 116 (file not included in this release)
Much has been written about produce of the country. Everybody knows that buying the produce of Palestine is not just ‘one of the means’ but the main means for Diaspora Jewry to participate in developing the country. This method is far more efficient, healthy beyond comparison and, in perspective, the safest means to finance the colonization of this country. Diaspora Jewry will not be asked to give donations, but instead to purchase what the Yishuv produces. Everyone knows that the principle: ‘Produce of Yishuv for the Diaspora’ conceals within it the only true solution to that important question: how many Jews can the country absorb? The country’s absorption capacity is a direct result of the world’s ability to become a purchaser for the produce of those absorbed. Everybody knows this, and even so, till now nothing has been done to set up the inter- national framework to carry out in practice that ‘which we all know’ — to bring the produce of the country into every Jewish home in every corner of the Jewish Diaspora. The time has now come to begin making that effort.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 120 (file not included in this release)
We think fertility [of the land] is one of the essential but minor con- siderations; one need hardly speak of a country like England whose healthy structure all the world envies and which has a very small agricultural population in proportion to the rest of the population. It is a noticeable fact that progress in every country coincides with the diminution of the part which agriculture plays in the economy of the country; so we think the fate of Eretz-Israel, at least so far as the Jews are concerned (but I think the Arabs will also progress on those lines), will be the urbanization, the growing predominance of non-agricultural pursuits. Therefore, the degree of the fertility of the soil, though I certainly recognize the importance of it, is not decisive. What is decisive in our submission, especially for an industrial and commercial people as we are, is the quality of the colonizer. We say that the absorptive capacity of a country depends upon the man; we say more, even the kind of its produce depends not upon nature but upon the man.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 121 (file not included in this release)
To this the Zionist national ideal replies: the Labour movement has to build its reality upon those principles in which it believes, and the Zionist movement as a whole is obligated to assist it. It is also a well- established fact that the middle class, whose reality can only be built on individualism, has aims that are the exact opposite to those of the Labour movement. The Zionist national ideal offers them too the same reply: build according to your ideal — I shall assist you. This is the only fair position of Zionism as the supreme uniting factor. It is, therefore, the true position of the Revisionist ideology. Every form of development has the right to exist. Each should be assisted and supported and, where there is antagonism between the various forms of colonization, it is the obligation of the Zionist movement to act as the mediator. That is the principal objective, the rest is inconsequential. It is still too early to decide whether either co- operative or socialistic colonization are non-profitable, because a period of a few years is not long enough to make a judgement on such a complicated experiment. Likewise, the rumours saying that the middle class is unfit organically for such an experiment are groundless. The reality of life shows that both of them build, and will in the long-run show which of the two has long-term potential. And then the stronger of the two will gradually absorb the weaker one. From this non-political and absolute national stand, Revisionism will neither move to the left nor to the right.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 124 (file not included in this release)
In the entire history of civilization there can be found no example where a people living in a country will agree to colonization by foreigners. Often, the local inhabitants even oppose simple immi- gration. But the difference between the concepts ‘immigration’ and ‘colonization’ is understood by all. Against colonization by an outside race, the local population always fights, everywhere and without exception. There is no difference between ‘tactful’ settlers and ‘tactless’ settlers. Joshua [in biblical times] was ‘tactless’ and all the kings of Canaan rose up to fight him. The Quakers who sailed to America in the sixteenth century, full of tact, love and consideration towards all human beings, were attacked by all the Indian tribes of the plains stretching between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, who never asked themselves: perhaps there is enough room in the country for both races? Perhaps the new settlers will enrich the country and all its inhabitants? America is a large country and the number of Indians has always been small. The wealth brought by the Quakers seemed to them immense, whereas they lived in wigwams and hunted buffalo with bow and arrow. There is no difference in attitude towards the colonizer whether the local inhabitants are of a high cultural level or primitive. The Aztecs of Mexico, an enlightened race, and the Kaffirs of Africa, a primitive people — all fought the foreign settler. For what did they fight? This is a psychological problem and here is not the place to deal with it in depth. But fact is fact.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 134 (file not included in this release)
