Zionism, Imperialism and conflict in the Middle East
As we are constantly bombarded by the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the ever-widening theatre of war to now include The West Bank, Golan Heights and Lebanon, along with the ever-present threat of Iran being swept up in the carnage, it is important to consider the history of the region, beyond Israel/Palestine and definitely well before the attack of October 7 last year. To understand the seemingly intractable conflict it is good to gain an understanding of cultural, political and imperial ambitions which have so marked the region.
The idea which is Zionism was born out of the growing sense of nationalism in Europe where the various nation states sought to find a special identity, based in part on religion, language and territory. Jews throughout Christendom had been sidelined in the regions they occupied, never accepted into the definitions of nationality, and so sought to define their own definition based on an ethnicity which included six schools of thought.
Political, which sought to define Jews as a distinct people, not limited to religious adherence. With the rise of national identity there was the need to establish a state, a Jewish state since Jews were not considered ‘native’ to any European nation. In 1905 the decision to seek that nation state in the Biblical lands of Eretz Israel was made. 1905 was the timing of a Russian pogrom since Jews were blamed for the instability in Russia, and the first attempt to overthrow the Czarist regime.
In considering labour and how its produce and wealth was to be distributed, the idea of a Kibbutz based economy was promoted and very early settlers began arriving in Palestine and established Kibbutzes, a communal economy where all labour was shared.
Revision of the extent of Israeli borders was promoted to include sovereignty over the Old Testament defined lands.
Other thoughts were on religion, culture, including the revitalisation of the ancient Hebrew language, and the inclusion and support for diaspora Zionism, Jews who did not want to leave where they lived, such as in America, Britain, Australia, Europe, but supported the Zionist ideals and through that to exert the power of the Jewish political lobbyists which is evident on both political support for Israel and repression of pro-Palestinian support.
The political power of Zionists led to British Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, in November 1917 writing a letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild who was President of the British Zionist Federation, which included the following 67 words:
“His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
It is important to note that no where in those 67 words is there mention of the establishment of a Jewish state, rather the implication that Jews can settle in Palestine and live at peace with the existing inhabitants. It also predates the end of WWI, pre-empting the carve up of the Ottoman Empire.
The second consideration is Imperialism.
During the First World War, Britain, France and Russia engaged in secret agreements on the carve up of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. When Russia withdrew from the war in 1917, the British and French continued to negotiate and came up with Sykes-Picot Agreement which divided up the Middle East with lines on the map which ignored cultural and ethnic divisions, sharing the hoped for spoils of war between the two allies. The importance of oil in the region was recognised with the Mosul region becoming an important bargaining chip.
Importantly, the area of Palestine was excluded in the carve up, instead was designated to be an internationally administered region, part of the ‘Egyptian Protectorate’, with Jerusalem as a free city. In his 2009 book, Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel, Geoffrey Lewis notes that “This would make the Jewish infiltration into Palestine less obvious and annoying to the susceptibilities of the Muslim and even certain elements in the Christian world” (page 96)
In a chapter entitled Painting Othello Black of his book Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East, Robert Fisk looks at the destabilising impact of European Imperialism in the Middle East going back into the 19th century, but he cites a particular incident with the Egyptian attempt at nationalising the Suez Canal in the 1950s.
