DOCSLIB.ORG

Zionism, Demography and Democracy in Mandate Palestine

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Zionism, Demography and Democracy in Mandate Palestine People Who Count: Zionism, Demography and Democracy in Mandate Palestine By Nimrod Lin A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto © Copyright by Nimrod Lin 2018 People Who Count: Zionism, Demography and Democracy in Mandate Palestine Nimrod Lin Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This dissertation examines the ways in which demographic knowledge shaped Zionist attitudes towards majority rule and minority rights in Mandate Palestine (1917-1948). In 1917, Jews comprised 10% of Palestine’s population; by 1947, their share of the population rose to 30%, almost entirely due to immigration from Europe. The Zionist Organization was aware of this trend and articulated its political demands in accordance with not only the current number of Jews living in Palestine, but also statistical projections of the number of Jews who would enter the country in the future. I argue that from a demographic-political point of view, the Mandate years should be divided into two periods. Between 1917 and 1937, the Zionist leadership successfully prevented the establishment of majoritarian self-governing institutions, and espoused the principle of mutual non-domination, which dictated that Jews would not rule over Arabs and vice versa. In practice, the Zionists advocated the creation of two separate autonomous national communities under British federal rule, or complete parity between Jews and Arabs in Palestine’s self-governing institutions. Although the British and the Arabs rejected both proposals, the Zionist leadership was able to prevent the creation of a joint political structure in which the Arabs would enjoy a clear majority. ii The second period began when the Zionist Organization tentatively accepted the 1937 British proposal to establish a Jewish state in part of Palestine, a decision that radically changed Zionist political discourse. Given the demographic makeup of Palestine, according to the partition proposal almost half of the future Jewish state’s inhabitants would have been Arab. This meant that the Zionist leadership had to jettison the principle of mutual non-domination and think seriously about the rights of the Arab minority in the Jewish state to be. The issue of mass transfer of Arabs out of the Jewish state now became an inextricable part of Zionist political discourse, since it was seen by most Zionist leaders as a measure that would consolidate the Jewish character of the state. This discourse, which revolves around the management of the Arab minority’s size and rights, has persisted in Israeli politics to this day. iii Acknowledgments Many people have helped me complete this dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank Derek Penslar, whose sage advice and patience made the whole process a relative breeze. I would also like to thank Doris Bergen and Jens Hanssen for asking tough questions about the place of my research in broader fields of knowledge. Jessica Radin has read the whole text carefully and made sure my English was not too incomprehensible. Evan Dokos and Tom Frydel engaged me in endless entertaining conversations, both academic and lay. Gil Rubin, Eli Osheroff, Arie Dubnov, Aldea Mulhern, Anthea Darychuk, Nimrod Reitman, Ariel Schwartz, Assaf Gilad, Itay Tokatly, Omri Sheffer Raviv, Annie Perez, Rafi Stern, Daniel Monterescu, Yaniv Feller, Orit Rozin, Anat Leibler, Matan Boord, Dan Rosenthal, Dan Deutsch, and Ari Barell have all contributed in their own way to my work and wellbeing. Finally, I would like to thank my family – Rachel, Michael, Yotam, Ella, Nadav and Hadas – for supporting me, emotionally and materially, throughout this long process. iv Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Zionism and the Idea of a Joint Legislature I, 1918-1924 ................................ 25 2. Time between Suns: Zionism and the Idea of a Joint Legislature, 1925- 1929 .............................................................................................................................................. 58 3. The Nobleman and the Bear: Zionism and the Joint Legislature III, 1929- 1936 ............................................................................................................................................ 101 4. From Parity to Partition: Zionist Reactions to the Arab Revolt, April 1936- August 1937 ............................................................................................................................ 164 5. The Arithmetic of Rights: Zionist Intellectuals Imagining the Arab Minority January 1937-July 1938 .................................................................................. 218 6. A Tale of Two Committees: Zionist Demographic Thought During the Second World War, 1942-1946 ...................................................................................... 263 7. Absentees: The Arab Minority and the Making of Israeli Democracy, November 1947-January 1949 ........................................................................................ 