Disraelia: A Counterfactual History, 1848-2008 by Walter Laqueur

April 1, 2008 :: Number One ...

Counterfactual history is... a reaction to the extreme de-personalization and determinism of current historical studies, with their emphasis on social history opposed to events and personality- driven history. —Wikipedia

Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, vol- but it did not go very far, Jews were limited ume 8, preface. to a Pale of Settlement in Russia and to cer- tain professions, they could not study and Great were the hopes and expectations of own land, and many European Jews when the walls of the ghet- professions were toes came down. It was a long drawn-out closed to them. process, and conditions varied from country to country. In Britain it began with the read- The number of Jews mission of the Jews under Cromwell. In greatly increased be- France, the Revolution and Napoleon pro- tween 1750 and 1850 ceeded with the emancipation of the Jews and their life expec- which had come underway at the time of the tancy was considera- absolutist kings and the Enlightenment. In bly higher than that of non-Jews. They Eastern Europe, the decline and eventual dis- streamed to the major towns from the coun- appearance of Poland hastened the process— ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 1 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard tryside where they had only a very meager Jews, but a growing number of influential living; even in Germany about one-third churchmen began to resist it. They doubted were peddlers and about the same number whether the conversion was genuine; the had no known source of income but de- Jews did not truly believe in Christianity, but pended on alms given by their coreligionists regarded it (as Heine had put it) as the en- who were better off. The economic situation trance ticket to European civilization. They of the Jews in Poland and Russia actually de- still felt solidarity with other Jews all over teriorated during this period, hence the in- the world; Jews still looked like Jews and creasing migration to the West. As the Jews behaved like Jews. Their character could not moved to the cities, they came into conflict be changed by the act of baptism. Some with the merchants and artisans, and this cre- churchmen suggested making intermarriage ated new tensions. mandatory (the philosopher Schopenhauer The educated classes advocated in principle had also suggested this). the emancipation of the Jews, but the great Others believed in the purity of Christian majority would still have favored that they blood, just as Catholicism in Spain had in the left Europe. The Jews were aliens in Chris- 16th and 17th centuries. There was some- tian societies. Among the thinkers of the En- thing in Judaism beyond the religion which lightenment, anti-Jewish feeling was quite could not be changed by baptism—except strong, and the great philosophers of the later perhaps over many generations. According to period were not quite sure whether the Jews, them, Judaism was a tribe, a race, perhaps being a miserable people, could be rehabili- even a nation of sorts. And so anti-Judaism tated. Fichte suggested cutting off their heads (the term anti-Semitism was to be coined and giving them new ones. The attitude of only three decades later by Wilhelm Marr) the Romantics yet one generation later was became a major force in European politics equally negative. and public opinion. In Western Europe, Jews were hated because a growing number was Among the Jews, many of the educated em- getting rich; in Eastern Europe where most of braced Christianity in Western and Central them lived, they were hated and despised be- Europe. This affected not only outsiders like cause they were poor and useless. Heinrich Heine but large sections of the Jew- ish establishment, the leading members of the Anti-Judaism manifested itself in steadily community. spreading pogroms beginning with the Hep Hep riots in Germany in 1819. They were Soon after the Napoleonic wars had ended, a mostly locally confined but they continued great many books and pamphlets were pub- on an ever-growing scale year by year. They lished in Germany and France, but also in spread to Austria, Hungary, even upper Italy Eastern Europe, discussing what could be and above all to Poland, the Ukraine and done about the Jews, and in 1819 there were Rumania. Local police forces did not at first the first sporadic anti-Jewish riots. intervene but advised the Jews to stay in- The attitude of the Churches was ambivalent. doors as much as possible, especially on They welcomed the baptism of so many Sundays and Christian holidays. This ap- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 2 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard proach worked for a while, but in 1823 big- But the anti-Judaic literature, albeit on a ger and more aggressive mobs attacked Jew- much lower level of sophistication, was far ish houses and shops and put them on fire. more widely read. It ranged from relatively The number of fatalities was relatively small mild attacks to unbridled incitement and de- but in some instances (Frankfurt and Buda- mands for the expulsion of the Jews. The pest 1823, Kalisch, Poznan and Galatz 1824) moderates argued that European Jews, while the fires went out of control and caused con- small in number, had acquired within the last siderable damage to non-Jewish houses and generation unprecedented political and finan- businesses. As a result, smaller Jewish com- cial power in a variety of fields—in banking munities were advised to move to bigger cit- as well as the media. Many of the new news- ies where, the authorities argued, it would be papers and publishing houses were in the easier to maintain public order. However, hands of Jews, many of the writers were Jews there was growing opposition to this influx or of Jewish origin. They were trying to hide. on the part of the city councils and other in- Why did the editor of the Golden Treasury, terest groups. They suggested that the only the best-known anthology of English poetry, reasonable way was the return of the Jews to call himself Palgrave whereas his real name the ghettoes, but there was much dissension was Cohen? Why Boerne and not Baruch? over where the ghettoes should be located. These attacks came from the political right as Other heated debates concerned the fate of well as from the left. The left-wing anti- the Jews who had been baptized: Should they Judaists argued that the superrich Jews were be kept for at least for a generation or two in bloodsuckers and should be expropriated. special ghettoes as a kind of purgatory? The great bestseller of the decade, Tousse- Britain and France (with the exception of Al- nel’s Les Juifs, rois de l’epoque, which ap- sace) were relatively free of pogroms in view peared in many tens of thousands of copies in of the small number all major European languages, was written by of Jews in these a disciple of the Socialist Fourier. countries, but the The extreme anti-Jewish literature made no mass attacks in bones about its conviction that there was no Szegedin, Regens- room for the Jews in Europe. The Protocols burg, Homel, Kishi- of Satan and the Sanhedrin, published in nev and various 1836, described in detail the giant Jewish towns in Galicia kept conspiracy which threatened to enslave the the Jewish question at the top of the Euro- Christian people of Europe. The Jews were pean political agenda. The intellectual debate secretly establishing an army headed by the raged all over the continent. A number of phi- chief Rabbi of Bratislawa seconded by the losophers, liberal churchmen and professors chief Rabbis of Filene, Lissa and Ostrowo. called the new anti-Judaism a relapse to the But since their numbers were insufficient, Middle Ages, a nasty blot to be removed as they were preparing terrible weapons of mass speedily as possible. destruction, especially poisonous substances. According to their master plan, some of the

