Soldiers and civilians: the dilemma of Turkish democracy

This historical analysis of Mahatma Gandhi's views on the Jewish–Arab conflict in Palestine at the time of the British Mandate distinguishes four phases. The initial involvement is Gandhi's intervention in support of the Caliph's temporal rule in Palestine. The second deals with a secret offer of mediation addressed to the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. The third is his highly controversial letter to ‘The Jews‘. In the last phase, Gandhi chose to remain silent, but is alleged to have stated that the Jews had a good case and a prior claim, a statement that seems at variance with previous attitudes. The question is raised as to how far Gandhi's views were consistent. They are explained by the evolving political context in India, as well as in Palestine, the two being intertwined in an ever tightening knot. Gandhi's commitments are revisited and clarified in the light of new research.     

Defining ‘America’ from a Distance: Local Strategies of the Global in the Middle East

This article focuses on the policy of population dispersion and the plan that transferred new Jewish immigrants from North Africa to settlements in Israel's periphery during the mid-1950s. Populating the frontier was a national task. The lack of candidates among old-timers contributed to the idea of sending new immigrants to those areas. The first wave of immigrants, immediately after Israel's independence, came at such a speed that a direct connection to population dispersion was almost impossible. The transit camps, created as temporary accommodation for the immigrants in populated area of the country, became permanent. With the second wave of immigration, a policy of directing the immigrants to the frontier was adopted. This policy required tight control on the immigrants and very efficient processing. This second wave of immigrants included mostly North African Jews. However, this policy was abandoned when East European Jews immigrated to Israel. The population dispersion of the 1950s shaped Israel's spatial gaps, and had long-lasting influence on the creation of an ethnic gap in Israel.     

David Ben-Gurion and the ‘Demographic Threat’: His Dualistic Approach to Natalism, 1936–63

This article illuminates one of the many facet of Ben-Gurion's leadership that had an impact on his public image – his stance on fertility and childbirth, during the years 1936–63. The article outlining Ben-Gurion's thoughts on the birthrate in Mandatory Palestine and the State of Israel, analyse the developments in his views over the years and the reasons for it. His perception of the Jewish national importance of boosting the birthrate grew over time in keeping with historical developments and the soaring natural increase of the Arabs. In the first stage, births were important to him due to the need to create a Jewish majority that would pave the way for a Jewish state. In the second stage, once this goal had been achieved, it was out of concern for the security and stability of the state – in this stage, however, he built his leadership as a prime minister of all Israel citizens, including the Arabs. The analysis demonstrates, therefore, that Ben-Gurion's approach was characterized by dualism. The reasons for this dualism as well as Ben-Gurion's image as a ‘godfather of fertility’ are the focal point of this article.     

Bedouin-Jewish Relations in the Negev 1943–1948

On the foundation of the first Jewish settlements in the Negev, at the start of the 1940s, the Bedouins welcomed the Jewish settlers. The local personal connections and mutual acquaintance between them created a feeling of closeness. The symbiosis of daily life and mutual help in the fields of personal needs, from medicine to transport, replaced their mutual fears.

However, two factors quickly changed this attitude. The first was a severe drought, which struck the Negev in the winter of 1947, and brought with it a difficult economic situation, followed by several robberies and disputes, and damage to property. The second factor was the incessant encouragement given by the leaders of the Palestinian National Movement to the Bedouins to join the struggle against the Jewish population, especially after the UN decision in November 1947, that is, after the partition of Palestine and the inclusion of the Negev within the borders of the Jewish state.

Most of the Bedouins joined the Palestinian National Struggle. Friends of yesterday became today's enemies. The years 1947–1949 were a period of anarchy, which continued well into the 1950s. In this period the State of Israel was established. Consequently, the Jewish population in the Negev was no longer the party responsible for the relationship with the Bedouins, as the Israeli government took its place. Also contact between neighbors was reduced after the Bedouins were evacuated toward the ‘fence’ region, in the Beer-Sheva Valley. The freedom the Bedouins enjoyed before the war did not exist anymore.     

From “Endemically Pro‐Israel” to Unsympathetic: Australia's Middle East Policy, 1967–1972

The hardening of Australian Middle East policy toward Israel in the early 1970s is often attributed to the election of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister. Whitlam's December 1972 victory may well have opened a new, problematic chapter. But the evidence suggests that a deterioration in Australia‐Israel relations occurred gradually in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War. This deterioration reflected changes in Australia's political leadership and change at the top of the Department of External Affairs (renamed Foreign Affairs in 1970). Individual decision‐makers such as Whitlam did play a significant role in determining Australian Middle East policy. As Prime Minister, Sir John Gorton was willing to put aside advice from External Affairs not to antagonise and risk disrupting trade relations with Arab states, and to offer heartfelt support for Israel. His successor Sir William McMahon vacillated under opposing influences of a department determined to secure Australia's trade interests on the one hand, and Australian Jewish leaders and Israel's envoys in Australia on the other. With the support of the Australian Jewish community, Israel sought to influence Australian political leaders — especially within the ALP — from turning away from Israel.     