“Just over 70 years after Galdstone’s folly, a Tory government under Anthony Eden decided to invade Egypt yet again, following Colonel Nasser’s nationalisation of the Sues Canal…
… Anthony Eden and most of his cabinet colleagues did everything they could to conceal the shameful history of Britain’s plan – to draw up in secret with France and Israel – to invade Egypt and topple Nasser, even to the point of destroying the secret documents of the agreement at Sevres, where the three powers concocted their bloody expedition. Put simply, they agreed that Israel would invade Egypt and that Britain and France would then ‘intervene’ on the ground to ‘safeguard’ the Suez Canal. The real Purpose of the ‘intervention’ would be the overthrow of Nasser.” (Page 89)
The destabilising actions of Britain and the USA of the Middle East can be seen as a defence of Israel, yet, as so often happens, unintended consequences appear, such as the destabilisation of Iraq through the war in search of non-existent weapons of mass destruction and the excuse to wage war in the wrong country after 9/11 and then handing the oil reserves over to the largest oil companies, BP and Exxon, breeding discontent between the Sunni and Shiite Iraqis which led to the formation of ISIS and support for besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
Again, from Night of Power, “But the sickness continued. America’s disaster in Iraq infected Jordan and then Lebanon with Al-Qieda. The arrival of gunmen from Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian camp in the north of Lebanon 2007, and scores of civilian dead, were the direct result of the Sunni uprising in Iraq” (Page 109)
The destabilisation of Iraq led to a rise in terrorist groups and a source of weapons and ideology which has led to the growth of resistance to Israeli power.
Is it any wonder that the US and its allies are Israel’s strongest supporters. Imagine if the billions of dollars of oil revenue the oil giants are banking fell into the hands of the ‘terrorists’. Is it any wonder that the supply of weapons to Israel has exceeded $30billion while aid to the stricken Palestinians is less than $1billion.
A destabilised Middle East is in Israel’s interests, it’s territorial expansion, to take in the biblical lands of Judaea and Samaria (West Bank and Golan Heights) to realise the Zionist dream of Eretz Israel. For some, the ambitions are even greater, in a recent interview a speaker claimed the land from the Tigris River to the Mediterranean Sea.
European Imperialism has always been about resources, whether to produce coffee, tea, sugar or tobacco, or to take land for the resources it contains, gold, silver and in more recent times to satisfy the needs of manufacturing, iron, coal, bauxite, and other minerals and let’s not forget oil.
The indigenous peoples are seen as less than human, just in the way of the raping of the land.
Israelis are seen as more like Europeans, some how more civilised, more human, more worthy than the Arabs they seek to displace.
Besides, they are God’s People.
Just ask them.
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24 comments
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Phil Pryor -
Terence Mills -
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Clakka -
Arnd -
John C -
Bert -
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Bert -
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Arnd -
Andrew Smith -
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Bert
Return to home pageThere is no god of the abrahamic type, which perpetuates ancient superstitious deep fantasy beyond any reason. Use the best telescopes and microscopes, now available, and seek a personal appearance, find a photo, signature, DNA sample, genuine witnessed events, but there is Nothing and never ever Was, All this fraudy fantasy got our ancestors throught the day, life itself, with distorted visioning and hopeless dreaings. But, the idea of some chosen race, blessed, anointed, saved, special, divinmely superior, with some special land to inhabit, is ugly and vicious in its divisiveness, its warlike boasting. We have had the zionist theft of a legal Palestine up to May 1948 and all the cursed violence ever since. Can peace have any chance, even with a two state solution which would legitimise the theft? And, surely Assyrians, Hittites, Huns, Picts, all sorts of ancients will arise, with claims based in exclusivity, full of demands and threatening a hostile world. As the USA is stolen and occupied, there will be “sympathy.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered $US5 million and safe passage out of Gaza to anyone returning a hostage – dead or alive.
“To those who want to leave this entanglement I say: Whoever brings us a hostage will find a safe way out for himself and his family. We will also give $5 million for every hostage,” Netanyahu said.
Yet he blocks every effort to free the hostages through a ceasefire !
One person’s terrorist is anothers freedom-fighter. usa only removed Nelson Mandela from their “terrorist list” in 2009
Interesting also how Yeman is kicking NATO-stan’s arse; their various (including hypersonic) missiles unable to be defended.
And Iran’s missiles are more numerous and sophisticated, they hit ziofascistan hard; IRGC next attack will be harder still.
West Asia is changing very rapidly, BRICS+ and the Global Majority will result in a more peaceful, prosperous world.