303 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 332 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 337 v Introduction The present dissertation seeks to understand how the desire to create a Jewish majority in Palestine, and the demographic knowledge it produced, shaped Zionist thought regarding democratic rule, minority rights, and minority-majority relations during the years of British rule in Palestine (1917-1948). By studying the link between demographic and democratic thought, I attempt to address a significant lacuna in the history of Israel\Palestine. Since the early 1990s students of Israel have debated the scope, merit, and, indeed, the very existence of Israeli democracy.1 This debate, conducted mainly among political scientists, almost uniformly begins from the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, as if the state had sprung, Athena-like, from the forehead of Zeus, with a Jewish majority in tow. What is missing from these studies is an account of the Zionist struggle to create a Jewish majority in Palestine – the sine qua non of Israeli democracy – before 1948. Nevertheless, studies of Zionist politics prior to 1948 have treated the formation of Zionist democratic practices as an exclusively intra-Jewish affair. For example, the editors of a recent volume on the history of Israeli democracy, Ba-derekh ha-demokratit (on the democratic way), make the claim that the origins of Israeli democracy go all the way back to the First Temple period and conclude that Israeli democracy is, ultimately, a 1 See, for example: Sami Smooha, “Minority Status in an Ethnic Democracy: The Status of the Arab Minority in Israel”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1990), pp. 389-413; As’ad Ghanem, Nadim Rouhana and Oren Yiftachel, “Questioning ‘Ethnic Democracy”: A Response to Sammy Smooha”, Israel Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1998), pp. 253-267; Gershon Shafir and Yoav Peled, “Citizenship and Stratification in an Ethnic Democracy”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3 (1998), pp. 408-427; Alan Dowty, “Is Israel Democratic? Substance and Semantics in the ‘Ethnic Democracy’ Debate”, Israel Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1999), pp. 1-15; Ruth Gavison, “Jewish and Democratic? A Rejoinder to the ‘Ethnic Democracy’ Debate”, Israel Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1999), pp. 44-72; Oren Ben-Dor, “Debating Israeli Ethnocracy and the Challenges of Secular Democracy: I. A Critique of Oren Yiftachel”, Holy Land Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2007), pp. 177-195. 1 2 “natural link” in the great chain of Jewish history.2 Many of the volume’s chapters deal with pre-1948 Zionism, but none of them examine the Zionist-Arab conflict in any substantial way. This approach is shared by many scholars of the Yishuv – the pre-1948 Jewish community in Palestine – who tend to study its political institutions in isolation from their Arab counterparts, usually making the case that Jewish politics were broadly democratic while Arab politics were not. The isolationist approach was given a forceful articulation in a seminal work by sociologists Moshe Lissak and Dan Horowitz, who describe Mandatory Palestine as a dual society in which two separate national communities existed with very “limited mutual relations” between them.3 The dual society hypothesis allowed Lissak and Horowitz to make an all-too-neat distinction between the Yishuv, which “established elected representative institutions” and the Arab community, which did not.4 The dichotomy between the democratic Zionist movement and the oligarchic Arab national movement, however, cannot explain why the Zionist leaders opposed the establishment of a joint parliament in Palestine in the 1930s, while the Arab leaders supported it. Interestingly, more critical studies of the Yishuv share Horowitz and Lissak’s tendency to study Zionist democracy in a vacuum. In the late 1970s, sociologist Yonathan Shapiro published two studies on the formation of Israeli democracy, both of which deal extensively with the Mandate period, with almost no reference to the Zionist-Arab conflict.5 More recent studies, such as Ze’ev Sternhall’s examination of Labor Zionist 2 Allon Gal, Gershon Bacon,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Israel: a Concise History of a Nation Reborn
    Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING A book like Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, by definition covers Israel’s history from a bird’s-eye view. Every event, issue, and personality discussed in these pages has been the subject of much investigation and writing. There are many wonderful books that, by focusing on subjects much more specific, are able to examine the issues the issues covered in this book in much greater detail. The following are my rather idiosyncratic recommendations for a few that will be of interest to the general reader interested in delving more deeply into some of the issues raised in this book. There are many other superb books, not listed here, equally worth reading. I would be pleased to receive your recommendations for works to consider adding. Please feel free to click on the “Contact” button on my website to be in touch. Introduction: A Grand Human Story • Gilbert, Martin. Israel: A History. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. • Gilbert, Martin. The Story of Israel: From Theodor Herzl to the Roadmap for Peace. London: Andre Deutsch, 2011. • Laqueur, Walter. A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel. New York: Schocken Books, 1976. • Shapira, Anita. Israel: A History. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2012. • Center for Israel Education online resources: https://israeled.org/ Chapter 1: Poetry and Politics—The Jewish Nation Seeks a Home • Avineri, Shlomo. Herzl: Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • Adler-Rudel's Visits to Sweden1