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 3 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard non-Jews would be corrupted and bought by From a letter written by Sarah Austen in them, the others would be cowed into sub- London to her friend Lady Anstrutter in mission by threats of the spread of horrible Berkshire, 1842. epidemics, and the leading anti-Jews would Dizzy came for dinner last night and the con- be arrested and put away in concentration versation was sparkling as always. He was camps. A particularly insidious new weapon alone, his new wife suffers from a head cold was the new net of railways established all as many in London do at this time of the over the continent. Most of them were in the year. The talk was about literature, politics hands of the Jews (or would be acquired by and of course the latest gossip. Dizzy was in them); this would eventually do away with excellent form, and those who do not know national borders (and national traditions). It him well could easily gain the impression would lead to internationalization (occasion- that he could not care less that Peel passed ally the term globalization was used), the end him over when his recent government was of religion, patriotism and all the sacred val- formed. But I have the impression (and my ues of the nations of Europe. An East Ger- female intuition has seldom been wrong), man nobleman, von Hundsfott, in a widely- that our friend is deep down quite unhappy. read pamphlet entitled The Anti-Jewish He faces a crisis. He is now thirty-eight years Manifesto, suggested that one-third of the of age, a man of great talents and great ambi- Jews should be baptized, one-third deported tions. But he has not really to the Arctic region and one-third to the Sa- settled down and in his own hara desert. eyes he has been a failure—in The wilder accusations and speculations of literature as well as in politics. the radical anti-Judaists were studied but not For most of our countrymen, taken very seriously by the authorities. But he has remained a stranger; a the governments were still heavily preoccu- few may admire him but they pied by the “Jewish Question,” and this not do not trust him. They are willing to forgive so much out of humanitarian considerations him his foppishness, the strange way he but because there was the danger that the dresses and behaves—we are most tolerant anti-Jewish pogroms would turn into general towards eccentrics. But many think he is too attacks against the established order. There clever by half. He gets along with women had been already many cases of peasant un- much better than with men. This may one rest. Not only Jewish shop owners had been day help him with the Queen if he decides to attacked and their shops devastated, but also pursue his political career. But the politicians their Christian competitors who were accused think him too inconsistent, he has switched of “foul Jewish practices.” parties too often. And he has been hurt even To return the Jews to the ghettoes seemed though he does not show it. He was rejected impractical, and it was in this context that the or defeated as a candidate four times, he was idea of a Jewish mass evacuation first oc- jeered and booed after his maiden speech. He curred. adores England and everything English, but there is too much in him that is not English. ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 4 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard What surprised me most last night was his French socialists and their theories; it was of constant harping on Jews and Jewish affairs. no particular interest. Weitling, a self- You may remember that some ten years ago, educated tailor from Magdeburg and Wil- when he was not in good health, his doctors helm Marr, his sidekick, went on and on advised him to take a long trip to a warmer about Fould and the other Jews who have climate. He went to Greece, Palestine and been taking a leading role in developing a Egypt and the impressions gained on this trip French railway net. seem to preoccupy him to this day. Everyone I know who went to Jerusalem returned with I went home with Dr. all kind of horror stories about the sad state Charles (Karl) Marx, a of the holy city. But Dizzy thinks it is won- young academic who re- derful, inspiring, the center of the world and cently arrived here with a the greatest promise for the future of man- wife. He married a Ger- kind. He wrote a few books at the time such man noblewoman and as Contarini, which I don’t think were among lives around the corner his best, and mentioned that he now works on from me, rue Vauncy. I did yet another about a character named David meet him before and was Alroy of whom I never heard but who seems greatly impressed, a young man of 26, eru- to fascinate him endlessly. It seems that this dite, sarcastic, with a sharp intellect, quite was a Jew in 12th-century Persia, a messiah full of himself; he may go far. But in some of sorts who was called King of the Diaspora respects he is astonishingly naïve. He truly and who promised to lead the children of Is- believes that the whole history of mankind is rael back to their promised land. He was ap- nothing but the history of class struggles and parently also a great magician who could totally underrates the importance of national- make himself invisible and enlisted the war- ism and religion in conflicts past, present and like mountain Jews of Azerbaidjan who were to come. As we walked along the Luxem- going to help him to recapture Jerusalem. bourg and Boulevard Raspail I tried to talk The adventure ended badly but our Dizzy got some sense to him. But I doubt whether I carried away and seems to think that he may made him rethink some of his views which succeed where David Alroy failed. Can you are quite detached from political realities. He imagine Dizzy engaging on a new career, is deep into Hegelian philosophy and has king of the Jews? Is he serious—to the extent only contempt for those who cannot follow that he was or will be ever serious? his dialectical forays. The gardens are magnificent at this time of He is working, he told me, on a long essay on the year… the Jewish question. All religion is bad, but From a letter by Moses Hess in Paris to some are worse than others. Judaism is (or in Solomon Oppenheim in Cologne, Febru- any case has become) worshipping mammon, ary 1843. unless the Jews get rid of Judaism they shall never be fully emancipated. When I asked Last night we had the weekly meeting of the him what this meant in practical terms, I did German Workers Club. We talked about the ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 5 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard not get a clear answer. Why are the Jews dis- world will know your name. But however liked, why do people want to get rid of them? much you will distance yourself from Juda- (And this includes, I told him, many of our ism and the Jews, you will always remain for own comrades including the wild Bakunin, a the others the Communist rabbi, the Jew militant revolutionary second to none, who Marx. Marx snorted contemptuously, who was also at our meeting. And Marr—I would cares? not be surprised if one day he will be the leader of an anti-Jewish party in Germany.) I Note from Baron Heinrich von Buelow, told Marx, if Jews are disliked it is not be- foreign minister of Prussia, to Carl Nes- selrode, Russian foreign minister, 1845. cause of their religion but because of the Strictly confidential. shape of their noses. There is something be- yond religion, even beyond mammon which Your Excellency will remember our discus- you do not want to accept. sion about the Jewish question during your recent visit to Berlin. In the meantime I had Do not be childish, Marx said, the whole is- the opportunity to discuss this with Prince sue is not of such great importance. With the Metternich in Vienna. stormy development of the economy, with capitalism as a powerful engine, borders will Metternich said that while he was not in a disappear, internationalization will make gi- position at the present time to