As our Decade of Centenaries draws to a close with upbeat commemorations of the Irish Free State’s membership of the League of Nations (listen to our Hedge School on the topic at https://historyireland.com/hedge-schools/), it is sadly ironic that another outcome of the international crises of a century ago, triggered by the First World War, is today threatening world peace.
On 2 November 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, expressing support for ‘the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people’. Up to this point Zionism was very much a minority tendency in Judaism, akin to Marcus Garvey’s ‘Back to Africa’ movement. At the same time the British mobilised local Arab opinion against their Ottoman Turkish rulers. The Balfour Declaration also stated that ‘nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine’.
The latter was soon a dead letter, however, as in the wake of the Holocaust the demand for a Jewish state became irresistible. In 1947 Palestine was partitioned, one of two regions (along with India/Pakistan) being overseen at the time by the British—and with equally disastrous results. As we have seen more recently in Yugoslavia, once partition is on the agenda its logical consequence, ethnic cleansing, is never far behind. Neighbouring Arab states invaded, and their ensuing defeat left Palestinians in occupation of only 22% of the territory (instead of the 50% promised in the original plan) now administered by Egypt (Gaza) and Jordan (West Bank). Further defeat in 1967 left the percentage at zero.
Of course, Israel’s territorial spoils were the results of defensive wars, but does that negate the right of Palestinians to statehood? Why should they be held responsible for the mistakes of the neighbouring Arab states, or, for that matter, suffer the consequences of European guilt for the Holocaust? Or be collectively punished for the crimes of Hamas (c. 15,000 dead, mainly civilians, in Gaza at the time of writing, on top of the c. 1,200 killed by Hamas on 7 October)? The latter, it should be remembered, is in many respects a creature of Israel, having been promoted or at least tolerated initially as a counter to the more secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Underpinning this cynical policy was the smug assumption by Israeli leaders that any resulting chaos could be kept in check by military might and its people protected, an assumption that has been cruelly exposed by recent events. It’s time to bring such zero-sum thinking to an end. There will be no security for Israelis while there is none for Palestinians. It’s surely time to put the ‘two state’ framework, envisaged by the 1993 Oslo accords, back on track. Thirty years have been squandered; it may be too late.
6 Palmerston Place, Dublin 7
editor@historyireland.com