[WCUSP] [HumanRights] November 2: A day that lives in infamy

[yvonne simmons]

--- Mazin Qumsiyeh <qumsi001 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Mazin Qumsiyeh <qumsi001 at hotmail.com>
> To: <wheelsofjustice at lists.riseup.net>
> Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 10:30:16 -0400
> Subject: [HumanRights] November 2: A day that lives
> in infamy

> 
> November 2, 1917: A day that will live in Infamy
> 90 Years ago, the Balfour Declaration was issued. 
> 
> Excerpt on the Balfour declaration from the book
> "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the
> Israeli Palestinian Struggle" by Mazin Qumsiyeh and
> a brief follow-up comment on its relevance to
> today's events (wars on Iraq and soon on Iran):
> 
> The events leading up to the support of Britain and
> France for Zionist aspirations have received little
> historical discussion.  In examining historical
> documents of powerful nations like France and
> Britain, we find these nations issuing declarations
> to support the Zionist aspirations.   This came in
> France first with a letter sent from Jules Cambon,
> Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry to
> Nahum Sokolow (at the time head of the political
> wing of the World Zionist Organization based in
> London) dated June 4, 1917:
> 
> "You were kind enough to inform me of your project
> regarding the expansion of the Jewish colonization
> of Palestine.  You expressed to me that, if the
> circumstances were allowing for that, and if on
> another hand, the independency of the holy sites was
> guaranteed, it would then be a work of justice and
> retribution for the allied forces to help the
> renaissance of the Jewish nationality on the land
> from which the Jewish people was exiled so many
> centuries ago.
> The French Government, which entered this present
> war to defend a people wrongly attacked, and which
> continues the struggle to assure victory of right
> over might, cannot but feel sympathy for your cause,
> the triumph of which is bound up with that of the
> Allies. I am happy to give you herewith such
> assurance" [7]
> 
> Some five months later, on November 2, 1917, the
> British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour
> conveyed to Lord Rothschild a similar declaration of
> sympathy with Zionist aspirations.  It stated that: 
> 
> "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. "
> 
> Palestinians and others in the Arab world were
> immediately alarmed.  This declaration was issued
> when Britain had no jurisdiction over the area, and
> was done without consultation of the inhabitants of
> the land that was to become a "national home for the
> Jewish people."  The declaration also wanted to
> protect "rights and political status" of Jews who
> choose not to immigrate to Palestine.   However, the
> native Palestinians are simply referred to as
> non-Jews and their political rights are not
> mentioned but only their "civic and religious
> rights".  Lord Balfour wrote in a private memorandum
> sent to Lord Curzon, his successor at the Foreign
> Office (Curzon initially opposed Zionism) on 11
> August 1919: 
> 
> "For in Palestine we do not propose to go through
> the form of consulting the wishes of the present
> inhabitants ... The four great powers are committed
> to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good
> or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present
> needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import
> than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs
> who now inhabit that ancient land" [8]
> 
> The Jules and Balfour declarations are two documents
> that demonstrate the support made to the Zionist
> supranational entity that facilitated giving them
> control over a land that neither of the two
> governments had control of at the time. Some British
> authors have provided explanations of this support
> based on a quid pro quo for Weizman's contribution
> to the British war efforts through such efforts as
> the development of better chemicals for explosives. 
> Some argued that it was related to Britain's simple
> domestic situation with many Zionists both in the
> government and among the electorate.  It could also
> be argued that Britain and France now had more
> reason had to benefit from a revival of their early
> 1840s desires to settle European Jews in Palestine
> as a way of a structural remodeling of Middle East
> geopolitics. Undermining the Ottoman Empire, which
> was now allied with Germany, provides only partial
> explanation and a poor one at best.  
> 
> Jewish population in Palestine at the time was
> miniscule and most and was hardly in any position to
> engage in resistance against the Ottoman Empire.  By