take the initia- ant strides. The confrontation will be be- tive, he was very supportive as far as the tween rich and poor not between nations, promotion of Jewish emigration from Europe peoples and races. Weitling and Marr are was concerned. The Jewish problem was of well-meaning but they are simpletons, not increasing concern to the Austro-Hungarian very intelligent; for some time to come we monarchy, especially in its Eastern parts. shall have to face backward and reactionary Metternich also made some interesting prac- views even among some of our own com- tical suggestions. The financial costs of an rades, but not for very long. emigration project of this kind would exceed the resources of the countries of Europe I gave up, the man is so sure of himself, but which might contribute but could not carry he knows no more about the Jews than about the main burden. He proposed that the their enemies. The other day he called Las- Rothschilds should be approached and asked salle, the agitator from Breslau who is emerg- to establish a central fond together with some ing as the leader of our party in Germany, a other Jewish bankers. Some of them have “Jewish nigger.” But if Marx would look into grown very rich in recent decades and they the mirror for a moment, he would realize will realize that it is in their own best interest that his complexion is not exactly lilly-white; if at least half of their coreligionists would his close friends call him the “Moor.” But I leave Europe, so as to prevent growing po- sensed it was pointless to argue with him and litical tensions from which they, the bankers, so I said: Marx, I wish you luck, you are one would be the first to suffer. He also suggested of the best minds in our movement, maybe Turkey as the main place to which European one day you will be our leader and the whole Jews should be directed, either to Palestine or

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 6 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard some other part of the Ottoman empire. They impetus to all the separatist movements. The have after all a historical connection with the tribes at the Persian border have been on the Holy Land. Of course, there will be resis- offensive, so have been the Wahhabis on the tance in Constantinople, but this could per- Arabian peninsula, and Mehmet Ali in Egypt, haps be overcome if we enlist the support of while calling himself Viceroy, has virtually Britain and France and explain to the Sultan unlimited powers, having expanded his rule the great financial benefits that may accrue to from Damascus to Khartoum. the Sublime Porte. This year we shall have to deal with a new I should be grateful for the comments of your Sultan, Abdul Mecid. He is a youngster aged Excellency and remain with profound respect 19, not ungifted (his French is quite good, no etc. etc. English unfortunately), his heart is in the Stratford Canning, British ambassador in right place and he has the full support of the Constantinople, to Lord Palmerston, ex- Grand Vizier, Mustafa Reshid. But will he be cerpts. (The dispatch cannot be exactly strong enough to carry out dated, but was written either in 1842 or the reforms which are so 1843.) long overdue? I fully share your conviction that it is in the I have the gravest doubts. best interest of HM government to strengthen He may just push through the Sublime Porte in every possible way one of his pet projects, to against Russian pressure. However, only after replace the turban by the my recent arrival here did the overwhelming fez, but the aversion odds we are facing became fully clear to me. against any new ideas, against any innovation, The Ottoman empire has been stagnating technical or otherwise, is so deeply rooted since about 1700, their defeat at the gates of that I cannot envisage any major progress in Vienna and the peace of Karlovats. It has the coming years and decades. This would been retreating at all fronts, in Europe as well mean further weakening of the country. The as in Asia and Africa, and since the recent local Pashas will be either powerless, unable war (1827) stagnation has turned into rapid to collect taxes, which would lead sooner or decline. Why did we have to follow the Rus- later to bankruptcy. Or they will become sian lead in making war on Turkey on behalf more or less independent of Constantinople of the Greeks? The Philhellenic foolishness following the example of Mehmet Ali. The and Lord Byron’s antics proved to be Russians, liberally distributing baksheesh in stronger than the pursuance of our interests. the Royal palace, would become virtual mas- The Greeks would have received independ- ters not only of the Bosporus but of the East- ence sooner or later in any case. But the de- ern Mediterranean. feat we inflicted on the Turks, above all the battle of Navarino, strengthened Russian in- The situation is critical—the present agony fluence in the Near East, made the Sublime could continue for another hundred years, but Porte appear a sinking ship and gave fresh the whole edifice might collapse within a

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 7 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard year or two following the slightest turbu- onel’s brother-in-law Moses Montefiore, lence. Solomon Maier Rothschild from Vienna, In these circumstances, the immigration of Achille Fould, Bischoffsheim, Moses War- Jews could be a stabilizing factor. burg, Baron de Hirsch, Oppenheim from Co- logne and two others who wished to remain Note verbale, the Russian ambassador in anonymous. Nathanael swore those present Berlin to Foreign Minister von Buelow. to secrecy; any premature disclosure could ... the Tsar found your and Metternich’s sug- mean the end of a scheme which at this stage gestions of great interest. How to proceed? was as yet in an exploratory stage. He re- We believe that the approach to the Sultan ported that he had been contacted by leading and the Grand Vizier should come from Prus- statesmen and even royalty concerning the sia. The Sublime Porte is notoriously dis- emigration of about two million Jews from trustful, any such suggestion made by us Europe to overseas, preferably to the Otto- would unfortunately be thought detrimental man empire, if the political preconditions to Ottoman interests, an attempt to to under- could be arranged. mine the Sultan’s rule etc. But if the ap- Montefiore opened the discussion and said proach is made by you, the reception could that the scheme should be given serious con- be more favorable. Ideally, the whole initia- sideration in view of the tive should be kept secret, but this might be precarious situation of the impossible for any length of time. For this Jews in many European reason we suggest the appointment of an in- countries and the unwill- ternational commission for the economic de- ingness of both govern- velopment of the Ottoman empire which ments and the general should study the feasibility of this project and public to push forward the present its findings within a year to us as well emancipation of the Jews. as the Sublime Porte—how many Jews could But he foresaw enormous be absorbed, in which parts of the Ottoman difficulties. The Jewish question was most empire and so on. In other words, the Sultan acute in Eastern Europe, but the government would be in a position to reject the project if of the Tsar was quite hostile—it wanted to it does not meet with his approval. The get rid of the Jews but at the same time en- members of this study committee should be gaged in extortion. General Paskevich, Vice- appointed as soon as feasible. It might be a roy of Poland, had told him that Jews could good idea to include a number of academics leave Russia only if each family paid a con- so as to disguise the true, political purpose of siderable ransom—this was the law of the the venture. land and no exception would be made for the Paris, December 1845 (from the Jews. Rothschild archives). At the same time, the Ottoman authorities Nathanael Rothschild opened the meeting were extremely