Yes Bert, a reasonable cast over the salient matters,
The long and detailed history is much more complex, internecine, and sordid. Suffice it to say they’ve all been ripping the guts outa one another for loot forever. Now it’s the guile of the imperialist ‘West’ and its suzerain Israel (‘them’), trying to rip the guts outa the Arabs and anyone not ‘them’ to the north all the way to Kazakhstan, and east of the Black Sea through to India.
Phil’s appraisal is terse and to the point.
Phil,
Australia?
You seem rather certain about this. From the fact that modern science in the early 21st century does not have the means or ability to generate or detect direct physical evidence of God, does it really follow that He doesn’t exist?
I mean, it could just mean that your conception of God is mistaken. It wouldn’t be the first time that asking the wrong kind of question leads to highly problematic conclusions.
Not that any of this justifies Bibi’s genocidal destruction in Gaza and Lebanon. Possibly quite the contrary.
Israelis some how more civilised??????????????????? Than what? Based on their behaviour over the last 70 odd years (100 years according to this article) they are as civilised as stye dwelling animals. Pigs, the very animal they despise as much as the Muslims they massacre on a daily basis. The saddest part of it all is they are more like each other than they will ever admit.
Arnd, in one way or another we imagine gods of our own, whether it be money, some idol we place on a pedestal or some mythical being, each is an invention and usually a means of social control. So in a sense, religion is a god, in that it defines how adherents need to live, and that was true of the various gods of antiquity, whether they be the Greek gods of Mt Olympus or the Norse gods, the spirit world of the animists. The god of the bible was invented, dreamed up to make sense of the new way of living brought about by the development of agriculture, agrarian societies, dependent on the weather to ensure the growth of crops. No longer able to follow the food trail of hunter gatherer, no longer seeing the spirit of the food they were eating, a new god needed to be invented to make sense of the new world they inhabited. Along with the new god came laws which placed adherents in their place, subject to the whims of the imagined god.
Thanks, Bert, and I have no intention of trying to gang-press you into an exchange on this subject you might not want to sustain.
But just in case you are not totally unwilling to examine this subject further, let me pick up on the first part of your response:
So what is your god(s)? Is that a god of your own invention? Do you, or have you ever tried to use it for social control? And if so, how?
Ah, an interesting question Arnd, perhaps it’s one to bring to my philosophy discussion group this evening.
Maybe Zionism is simply a business model favored by thieves, which is heavily reliant on an obedient media contingent.
One of the illusions is that the core business is religous, and the old smoke and mirrors tricks.
Without any genuine effort from its followers they manage to acquire land, houses, and wealth galore, and glory in their lack of any ethics,or values typical of Western nations.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but if their is any justice in this world then this business is due to cease to exist when the media distortions are picked up by the majority
Bert,
Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that one.
The reason I am asking is because I had to conclude that of logical necessity, all of us have to organise our lives around some basic set of beliefs. Hence, the question is not whether someone subscribes to a belief (system) or not, it is whether (s)he is aware of it and admits to it or not.
Once you understand that (and with reference to Phil’s post), the next step is not to decry any particular belief as especially fantastic or far-fetched, but to decry any attempt to impose the strictures of any individual belief on others against their will.
In other words, it is to decry the exercise of coercive pressure – which principle once again lands us right in the middle of anarchist conceptions of political philosophy.
Apologies for once again miraculously finding that all paths through the dense and thorny thickets of political disputation sooner or later lead to anarchist insights.
Has anyone noticed on Israel Gaza etc. how many if not majority, of pro-Palestine social media accounts and posters have gone to ground, like US campus protests, since Trump’s election?
Mission accomplished?
As opposed to the local reliance on RW Anglosphere media and non expert influencer analysis.
Various European analysts suggest Putin (Ukraine invasion had stalled, needed a breather) encouraged Hamas Oct 7, blow back from Israel, other Russian allies &/or proxies kicked off; US media blames Biden, Harris and Dems…..too easy.
Codependent corrupt narcissistic regimes of Netanyahu and Hamas, who by their nature lack empathy and do not care about civilian victims; friends or foes….
