By Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar
A Background Note from the Author
The author is a Muslim. This means that he believes in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Holy Qur'an. He is also a Semite Palestinian Arab. This means that he shares a racial background with Palestinian and other Middle Eastern Jews. Thus, his analysis of Zionism is not an analysis of Jews or Judaism, which is a religious tradition that is recognized by Muslims as one of God's messages to humanity. As a result, Zionism is not synonymous to Judaism. Rather, it's a secular political movement that can be criticized and found faulty. It follows that Zionists are not synonymous to Jews. They are supporters of the Israeli ideology, whether they live inside or outside of Israel. They can be Jews, Christians, Muslims, or followers of other faiths or creeds.
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Zionism is the political ideology that has created the state of Israel and has dominated its government ever since. It has called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine on the expense of the Palestinian people. It has pressured and has been capable of influencing many world governments, particularly in Western Europe and North America, to support its imperialist project. In doing so, it has abused the Old Testament, particularly using the idea of "the promised land" to convince the general Christian public opinion to be quiet about its crimes against Arabs and Muslims generally, and the Palestinian people in particular. [1] However, the fact is that wherever and whenever "the promise" was mentioned in the Bible, it was a promise from God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who was also called Israel) and their descendants. Thus, the promise was not for Jews per se. The difference between the two words should be crystal clear. Anybody can be a Jew, by converting to Judaism, but this does not make him or her a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. This has been the biggest deception that Zionism and its adherents have been perpetuating. [2] Consequently, if Zionism is not based on a true religious principle, what is it based on? What is its reality?
Zionism is the highest stage of imperialism, which is the third stage of the development of capitalism. Its ultimate goal is hegemony over the world economies, using its control over the United States foreign policy. Its continuous wars in the Middle East for more than half a century have aimed at controlling the world power house, the Arab oil, and consequently the Arab oil wealth, which is estimated at about $14 trillion by current (May 2002) oil prices. Zionism involves all the horrors that characterize this terrible stage of the development of capitalism. It is a combination of racism, greed, and exploitation. It is in a continuous state of hunger for wars and thirst for oil. Like its destructive European counterparts, Nazism and Fascism, Zionism has caused massive human suffering. As a result, a collective global effort is needed to contain it and rid the world of its terror.
When Columbus set out to the West, in 1492, his goal was reaching east and southeast Asia in a new trade route. That journey highlighted mercantilism, as the earliest stage of the development of capitalism, which focused on the accumulation of wealth through trading among nations. Ultimately, it led to the establishment of the New World colonies to secure trading partners and trading monopolies. The second stage of the development of capitalism, colonialism, depended heavily on population transfer. This included transferring poor Europeans to the New World to be used in mining for bullion, in agriculture, and in forcing indigenous populations out of their territories. This also included transferring Africans from Africa to the New World, where they were used as slave labor. When the New World colonies started to get their independence, European capitalism evolved to its third stage, imperialism. Starting from the second half of the 19th century, European armies moved to Africa and Asia, invading the two continents and dividing them among themselves. [3] The United States inherited the European imperialist legacy following World War II, as a result of the destruction of the European powers. Thus, the United States started to invade and launch wars against other nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. [4] Within this context of Pax Americana, [5] the US world economic hegemony (globalization) has been reflected in the form of controlling most of the multinational corporations and the World Trade Organization. [6] Zionism has used its unchecked influence on American foreign policy to support its expansionist project in the Middle East. By its ability to use the US global hegemony for its own purposes, it has reached the highest stage of imperialism. [7] But, what about its origins, how did it emerge on the world arena?