Jabotinsky returned to this point repeatedly. When he addressed the British Members of Parliament, he emphasized the fact that the opposition of the local inhabitants does not always diminish the moral right of the colonizers if the act in itself is just.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 135 (file not included in this release)
Now the next question is the reason of the quarrel between the Arab and the Jew. Sir, it is the fate of all colonization. The history of the world is a history of colonizations. Every civilized country, except perhaps Germany, is the result of some colonization in the past. There has never been in the whole history of the world, which is a history of colonization, one example where the population on the spot ‘agreed’ to their country being colonized. You Anglo-Saxons colonized half the world, but you never colonized with the consent of the people in the countries which you colonized; and the Anglo- Saxons themselves, with their Norman admixture, are the result of several colonizations, each time against the will of the population on the spot. So how can we Jews colonize Eretz-Israel or Uganda or any other country without a consent of wills with the population on the spot? That is how all colonizations have been done — and, should that be a crime, then it follows that America is a crime, this country is a crime, all Europe a crime, and our Bible history is the story of a crime, because it is the story of the colonization of a country against the will of the population that lived there. Therefore the question is: is the Jewish colonization necessary or not? Is it just or not? If it is necessary and just, then any local inhabitant who wants to obstruct something necessary and just must be at least prevented from using violence. That is the whole situation. (Address before British Members of Parliament, 13 July 1937, Speeches, 1927-1940)
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 135 (file not included in this release)
How could the Arabs be prevented from using violence against Jewish colonization? According to Jabotinsky, neither by honey- coated words nor by false promises; only by the construction of what he called an ‘Iron Wall’.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 135 (file not included in this release)
We can offer no adequate compensation for Eretz-Israel neither to the country’s Arab inhabitants nor to the other Arabs. A voluntary agreement is therefore unthinkable. Consequently, those who look upon such an agreement as the sine qua non of Zionism, may well say non now and bid farewell to Zionism. Zionist colonization must either be abandoned or continued against the will of the native population. Therefore, it can only be furthered and developed under the protection of a power independent of the natives — an Iron Wall which cannot be broken by them.
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 136 (file not included in this release)
‘It is obvious that once order and culture are established in Palestine, the Arab population to a large extent will also benefit. Were this fact an object and a cause for alarm then we would have to give up colonization in Palestine which in any case improves the lot of our Arab neighbours. This is a well- known fact to every Zionist. It is inevitable and cannot be otherwise. If someone among us dreams of a miracle whereby the hands of our “competitors” will be tied, starting with the Arabs, and that our hands will remain free — he had better sober up. Such a “miracle” will not occur. We shall emerge victorious only because we are more dynamic, more capable and possess indomitable will-power. Therefore, above all, we need suitable conditions where this dynamism of ours can develop without hindrance.’ (“Vos Erger Alts Besser’, De Tribune, 25 April 1926)
The political and social philosophy of Zeev Jabotinsky- — Jabotinsky, Vladimir, 1880-1940, page 141 (file not included in this release)
For further discussion of Jabotinsky’s strategy, see Joseph Schechtman, e Jabotinsky Story: Fighter and Prophet (New York: omas Yoseloff, 1956), p. 324. In 1925 Jabotinsky wrote an essay entitled “e Iron Law”: “If you wish to colonize a land in which people are already living, you must provide a garrison for the land, or nd a benefactor who will maintain the garrison on your behalf…Zionism is a colonizing adventure and, therefore, it stands or falls on the question of armed forces.” See e Shahak Papers , no. 31, “Collection on Jabotinsky: His Life and Excerpts from his Writings,” p. 16. Expulsion of the Palestinians- The Concept of Transfer in — Nur Masalha — 1992, page 45 (file not included in this release)
“A voluntary reconciliation with the Arabs is out of the question either now or in the future. If you wish to colonize a land in which people are already living, you must provide a garrison for the land, or find some rich man or benefactor who will provide a garrison on your behalf. Or else-or else, give up your colonization, for without an armed force which will render physically impossible any attempt to destroy or prevent this colonization, colonization is impossible, not difficult, not dangerous, but IMPOSSIBLE!… Zionism is a colonization adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. It is important… to speak Hebrew, but, unfortunately, it is even more important to be able to shoot – or else I am through with playing at colonizing.” Myth: Zionism is not colonialism, just Jewish self-determination | Decolonize Palestine
David Ben-Gurion
