Whatever the merits of Zionism, Yusuf Diya wrote, the "brutal force of
circumstances had to be taken into account." Palestine "is inhabited by others." It had
an Indigenous population that would never accept being superseded, making it "pure
folly" for Zionism to plan to take Palestine over. "Nothing could be more just and
equitable" than for "the unhappy Jewish nation" to find a refuge elsewhere, but, he
concluded, "in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone."
Herzl replied -- and quickly, in a letter on March 19. His letter was probably the first
response by a leader of the Zionist movement to a cogent Palestinian objection to its
embryonic plans for Palestine. Herzl simply ignored the letter's basic thesis, that
Palestine was already inhabited by a population that would not agree to be supplanted.
Although Herzl had visited Palestine once, in an 1898 visit timed to coincide with that
of German Kaiser Wilhelm II, he (like most early European Zionists) had not much
knowledge of or contact with its native inhabitants.
Glossing over the fact that Zionism was ultimately meant to lead to Jewish control of
Palestine, Herzl deployed a justification that has been a touchstone for colonialists
and that would become a staple argument of the Zionist movement: Jewish immigration
would benefit Palestine's Indigenous inhabitants. . . .
"Spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment... Both
the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly
and circumspectly."--Theodore Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organization, speaking
of the Arabs of Palestine, Complete Diaries, June 12, 1895 entry.
"We will establish ourselves in Palestine whether you like it or not...You can hasten
our arrival or you can equally retard it. It is however better for you to help us so as
to avoid our constructive powers being turned into a destructive power which will
overthrow the world."--Chaim Weizmann, Published in "Judische Rundschau," No. 4, 1920
"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."--Israeli General Matityahu Peled, Ha'aretz, March 19, 1972
"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and
courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these
is that there is no Zionism, colonialization or Jewish State without the eviction of the
Arabs and the expropriation of their lands."--Yoram Bar Porath, Yediot Aahronot, of July
14,1972.
"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting
of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population."--Israel Koenig, "The
Koenig Memorandum," April 1976
"We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon,
Trans-Jordan, and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon, for the Moslem regime is artificial
and easy for us to undermine. We shall establish a Christian state there, and then we
will smash the Arab Legion, eliminate Trans-Jordan; Syria will fall to us. We then bomb
and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai."--David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to
the General Staff. From Ben-Gurion, A Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New
York 1978.
"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, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs,
published in the New York Times, October 23, 1979.
"We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of
Eretz Israel... Force is all they do
or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate
force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours."--Rafael Eitan, Chief of
Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot, April 13, 1983, New
York Times April 14, 1983
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to
scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle."--Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of
the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, April 14, 1983
"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as
slaves."--Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo
Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983
"The Palestinians" would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the
boulders and walls."--Isreali Prime Minister (at the time, in a speech to Jewish
settlers) New York Times, April 1, 1988
"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I
want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel.
We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it."--Israeli Prime
Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael
radio.
[More than 700 General Assembly resolutions and more than 100 Security Council
resolutions later, . . . no solution was in sight.--Thierry Meyssan, "The deal of the
century'," voltairenet.org, February 4, 2020]
Colonial war on Palestine with Rashid Khalidi, On Contact, May 2, 2020
[Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has implemented the
Rumsfeld/Cebrowski strategy aimed at adapting the US army to the needs of a new form of
capitalism based no longer on the production of goods and services, but on financial
engineering. To do this, they began an "endless war" of destruction of state structures
throughout the "broader Middle East" without taking into account their friends and
enemies. In two decades, the region became cursed for its inhabitants. Afghanistan, then
Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen are the theater of wars presented as lasting a few weeks, but
which last indefinitely, without perspective.
When Donald Trump was elected president, he promised to put an end to the "endless wars"
and to bring US soldiers home. In this spirit, he gave carte blanche to his special
adviser and nevertheless son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The fact that President Trump is
supported in his country by Zionist Christians and that Jared Kushner is an Orthodox Jew
has led many commentators to portray them as friends of Israel. If they do indeed have
an electoral interest in letting this be believed, it is not at all their approach to
the Middle East. They intend to defend the interests of the American people, and not
those of the Israelis, by substituting trade relations for war on the model of President
Andrew Jackson (1829-37).--Thierry Meyssan, "Israel and the Emirates sign
the 'Abraham Accords'," voltairenet.org, September 22, 2020]
Finkelstein: How Gulf monarchies, PLO leaders, and US neoliberals sold out Palestine, September 2020
Peter Beinart: Why I no longer believe in a Jewish state, Middle East Eye, June 23, 2021
Why Are Palestinian Christians Leaving Jesus' Birthplace? AJ+ December 5, 2022
[To live up to Israel's expectations and to ensure its survival, the Palestinian
Authority is willing to clash directly with Palestinians who refuse to toe the
line--Ramzy Baroud, "Mahmoud
Abbas & the Risk of Civil War," consortiumnews, August 7, 2023]