opposed to any change in the which took place in his private home. Present status quo. The influx of so many foreigners were his brother Lionel from London, Li- and non-Muslims would be considered an at- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 8 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard tempt to undermine their authority. They Vienna, January 1847, Executive Sum- talked endlessly about tanzimat (reform) but mary of the report of EIC (European In- were deadly afraid of it. The Muslim popula- vestigation Committee), appointed tion was easily inflamed against the Jews twelve months ago to study the feasibility of Jewish settlement in regions of the Ot- (and everyone else), as the recent persecu- toman empire. tions in Damascus had shown. (Several Jews were arrested, tortured and killed there on We have the honor to submit our final report blood libel accusations.) Lastly, the Sultan and want to express our particular gratitude was no longer in full control of the southern to Major Helmuth von Moltke, seconded to parts of the empire, and one would have to the Ottoman army, to Captain Felix Jones of negotiate separately with Mehmet Ali, Vice- the Indian civil service, William Tanner roy of Egypt, who had been for a while the Young, British Consul in Jerusalem, as well effective ruler of Syria and Palestine. How- as (follows a list of twenty more names) for ever, he proposed full cooperation with the their invaluable help and advice. investigation committee which was to be ap- Our conclusions, in briefest outline, are that pointed. mass settlement of European Jews in regions The discussion lasted to a late hour. Most of of the Ottoman empire is possible if there is those attending were of the opinion that if the the willingness on the part of said Jews to scheme would receive massive support from settle and adjust themselves to difficult con- the main powers, if the other preconditions ditions, and if the necessary financial means existed, if there was sufficient willingness will be at their disposal. We would rule out among the Jewish communities to collabo- Anatolia and the Hejaz but also Syria which rate, then those assembled and their friends is comparatively densely populated. How- should not stand aside. Several names of ever, historical Palestine is relatively empty leading figures were mentioned to popularize and the same is true for parts of Mesopota- the scheme at the right time among the Euro- mia. We would except from the region of set- pean Jews, among them the British politician tlement Jerusalem, which should be a corpus Disraeli, as well as Montefiore and a number separandum, an internationalized city, in of rabbis. The fear was expressed that the view of its importance for the world’s leading rabbis would not get along easily with each religions. The Pashaliks of Baghdad and Bas- other. sora should also be outside the region of set- tlement, even though the number of Jewish residents in Baghdad is reportedly larger than that of the Muslims. There are only rough estimates concerning population statistics in these regions—per- haps 200-300,000 in Palestine, several Bed- ouin tribes in the desert between the Jordan and the Euphrates and Tigris, perhaps 400,000 in the Pashaliks of Mossul and ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 9 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard Kirkuk. The city of Baghdad had 170,000 what is now a desert. With the development inhabitants, but after the recent plague epi- of steamships, the number of visitors and pil- demic which raged for three years and the grims will rapidly increase. flooding of the Tigris, this figure has shrunk We suggest an administration based on a can- to a mere 20,000. To quote a recent report re- tonal system with far-reaching regional ceived by the Indian government (Rawlinson autonomy: three in Palestine, two or three in to Malmesbury), ”no province might be eas- Western Mesopotamia, one for the wide area ier to govern than the Pashalik of Mesopota- between Palestine and the North. They mia but with all its advantages the Pashalik should be accountable financially to central of today is almost a desert.” offices located in Jaffa and Mossul, and to an We suggest Jewish settlement in Palestine, international committee consisting of mem- above all the coastal plain, the Esdraelon val- bers, of the Ottoman government and one ley and Galilee. It is representative each unlikely that this of the European area can absorb powers. Overall more than a mil- Ottoman political lion inhabitants sovereignty will over a decade, but not be affected. we see further pos- This system may sibilities for set- sound complicated tlement in Western but it may work in I r a q ( M o s s u l , our opinion. It all Kirkuk). It is our d e p e n d s o n feeling that it will whether the immi- be easier for Euro- grants from Europe pean Jews to get will show both en- along with the terprise, patience Kurdish tribes than and tact, and the easily fanaticized Sunni and Shiite popu- whether the local population will realize the lation in the North. Settlement on a smaller great benefits that will accrue to them from scale should also be explored in Southern this common venture. Palestine and the oases in the desert between There will be no doubt resistance, some mal- the Jordan and the Tigris. contents will argue that they prefer back- We do not believe that many will find work wardness to sharing their country. However it in agriculture in view of the dearth of water ought to be born in mind that this resistance and other resources, but we see good pros- could probably be overcome with good di- pects for industry and trade. The regions are plomacy as well as the liberal distribution of rich in minerals which could be developed by baksheesh. Furthermore, as we have pointed enterprising Jews. We also see a great future out earlier on, the Ottoman empire is a di- for the development of railway lines crossing verse polity with many thousands of Chris- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 10 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard tians, Circassians, Copts, Chaldaeans, Arme- most frequently voiced: While aware of anti- nians, Turcomans and a dozen other nation- Jewish sentiment and action in much of alities, not to mention the many Bedouin Europe, the prospects were not as dire as tribes. The region we have in mind is predicted by some, especially if the govern- sparsely populated—perhaps a million or ments concerned would take a more active less—and whether yet another nationality part in removing the existing anti-Jewish leg- will be added may not make a great differ- islation. This was the view taken by several ence, given a minimum of good will from all radical democrats of Jewish origin. While sides. Zion remained dear to all Jews, it was more It is impossible to predict whether, as a result than doubtful whether mass settlement was of these developments, one or several states possible or desirable in present conditions. will eventually come into being, what lan- Widespread banditry was reported from guage will be spoken, what religion will be many parts of the Ottoman empire; it was not predominant, or whether there will be peace- at all clear who would defend the defenseless ful coexistence between the various religions. Jews against such attacks. We have no doubt that there will be conflicts Orthodox rabbis maintained that such a mass between the various parties involved, but return should occur only in the days of Mes- there seems to be a reasonable chance that siah, to act prematurely would be against they might be resolved. G’d’s will, it might be considered blasphe- Berlin, March 1847. Vossische Zeitung fuer mous. Some amount of emigration from staats-und gelehrte sachen and Ludwig Eastern Europe might be necessary, espe- Philippson in the Allgemeine Zeitung des cially if the governments concerned would Judenthums: A report about a European not take a constructive part in normalizing Jewish meeting to discuss the future in the