The Zionist Settlement in
Palestine
It is worth mentioning that during that period of the
nineteenth century, there appeared in Bilad Al-Sham, including Palestine, what
is known as national awareness with its modern concept, whose pillars were
crystallized in Europe in parallel
with the development of capitalism. Owing to the crystallization of this
national awareness, in addition to the intellectual and cultural alertness in
the Arabic nation that strived for unity, independence, and control of its
economic resources, a general sentiment of defiance emanated against all forces
that were foreign and occidental to this unified Arabic nation. Thus there was
a patriotic alertness to stand up to the Zionist settlement and resist it in
Palestine since its start. Nevertheless, such efforts were not translated into
an organizational framework, which would be based on methodical foundations
following a certain program. Contrary to the Zionist movement, which no sooner
after holding a Zionist conference at Basel in Switzerland in 1897, they formed
their organizations, in such a way that fulfills their goals.
It is noted that during the Ottoman rule, the
government did not object to the dwelling of the Jews in its territories, but
they objected to their migration from other countries to their regions, and
heading specifically to Palestine. Ever since the beginning, the “Sublime
Porte” issued instructions to its consuls to inform the Jews, desiring to
migrate to Palestine, that they were not allowed to settle in Palestine as
foreigners, and that they should acquire the Ottoman nationality, and abide by
the enforced regulations in the provinces, where they wanted to reside. But
despite the official stance of the Ottoman government, there was a noticeable
increase in the Zionist settlement activity in Palestine, which occurred
through twisted means, and through the support of the foreign consuls to them,
and by giving bribes to the Ottoman government employees, who succumbed in some
cases to the continuous pressure and insistence. In addition to this, the Jews’
endeavors in buying lands, and establishing settlements, did not wane for a
day. History mentions that with the increase of the Zionist settlement
movement, and the attempts to take over lands by all means, whether legitimate
or not, the Arabic resistance movement started to grow, especially among the
peasant and Bedouin, who fought against such settlements arising over their
land, and forcing them out of it. Such resistance intensified till it pervaded
most of the villages and cities, and the objection of people to this activity
was conveyed to the Turkish Parliament through the Palestinian leaders,
moreover, there was an intense attack on part of the opposition party for not
putting an end to such practices. Nevertheless, the Zionist political power
continued to augment, and the Zionist settling was further reinforced during
the “Second Migration” in 1904-1914. All this can be traced to the corruption
of the Ottoman administration during that time, and the connivance of some of
the Masonic Ottomans and the Jews of Donma with the Zionist targets, in
addition to the support of the consuls of the foreign countries to such acts.
British Mandate
The pre-British Mandate
period
The Zionist movement that prevailed among the European
Jews arose in the late nineteenth century, the word Zionism is derived from the
Hebrew word “ציון, Tziyyon”, which is the name of a mount situated at the
southern west of Jerusalem, which the Jews call “Zion”. The Jews go on
pilgrimage to this place, as they
believe that King David (peace be upon him) is buried there. It is known that
the Jews during that period and before it were no more than groups scattered
all over the world, sharing no political, economic, social, or patrimonial
ties, only the religious link is what binds them together, and this is owing to
the melting away of these groups in
the societies they lived in. Moreover, the Zionist claim of the presence of a
“Jewish nationality” is no more than a fabrication, because such groupings
lacked the factors of nationality that form it, which are the existence of a
unified nation, one territory over which they reside, common language, habits,
and conventions that they all share. The notion of Zionism had grown within the
European civilized climate since the sixteenth century, and it flourished under the political
atmosphere that was prevalent in Europe in the Nineteenth century (the
Empirical atmosphere), and specifically in the year 1870. the Zionist notion
was founded on the basis of establishing a national home to the Jews in
Palestine following the bargain that was concluded between the Zionist movement
and the British colonization on the basis of Balfour declaration in the year
1917.
When the British troops succeeded in entering the
countries by means of deception, they were received warmly as being liberating
rather than occupying troops, but then after the arrival of the Zionist
Committee, the Arab discerned the danger lurking to them, where the British
government consented on sending such committee to Palestine so that “it
accomplishes any steps that are exigent for the execution of the government‘s
declaration concerning the establishment of a national home to the Jewish
people in Palestine under the authority of the British General, and at the same
time quieting the doubts of the Arab concerning the real Zionist intentions.”
In addition to this, the occupying military
administration worked on preparing Palestine gradually to become a national
home to the Zionists with all possible means and ways. What has occurred
following the arrival of the Zionist Committee is considered a matter hard to
believe, which was the establishment of a national country to the Jews in a
country with more than 92% of its population from the Palestinian Arab.
