Myths+of+Zionism,+Kasrils,+M+and+G



=**Myths of Zionism**= The Jewish people suffered greatly from racial prejudice termed anti-Semitism. The crudest and most infamous of the treatment they faced was the genocidal Holocaust carried out by the Nazis, in which six million perished in ghastly circumstances.
 * Ronnie Kasrils: COMMENT**
 * Mail and Guardian, 27 January 2006 10:00**

The Holocaust greatly accelerated the Zionist project, which originated at the end of the 19th century. The argument was that the only place where the Jews could find security was in their own national state.

Zionists believed that, sooner or later, as happened in Germany, society would turn on the Jews. This does not mean that every Jew is a Zionist or is unpatriotic to the country in which they live, or that Zionists in the diaspora are unpatriotic. But there is an understandable affinity with Israel owing to the Judaic faith and its belief in the biblical narrative about Zion, the land promised by God to the Jews. Zionists also believe that the Arab states and Muslims wish to destroy Israel and every Jew who lives there.

Unfortunately, the indiscriminate bombings of Israeli civilians, and often crude anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish propaganda, have reinforced such perceptions, and hardened attitudes to the appalling injustice and brutality meted out by Israel to the Palestinian people.

The State of Israel is based on a framework of myths that require courage to confront, for fear of being smeared with the anti-Semitic brush. To attempt to analyse these myths can only serve to broaden the debate, which would be of value to all sides. To do so honours those who perished in the Holocaust, rather than exploiting their suffering in order to visit unjust treatment on the Palestinians.

One of these myths equates all criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, which aims to intimidate Jew and non-Jew alike. The sternest critics of Zionism were often left-wing Jews. In South Africa, this honourable tradition was articulated by the likes of Joe Slovo and Rusty Bernstein.

At the core of Zionism lies the biblical myth, suggesting that the Jewish people have a God-given right to the land that was known as Canaan. This revered holy book is not, however, based on scientific fact. The East European Zionist pioneers were not particularly religious, but embraced the biblical promise of Zion in order to exploit the beliefs of most Jews. In fact, the Zionist movement was overwhelming secular and wished for a secular Jewish society, something it has long since abandoned.

A Jewish kingdom certainly existed in ancient times, but so too did numerous other kingdoms. A plethora of peoples traded and sojourned in the region. Canaanite civilisation existed in the area as early as 3 500BC. It becomes problematic, though, when one group makes a historical claim on the land centuries later, regardless of who else resided there, based on the interpretation of a holy book. As the eminent Jewish thinker Erich Fromm has pointed out: “If all nations would suddenly claim territory on which their forefathers had lived two thousand years ago, this world would be a madhouse.”

Zionists allege that the Jewish people’s sojourn in Arab lands was pervaded by a hatred of Jews. In fact, Jews flourished and enjoyed considerable periods of peaceful co-existence. Historical documents show that there was a symbiosis between Arabs and Jews, and what could be called an Islamic-Jewish tradition. The discovery of the Cairo “Geniza”, a treasure trove of documents found in an 11th-century Cairo synagogue, depict Jewish communities as an integral part of Islamic culture.

Zionists assert that nearly one million Jews were ethnically cleansed from Arab countries in the 20th century. Yet, in the early decades of that century, it was Zionist agents and British officials who aggressively sought to relocate Jews living in Arab countries to the Holy Land, as part of a strategy to increase the numbers of Jews living in Palestine.

The Zionist assertion that Israel was a “land without people for a people without land” is another myth. The Palestinian plight was the result of the expropriation of Palestinian land at the time of the creation of the State of Israel. Ben Gurion played this to the hilt with the assertion that the land had been “barren” for two millennia.

Historical records prove that an Arab community had existed in Palestine prior to the creation of the State of Israel. At the time of the Balfour declaration in 1917, there were about 65 000 Jews living in Palestine. British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour admitted the extent to which Arabs occupied the area when he said, “Zionism is of far profounder import that the desires of 700 000 Arabs who inhabit the land.”

The 1947 UN Partition Plan, influenced by the then balance of forces and post-Holocaust sentiment, offered the Jewish people 56% of Palestinian land, when they only owned 6,5% at the time. The remaining 43% was allocated to the Palestinians, with an international enclave around Jerusalem. The fact that Palestinians have been willing to accept a further reduction of land to 22% of historic Palestine is an exceptional compromise on the part of their leadership.

Ehud Barak’s supposed “generous offer” at Camp David in January 2001 was much less than this, and loaded with such constraints on Palestinian sovereignty that Yasser Arafat could not accept it. What Barak offered amounted to a non-contiguous Bantustan, with Israel controlling sea, air and borders. It is instructive to note how Barak’s magnanimity was instantly mythologised by Zionist propaganda.

It is also an ongoing myth that the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Arab states do not accept Israel’s right to exist. In fact, the Palestine National Council voted in 1988 to accept a two-state solution based on the 1947 UN Partition Resolution. It was not the Arabs striving to destroy Israel but Israel that has perpetrated the wars since 1948, as documented by Israeli so-called revisionist historians such as Ilan Pappe and Benny Morris. The latter has vigorously debunked this myth, although he is an ardent supporter of Israel’s security policies.

Such historians have also exposed the myth that the young state of Israel fought off “overwhelming hordes” of Arab armies in 1948. While the Arab League called for its member countries to send regular army troops into Palestine, only five responded. They were ordered to secure only the sections of Palestine given to the Arabs under the partition plan. These regular armies were ill equipped and lacked central command to coordinate their efforts. Morris’s and others’ research show that the Jewish forces perpetrated massacres to promote panic among the Palestinians. Those who did not flee in terror were loaded on to trucks or marched off under armed escort into exile, their property and homes subsequently confiscated.

Except for the Yom Kippur War, during which Egypt regained land seized in 1967, every episode in the conflict has been about Israel annexing more territory. In spite of this, in 2002, the Arab League fully endorsed Saudi Arabia’s proposal for the normalisation of diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, as well as Arab recognition of Israel. This is something Israel flatly ignored. From day one, Israel has been concerned with expansionism at the expense of peaceful coexistence. The so-called “security fence” annexes even more West Bank land, as do the burgeoning settlements and security roads. This will reduce the West Bank and Gaza to 10% of original Palestine, hardly the basis for a two-state solution. The myth of Israel lacking a partner to negotiate peace terms with is plain to see. With Arafat’s death one year ago, it still maintains the same obduracy with his successor.

To get to grips with the issues at stake, it is necessary to cut through a framework of mythology based on propaganda, distortion and fabrication. Those interested in this debate could do no better than read The Myths of Zionism by British academic John Rose (Pluto Press, UK). This highly impressive analysis of the historical, political and cultural roots of Zionism is an invaluable contribution to the current discourse. His fresh insights shed light on what can only be depicted as misinformation that has been perpetuated over time.

In his thought-provoking and well researched critique, Rose makes the important point that the danger with a myth is that it becomes dominant if people can be induced to believe in it strongly enough and if it is uncontested -- a reality that Israel’s first prime minister, Ben Gurion, boasted about.

While the history of the Jewish people has involved periods of unspeakable hardship and discrimination, it is in the interests of Jewish people everywhere to understand the great harm to Judaic values and reputation that has been caused by Zionism. The danger of labelling as “anti-Semitic” anyone critical of Israel and Zionism is that the term degenerates into a hollow cliché and will be ignored when the real alarm is sounded. To expose Zionist mythology is not to forsake the Jewish people but to help resolve a conflict in the interests of all Arabs, Christians and Jews.

Ronnie Kasrils is Minister of Intelligence, and writes in his personal capacity


 * From: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=262541&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/**

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