conditions in which most Jewish commu- light of EIC report. nities were existing at the present time. How- The meeting, which took place in the ever, a variety of other possibilities should be Ephraim Palais on the Molkenmarkt, was at- explored, above all North and South Amer- tended by leading representatives from all ica. major European Jewish communities. It was The minority view was that the Jewish condi- opened by the British parliamentarian Dis- tion in Central and Eastern Europe was more raeli, who was elected unanimously president precarious than generally assumed. If Jews with Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer of Thorn would not take the initiative, others would, and Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai of Bosnia/Croatia and the results could be lamentable, perhaps as his deputies. Sir Moses Montefiore was even tragic. Emigration was a necessity and elected honorary president. the only part of the world with which Jews There was a general debate about the pro- had a historical, religious and emotional con- posal made by several European govern- nection was Palestine and the Near East. ments to promote the emigration of Jews Disraeli in a passionate speech reminded from Europe to the Ottoman empire. The fol- those assembled that social and political con- lowing arguments against this scheme were ditions quite apart, Jewish existence in many ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 11 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard European countries was at present a life many of them are quite capable and enter- without dignity, self-esteem and honor, and prising individuals and would be a positive that a return to their native country would be element as far as the reforms we want to see more than a social reform, it would be a carried out are concerned. They certainly long-overdue moral revolution restoring share our views about Russia, the main threat pride to the Jewish race. The people which facing our country. Would they blend in with had given birth to the Maccabeans and Bar the other religious elements in our country? Kochba would be able to defend itself in its In principle, no one but Muslims can be old/new homeland. However, all Disraeli trusted, but I feel the Jews will be more loyal achieved was a resolution that the sugges- subjects than the Greeks, the Armenians, and tions for the resettlements of Jews should be even the Arab tribes with whom we share a further studied and be further discussed in common religion. another well-prepared meeting in Vienna, in As for Syria, Lebanon and Palestine—this a year from now. region only spells trouble (as Mehmet Ali Mehmet Emin Ali Pasha, Ottoman For- found out at his cost when he tried to rule it). eign Minister, to Reshid Pasha, Grand Vi- These people unfortunately understand only zier, October 1846. the language of the sword and the whip. Your excellency asked me to summarize very Whether there will be one more nationality, briefly my views on the suggestions made one more religion, does not really matter. If increasingly often by European powers con- the Jews fail, it will be their funeral not ours. cerning the settlement of Jews in the Otto- If they succeed, they will contribute to pros- man empire. The other day a member of the perity and stability in our country. British parliament named Disraeli came to Vienna Jewish Congress, October 1848 see me—an amusing and clever man. He (from Die Presse). tried to persuade me that we would enor- This meeting had been scheduled to take mously benefit from these schemes, eco- place in March, but was postponed as the re- nomically and politically. He seems to be sult of the revolutions, riots and pogroms in their chief diplomat, the front man of all the several European countries. The murder of leading Jewish bankers. Of course, he exag- thousands of Jews in Poland, the Ukraine, gerates, but there is some truth in what he Rumania, Hungary, and to a lesser extent in says. Prussia and other German states overshad- Broadly speaking, I favor this initiative even owed the proceedings. Rabbi Alkalay in his though it is impossible to opening speech quoted the Biblical saying say at the present time from the book of Job, asher yagornu, ba— whether many Jews will what we predicted and feared has come to want to move to our coun- pass. The great majority decided in favor of try (and how many we the proposal to promote emigration to re- want to accept). While East gions of the Ottoman empire following the European Jewry is at pre- suggestions of the EIC. Disraeli had been to sent in a miserable state, Constantinople and had received the permis- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 12 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard sion to proceed from the Grand Vizier who vation of the Sabbath laws. Another 500 are had transmitted instructions to the local Pa- leaving daily from Odessa. shas. What heartrending scenes! Tears came to the Jewish applicants were to register within the eyes of an old cynic like me. The children of next month at offices in about hundred Euro- the ghetto leaving a continent that has pean cities (a list is in the appendix). Time wrought them so much misery, burned on the was of crucial importance. The Rothschilds stake in the Middle Ages, pogroms in the together with a group of other leading bank- present new Middle Ages. No one was ers accepted responsibility for the financial mourning to leave this continent of suffering aspect; some of the funds needed would be in and humiliation, and yet who had thought the nature of a gift, but half would be a loan that a history of almost two thousand years to be repaid within fifty years. Some of the would end like this? funds would be used for transport and living By the waters of Babylon we were sitting and costs during the first two years of the stay of weeping—from the desert we came and to the immigrants in their new homes, but half the desert we shall return. Judaism is not a was to be earmarked for the establishment of religion, it is an affliction. As I watch the new industries and the building of the infra- children of the ghetto, the poorest of the poor structure. Barons Hirsch and Fould would be entering the ships with in charge of transport—from Odessa and Tri- their few bundles, I cannot este. At the present time it was impossible dispel dark forebodings. It even to estimate how many immigrants were was not just the separation to be expected. The proposal to hire an inter- of families for a long pe- national armed guard to protect the immi- riod, with husbands and grants against banditry was defeated. Disraeli young bachelors traveling said in his concluding speech that Jews, well- as an avant garde and their trained and armed, would fulfill this function; families and friends follow- the vicious circle of depending on the protec- ing once they will have tions of others had to be broken. taken care of elementary living conditions. From the diary of Heinrich Heine, Tri- Will they be able to survive in wholly unfa- este, December 1849 (published in part in miliar, often hostile conditions or will they the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung). disappear without a trace in the deserts of This is the second night I have not been able Arabia? They will have to fight nature, an in- to sleep. I went down to the harbor watching clement climate and diseases. They cannot the embarkation of hundreds of Jews on the and should not transfer the ghetto but will steamships which had been rented by Hirsch have to begin a new life in every respect. commuting between this harbor and Jaffa. Will they be able to defend themselves Five hundred are leaving every day, even on against the elements in a bandit-infested Sabbath, the rabbis having decided that this country? Sometimes I feel that there still are was a case of pikuah nefesh—the command- enormous energies in this old people which ment of saving souls overrides the full obser- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 13 