Preface
This year, 1980, marks the thirty second anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel on Palestinian territory. The Zionists hail this as the "Return to Zion and the "fulfilment of Biblical Promise". To North Americans and people in the West, the creation of Israel is always associated with memories of the holocaust and Nazi massacres of Jews, and thus a degree of justice, atonement and fair play. To Arabs and Muslims, the year 1948 has a different meaning altogether. It is called "A'am Al-Nakba" or "The Year of the Disaster". It is the year of the dismantlement of Palestine and the uprooting of the Palestinian people, from their land and homes to atone, supposedly, for the sins of others in Europe - another manifestation of Western hypocrisy and 'justice'. It brought about the establishment of a foreign wedge in the heart of Arab land and the introduction of an alien oppressive ideology, Zionism, to the Middle East with the continuing and inevitable strife that such a massive injustice necessarily brought about.

Many people in the West, unfamiliar with the facts and fed on a continuing deluge of propaganda from Zionist-oriented media, continue to speak of the Zionist State of Israel as a democratic ideal, and an "oasis of democracy" in the Middle East. Yet, virtually every neutral observer who has been sent to the area to look at the issues objectively, beginning from the King-Crane Commission in 1919 to every U.N. mediator or Truce Supervisor to this day, came down clearly in support of the justice of the Palestinian cause and against the practices of this Zionist State. Many Jewish scholars foresaw the falsehoods inherent in Zionism and the inevitable tragedy it will lead to and opposed the creation of the Zionist State of Israel. Albert Einstein opposed the creation of the State of Israel. He stated:

"I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish State."1 Similarly Dr. Judah Magnes, President of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, maintained a life-long struggle against the Zionist ideology and in favour of a binational State, where Arab and Jew could live together as equals. In a prophetic statement he asked: "Will the Jews here (Palestine), in their efforts to create a political organism, become devotees of brute force and militarism - were some of the late Hashmoneans? We seem to have thought of everything except the Arab."2 His predictions, of the inevitable arrogant and brutal militarism in Israel and the dehumanising behaviour of Zionism towards the Arabs, have sadly come true. This he did not live to witness but other Jewish scholars came to witness and fight these Zionist practices. Rabbi Elmer Berger stresses: "The State of Israel, as presently conceived, and Zionism are both contradictions of every liberal humanistic dream of free men."3 Professor Shahak, who lives close at hand in Israel, was equally direct and forceful in his expression of fear at the way Zionism was alarmingly changing the character of Jews: "I am not afraid to say publicly that Israeli Jews, and with them most Jews throughout the world, are undergoing a process of nazification."4 Dr. Shahak, who witnessed the horrors of Nazism in the Belsen Concentration Camp, knew what he was speaking of. He succinctly summed up Zionism in these words: "You cannot have humane Zionism, it is a contradiction in terms."5 It is not surprising, taking this into consideration, that many liberal people in the West should ask: "How is it, then, that we have been taken in for so long and the true facts about Zionism have not filtered through to us? The answer is that the Zionists have effectively conducted a massive operation of falsification of history, creating an articulate and well-conceived interwoven web of Zionist mythology which, through the effective Zionist propaganda machine closely assisted by Zionist-oriented Western media, was allowed to dominate the West. William Zukerman graphically described the results of such an operation in the Jewish Newsletter, December 7, 1958: "To this observer, nothing demonstrates more sharply the terribly uncanny power of modern propaganda to control minds, sway emotions and brutalize people than the Zionist propaganda on the Arab refugees during the last decade. It literally succeeded in turning black into white, a big blatant lie into truth, a grave social injustice into an act of justice glorified by thousands."6 The operation was knowingly assisted by Western powers for political and other considerations. Commander E.H. Hutchison, American Chairman of the Israeli-Jordan Armistice Commission, referred to this when he said: "The major powers of the West and East, losing sight of the true value of a friendly Arab world in the swirling clouds of Zionist propaganda, overran the rights of the indigenous population of Palestine-the Arabs. Every step in the establishment of a Zionist State had been a challenge to justice." 7 The outcome of this effective and cynical propaganda machine brought about the result that there is only one side to the Middle East coin, as far as the West is concerned. The world-famous British historian Professor Arnold Toynbee had that in mind when he wrote: "Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offense and has turned a deaf ear to the victims."8 The two papers included in this publication attempt to present a brief study of the Zionist ideology outlining the three major characteristic of this movement, namely expansionism, racism and settler colonialism. A clearer understanding of this ideology will make the behaviour and the current negotiating conduct of Israel's present leader Mr. Menachem Begin and his colleagues much simpler to understand. The intransigence and arrogance of these negotiators is evidently not an accident but an inherent characteristic of Zionism. To understand this ideology is also to destroy finally the myth, that some people in the West and some Arab leaders have come to accept, namely, that there are hawks and doves amongst the leaders of Zionist Israel. The ideology and practices of all the Zionist leaders from Herzl, Ben Gurion, Golda Mier to Begin are identical. To believe otherwise is an illusion.

It is with this clear understanding of the true nature of the Zionist movement that the inevitable conclusion that a peaceful coexistence with this ideology is unattainable and will continue to evade realisation. For the Arabs the choice is clear, either to submit or to resist. It is sad to note at this time, that President Sadat of Egypt chose the course of abject capitulation. The tragedy of this policy extends far beyond his betrayal of the Palestinian people, who have been the main victims of Zionism. He has also turned his back to all the Arab and Muslim peoples. He has abandoned, amongst others, Jerusalem, the Holy City and its holy places including Al-Aqsa Mosque. To justify his policies, he is promising his people peace and prosperity, in his new unholy alliance with Zionism and American imperialism. The tragedy of all this, which he fails to perceive, is that he is chasing a mirage that has no reality. For this alone, history will not look with kindness on this act of betrayal in the year 1978.

Bibliography

  1. Cited in: Menuhin, Moshe "The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time" (Beirut, The Institution for Palestine Studies, 19), page 324
  2. Ibid., page 317.
  3. Berger, Rabbi Elmer; "Israel's Threat to Judaism in Palestine: Zionism V. Judaism, Christianity and Islam." A speech delivered at the Irish Arab Society, Dublin, February 5, 1970
  4. Shahak, Israel; "What Are My Opinions", Middle East International (Supplement), May, 1975.
  5. Shahak, Israel; Journal of Palestinian Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3, 1975, page 6.
  6. Zukerman, William Jewish Newsletter, December 7, 1958.
  7. Hutchison, Commander E.H.; Violent Truce, (New York, Devin-Adair, 1956), page 95.
  8. Toynbee, Arnold; Foreword to The Transformation of Palestine, Northwestern University Press, U.S.A., 1971.