History of Palestine, Part I : The Truth about Zionism

The Big Picture, April 25, 2011

Before the founding of the Zionist movement, there were about 1,000,000 Jews throughout the Middle East, living among Arabs in relative peace for many centuries. In 1890, there were 500,000 Arabs living in Palestine, 80% of which were Muslim, 8% Jews. Yet, Zionist leaders claimed they were coming to settle “a people without land [mostly European Jews] on a land without people [Palestine].”

By 1947, Jews owned about 6% of the land in Palestine. Yet, the United Nations – perhaps in light of the aftermath of the genocide of Jews in Europe – voted to partition Palestine between Jews and Arabs, giving Jews 54% of the land.  

Was the Zionist movement intentionally set up to steal Palestinian land? And if so, how is peace ever possible in the Middle East?

If we want to truly understand the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians – and its far reaching effects on our lives and on the relations between the Muslim World and the West – we must explore the roots of this conflict. The following series – titled Geopolitics In Focus : History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict – will present a clear picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its historic roots. It will present important facts that Western mainstream media almost never mentions, and will reveal what no American or European politician dares to discuss: how true peace can be achieved in the Middle East.

To start off, this first post in the series will reveal the true origins of the Jewish people and Palestinian people, and their connection to the land in Palestine. It will also explain what is Zionism and why the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims hates it so much.

The Zionist Movement

For centuries, Jews lived throughout Europe as a persecuted minority. At best, they were treated as third-class citizens and denied basic human rights. At worst, they were brutally tortured and massacred. Towards the end of the 19th century some 9 million Jews were living in Europe. While Europe was experiencing major social and political changes, Jews still experienced the same hostility as they had in previous centuries. This hostility was felt by European Jews regardless of how secular or religious they were, or how well they were integrated into their surrounding communities. By this time it became evident to many Jews that they are unlikely to find freedom from persecution in Europe, and that they must look elsewhere for a solution.

Such solution was envisioned by a young Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist named Theodor Herzl. Herzl believed that antisemitism and the persecution of Jews are a national issue, and therefore can only be resolved “by the civilized nations of the world in council.” In 1896 in his book, The Jewish State, Herzl wrote::

“I believe that I understand Anti-Semitism, which is really a highly complex movement. I consider it from a Jewish standpoint, yet without fear or hatred. I believe that I can see what elements there are in it of vulgar sport, of common trade jealousy, of inherited prejudice, of religious intolerance, and also of pretended self-defence. I think the Jewish question is no more a social than a religious one, notwithstanding that it sometimes takes these and other forms. It is a national question, which can only be solved by making it a political world-question to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council.

We are a people—one people.

We have honestly endeavored everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities and to preserve the faith of our fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In vain are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow-citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down as strangers, and often by those whose ancestors were not yet domiciled in the land where Jews had already had experience of suffering. The majority may decide which are the strangers; for this, as indeed every point which arises in the relations between nations, is a question of might. I do not here surrender any portion of our prescriptive right, when I make this statement merely in my own name as an individual. In the world as it now is and for an indefinite period will probably remain, might precedes right. It is useless, therefore, for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots who were forced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace…

But I think we shall not be left in peace.”

Herzl argued that Jews should obtain international recognition to establish a nation-state. This nation-state can be established in the land for which Jews have the strongest emotional and historic ties: their ancestral homeland in Palestine (also known as: The Land of Israel, or Land of Zion – hence: the Zionist movement).

But what about the 500,000 Arab inhabitants who lived in Palestine at the time? Did the Zionist movement intend to forcefully take over their land? Why did the Zionists claim they were going to settle “a people without land on a land without people” if that was not the reality on the ground?

To answer this question we must consider the demography of Palestine from a long-term historic perspective.

In the 1st century AD the population of Palestine was between 1,500,000 and 3,000,000 inhabitants – the vast majority of which were Jews. Following the defeats of the Jewish revolts in Palestine against the Roman Empire in 70AD and 135AD hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, and tens of thousands were sold into slavery or exiled from Palestine. The vast majority of European Jews in 1900 and today are the direct descendants of those Jews that were originally exiled from Palestine and dispersed throughout the Roman Empire.

However, there was also a sizable Jewish population that remained in Palestine. After Christianity was officially declared the state religion of the Roman Empire in 391AD, most of the Jews who remained in Palestine converted to Christianity. Most of these later converted to Islam, following the Arab-Muslim conquest in the 7th century. In other words, the majority ofPalestinians today are the descendants of those Jews that remained in Palestine after 135AD, and converted to Christianity and later converted to Islam and “Arabized” (this fact has been verified in recent genetic studies).

Now, at the end of the 12th century the population of Palestine was less than 225,000. The population declined even further to about 150,000 at the end of the 14th century. That number was significantly lower than the Jewish population in Palestine in the 1st century AD. In fact, even if we add together the population size in Palestine of every following century until the end of the 19th century, that number would still be much smaller than the Jewish population in Palestine in the 1st century AD.

By the end of the 19th century about 500,000 Arabs lived in Palestine. The reason for the relatively small population size is that the land simply could not sustain many more people. Much of the land had fallen into neglect over centuries of foreign rule, while
the traditional agricultural methods used by the fellahin (Arab peasants) could mostly support only the existing population.

Zionist leaders believed that if they introduced advanced industry, technology, and modern methods of agriculture to Palestine the land could sustain many more people. This meant that Jews could settle in large numbers in Palestine without any inconvenience to the existing Arab population. In addition, Zionists believed that Jewish settlement in Palestine would promote the prosperity of Arabs In fact, the British Peel Commission of 1937 (which would be discussed later in the post) concluded that the Jewish settlement in Palestine contributed to “higher wages, an improved standard of living and ample employment opportunities” for Arabs.

The Zionists had no intention of dispossessing Arabs of their land. Instead, Zionists sought to lawfully purchase land in Palestine that was vacant, largely uncultivated, or swampland. They would then reclaim the land, make it cultivatable, and settle it. This process would continue until a large Jewish majority is achieved (remember that at the time there were 9 million Jews in Europe and only 500,000 Arabs in Palestine). At that point a democratic nation-state can be established. In that state, all people – both Jews and Arabs alike – will be equal before the law. As Herzl wrote in his book:

“Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of other creeds and different nationalities come to live amongst us, we should accord them honorable protection and equality before the law.”

– The Jewish State, Theodor Herzl, 1896

The idea of equality between Jews and Arabs may seem commonsensical to the Western observer, however, it bitterly clashed with the Arab-Muslim worldview. Muslims could only accept Jews as second-class citizens – a subjugated group – and this has been the rule under every Islamic Empire throughout the Middle East since the 7th century AD. The reason for the inferior status for Jews comes directly from the Quran. Surah 9:29 states:

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.”

To summarize, the goals of the Zionist movement were to receive international endorsement to establish a nation-state for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland in Palestine, to lawfully purchase vacant land in Palestine, and settle this land without causing harm to the Arab population.

The next post in the series will show how the Zionists received an international endorsement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.