The British Mandate in
Palestine: 1923-1948
At the outset of this period Britain had undertaken the
mandate act over Palestine to govern the country according to the League of
Nations’ Covenant, although Britain did not need to start executing the terms
of the act, because it was already practicing its control over Palestine years
before the issuing of this mandate, and that according to its Zionist
colonizing policy, which was mainly based on subjugation and the power of the
weapon till the year 1948. During that period the organizations in the country
did not show any progress, thus the Palestinian Arabs had no other resort but
to submit their complaints to the permanent Mandate committee in Geneva, but
this Committee had no authorization to carry out inspections and follow-up in
the mandated countries. Thus the Arab Citizens had no other resort all during
the British mandate period but to protest, resist, and stage demonstrations, in
addition to mutiny and civil disobedience, which resulted in severe clashes
with the British troops and the Jewish settlers on one side and the
Palestinians on the other. In the year 1924, the High Commissioner Herbert
Samuel drafted a new Palestinian monetary project, and on February 1927 an act
of the Palestinian currency was issued, But the people accused the government
that it could not coin whatever it wanted without control because that would
harm the Arab economy. In addition to this, the efforts of the High
Commissioner was fruitful in issuing the Palestinian nationality act, according
to it the settled Jews were granted the Palestinian nationality. During two consecutive
rounds of the session of the League of Nations (1924-1925), the British
government stated plainly that it did not consent to the establishment of a
legislative council in Palestine that would be based on proportional
representation, where the Palestinian Arab could have in it the sweeping
majority, which in turn could obstruct the mission that the government had
shouldered in securing a national home to the Jews. After the termination of
the service of the High Commissioner Herbert Samuel, Lord Hebert Charles Blumer
was appointed as High Commissioner on Palestine on August 1925, where he stayed
in this post for three years.
·
In March 1925, Balfour visited Jerusalem to
participate in the inauguration of a Hebrew University, which was erected on
the Arab land, over Al-Zytoun Mount that the British authorities had usurped
from its owners by force, and gave to the Zionists in 1918. Upon such a visit,
huge demonstration were staged and Palestine declared a general strike against Balfour’s
visit and huge demonstrations were staged against him, which forced the British
authorities to make Balfour depart to Beirut, where he embarked on a ship bound
directly for his home country. It is recorded that during the first ten years
of the British Mandate, around 76400 Jewish immigrants entered Palestine, most
of them were from countries of eastern Europe. With the continuous increase in
the emigration activity, the Arabs felt the necessity to resist the Zionist
acts, and the bias of the authorities to it. Thus revolution erupted, which was
triggered by Al-Buraq accident in September 1928, where the Jews attempted to
lay hands on the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which belongs to the Muslims,
such an act resulted in rallying Arabic support to the Palestinian issue in the
Arabic regions, and was the beginning of what came to be known as the Buraq
revolution that witnessed bloody incidents, where the Arabs started attacking
the Jewish districts in Al-Khalil (Hebron), Nablus, Bysan, and Safad. Thereupon, the British troops rose to
the defense of the Jews, using their air force, infantry forces, and
armored-clad warships, inflicting the severest means of repression against the
Arabic protesters, who turned to the Egyptian forces for help. They destroyed
villages, like Deir Yassin, Lifta, and others. More than thousand persons were put on trial, most
of whom were from the Arab, 26 persons were sentenced to death, among whom 25
Arab and only one Jew. In the year 1930, the number of Jewish immigrants
reached 104.750, and in the next six years it reached 284.645, which meant an
increase that amounted to 164%; although this number does not comprise those
who entered the country through illegal ways. In the eve of the anniversary of
Al-Isra’ (the Night Journey)
and Al-Mi’raj (the Ascension to Heaven) in December 1931, an Islamic conference was held, which was
attended by representatives from twenty-two Islamic countries, and a group of
public figures in the Arabic world. During the opening of the conference the
Mufti, Muhammad Amin Al-Hussainy, stressed on the importance of Palestine and
Al-Aqsa to the Islamic world. In addition, the conference affirmed its
denunciation of Zionism, the British policy adopted in Palestine, and the
emigration of the Jews to it. The conference came out with a decision to
establish an Islamic University in Jerusalem, boycotting all Jewish products in
the Islamic regions, and establishing an agricultural company in Palestine to
rescue the lands of the Muslims.
·
In July 1931, a formal statement was issued,
appointing General Arthur Grenfell Wauchope as High Commissioner in Palestine.