In 1897, a group of European Jewish intellectuals and financiers got together in Basle, Switzerland, under the leadership of an Austrian lawyer called Theodore Herzl, in what became known as the first World Zionist Conference. They discussed the establishment of a colony that targeted European Jews as its colonists. Three geographic locations for the prospective Jewish homeland were proposed. Argentina and Uganda were quickly rejected and the Holly Land of Palestine (which was also referred to by Muslims as Beitul Maqdes, or the House of Holy) was approved as the most appropriate of the three locations for the establishment of the European Jewish colony. The developments that followed were to a great extent a replica of European colonization of the New World. These included massive population transfers of Jewish populations from Europe to Palestine and massive population transfers of Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) from their villages, towns, and cities to refugee camps. [8] The Zionist project was facilitated by the assistance that Zionists received from the British and US governments. In 1917, the British government promised to help establish the Jewish homeland in Palestine, through what became known as the Balfour Declaration. In 1947, the US influenced the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to pass Resolution 181, which partitioned Palestine between the Arab (Muslim and Christian) population and Jewish immigrants. Thus, the Partition resolution gave birth to the Zionist state. [9]
In 1948, the Jewish colony became a state but with ever expanding borders. Israel launched six major wars against the Palestinian people and the neighboring Arab states. These were launched in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1978, 1982, and 2002. In all these wars, Israel expanded its borders. In 1948, it annexed the Galilee, Auja area, and the Jerusalem corridor, which were Palestinian territories according to the 1947 UN Partition Resolution 181. [10] In 1956, Israel collaborated with the imperialist European powers of Britain and France in invading Egypt and the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip. Only a firm stand from President Eisenhower forced the Zionist Israelis to withdraw from Gaza Strip and Sinai. [11] In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the Arab territories of Sinai, Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. In 1978, Israel invaded and occupied South Lebanon. Then, it invaded Lebanon, including its capital, Beirut, in 1982. When it withdrew, few months later, it expanded its occupation of South Lebanon. In addition to these wars, Israel launched major air raids on Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia. [12]
Thus, like colonists of the New World, who expanded their territory on the expense of native Americans, Zionist Israelis kept expanding their borders on the expense of Palestinians and other Arabs. They also have used force in evicting Palestinians from their lands in 1948 and crushing their two uprisings, in 1987-1993 and 2000-2002, just like colonists of the New World did to native Americans. They have never tried to accommodate Palestinians by allowing them to return to their villages and towns, or by compensating them, according to resolution 194, which was passed by the UNGA in 1948. They have resisted until now to let them have their own independent state, as stated by the UN partition resolution, 181. More dangerous, they have systematically persecuted the Palestinian people, replicating what the Nazis did to Jews and to gypsies in Europe. They have forced most of them to live in refugee camps, for more than half a century, which are worse in conditions than the Jewish ghettos in Poland under the Nazi rule. Moreover, they have used indiscriminate collective punishment against the entire Palestinian population. [13] Finally, like the Nazis, they have used derogatory adjectives to describe Palestinians with words that range from barbarism to terrorism, in order to justify killing or evicting them. They have committed so many massacres against the Palestinian people, the last of which was in Jenin, on April 2002, with the sole objective of subjugating and ruling them against their will. [14]
Like fascism and Nazism, which elevated Italians and Germans above other nations, Zionism has exalted Israelis as people who are above the international law. It has claimed that a nation can be created on basis of one idea, religious superiority, and justified the atrocities that a nation has committed against other nations. Although Zionists brag that Israel is a democracy, it is in fact a dictatorial regime that has zero tolerance toward non-Zionists. Zionism has elevated Jewish Israelis to rule over Palestinians who exceed them in number. If it is a democracy, like they say in their propaganda, then they would allow Palestinians to vote. Only about one million Palestinians are Israeli citizens, who are allowed to vote. The rest, more than six and a half million Palestinians, have no right to vote because they are not citizens. [15] By denying Palestinians equal political rights, Zionist Israelis have ruled as a dictatorial group that exploits the rest of the population for its own benefits.