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard only wait to be released, at other times an in- good for nothing except perhaps putting tar ner voice tells me, “Too late.” on our streets.... Montefiore and Disraeli were at the harbor The Admor of Sadagora to Rabbi Hirsch with words of encouragement, promising all Ostrower in Lissa, March 1853. kind of help, narrating stories about their Blessed be you my son and favorite pupil and travels in these parts. Disraeli approached your house and all of Israel, Amen. I have me, he knows my poems and recited two by been young and now I am old, yet have I not heart. He told me to be of good cheer, what seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed beg- do they have to lose but their chains? Monte- ging bread (Psalms 37:25). You told me fiore, a giant of a man, and Disraeli, in his about the commotion in your fold and the red waistcoat speaking with the help of trans- questions you are asked—should we stay or lators to some of the departing Jews and leave? Does the house of Israel have a future Jewesses, sounded genuine. But they have in Europe? Should we move our tents to the been over there for a short time as honored Holy Land even though it is in the hands of guests with red carpets wherever they went. strangers? Should we embark for the land of How will these poor wretches, Europe’s step- the Hurons and Iroquois where, some false children, fare—pale, weak, so defenseless? prophets are saying, the fleshpots of tomor- Perhaps this is another desert generation and row will be found? (Exodus 16:3) I wish I whatever hope there is rests with the next had an answer, my son, but there is no guid- generation. But the odds are against them. ance in our holy books, and even the wisest I went to bed with a heavy heart, not at all of the wise among us fall silent. Let us not sure whether I had witnessed the last act of a put our trust in princes (Psalms 146:3). Per- long tragedy or the beginning of something haps we shall see clearer in the days to come; wholly new. in the multitude of counsellors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14). Marx in London to Heine in Paris, January 1850. Peace be within thy walls. ...I share your misgivings. In fact I am certain Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition nothing can come of this project. After so 1911, “Ottoman Empire” (excerpts). many centuries in the ghetto, the Jews are not …world affairs seem to have bypassed the capable of doing any constructive work. De- eastern regions of the Ottoman empire during generation has proceeded too far and lasted the second half of the 19th century. The in- too long. You talk about new industries—but flux of almost two million European Jews be- what and where? Weaving silk and carpets? tween 1849 and 1855 caused far-reaching The Persians are doing it better. There are no changes in the economy and social structure raw materials upon which new industries of the empire. But these took place only could be based in the Ottoman empire, ex- gradually. cept may be salt from the Dead Sea and that The immigrants were dispersed over the stinking substance called petroleum which is eight cantons originally envisaged by the EIC, extending from Jaffa to Kirkuk. Living ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 14 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard conditions during the first years were ex- dustry came into being which pioneered gra- tremely harsh for the newcomers and they vure and color printing, with the help of were endlessly complaining about their bitter European inventors such as Daguerre and fate. It is estimated that about 100,000 of Fox Talbot, who spent years in Disraelia. them left the country, mostly for America. Also a small and simple camera, predating However, beginning in the 1860s there was the Kodak Brownie (1901) by ten years, was an impressive upswing in economic activity mass-produced and conquered the world in manufacture, trade and transport. The de- markets. cision of the Rothschild committee early on There was some agricultural development but to send some 500 of the most gifted young in view of the lack of water resources it was Jews to study at European universities and decided to restrict it. A new set of railway technical colleges bore fruit. A number of lines now crisscrosses this region and several light industries were established which gave harbors have been built to modern standards. employment to hun- Planners now deal dreds of thousands of with the preparation of Jews, Bedouin and airfields, as this mode Arabs. These indus- of traffic is thought tries caught up and in likely to dominate the some instances over- coming decades. took the United States Population: This re- as well as Europe. gion counts now Modern cities devel- twelve million inhabi- oped in Disraelia (as tants, more than half the region came to be of them of Jewish ex- called), with modern traction. The birthrate amenities. is high (about 4.5), and infant mortality lower A few of these industries ought to be singled than in most European countries. Intermar- out: the canning of food which made it pos- riage, much to everyone’s surprise, is fairly sible to export fruit and vegetables to Europe high. Illiteracy has virtually been stamped at all seasons; textile industries which pro- out and there are eight major universities and duced new, cheaper and more effective fab- corresponding technical research institutes. rics such as viscose as well as synthetic dyes; As a result, this Eastern region of the Otto- a pharmacological industry which pioneered man empire is now of greater economic im- various analgesics; and various cardiac medi- portance than the Western section. Politically cines based on Dead Sea salts but also the Jews have been moving very cautiously. synthetically-produced substances. Dr. Paul They have not pressed for independence but Ehrlich lived in Disraelia for more than a on every occasion profess loyalty to the Sub- decade and Pasteur came for frequent visits. lime Porte and friendship to the other ethnic A whole range of new medical technologies minorities in the Empire. At the same time, were developed. Lastly, a photographic in- the cantons have given them a great measure ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 15 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard of independence to develop their own culture capital where the parliament is convened and indeed their way of life. Hebrew, Turkish during the winter months. A president is and Arabic are official languages, on the elected for four years and there is the princi- same footing. In the northern cantons Kur- ple of alternation, by which a Jew is invaria- manji (Kurdish) is taught but also Balachi, bly followed by a Kurd or an Arab, unless Gilek and other dialects. there is an overwhelming (three-fourths) ma- It was not easy for the Jews to gain the trust jority for reelecting the incumbent. of the Kurds and Arabs, but the Jewish lead- During the turbulent period immediately fol- ers showed shrewdness in selecting their lowing the Great War, Disraelia was several partners, above all the heads of the Rishawi times attacked by its neighbors, but these at- and Dulaimi tribes on the Euphrates, the tacks were easily repelled owing to its own leading, most dynamic figures in Kurdistan superior organization and modern equipment. and Mesopotamia. They have solemnly More serious was the separatist strife inside sworn that there would be absolute equality the country in the late 1920s and the early in the administration of the region, and they 1930s. Matters came to a head with the as- have by and large kept their promise. They sassination in 1929 of the president of Dis- have explained to their interlocutors that raelia, Emanuel Marx (a grandson of Karl separately, each for himself, they would Marx, the Socialist thinker) by a group of achieve nothing, but if they stuck together, Jewish fanatics who demanded the division they might become one day the richest and of the country and the expulsion of all non- most powerful region in the whole Near East. Jews. These extremists were harshly dealt No one talks in present conditions about full with. Their crime was considered not just po- political independence, taxes are paid to the litical murder but high treason; twenty of the Ottoman tax collectors. However, given the ringleaders were ex- slow but seemingly inescapable disintegra- ecuted following the tion of the Ottoman empire, it seems only a verdict of a military question of time until Disraelia will be an in- court appointed dur- dependent state with its own government. ing the state of Where will its capital be? emergency. About Encyclopedia Britannica, supplement 1932. 