    1 Adler-Rudel's visits to Sweden1 C.G.McKAY While Raoul Wallenberg's detention by the Soviet organs and his final fate in Russian hands still remain matters for speculation , there has, by contrast, been a steady and useful accumulation of material disgorged from non-Russian archives casting new light on the broader context of his mission to Budapest . This has been valuable because the mission itself- and not just its aftermath – is worthy of careful historical study. The present essay is to be seen essentially as a contribution to an ongoing process of contextualization – that is to say, placing the mission in context . In particular , it aims at improving understanding of some of the preliminary work paving the way for the Swede's eventual dispatch to Hungary in mid-1944. In a year devoted to celebrating Raoul Wallenberg's individual contribution to rescue efforts, it is easy to lose sight of a familiar truth: most of what is worthwhile in life is not the product of a moment and the work of a single person. Rather it is something which is embedded in a historical process and depends on the efforts – not always successful - of many different people with different skills. 1. A Jewish Visitor from Britain On 24 February 1943, an unusual visitor flew into Sweden from Britain. As he was to recall later, For more than three years no representative of a foreign Jewish organisation had visited Stockholm and my arrival created something of a stir. The visitor's name was Solomon Adler-Rudel 1 © C.G.McKay .
    [Show full text]
  • The British Labour Party and Zionism, 1917-1947 / by Fred Lennis Lepkin
    THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY AND ZIONISM: 1917 - 1947 FRED LENNIS LEPKIN BA., University of British Columbia, 196 1 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History @ Fred Lepkin 1986 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 1986 All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Name : Fred Lennis Lepkin Degree: M. A. Title of thesis: The British Labour Party and Zionism, - Examining Committee: J. I. Little, Chairman Allan B. CudhgK&n, ior Supervisor . 5- - John Spagnolo, ~upervis&y6mmittee Willig Cleveland, Supepiso$y Committee -Lenard J. Cohen, External Examiner, Associate Professor, Political Science Dept.,' Simon Fraser University Date Approved: August 11, 1986 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay The British Labour Party and Zionism, 1917 - 1947.
    [Show full text]
  • Jerusalem Between Segregation and Integration: Reading Urban Space Through the Eyes of Justice Gad Frumkin
    chapter 8 Jerusalem between Segregation and Integration: Reading Urban Space through the Eyes of Justice Gad Frumkin Y. Wallach Introduction Jerusalem is seen as an archetypal example of a divided city, where extreme ethno-national polarization is deep rooted in a long history of segregation. In this chapter I challenge this perception by re-examining urban dynamics of late Ottoman and British Mandate Jerusalem, while questioning the manner in which urban segregation is theorized and understood. In the past few decades, there has been a reinvigorated scholarly discus- sion of urban segregation, driven by the challenges of difference and diversity.1 Entrenched segregation between different groups (defined by race, ethnicity, religion or class), or the “parallel lives” of different communities, living side by side with little contact, are seen to undermine the multicultural model of the late twentieth century. At the same time, mechanistic models of integration through urban mixing are increasingly challenged, and it is no longer accepted as evident that segregation is always undesirable. Nor is it obvious that everyday contact between different communities necessarily helps to engender greater understanding and dialogue. Scholars have been debating how to locate the discussion of urban encounter and segregation in the lived experience of the city. Writing on this topic suffers from the idealization of urban cosmopoli- tanism, on the one hand, or, conversely, describing segregation in overdeter- mined terms. To avoid this double pitfall, closer attention to the historical and spatial context is necessary, as well as close examination of socioeconomic real- ities. One suggestion, that I follow in this chapter, is to focus on life histories.2 By 1 This chapter forms part of ‘Conflict in Cities and the Contested Stated’ project, funded by the esrc’s Large Grants Programme (res-060-25-0015).
