The three bears and the three colonial powers
There was this story of the three bears. We all know the ending of that. Then there is the story of the three remaining colonial powers in the world. This is a story which remains to be completed but may finally be told. Quotes and useful information to begin to write the story.
The United Kingdom: The aging Colonial power
Lord Balfour wrote in a private memorandum sent to Lord Curzon, his successor at the Foreign Office (Curzon initially opposed Zionism) on 11 August 1919:
"For in Palestine we do not propose to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants.... The four great powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land" (Quoted in Christopher Sykes, Crossroads to Israel 1917-1948 , reprinted Indiana University Press, Bloomingtron, IN, 1973).
The British empire in concocting the settlement/colonization of Palestine employed the services of Lieut.-Colonel George Gawler (1796-1869). Gawler had successfully founded a British "penal colony" in Australia. In 1845 Gawler published his vision for how his mission might be accomplished in Palestine. His treaty was titled: "Tranquilization of Syria and the East: Observations and Practical Suggestions, in Furtherance of the Establishment of Jewish Colonies in Palestine, the Most Sober and Sensible Remedy for the Miseries of Asiatic Turkey," He and other British colonization officers then established the "Association for Promoting Jewish Settlement in Palestine" in 1852. This was decades before some elitist Ashkenazi Jews where finally sold on the idea by the British. This later society evolved into the Palestine Fund (Epstein, L. J. 1984. Zion’s Call: Christian Contributions to the Origins and Development of Israel. New York: University Press of America.).
The United States: the new and most powerful colonial power
‘We have about 60% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its’ population. In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. We should cease to talk about such vague and unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better." George Kennan, former Head of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff, Document PPS23, 24th February 1948
"The US must carry out some act somewhere in the world which shows its’ determination to continue to be a world power." Henry Kissinger, as quoted in The Washington Post, April 1975
"It's really not a number I'm terribly interested in." General Colin Powell (When asked about the number of Iraqi people who were killed by Americans in the 1991 "Desert Storm")
"I will never apologize for the United States of America - I don't care what the facts are." -President George Bush 1988 (Bush was demonstrating his patriotism by excusing an act of cold-blooded mass-murder by the U.S. Navy. On July 3, 1988 the U.S. Navy warship Vincennes shot down an Iranian commercial airliner. All 290 civilian people in the aircraft were killed. The plane was on a routine flight in a commercial corridor in Iranian airspace. The targeting of it by the U.S. Navy was blatantly illegal.)
"The U.S.A. has supplied arms, security equipment and training to governments and armed groups that have committed torture, political killings and other human rights abuses in countries around the world."
-Amnesty International ("United States of America - Rights for All" October 1998)
Israel: The progeny of the British colonial venture later adopted by the American colonial venture
"We shall have to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discretely and circumspectly" (Theodore Herzl,, Complete Diaries, ed. Raphael Patai, trans. Harry Zohn, New York: Herzl Press and T. Yoseloff, 1960, vol. I, p. 88.)
Joseph Weitz, head of the Jewish Agency's Colonization Department write in 1940: "Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs >from here to neighboring countries - all of them. Not one village, not one tribe should be left" (from Joseph Weitz, "A Solution to the Refugee Problem," Davar, September 29, 1967, cited in Uri Davis and Norton Mevinsky, eds., Documents from Israel, 1967-1973, p.21r )
David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime minister, was born David Green in Plonsk, Russia (now in Poland). He settled in Palestine in 1906. As chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine from 1935 to 1948, Ben-Gurion directed all Jewish affairs to transform teh country from multi-ethnic/multi-cultural to redeem its Jewish nature. His activities ranged from land development and settlement of immigrants to secret activities against natives and later (after the Palestinian revolt of 1936 jolted the British rulers) against the British. Here is an excerpt from Rabin's memoirs about Ben Guion: "We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, 'What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!'" (Yitzhak Rabin's memoires, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979; Rabin's description of the conquest of Lydda, after the completion of Plan Dalet).
General Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the IDF stated: "When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do will be to scurry around like drugged roaches in a bottle." (Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot 4/13/83, N.Y. Times 4/14/83)
Israeli General Matityahu Peled stated: "The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which was born and developed after the war" (Ha'aretz, 19 March 1972). General Peled also stated "To pretend that the Egyptian forces massed on our frontiers were in a position to threaten the existence of Israel constitutes an insult not only to the intelligence of anyone capable of analyzing this sort of situation, but above all an insult to the Zahal (Israeli army)" (General Matityahu Peled, Ha'aretz, 19 March 1972).
Prof. Tanya Reinhart wrote thus in the Hebrew edition of Yediot Aharonot (June 10, 2001):
Ever since the 1967 occupation, the military and political elites (which have been always closely intertwined in Israel) deliberated over the question of how to keep maximum land with minimum Palestinian population. The leaders of the '1948 generation' - Alon, Sharon, Dayan, Rabin and Peres - were raised on the myth of redemption of land. But a simple solution of annexation of the occupied territories would have turned the occupied Palestinians into Israeli citizens, and this would have caused what has been labeled the "demographic problem" - the fear that the Jewish majority could not be preserved. Therefore, two basic conceptions were developed.
The Allon plan consisted of annexation of 35-40% of the territories to Israel, and self-rule or partnership in a confederation of the rest, the land on which the Palestinians actually live. This plan originated with those who thought that it is impossible to repeat the 1948 'solution' of mass expulsion, for moral as well as world public opinion considerations. The second view, whose primary spokesman was Sharon, assumed that it is possible to find more acceptable and sophisticated ways to achieve a 1948 style 'solution' - it is only necessary to find another country for the Palestinians, such as Jordan, and to make sure that as many as possible of them will move there. This was a part of Sharon's global worldview by which Israel can establish "new orders" in the region (see the Lebanon war). In Oslo, the Alon plan route triumphed......"
and the story continues with the end to be written |