150 of their militant followers were expelled from the country for perpetuity. Later there During the Great War, soldiers from Disraelia was an attempted coup in the Kurdish-Arab did not have to serve outside their own re- sector which also aimed at the partition of the gion; they persuaded the Young Turks that country. This extremist group had tried to en- their economic and technical contribution to gage in terrorism during a few weeks but the war effort would be more important. found no mass support. The main figures The state of Disraelia came into being as the were apprehended and shot; appeals for result of the peace treaties of Sevres and clemency were disregarded. Lausanne. It is a democratic republic with Tel Following these unfortunate events, mass Aviv as its capital, but Mosul as the second meetings took place in which the unbreak- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 16 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard able unity of the country was reaffirmed by Giselher von Dirksen, German ambassa- leaders of all sides. Freedom of religion is dor in Tel Aviv, to Foreign Ministry in absolute but religious incitement is severely Berlin, November 1933. punished. Since then calm has prevailed in I saw earlier today Sleiman Abdul Hadi, the the country. Disraelian foreign minister, at his request. He Various authors, Disraelia: An Intellectual said that recent speeches by Herr Hitler, the History, page 32. new Chancellor, in which some unfriendly remarks about German Jews and Jews in Disraeli resigned from all his positions in general had been made, had provoked con- 1860 after the survival of his project seemed cern in this country. While he fully realized assured. In his last speech to the Disraelia that every country was at liberty to deal with General Assembly he said, “If you truly want its subjects as it saw fit, he had to emphasize it, it won’t be a fairy tale.” He returned to his that there were considerable sympathies in British career and became prime minister in Disraelia, not only among the Jews, for the 1868. He died in 1882 and is buried in the Jews in Germany, and that such speeches garden of his villa on Mount Carmel. After would not contribute to a better climate in his death, this building became a refuge for world affairs. If Germany was unhappy with distinguished political refugees from all over the 200,000 Jews remaining there, Disraelia the world. Trotsky spent several years there would be happy to receive them. At the same in the 1930s and later also Che Guevara, time, Abdul Hadi extended an invitation to Solzhenitsyn, as well as Ayatollah Khomeini the Fuehrer to come to Disraelia early next and most recently the Saudi entrepreneur year. What was the occasion? An interesting Osama bin Laden. On fine autumn evenings technical experiment would be carried out, in the late 1960s one could watch these four and knowing the Fuehrer’s interest in modern walking in the Carmel forest, surrounded by technology, he though he would not want to several learned rabbis, heatedly discussing miss this. fundamentalism, pro and contra. How to explain this somewhat cryptic invita- The impressive building also served as an In- tion? I suspect I have the explanation. Last stitute of Advanced Philosophical Studies. It week General von Horstenburg, our military is difficult even to imagine the intellectual attaché, returned somewhat shaken from an history of the late event to which all military attachés had been 20th century but for invited. He was in a highly excitable state, a number of histori- almost incoherent—quite unusual, given his cal confrontations stolid character. He repeated time and time which took place in again that he had just witnessed the greatest this building, such as revolution in military warfare in thousands of Heidegger debating years. Pressed by me, he revealed confiden- Wittgenstein. tially that the Disraelians had succeeded in producing a super-bomb which they call an atomic bomb, capable of destroying a city of

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 17 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard many square miles, that is to say the biggest What would be Disraelia’s standing in the cities in the world. He had watched the ex- world? It goes without saying that it would plosion in the desert. The Disraelian chief of be a key member of the United Nations, per- staff in his short speech had stressed that the haps even considered for permanent mem- energy thus released would never be used for bership in the Security Council and chairing military purposes, but the implications were the Commission for Human Rights. clear to all those present. In the cultural area, generous support would There had been rumors to the effect that Dis- be given by Disraelia to struggling universi- raelian research institutes had been engaged ties in the United States and Britain. The U.S. in research in this direction Association for the Promotion of Middle (nuclear fission), but we Eastern Studies would pass an almost unani- had no idea that they had mous resolution demanding an urgent expan- made that much progress. sion of cultural exchanges with Disraelia, as Moreover, this seems to be well as a more constructive attitude towards not the only breakthrough this country, to rectify past neglect by the in military technology they White House and Congress. Leading political have achieved. I am sure science professors of the neo-realistic school, that this information will the various Mzezinskis and Bodenheimers, be checked by the proper institutions in Ber- would complain in their books that the lack lin and submitted to the Fuehrer in person. of warmth in the relations between the two Given this breakthrough and the newly de- countries was not in the best interest of the veloped oil fields in the north of the country, United States, that there was much to be this certainly amounts to a geopolitical revo- learned from the Disraelia experience. Lead- lution of the first magnitude. ing Middle East specialists such as Juan “Disraelia in 2007: The Probable Sce- Finkelstein, Rashid Massad, and Joel Judt nario,” The Journal of Futurist Studies, June would take the lead in founding a 1967. Washington-based pro-Disraelia lobby. The foreign policy of the state would be neu- What of the attitude of leading European and tral (albeit not neutralist). Lobbyists on be- American intellectuals of the left and the half of the United States and NATO would be right, of bishops and moral philosophers? active in trying to establish closer relations in Most of them would be enthusiastic in their various fields and pressing for military bases. approach, almost embarrassingly so, holding Russian lobbyists would be trying equally up the achievements of this state as a shining hard to explain the benefits of a close rap- example for the rest of humankind. One prochement with their country. However, American ex-president would announce that Disraelia would also be part of various re- he and his wife had decided to retire to a gional defense schemes and would partici- place in southern Disraelia to grow a new pate in common maneuvers with Iran. brand of groundnuts. The Disraelian govern- ment would make an unofficial approach to the British Broadcasting Corporation com- ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 18 