Yet, Europeans are well aware (see Applebaum revent work on autocracy) how these corrupt autocrats sometimes quietly liaise and cooperate on common geopolitical interests see Putin, Tones’ chums PM ‘mini Putin’ Orban, Fico, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Assad etc., and the US GOP.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war.
Netanyahu has chosen the refuge of the scoundrel in saying that these charges are motivated by antisemitism – pull the other one Bibi !
These charges will not go away and whilst Israel does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, as is the case with the USA, these warrants will still be exercisable should he travel to any of the 125 signatory countries to the ICC Rome Statute.
Arnd, the discussion was interesting…. one group member is a Christian Chaplain studying for his Phd in Philosophy, another is Hindu, a lapsed Catholic and several agnostics. And significantly, we all seemed to agree with your premise, that we to subscribe to some form of belief ‘system’.
Importantly though, there was also consensus that we need to respect the right for each person to believe what they believe, without judgement.
Nicely put Bert.
Bert, thanks for reporting back.
I sort of agree with the premise that: “we need to respect the right for each person to believe what they believe, without judgement.”
But I certainly reserve the right to have an opinion about other people’s beliefs.
How far do you think this respect should reach? Does it include tolerance for the belief that thieves should have their hands amputated, adulterers should be stoned to death, and that girls be subjected to genital mutilation. Does it include tolerance for rounding up millions of Jews and subjecting them to industrialised mass murder?
Most probably not!
But where, do you say, lies the demarcation line between those beliefs we ought to respect, even if we do not share them, and those beliefs that might need to be condemned after all?
Arnd, many years ago I taught at a school which had a sizable Muslim cohort and one young man was pushing Sharia Law as we were studying law and politics at that time.
I suggested to him that his belief in Sharia Law should, in the Australian context be that he live according to its precepts, in other words ensure that his behaviour conformed to the standards of Sharia Law, in the same way that when a Christian insists on the Ten Commandments being their law, they should ensure that they conform to those precepts, that they keep the sabbath for instance, that is not against the law of the land, but that person should not then insist that all stores and hospitals and other service industries close on the sabbath, but that that person ensure that they are live their lives in such a way that they do not break that command.
When viewed from that perspective, that of living the life of faith as prescribed in the holy texts, the believer takes that on for themselves, but does not impose it on others. ASs for the punishments you refer to, they could only apply if and when that religion becomes the government, as it is in say Iran or Afghanistan.
When considering the draconian aspects of punishment and the law, it was not that long ago that male homosexuality was a crime punishable by hanging under British law. Interestingly, being lesbian was never a crime, just male homosexuality was.
Bert,
conservatives cannot recognise love between men they are only able to see the sex and are sickened by men kissing.
But are excited by women kissing and think lesbians are because they have no men. African have the knowledge to control lesbians there are 200m with their clitoris cut off.
Many years ago I got drunk and embarrassed myself on hijabs, niqabs and burkas having nothing to do with god and putting them on little kids is because of pedaphilia.
The god of abraham forgives xstian men who murder their wives and children and awards muslim men who kill anyone xstian, shia, sunni, bystanders women, children old or young
ps
beauty Andrew trump is odds on to be successful in ukraine and gaza because bibi and putin can use him.
Bert,
conservatives cannot recognise love between men they are only able to see the sex and are sickened by men kissing.
But are excited by women kissing and think lesbians are because they have no men. African have the knowledge to control lesbians there are 200m with their clitoris cut off.
Many years ago I got drunk and embarrassed myself on hijabs, niqabs and burkas having nothing to do with god and putting them on little kids is because of pedaphilia.
The god of abraham forgives xstian men who murder their wives and children and awards muslim men who kill anyone xstian, shia, sunni, bystanders women, children old or young
ps
beauty Andrew trump is odds on to be successful in ukraine and gaza because bibi and putin can use him.
