In today's Guardian Jonathan Freedland discusses very eloquently whether the Labour Party under our Jezza have gone soft on antisemitism after comments from Labour Party members were allowed to pass unchecked by the party hierarchy, and he suggests that current anti-Jewish feelings are being further inflamed by recent developments in the long-standing Israel-Palestinian conflict. He goes onto suggest that Britain (and other European) colonial powers are historically culpable for much of the current tensions in the region and in taking the moral high ground (as witnessed by the comments of Downing & Kirby) we are basically on very shaky and dangerous ground.
I couldn't agree more. I have said time and again that in spite of the recent history of this particular conflict, which incidentally has been ongoing in one form or another since the late 19th century if not before, that Britain, France and the post-War powers are largely culpable and liable for the present chaos we see in the region as a whole and (I believe) need to hold their hands up and take greater responsibility for the ongoing mess that we see on our TV's on a daily basis.
The problem is not just one of Jews against Arabs (including the Palestinians) or vice versa, because it all goes much, much deeper than that. Historically of course the Jewish people had always lacked a homeland, though their spiritual home had always been the regions of the Middle-Eastern Levante. Perhaps inevitably, rampant antisemitism through the ages and the lack of a place to call home, had to lead in the end to the idea of Zionism as originally championed by Rabbi Sholomo Alkalai in his 1834 booklet Shema Yisrael, where he called for the establishment of Jewish colonies in (what was then) Palestine. The first Aliyah* began within a generation (1882-1902), but it wasn't really till after the beginning of the second Aliyah in 1904 that Arab resistance to the Jewish settlements in Palestine really took hold.
In 1917 the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, in a letter to Lord Rothschild, gave the first official acknowledgement of the need to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This led to an agreement at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of WW1 to grant the British a mandate in Palestine to establish a Jewish homeland based on the so-called Balfour Agreement. However, during the 1920's Arab resistance to continued Jewish immigration into Palestine led the British High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel (himself a Jew) and Head of the Colonial Office, Winston Churchill, to attempt to establish a Palestinian Constitution which would include all secular and non-secular factions of the Arabs, Christians and Jews, who would have been a minority on the legislative Council (Jews only accounted for ~11% of the total population at the time) but who had, nevertheless, agreed to the Constitution because the Balfour Agreement was enshrined within it. The Palestinian Arabs objected to some of the wording in the so-called 'Churchill White Paper' which they deemed to be pro-Zionist taking exception to phrases such as 'Palestine (was destined to become) as Jewish as England is English' and they rejected the Constitution under this basis and once again the establishment of the Jewish homeland came into doubt.
Jewish immigration into Palestine continued during the 20's and 30's leading to increasing tension and dissatisfaction on both sides with the Palestinian Arabs fearing that their population, culture and language would eventually become subordinate, or perhaps even disappear altogether, beneath the British-backed Jewish demands and claims. The growing disenfranchisement of the Palestinians was increased by the lack of a unified Arab response to continued Jewish immigration into Palestine and by what they saw as complicit British involvement in the loss of their land, jobs and livelihoods. Incidents such as the 'wailing wall' crisis in 1929 and continued civil unrest on both sides led to the establishment of a Royal Commission in 1936 under Lord Peel that, amongst other things, stated that the interests of the Jews and Palestinian Arabs were in fact 'inherently reconcilable' and included the first proposals for a partitioning of Palestine into Jewish and Arab cantons that would be run more or less autonomously, but would remain under the overall control of a Mandatory Authority.
However, even as Arab leaders rejected the proposals, countering with their own Mandate, events in Europe and elsewhere around the globe started to take precedence over the growing unrest in the region. Despite this the British pushed ahead with their new proposals and issued a new White Paper in 1939 which stated their continued intent for the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
Throughout WW2 the Jewish cause gained momentum, whether spurred on by feelings of gross sympathy, horror or guilt, the international community rallied behind the tragic remnants of the European Jewry and calls for a Jewish homeland, whilst in contrast Arab unity and backing for the plight of the Palestinians Arabs faded until the eventual declaration of the establishment of Israel on 14th May 1948, when finally a United Arab force (of Jordanians, Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese & others) occupied the territories destined for the Palestinians under the new partition plan. But it was too little too late for the Palestinians who have basically been on the back foot ever since.
The subsequent Colonial divisions of the region among the 'old boy' network compounded the problems and certainly led to many of the religious, cultural and social divides that plague the Middle East today. The short-sightedness and selfish interests of Britain, France and the other powers in dividing up the region as they saw fit for their purposes, and not those of the resident populations have, in my opinion led to much, if not all, of the current troubles that plague us all today.
In my head I can't believe that such short-term political gains (for the Colonial powers) were placed above the long-term welfare and stability of the region as a whole. Decisions made in haste after WW2 are now being repented by those of us that bear witness to the almost daily horrors and atrocities committed under the name of one God or another in the Middle East and around the globe.
I believe that every human being should be allowed the chance to live their life as they see fit; that each individual should be able to worship whatever God they choose to worship without fear of reprisal or repercussions for doing so. I make no excuses for Israel. Their abhorrent treatment of the Palestinians as less than human more than mirrors their own vile experiences under the Nazi's, and they should know better and they should be ashamed. But don't make the mistake of thinking that all Israeli's feel the same because they don't. One only has read much of the online press from Israel to see the futility of that argument.
The only way, I believe, to save the region from falling into complete chaos (which could eventually consume us all) is to give each and every ethnic group it's own economically viable homeland, be they Jewish, Palestinian, Kurdish, Shia, Sunni, Christian or otherwise. And as part of this radical solution I would also allow those who wish to live under Muslim Sharia Law (including those of ISIS - once they have been disarmed) to do so because in my world everyone should have a chance for a full and happy life.
But we live in the real world and not the peace-loving Nirvana of my dreams. Antisemitism has been around for a lot longer than the Labour Party and shows no sign of dissipating in the near future. The fact that some small-minded individuals, with small-minded ideas, have wormed their way into positions of relative power is nothing new; it's sad, but not new. Donald Trump is just such a case to point! And as to whether Jezza does anything about these people is a matter (I would argue) for his own conscience, as are our own views on the Jewish-Palestinian question and one can only hope that each one of us is morally strong enough to stand up for whatever we believe in. And I can only hope that your view, whatever it might be, is made with an open, and not a closed mind, and a loving heart that decries oppression in all it's forms, wherever and whenever they may occur.
* Aliyah is the term used for the waves of Zionist immigration into Palestine
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