    [Show full text]
  • Water Justice: Water As a Human Right in Israel
    NO.15 ~ MARCH 2005 ~ ENGLISH VERSION Israel Water Justice: Water as a Human Right in Israel By Tamar Keinan, Friends of the Earth Middle East, Israel Editor: Gidon Bromberg, Friends of the Earth Middle East Series’ coordinator: Simone Klawitter, policy advisor Translated from Hebrew by: Ilana Goldberg Global Issue Papers, No. 15 Water Justice: Water as a Human Right in Israel: Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, office Tel Aviv 24, Nahalat Binyamin 65162 Tel Aviv, Israel Phone: 00972-3-5167734/5 Fax: 00972-3-5167689 © Heinrich Böll Foundation 2005 All rights reserved in cooperation with EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) 85 Nehalat Benyamin St., Tel Aviv 66102, Israel The following paper does not necessarily represent the views of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Note of Gratitude I would like to acknowledge the assistance and comments given by Zach Tagar and Sharon Karni staff members of the FoEME Tel-Aviv office, as well as that of a team of NGO colleagues including Shimon Tzuk, Israel Union for Environmental Defence, Nir Papay, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and Orit, Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, Dr. David Brooks, Friends of the Earth Canada. I would like to acknowledge special gratitude to Simone Klawitter and Julia Scherf, from the Heinrich Böll Foundation for their helpful comments, support and taking the initiative of launching this important report series. - 2 - Foreword This publication is part of a Heinrich Böll Foundation series on Water as a Human Right in the Middle East. Prior to this study on Israel, the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Arab Middle East Office in Ramallah commissioned studies on Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940
    Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940 Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access Open Jerusalem Edited by Vincent Lemire (Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University) and Angelos Dalachanis (French School at Athens) VOLUME 1 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/opje Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940 Opening New Archives, Revisiting a Global City Edited by Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire LEIDEN | BOSTON Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the prevailing CC-BY-NC-ND License at the time of publication, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. The Open Jerusalem project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) (starting grant No 337895) Note for the cover image: Photograph of two women making Palestinian point lace seated outdoors on a balcony, with the Old City of Jerusalem in the background. American Colony School of Handicrafts, Jerusalem, Palestine, ca. 1930. G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/mamcol.054/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dalachanis, Angelos, editor.
    [Show full text]
  • A Pre-Feasibility Study on Water Conveyance Routes to the Dead
    A PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY ON WATER CONVEYANCE ROUTES TO THE DEAD SEA Published by Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ketura, D.N Hevel Eilot 88840, ISRAEL. Copyright by Willner Bros. Ltd. 2013. All rights reserved. Funded by: Willner Bros Ltd. Publisher: Arava Institute for Environmental Studies Research Team: Samuel E. Willner, Dr. Clive Lipchin, Shira Kronich, Tal Amiel, Nathan Hartshorne and Shae Selix www.arava.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 HISTORICAL REVIEW 5 2.1 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MED-DEAD SEA CONVEYANCE PROJECT ................................................................... 7 2.2 THE HISTORY OF THE CONVEYANCE SINCE ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE .................................................................. 9 2.3 UNITED NATIONS INTERVENTION ......................................................................................................... 