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard plaining that the one-sided laudatory report- of 1947 vintage; the Indian Constitution in its ing on all things Disraelian was unfair and preamble made this legally impossible. No embarrassing, and likely to provoke resent- one would demand the return of German ment among neighboring refugees from Russia and countries. (BBC correspon- Eastern Europe. More than ten dents had been shown weep- million had been affected at ing uncontrollably at the re- the time. To bring up such his- cent funeral of the prime min- torical incidents would be ister of Disraelia.) morally and politically justi- The International Association fied only in a much wider of Conflict Resolution would framework—if one questioned convene its annual convention all migration in history, or at in Disraelia, to discuss Robert Frost’s “Good least during the last thousand fences made good neighbors—true or false?” years. However, such an approach, it would The majority consensus would be that putting be agreed, would create more problems than up fences or walls has been the best solution it would solve. for keeping the peace from the days of the Some extreme Islamic sects might engage in Great Wall of China to the present (e.g., the incitement against this secular state, but no walls between India and Pakistan in Kashmir responsible Arab or Muslim politician would and between Yemen and Saudi Arabia), to dare to support such propaganda, no more prevent minor skirmishes from turning into than they would dare to attack China, India major battles. The fences (to be called hence- or Russia just because Muslim minorities are forth Walls of Peace and Pacification) would allegedly persecuted in these countries. On be made mandatory by the United Nations to the contrary, Muslim theologians from Al- help peacekeepers all over the world. Azhar to Indonesia would praise the state as True, some contrarian voices would still ar- a model of friendly coexistence between the gue that the state, however great its achieve- Muslim world and the people of the book. A ments, however humanitarian its policies, minor Muslim pilgrimage to Al-Quds (Jeru- was colonialist in nature, founded in part by salem) would be instituted, bringing several settlers from Europe. But these dissenting hundreds of thousand pilgrims each year to voices would not be taken very seriously. pray at the Aqsa Mosque and visit the Dome Against them it would be maintained that of the Rock. Disraelia had come into being well before Walter Laqueur, “Disraelia: A Counter- most other member states of the United Na- factural History,” Middle East Papers, tions, including those in the Middle East. If April 1, 2008. as the result of this process a few had been Once the state had come into being, there forced to leave their original places of resi- would be an almost unlimited number of pos- dence, such cases had occurred all over the sibilities of how it would develop; we cannot world. No one would demand the return of possibly know whether the Second World millions of refugees from India and Pakistan War would have taken place and if so what ______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 19 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard role Disraelia would have played in it. It is But Hitler appeared on the scene only in the quite likely that a Cold War would have oc- next century, and the Ottoman empire sur- curred and that it would have ended as it did. vived another eight decades. The Jews did There would have been crises, domestic and not emigrate when it might have been possi- external, affecting the state as has been the ble, because there seemed no cogent reason case with regard to all nations all over the to do so at the time. There is a world of dif- world. There would have been setbacks; not ference between 1848 and 1948; what was all dreams would have ripened. possible a century earlier was no longer pos- But there is much reason to believe that this sible a hundred years later. Jewish assimila- state, given a high birth rate, would have tion was much more advanced; Arab nation- some sixty million inhabitants at the begin- alism had awakened. ning of the 21st century. It would have ad- One century could have been the difference vanced industries, leading the world in fields between a strong and rich state, universally such as nuclear and computer technologies. It respected, and a small and relatively weak would be the fifth-largest oil producer in the country, isolated, without important natural world, economically reasonably healthy with resources. There is a vast difference between a growth rate of 6-8 percent, competitive a state of six million inhabitants and one with with Europe, America and even Asia. It sixty, fortified by considerable oil fields and would have powerful armed forces, living in reserves. In terms of Realpolitik as well as peace with its neighbors, at least to the extent moral legitimacy, six million are bad, an invi- that peaceful relations could be expected in tation to all kind of calamities; sixty million this unquiet part of the world. It would not be are beyond good and evil, other categories a model state, but by the standards of time apply. To quote Animal Farm, four legs good, and place, considered much better that aver- two legs bad. Or as Marx would have put it age. No one would dare to question its right in a letter to Moses Hess (who never finished to exist, and those who did would not be studying his Hegel): quantity is becoming a taken seriously. new quality. What is considered normal be- havior in the case of a state counting sixty Could such a state have come into being? million is a moral outrage when done by a Perhaps—assuming that the great anti- small country. In the circumstances, a small Semitic wave would have occurred in Europe state was bound to be considered an intruder eighty years earlier than it did, provided the and an enemy. A bigger and stronger state Ottoman empire would have disintegrated might have been accepted. eighty years earlier, and provided that the Jews of Europe would have read the signs of These basic insights of political science and the times correctly, and under wise leadership moral philosophy have unfortunately not yet would have followed a policy leading them been fully digested by many in Israel and to peaceful solutions. outside it. ••

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 20 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard Walter Laqueur Middle East Strategy Middle East Papers at Harvard

Walter Laqueur has written more Middle East Strategy at Harvard than twenty books, translated into (MESH) is a project of the John as many languages. He was a co- M. Olin Institute for Strategic founder and editor of the Journal Studies at the Weatherhead Center of Contemporary History in Lon- for International Affairs, Harvard Middle East Papers is a series of don and the Washington Quar- University. MESH is a community occasional studies published by terly. Concurrently he was chair- of scholars and practitioners who Middle East Strategy at Harvard. man of the International Research are interested in the formulation of Middle East Papers is distributed Council of the Washington-based U.S. strategic options for the Mid- exclusively as an e-publication. Center for Strategic and Interna- dle East. MESH brings together Read more about the series and tional Studies (CSIS). He has the most original strategic thinkers download papers here: taught at Georgetown, Chicago, in academe, research centers, and http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/ Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Brandeis, government, in a web-based forum papers for exchanging and disseminating and Tel Aviv universities. He lives Copyright © 2008 President and ideas. in Washington, D.C. Fellows of Harvard College. Find MESH at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh

______Walter Laqueur :: Disraelia: A Counterfactual History 21 Middle East Papers :: Middle East Strategy at Harvard