Zionism is racism, as most nations of the world have recognized. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism. Only during the Gulf Crisis, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in December 1990, the Bush Sr. administration was able to force the UNGA to rescind its resolution, for the first time in the history of the UN. [16] However, all the reasons that prompted the UNGA to equate Zionism with racism are still there, and have even intensified than ever before. First, immigration to Israel is limited to Jews, followers of other religions are denied immigration. This includes denying Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike, the right of return to their homeland that they were evicted from, in 1948. Second, Zionist Israel has practiced racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian people. Palestinian workers are not protected by Israeli law. They receive a fraction of the wages and benefits that Israeli workers receive. Moreover, Palestinian workers have to return to the Palestinian territories everyday after work, no matter how long the distance is between work and residence. Finally, there is no equality of opportunity even to Palestinians who have the Israeli citizenship, particularly in relation to jobs or funds to Arab communities and social institutions. [17]
The Zionist exploitation and greed is represented by evicting Palestinians from their lands, then building settlements on these lands for Jewish immigrants. In 1948, most Palestinians became refugees after they had been evicted from their lands. Israel has controlled 78 percent of historical Palestine, as a result of the war, although the 1947 UN partition resolution gave Israelis only 54 percent of the country. [18] However, Zionist Israelis were never content. In 1956, they attacked and occupied Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, in collaboration with the then aging colonial European powers: Britain and France. They had to withdraw because of pressure from the Eisenhower administration. However, they reoccupied more Arab lands in 1967. They annexed the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, in violation to international law that prevents any changes in the status of occupied territories. Then, they started to confiscate more Palestinian lands and build new settlements, on the remaining 22 percent of Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza). They have never been content with what they obtained, for free, from the UN. They have always wanted more to the extent of denying the existence and the future of Palestinians in an independent Palestinian state. [19] Even the Labor Party, which tries to appear more accommodating to Palestinian rights than the settlers' party (Likude), has its share of denying Palestinians a viable Palestinian state. The Camp David talks between Barak and Arafat collapsed, in September 2000, because Barak insisted on keeping most of the settlers in the West Bank, surrounding Palestinian cities with Israeli roads, denying the Palestinian state borders with Jordan and Egypt, denying any responsibility for refugees, and denying Palestinians real control on East Jerusalem. [20]
The Zionist Israeli oppression and subjugation of the Palestinian people is represented by the continuous military occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has refused to withdraw, using all kinds of excuses. The Zionist strategy has been using protracted negotiations, which continue for decades, without withdrawing from the Arab territories. [21] If Arabs accept negotiations, fine, this is forever. If they resist the Israeli military occupation, then they are described as "terrorists," who should be punished. [22] The end outcome is more suffering, more wars, and more bloodshed. The ideal Palestinian for Israelis has become the one who leaves, but without coming back. They keep denying Palestinians their political and human rights until their life becomes unbearable, then they either leave or accept life under the Israeli military occupation, which is not much different from slavery.
Finally, Zionism allied itself with Britain during the first half of the 20th century, which resulted in the establishment of the state of Israel. But when the United States became the world superpower, in the second half of the 20th century, Zionism shifted its attention from Britain and focused on influencing the US government. One more evidence of the Zionist influence on the US government is the huge amounts of financial and military assistance Israelis receive annually, despite the fact that the US government is the most indebted government in the world (more than $6 trillion). The US aid to Israel has cost American taxpayers about $135 billion, or about $23,240 for every American citizen. [23] Pro-Israel lobbying groups, like AIPAC, made that possible by having a considerable number of loyalists in Congress, having loyal appointees in major decision-making positions in government. The Zionist influence on the US government has become big enough to allow the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, to ignore all President Bush's Jr. demands that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank and stop its April 2002 war against the Palestinian people. [24]
Since the Gulf Crisis, that led to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Israelis and their Zionist supporters have been relentless in their efforts to drag the United States into a Cold War-like conflict with Arabs and Muslims, which may weaken or destroy both of them. They were successful in influencing the Bush Sr. administration to opt for war to resolve the Iraqi-Kuwaiti crisis. The destruction of Iraqi military and economic capabilities relieved expansionist Israel from the major Arab rival in the region. The Gulf War resulted in the US presence in Arabia, which has angered Arabs. Now, expansionist Zionists can't wait or rest until the US invades Iraq. When this happens, they will be looking for a share in the booty, the Iraqi oil. More important, this will revive their dreams to dominate the entire Middle East, as a step toward extending their Zionist state to include the lands located between the Nile and the Euphrates, including the oil-rich Gulf States. [25] It is a scenario of continuous wars, continuous suffering, and continuous bloodshed. This is the price humanity has been paying, and will be paying until Zionism loses its hegemonic status in the world system, which has been reinforced by its influence on the US government. Zionism has reached the highest stage of imperialism, indeed.
* Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar is a sociologist and a cultural anthropologist. He is also the editor of www.aljazeerah.info ."