12 2.4 MULTILATERAL COOPERATION ............................................................................................................ 12 3 MED-DEAD PROJECT BENEFITS 14 3.1 WATER MANAGEMENT IN ISRAEL, JORDAN AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ............................................... 14 3.2 POWER GENERATION IN ISRAEL ........................................................................................................... 18 3.3 ENERGY SECTOR IN THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY .................................................................................... 20 3.4 POWER GENERATION IN JORDAN ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Doktori (Phd) Értekezés
    NEMZETI KÖZSZOLGÁLATI EGYETEM Hadtudományi Doktori Iskola Doktori (PhD) értekezés Kis J. Ervin Budapest, 2017. NEMZETI KÖZSZOLGÁLATI EGYETEM Hadtudományi Doktori Iskola Kis J. Ervin A LÉGVÉDELMI ÉS LÉGIERŐK EVOLÚCIÓJA, HELYE, SZEREPE, AZ ARAB-IZRAELI 1967-ES, 1973-AS és 1982- ES HÁBORÚK SORÁN, VALAMINT AZ IZRAELI LÉGIERŐ HAMÁSZ ÉS A HEZBOLLAH ELLENI HÁBORÚS ALKALMAZÁSÁNAK TAPASZTALATAI Doktori (PhD) értekezés Témavezető: Dr. habil. Jobbágy Zoltán ezredes, (Ph.D.) egyetemi docens Budapest, 2017 2 TARTALOMJEGYZÉK I. BEVEZETÉS ....................................................................................................................... 5 I.1. A kutatási témaválasztás indoklás ..................................................................................... 9 I.2 A kutatási téma feldolgozásának és aktualitásának indoklása ........................................ 9 I.3 A tudományos probléma megfogalmazása ................................................................... 12 I.4 Hipotézisek ..... .................................................................................................................... 14 I.5 Kutatási célok...................................................................................................................... 14 I.6 Alkalmazott kutatási módszerek ...................................................................................... 20 I.7. A témával foglalkozó szakirodalom áttekintése.................................................. .............21 I.8 Az értekezés felépítése .......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • (Ethnic) Nationalism. the Origins and Critique of the Dichotomy
    polish 3()’ 171 10 sociological review ISSN 1231 – 1413 KRZYSZTOF JASKUŁOWSKI Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities Western (civic) versus Eastern (ethnic) Nationalism. The Origins and Critique of the Dichotomy Abstract: The author focuses on Hans Kohn (1891–1971) who is generally regarded as the founding father of modern Anglophone academic research on nationalism. He was first to adopt a more neutral stance toward nationalism, one that made sustained attempt at dispassionate analysis of the phenomenon in order to define, classify and explain it. However, not only did he bring in a innovative and novel perspective to the subject by producing broad comparative studies but he was responsible for introducing one of the basic and long-lasting themes to the study of nationalism, namely a strongly moralistic distinction between a good nationalism, which he associated with the West, and a bad nationalism allegedly typical for the non-Western world. The paper discusses three questions: first, how did Kohn conceptualize the differences between the two types of nationalism? Second, how and why did he come to his conclusions and, finally, if it can be argued as many authors claim, that his discrimination between the two types of nationalism are valid and useful? Keywords: Hans Kohn; nationalism; Eastern nationalism; ethnic nationalism; Western nationalism; civic nationalism; nationalism studies. Introduction Anglophone students of nationalism have recognized Hans Kohn (1891–1971) as one of the most learned and influential authorities on history of nationalism (Wolf 1976: 651; Kuzio 2002; Özkirimli 2000; Snyder 1995). Kohn’s works together with the writings of Carlton Hayes are generally regarded as a turning point in the study of nationalism in the English-speaking world.