> contrast, nationalistic Arabs from the Arabian
> Peninsula were willing to oppose the Ottoman Empire
> and eager to liberate their native lands from the
> grip of the Turks.  England in fact promised to
> support their independence as a result of their
> convergent interests as supported by documents such
> as the British correspondence with Sharif Hussain of
> Arabia and in the memoirs of T. E. Lawrence "of
> Arabia".  As historians do, there is much argument
> about the factors and their relative importance that
> led to the decisions made by the governments in
> question.  Much is now written about how the US
> entered the war and the possible role of influential
> corporate interests and US Zionists in bringing the
> US media and government to support the war efforts.
> 
> The British had also made a promise of independence
> to the Arabs if they aided them in opposing the
> Ottoman Empire.  This was one of many "promises" but
> it was the one that was to over-ride all others as
> concrete actions were to reveal in just a short
> period of time.  It important to note that these
> governments declared their public support for
> Zionism, even while simultaneously making private
> assurances to Arabs.  The British and French public
> support was later joined by the Americans.
> 
> With acquiescence by the ailing President Wilson and
> an American administration slowly sinking into
> isolationism, the British had a free hand to
> implement their plans in Palestine.  Palestinians,
> both Christians and Muslims, rioted against the
> British forces on February 27, 1920 in Jerusalem. 
> The British command in Palestine recommended that
> the Balfour Declaration be revoked.  However, the
> British leadership in London did not share the views
> of their soldiers and commanders in Palestine.  As
> soon as Britain managed to secure the League of
> Nations mandate, it replaced its military governor
> there with a Zionist Jew: Sir Herbert Samuel as the
> first High Commissioner of Palestine (1920-25).  It
> was Samuel who so effectively coached Weizmann
> during the Balfour negotiations.  After Samuel
> became high commissioner, Jewish immigration greatly
> increased, and with it Palestinian resistance. 
> Herbert Samuel and the Zionist leaning colonial
> offices in Palestine proceeded to set up the
> political, legal, and the economic underpinning for
> transforming the area to a Jewish country.  Britain,
> with the acquiescence of other great powers,
> acquired the powers needed for its colonial venture.
>  At the World Zionist Organization meeting held in
> London in July 1920, a new financial arm was
> established named the Keren Hayesod.  
> 
> End of section from "Sharing the Land of Canaan"
> 
> In November 2, 1918, Balfour day parade in Jewish
> Jerusalem, Musa Kathim al-Husseini, Jerusalem's
> mayor at the time, handed the British governor of
> Palestine, Storrs, a petition from more than 100
> Palestinian notables which stated:
> "We have noticed yesterday a large crowed of Jews
> carrying banners and over-running the streets
> shouting words which hurt the feeling and wound the
> soul. They [Zionist Jews] pretend with OPEN VOICE
> that Palestine, which is the Holy Land of our
> fathers and the graveyard of our ancestors, which
> has been inhabited by the Arabs for long ages, who
> loved it and died in defending it, is NOW a national
> home for them." (Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p.
> 90)
> 
> Lord Sydenham of the British House of Deputies
> replied prophetically to Balfour:
> "... the harm done by dumping down an alien
> population upon an Arab country - Arab all around in
> the hinterland - may never be remedied ... what we
> have done is, by concessions, not to the Jewish
> people but to a Zionist extreme section, to start a
> running sore in the East, and no one can tell how
> far that sore will extend." (UN: The Origins And
> Evolution Of Palestine Problem, section IV)
> 
> Edward Mandell House, US President Wilson's aid,
> wrote Lord Balfour predicting the outcome of future
> implementation of the Balfour Declaration: "It is
> all bad and I told Balfour so. They are making [the
> Middle East] a breeding place for future war."
> (Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 73)
> 
> AIPAC and other Israeli apologists pushed for the
> war on Iraq ($500 bilion, countless lives so far)
> and are pushing for conflict with Iran after
> countless wars and tens of thousands of lives lost
> and millions of refugees displaced. That it has been
> a "breeding place for future wars" is an
> understatement.
> 
> Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
> http://qumsiyeh.org
> 

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