Interesting that after the decision of the international Criminal Court (ICC) on Netanyahu and others, the USA stands out as an unconditional supporter of Netanyahu and the Israeli regime and the ongoing killings in Gaza and Lebanon.
In July the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in an advisory opinion declared that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated settlement regime, annexation and use of natural resources. The Court added that Israel’s legislation and measures violate the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. The ICJ mandated Israel to end its occupation, dismantle its settlements, provide full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people.
Again Israel, with US backing, ignored the court’s declaration.
Two days ago in the Security Council of the UN, the USA was the only nation in the 15-member Council to vote against a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages : once again an attempt to bring sanity to Gaza was frustrated by our closest ally.
Perhaps we need to have a word with our ally and point out to them that they are on the wrong side of history.
Ah Terence, what an interesting thought, the USA being on the wrong side of history!
American exceptionalism is very much like the British Imperialism before it died a natural death, but in relation to the Middle East, especially regarding the Palestinian question, it is interesting to read the words of Winston Churchill as he pontificated on the merits of one breed of people over another.
As Colonial secretary in 1921 he told the House of Commons that with Jewish migration to Palestine had made ‘ardent declarations to make Palestine a predominantly Jewish country….to develop the country to the advantage of all inhabitants….’ as he decried the lack of productivity under Arab control. If more Jews came to Palsetine then the Jewish Homeland ‘will become all Palestine eventually, provided that at each stage there is no harsh injustice done to the other residents. Why is there harsh injustice done if people come in and make a livelihood for more and make the desert into palm groves and olive groves?… The injustice is when those who live in the country leave it to be desert for thousands of years.’
He went on about the benefits of colonisers taking over lands…. ‘I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia’….. and here is his justification…’by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, or, at any rate, a more worldly race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.
That attitude still prevails in the minds of exceptional Americans who place them selves above the scrutiny of the International Criminal Court, as does Netanyahu, as the Zionist god’s chosen leader for his people.
I could say much, much more, but placing one people above the law means that other lives count for nothing.
In Episode 2 of the eight-part documentary, Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?, (recommended viewing for the wonks), an examination of American thinking & action in respect to its global relationships and how it chooses to prosecute those relationships at a transactional level, there is a comment by Peter Galbraith, a senior bureaucrat at the time of Bush snr. and Clinton, as well as being the ambassador to Croatia during the war in Bosnia in the early-mid nineties, in relation to the execution of responsibility by those in power.
He said…”I think the most important quality in public life is courage. Above all, it requires the courage to be willing to act in these situations and to take the consequences. In a lot of cases there just isn’t the courage to act; there isn’t the courage to act by people at the top, there isn’t the courage to act by people who may not be in the top but are capable of influencing or capable of acting on their own.
And, er, if we’re really going to have a ‘never again’ world, it’s going to require courage.”
Words spoken in relation to America’s position in relation to the war in Bosnia, but still relevant 30 years later. Biden has shown no courage, nor have his advisers, in respect to the actions of Israel. Any decent, clear-eyed human can see the carnage and brutality in Israel & Lebanon for what it is, but the American response is to turn a blind eye and speak words of impotence, and commit to actions of egregiousness.
It was implied that both the American and European reluctance to rein in Serbia when it was conducting a genocidal campaign against the Bosnians was because the Bosnian population were largely Muslim. Thirty years on, same same.
As long as the entrenched attitudes and beliefs of an ‘us’ vs. a ‘them’ persist, there is little to no chance of a peaceful and humane resolution.
Not to be flippant, but Global Warming will sort it out eventually, with Gaia saying, in effect, ‘time’s up, you guys, you had your chance and you screwed up, so it’s bye byes time.’ So much for paying attention to Sagan’s ‘pale blue dot’ reference.
Bert, it’s your fault. Heavy snow in Edinburgh. This from British Airways:
“Please be advised that your flight may be delayed due to adverse weather conditions caused by Storm Bert.”
Michael, what can I say, I am just a vengeful old bastard jealous of those who seek pleasure travelling to far flung places.