Wauchope arrived at Palestine carrying with him instructions to reinforce the
issue of establishing a national home to the Jews, employing stalling and
delaying tactics against Arab demands, together with increasing the Jewish
population to be the majority in Palestine, while proposing to the Arabs false
projects to distract them.
·
In August 1932, a declaration of establishing the
Independence Party was issued, which pledged to strive against colonization,
fight the Jewish emigration, and work on achieving Arab unity. The independents
repeated their rejection of Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate, they disclosed the existing coalition
between Zionism and the British colonization, in addition to this, they
affirmed that one-third of the country‘s budget was designated to security and
defense matters, because of the government‘s endeavors to build a foreign
national home against the Palestinians will.
·
At the beginning of the year 1932, a conference for
the Palestinian youths was held in Yafah to discuss recruiting them in the
service of the National Movement.
·
By the end of the year 1934, according to Bill
Committee, the number of Jewish immigrants reached around 42.359 compared to
30327 in the year 1933, and 9553 in the year 1932.
·
And by the end of the year 1935 the number of Jewish
immigrants reached 61854, who came to Palestine from all over Europe. Moreover,
the official statistics indicated
that by the advent of the year 1935, the number of Jews in Palestine became
twice as much as it was in 1929, thus the Jews represented one-fourth of the
total census of the country.
Sheikh Eiz Al-Din
Al-Qasam Revolution
The British Mandate realized how critical the
situation was in Palestine, when the country witnessed the revolution of Sheikh
Eiz Al-Din Al-Qasam, who dedicated
himself together with a group of mujahideen to defend the land of Palestine. He
won martyrdom in Jenin, after a military combat with the British Mandate army.
Directly after this incident, Britain commanded its High Commissioner Wauchope,
after one month following the martyrdom of Al-Qasam, to put forward the project
of the Legislative Council before the Arabs and the Jews, in response to the
requests presented by the Palestinian political parties board in November, the
project stated the following:
1. The
offer made by the government in December 1935 concerning the draft of the new
constitution represented a practical step towards democratic ruling, when it
suggested a legislative council with an unofficial large majority.
2. Concerning
the selling of lands, the government decided to pass a law that prohibited
selling lands, except if the Arabic owner kept a piece of land that suffices
him and his family.
3. The rate
of Jewish emigration was calculated minutely according to the capacity of the
country, a new statistical office was established to assess such rate.
The Great 1936 Revolution
and the Division Project
In February 1936, revolution erupted following a small
incident, which was the spark that flared the emotions of the Arabs of
Palestine, where they expressed their inability to tolerate anything more. The
revolution started when a Jewish contractor refused to hire any Arabic laborer
in the construction of three schools in Yafah, which he agreed with the
government to build. As a consequence, the Arabic laborers congregated at the
school location, and prevented the Jewish laborers from reaching the working
area. In 15 April, a Jew was killed and another was seriously injured,
thereupon the Jews retaliated by slaughtering Arabic peasants inside their
houses, which was the spark that set the fire, as violence escalated, and
tension heightened all over Palestine, claiming many lives and causing lots of
causalities in both sides. On the other hand, the interception of the British
army to subdue the Arabic demonstrations, caused many causalities and death
amongst Arabs. A general strike was declared all over Palestine, and the
national resistance movement increased, where it became organized into groups, centrally
fortified on mountains, then many volunteers joined them from east of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Thus the resisting groups turned
into an armed national revolution backed up by all classes. The Revolution
employed many ways of struggling like destroying bridges, exploding railways
and oil pipes, in addition to attacking the military barracks, and bombarding
locations for the British army. On the other side, the British troops used in
many cases warplanes, armor, and artillery to quell and subdue this revolution,
which only intensified people’s revolt.
Meanwhile, there were endeavors on the part of Arabic
countries to mediate between the Supreme Arab Committee and the British
government, where a joint call was issued on the part of king Bin Sa’aud, king
Ghazi, and prince Abdullah on 10th of October to the head of the
Arab Committee and to the Arabs of Palestine, where they stated the following:
“We were deeply hurt by the current status in Palestine,
and we in agreement with the Kings of Arabs and Prince Abdullah, call you to
resort to peacefulness to stop blood shedding, depending on the good intentions
of our friend, the British government, and its declared desire to achieve
justice, and having confidence
that we will continue exerting efforts to help you.”
As a consequence, the Supreme Arab Committee declared
ending the strike, and called people to perform prayer for the souls of the
martyrs, who reached two thousand Arabs.