    [Show full text]
  • List of the Archives of Organizations and Bodies Held at the Central
    1 Guide to the Archival Record Groups and Collections Notation Record group / Collection Dates Scanning Quantity 1. Central Offices of the World Zionist Organization and of the Jewish Agency for Palestine/Israel abroad Z1 Central Zionist Office, Vienna 1897-1905 scanned 13.6 Z2 Central Zionist Office, Cologne 1905-1911 scanned 11.8 not Z3 Central Zionist Office, Berlin 1911-1920 31 scanned The Zionist Organization/The Jewish Agency for partially Z4 1917-1955 215.2 Palestine/Israel - Central Office, London scanned The Jewish Agency for Palestine/Israel - American Section 1939 not Z5 (including Palestine Office and Zionist Emergency 137.2 onwards scanned Council), New York Nahum Goldmann's offices in New York and Geneva. See Z6 1936-1982 scanned 33.2 also Office of Nahum Goldmann, S80 not Z7 Mordecai Kirshenbloom's Office 1957-1968 7.8 scanned 2. Departments of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Palestine/Israel in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa not S1 Treasury Department 1918-1978 147.7 scanned not S33 Treasury Department, Budget Section 1947-1965 12.5 scanned not S105 Treasury Department, Section for Financial Information 1930-1959 12.8 scanned partially S6 Immigration Department 1919-1980 167.5 scanned S3 Immigration Department, Immigration Office, Haifa 1921-1949 scanned 10.6 S4 Immigration Department, Immigration Office, Tel Aviv 1920-1948 scanned 21.5 not S120 Absorption Department, Section for Yemenite Immigrants 1950-1957 1.7 scanned S84 Absorption Department, Jerusalem Regional Section 1948-1960 scanned 8.3 2 Guide to the Archival Record Groups and Collections not S112 Absorption Department, Housing Division 1951-1967 4 scanned not S9 Department of Labour 1921-1948 25.7 scanned Department of Labour, Section for the Supervision of not S10 1935-1947 3.5 Labour Exchanges scanned Agricultural Settlement Department.
    [Show full text]
  • The Signatories of the Israel Declaration of Independence
    Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Signatories of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel The British Mandate over Palestine was due to end on May 15, 1948, some six months after the United Nations had voted to partition Palestine into two states: one for the Jews, the other for the Arabs. While the Jews celebrated the United Nations resolution, feeling that a truncated state was better than none, the Arab countries rejected the plan, and irregular attacks of local Arabs on the Jewish population of the country began immediately after the resolution. In the United Nations, the US and other countries tried to prevent or postpone the establishment of a state, suggesting trusteeship, among other proposals. But by the time the British Mandate was due to end, the United Nations had not yet approved any alternate plan; officially, the partition plan was still "on the books." A dilemma faced the leaders of the yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine. Should they declare the country's independence upon the withdrawal of the British mandatory administration, despite the threat of an impending attack by Arab states? Or should they wait, perhaps only a month or two, until conditions were more favorable? Under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, who was to become the first Prime Minister of Israel, theVa'ad Leumi - the representative body of the yishuv under the British mandate - decided to seize the opportunity. At 4:00 PM on Friday, May 14, the national council, which had directed the Jewish community's affairs under the British Mandate, met in the Tel Aviv Museum on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Understanding the Zionist World Cons Piracy
    1 Understanding The Zionist World Cons piracy Zionism is a Cultural Cancer that is Destroying White Nations! By Making Destructive Behavior Socially Acceptable The Zionists have emasculated our nation by destroying our pride in America‘s Christian history. Without a commonly held memory a nation ceases to exist as a cohesive unit. The Zionists have labeled America‘s Christian Founding Fathers as ―racists‖ and ―white slavers‖ while at the same time suppressing the fact that the Zionists fi- nanced and participated in the Black slave trade. The Zionists have promoted multicultura lis m, celebrating every culture, no matter how backward and barbaric, except for White Western European culture. The Zionists have dri- ven our Christian heritage from the public square through the efforts of the ADL and the ACLU Lobby Groups. American children will grow up in a society wiped clean of any vestiges of the Bible, Christ or the Cross. However, the Menorah is still allowed in public displays and in the White House for Hannukah celebrations. The Zionists have torn our borders wide open, permitting, indeed cheering, the Third World immigrants who will soon replace the White Christian American majority. The Jacob Javits‘s and the Lautenbergs have designed legislation that will, in the not too distant future, eventually genocide the White Race of people. They have done all this while simultaneously supporting a Zionist-only State in the Middle East. The Zionists have pushed, created and profited from pornography and perverse entertainment. The Zionists make up 90% of all American pornog- raphers. The Hollywood they run has mainstreamed wife-swapping, common law marriages, fornication, homo- sexuality, lesbianism, transvestitism, pedophilia, drug and alcohol abuse and self-indulgence.
    [Show full text]