COLONIALISM AND THE TRANSITION TO US INFLUENCE Throughout the nineteenth and early twenti- movement which aimed to repatriate European eth centuries, the Great Powers of Europe— Jews in the Holy Land. By 1922 a Palestinian principally Britain, France, and Russia but also Mandate—essentially a colony sanctioned by Germany and, in the later years, Italy—competed the League of Nations—was in place under for influence and domination in the lands aban- British administration. It would last, not with- doned by the Ottomans (who had maintained out conflict, until the declaration of the state an empire in the region for centuries). Britain of Israel in 1948. had interests in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, At this point in Middle Eastern history, with southern Iran, southern Iraq, Afghanistan, most of the area under direct or indirect for- Palestine, and elsewhere. The French had a eign rule, nationalist forces arose. In Iran, the presence in Lebanon, parts of Syria, and North Persians refused to accept British oversight. Africa. The Russians had interests in northern General Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi) Iran and Syria, among other areas. led a military coup and established a nationalis- With the advent of World War I, the entire tic, modernizing government (1921). In 1925 he region was thrown into disarray. British armies removed the last of the Qajar royals and became occupied parts of Iraq and sought to gain a shah. Meanwhile, in Turkey, General Mustafa firmer foothold in the Arabian Peninsula. The Kemal Atatürk rallied his fellow countrymen. British promised a kingdom in that region to the Within a few years he had put down opposition Sharif of Mecca in exchange for his expelling both inside and outside of Turkey, angled to get the last remnants of Ottoman control. In the a fair peace settlement from the Allies, and cre- end, however, the British reneged. Under the ated a secular, nationalist republic (1923). This Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), the French and marked the final end of the Ottoman Empire. the British agreed to divide the lands of eastern On the Arabian Peninsula, a long string of Arabia between them: the French would gain post–World War I tribal wars continued into control of Syria, Lebanon, and parts of Anatolia the 1920s. By 1926, however, the powerful Al while the British would obtain most of Iraq and Saud family had gained the upper hand, putting areas surrounding the Persian Gulf. Russia, too, down Sharif Hussein and other opponents. In would acquire lands around the Bosporus and 1932, the peninsula was united as a kingdom the Black Sea. under Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud (reigned 1932– Around this time, too, in November 1917, 53). Oil was discovered in the kingdom in the the British issued the Balfour Declaration, mid-1930s, and through the consortium known which supported the idea of a Jewish home- as Aramco (made up of American and British land in Palestine. This helped bolster the oil companies), vast sums of money were trans- actions of the leaders of a growing Zionist ferred to the Saudi rulers. Both the British and, 1 2 • COLONIALISM AND THE TRANSITION TO US INFLUENCE increasingly, the United States coveted these a US and British-backed coup ousted Prime resources. Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, Following World War II, the United States added to mistrust of the United States in the began to emerge as the major outside power Middle East. (The action would come back to in the Middle East. The European powers had roost when, in 1979, Iran ousted the US-backed either been pushed out in the course of the war shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [ruled 1941–79] (as in the case of Italy and Germany) or pres- and declared an Islamic republic there.) In the sured to exit due to domestic events or new case of the United States, the three main inter- developments in the region. France hung on ests in the region were Persian Gulf oil, support to its colony in Algeria, but after a long, dirty and protection of the new state of Israel (from war there (1954–62) it lost control and left the 1948), and containment of the Soviet Union. country, which became independent. As addi- These goals proved difficult to manage, espe- tional nationalistic movements took root and cially with the rise of Arab nationalism. swept through the region, Britain, too, exited The United States was among the first nations under pressure from Egypt’s Gamal Abdel to recognize Israel in 1948. That same year war Nasser (ruled 1956–70). erupted between the new Israeli government The United States viewed these nationalist and the Palestinian Arabs backed by Jordan movements as being aligned with the Soviet and Egypt. Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria each Union and communism, which was only partially absorbed significant populations of Palestinian true. Washington’s intervention in Iran, where refugees after the 1948–49 war. � On the Jewish State Date: 1896 Author: Theodor Herzl Geographic region: Jewish homeland Genre: Political pamphlet Summary Overview Der Judenstaat, or On the Jewish State, was written by Theodor Herzl, one of the founding members of the modern Zionist movement. The text reproduced here represents segments of a pamphlet that Herzl circulated in 1896. Herzl’s pamphlet was discussed thoroughly at the first Zionist Congress in 1897, which he largely organized. Herzl was arguing for the creation of Jewish state, preferably in the ancient Jewish homeland (in what was then Palestine). Realizing, however, that people already inhabited that region, Herzl was willing to point to a new home- land for his fellow Jews in part of modern-day Uganda. The Jewish people had lived much of their history in dispersed communities in different part of the globe, he noted, although they were originally situated mainly in one area of the ancient Near East, the kingdom of Judea. Over time, that kingdom grew and shrank, was conquered and retaken, and was finally decimated by the Romans. In the decades and centuries after the fall, most Jews ended up scattering and relocating to areas that were nominally tolerant of their religion and historical background. Those belonging to the Zionist movement, which was beginning to gain ground at the time of Herzl’s pamphlet, sought to bring together all Jews in a province or country of their own. Defining Moment bce, but the Roman banishment was the most lasting. As of the late nineteenth century, there When this pamphlet originally came out, the were only glimmerings of hope about possibly Jewish people had been expelled from their reuniting the Jews in their ancient homeland or homeland for 1,761 years. After the Bar Kokhba somewhere else. rebellion against Rome and its Emperor Hadrian, As is usual when a group has been marginal- Hadrian commanded that all Jews must leave ized, a few souls stand out as leaders seeking to their homeland and never return. This forced improve the prospects of their people. Theodor the population, already spread out over the Herzl was one such person, and he found many Roman Empire, to move even farther away from other like-minded activists when he formed the their ancestral territory. Many relocated to parts First Zionist Congress in 1897. The Jewish com- of Europe, north Africa, and other areas where munities throughout the world had faced hard- they could make a new home for themselves. ship and degradation for hundreds of years, but Every Jew was now part of a diaspora, or an most of them had found ways to function and exile community. This was not an entirely novel even thrive within the borders of the German, concept for the Jewish people, as they had been Polish, Italian, or other states in which they expelled for the first time in the eighth century were situated. Overall, while many people in the 3 4 • COLONIALISM AND THE TRANSITION TO US INFLUENCE The book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, 1896) by Theodor Herzl. On the Jewish State • 5 Jewish diaspora were enthusiastic about com- typhus). While identifying as ethnic Jews, the ing together once again as a single community, family was largely secular. During his studies at few were quite ready to abandon the lives they school Herzl became entranced by German cul- had built for themselves in their adopted coun- ture and believed that the Germans were the most tries, where, oftentimes, they and their ances- civilized of the European peoples. That belief tors had lived for ages. Some people feared, too, caused him to think that through intense study that they might be treated worse by non-Jewish of European classical literature, he and his fellow populations if they distinguished themselves as Jews might separate themselves from an ethnicity Jews first and foremost and expressed their wish that some among them considered unfortunate or to leave. even shameful. The self-directed anti-Semitism The Zionist push for Jewish recognition and of such thoughts did not fade in Herzl until he independence gained momentum in the last enrolled in the University of Vienna. decades of the nineteenth century and the early After studying law at university, Herzl had a years of the twentieth, in part because of Herzl short legal career and then directed his attention and the Zionist Congress but also because of to journalism. He eventually became the editor the work of other activists and a growing interest of Neue Freie Presse (New Free Press), a Parisian among the populace at large. The idea to create publication. Through his experiences in Paris a new homeland for the Jews in Palestine, first and other parts of Europe, Herzl became disil- formally proposed at the 1897 congress, was lusioned by the anti-Semitism that seemed to called the Basel (Basle) Program, after the Swiss be everywhere.