Israel or Palestine: The War For the High Moral Ground

Disclosure: My father was a Judeophile so I grew up with an understanding that Jews had been historically persecuted wherever they were for basically refusing to give up their religion. I understood, even when quite young, that in Western, young, idealistic, educated, liberal society the Jews in Israel were on the right side. It was the ignorant, superstitious, backward religious societies and classes who hated the Jews. Well that has certainly changed over the last 75 years and yet I haven't changed along with the flow, I've seen no need to change my position. Of course, I've grown up, become skeptical, lost my illusions, added grays to my black and white palette but there are some simple, bedrock ideas I can't let go of.

Zionist Jews began to legally migrate to Ottoman Empire Palestine in the mid to late 19th century in small but growing numbers. Palestinian Arab Muslim society was ruled by a small Ottoman administrative class and was semi-feudal and tribal with an elite landowning/merchant/moneylanding class and a large majority of very poor peasants. The 1878 census recorded about 400,000 Muslims, 40,000 Christians and 15-25,000 mostly religious Jews with long term residency. By 1918, as best as can be determined, there were about 500-600,000 Muslims, 70,000 Christians and 60,000 to 90,000 Jews. Whatever the Zionists or Muslims may have hoped for the future, it is obvious that the Jews would never become a majority and there were too many Jews for the Muslims to eradicate. The Ottomans had not been able to police Palestine but the British would. There could be no From the River to the Sea &hellip but the Arabs would not let go of this dream.

For the next 100 years the Palestinians continued an undeclared, unorganised guerrilla war against the immigrants who responded by creating a reasonably efficient defence force. For 35 years, Palestinian Palestine was ruled by one man, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the so-called Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. A Palestinian who disagreed with him and tried to do something about it could expect assassination. Politically, the Mufti was totally opposed to a Jewish population in Palestine. However, the Mufti was a terrible leader. He was born into his position, his education probably didn't prepare him for the actual role he undertook. While the Yishuv, the Jewish semi-government, prepared for future statehood and civil war despite the difficulties the British Mandate Administration put in their way, the Mufti's main focus was keeping himself the sole leader of the Palestinians. When the time came, aftr more than 70 years of continual, violent attacks on the Jews, they were totally unprepared for the war they wished for and initiated.