A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
March 1, 1899. Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, the mayor of Jerusalem, mails a letter to Theodor Herzl, a Viennese journalist and leader of the burgeoning Zionist movement. The missive, while just a short seven pages, proves to be extremely prescient.
In the letter, Yusuf Diya expresses his deep admiration for Herzl and his dismay at Europe’s rampant anti-Semitism; he describes Jews and Muslims as cousins. However, he also cautions against Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state in the Middle East. He points out that the Zionist project would subjugate the region’s indigenous population. He ends the letter with a plea, writing, “In the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.”
Within a month, Herzl responds. He dismisses Yusuf Diya’s concerns and argues that an influx of Europeans would improve the lives of everyone in the region.
The key message here is: The colonization of Palestine was accelerated by British rule.
For four centuries, Palestine was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. The population was about 94 percent Arab Muslim with a small minority of Jews and Christians. While the region was largely agricultural, it was slowly modernizing with railways, electricity, and improved access to education. However, this all changed in 1917 – World War I ended Ottoman rule, and the British took control of Palestine.
In November of that year, the British issued the Balfour Declaration. This statement declared the formation of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine. While the document promised to protect the civil and religious rights of the region’s non-Jewish population, it made no mention of political rights or right to national self-determination. And, just like that, the Zionist movement attained the backing of the world’s largest colonial empire.
For Palestinians, this new political reality was troubling. Just like their neighbors in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, they had developed a distinct national identity and wished to buck off the colonial grip of the European powers. From 1919 until 1928, Palestinians convened multiple congresses petitioning the British for independence. However, all these appeals fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, the Zionist project continued. In 1922, the League of Nations issued the Mandate for Palestine. Over the course of 28 articles, this document laid the groundwork for Jewish self-governance in the region but failed to mention the Arab majority at all. Backed by this legal framework, European Jews continued to settle the area, and their communities enjoyed almost exclusive access to foreign investment. By the late 1920s, the Jewish population of Palestine had risen to nearly 20 percent – and tensions had risen as well.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (2020) is a detailed and rigorous look at one of the most misunderstood regions of the world. This timely text chronicles Palestinian history from the perspective of Palestinians.
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Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