When Rothschild visited Israel in 1899, he pleaded with the farmers to employ Jews in their vineyards: “Each man should help his brother: remember you were once poor yourself; do not forget your brethren and give work only to others.” But they would not listen. In 1900, on the transfer of his “subsidized” villages — only Rehovot fell outside that category — to the Jewish Colonization Association, there were 532 workers’ families all told.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 65 (file not included in this release)
There were no Zionist funds. The Jewish National Fund had yet to begin work and no one dreamt of labor colonization. The ideas of self-labor and national ownership of the soil had still to gain currency, even among the workers themselves. All twenty-five settlements stood for unadulterated private enterprise, for private property and hired labor, though most of their capital came not from individual colonists but from Jewry in general or from Jews who gave magnificently for the common good, as did Baron de Rothschild, and though the hired labor was virtually all non-Jewish.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 67 (file not included in this release)
In all countries, aside from the US, Canada, and England, there are special emergency campaigns (in accordance with the decision of the Zionist General Council). Funds from these campaigns are divided as follows: 50 percent for defense, 25 percent for the Keren Hayesod [Colonization Fund], and 25 percent for the Jewish National Fund [Land Recla- mation]. There must be a special discussion in regard to the US, Canada, and England.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 336 (file not included in this release)
Dr. Weizmann is described as an agent of British imperiaHsm who helped England exploit Zionism to buttress its colonial rule in Palestine; who, after England’s positions were weakened, went over to serve American imperialism. “According to the instructions of the American imperiahsts,” the Encyclopedia says, “Weizmann implements a policy of suppres- sion of the Jewish working forces and the Arab national minority, and likewise according to these instructions, Weizmann strangles the forces of peace and democracy in Israel.” These statements were made not in a showcase trial but in the chief scientific organ of the Soviet Union and world Communism. To pretend that the Prague trial was the first time the Zionist movement was attacked by a Communist regime is nothing but political pettifogging.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 469 (file not included in this release)
r to you in which he set out his conclusions. The letter read as follows: “My dear Prime Minister: My father began his colonization work in Israel seventy-five years ago. The work which was then begun has continued to this day. When in 1924 my father set up the Palestine Colonization organization — PICA — he assigned to it the task of colonizing all his land holdings. It fell to me to preside over PICA since its inception. “In the years that followed marshes were drained, the rocky hills and barren wastes were turned into fertile soil. All these lands were then colonized by PICA. Today there is no culrivable land left to PICA for further colonization. The task set for PICA has been fulfilled.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 628 (file not included in this release)
At the time of the Second Ahya (1904-1914) there were only a few score Jewish agricultural settlements (then known as colonies) and practically all the work was done by non-Jews. The Second Aliya people had come to work the land because they considered Jewish agricultural independence the prime and essential means of renewing our independence in the Homeland. Though a considerable part of the land of these settlements had been acquired by national means (thanks mainly to Edmond de Rothschild) hardly any of the labor was being done by Jewish workers. Few of the men of the Second Aliya who had come here to cultivate the land had ever done such work, and the great majority had never done manual work at all.
Israel a personal history — Ben-Gurion, David, 1886-1973 — 1971, page 914 (file not included in this release)
Theodor Herzl
How, then, do I happen to tum to you, since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial, and because it presupposes un- derstanding of a development which will take twenty or thirty years. There are vi- sionaries who look past greater spaces of time, but they lack a practical sense. Then again there are practical people, like the trust magnates in America, but they lack po- litical imagination. But you, Mr. Rhodes, are a visionary politician or a practical vi- sionary. You have already demonstrated this. And what I want you to do is not to give me or lend me a few guineas, but to put the stamp of your authority on the Zi- onist plan and to make the following declaration to a few people who swear by you: I, Rhodes, have examined this plan and found it correct and practicable. It is a plan full of culture, excellent for the group of people for whom it is directly designed, not detrimental to the general progress of mankind, and quite good for England, for Greater Britain. […] What is the plan? To settle Palestine with the homecoming Jewish people.
Theodor Herzl- From Europe to Zion — Mark H_ Gelber (editor), Vivian Liska (editor) — Conditio Judaica, 67, Band 67, Reprint 2011, 2007 — De — 9783484651678 — 6b7cb1b508141cf49acc1033c86e07fe — Anna’s Archive, page 107 (file not included in this release)
Lonerbox
- Hasan discusses my trip? | Reviewing the Munk debate | British election (ofc ofc) - YouTube
- “Colonizers and colonized saw themselves as superior” -2:07hr or 3:48hr (second time Natasha talks—before Gideon’s last statement)