The star of David in a cedar tree: Jewish students and Zionism at the American University of Beirut (1908–1948)

The American University of Beirut's emergence as a hub of Arab national and cultural identity in the first half of the twentieth century has been well documented by historians. The simultaneous Zionist presence on campus has been largely overlooked. Zionist ideas were predominantly promoted by Palestinian Jewish students who formed a small but vocal minority at AUB prior to 1948. Faculty and non-Jewish students also regularly collaborated with and traveled to Zionist institutions in Palestine for academic, athletic, and leisure purposes. For Arab students on campus, therefore, Zionism was not an abstract concept, but rather a national identity embodied by fellow classmates and friends on campus. As the conflict in Palestine increased in the 1930s and 1940s, so too did political activism and tensions on campus between Zionist and Arab nationalist students. This article analyzes this unique period of exchange, collaboration, and friction at AUB, which came to a swift end with the outbreak of the 1948 War. By focusing on the interactions between Arab and Zionist Jewish students at AUB, I seek to extend the ‘relational’ approach towards Jewish-Arab contact beyond Palestine's borders.     

“Characteristically Generous”? Australian Responses to Refugees Prior to 1951

When Australia pledged to accept 15,000 Jewish refugees from Europe in 1938, it was applauded by the London Times as “a characteristically generous contribution” and an example for others. Australia's reputation for generous humanitarianism was solidified after the war when it absorbed more than 180,000 of Europe's Displaced Persons and committed to international human rights instruments designed to protect refugees and asylum seekers. This reputation has been used to both defend and critique the nation's contemporary responses to asylum seekers. Recent Australian Prime Ministers have invoked Australia's proud record of refugee resettlement to deflect criticism of their tough border control policies, policies which critics charge repudiate the nation's humanitarian traditions. This article critically reviews the history of Australia's responses to refugees and asylum seekers prior to 1951 and demonstrates that contemporary border control policies are neither a deviation from, nor defence of, a proud humanitarian record. Rather, they embody the migration management approach to refugees that provided impetus for Federation in 1901, governed Australia's response to the Jewish refugee crisis in the 1930s, and shaped its conditional acceptance of the Displaced Persons and the position it adopted in the drafting of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951.     

The Jewish neighbourhoods of Jaffa and the question of annexation to Tel Aviv at the end of the British Mandate

One of the most complex issues facing British rule on the local municipal level towards the end of the Mandate period was the problem of Jaffa's Jewish neighbourhoods. This question, which emerged with the outbreak of the 1936 disturbances, engaged the government thereafter until the end of the Mandate. The demand by the residents of Jaffa's Jewish neighbourhoods for annexation to Tel Aviv – actually for municipal detachment from Jaffa – constituted the root of the problem. In this setting of the sharpening of relations between the authorities and the Jews and Arabs in 1945–1947, all three involved parties found themselves deeply immersed in it in the attempt to bring about its resolution. The annexation problem ceaselessly preoccupied the institutions of the Jewish Yishuv as a Zionist–Yishuv struggle of the highest order. This period gave rise to a series of unprecedented moves by the Jewish side, which were intended to influence the British government toward solving the problem. The article examines its development of the problem from the viewpoint of the three sides concerned in the years 1945–1947, with the focus on the policy line adopted by the Jewish side, its implications and its results.     

INTERVIEW WITH SAMIR J. HABIBY

The Rev. Canon Habiby is a former director of the Episcopal Church's global relief agency, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. In that capacity he worked closely with Terry Waite to further the Anglican Church's humanitarian efforts for the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. A Palestinian who became a refugee after the Jewish occupation of Haifa, Habiby came to the United States in 1954 at the age of 21 and later served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a navy chaplain. The following interview was conducted by Roger Gaess, a New York-based free-lance journalist, on December 17, 1991, at Canon Habiby's office in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Riverside, Connecticut.     

To What Extent Did the Jewish Brigade Contribute to the Establishment of the Jewish State?

Whilst the desperation of key international Zionist leaders, such as Chaim Weizmann, to field a fighting force against the Nazis consisting entirely of Palestinian Jews is evident in their correspondence, it is difficult to ascertain just how significant the practical contribution of the Jewish Brigade was to the Zionist project. The political effect of activities such as facilitating illegal immigration and, post-war, quietly training Jewish underground forces in Palestine cannot by their very nature be evaluated. Yet perhaps the Brigade's most important contribution to the embryonic state of Israel was the huge leap in political and cultural strength that boasting such a force represented.     

The Jews of China and their Contribution to the Establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

This article deals with the contribution of Zionists throughout the world to the building of the National Home in Palestine, including the Zionist communities in the Far East – India and China. It examines the vast Zionist activity taking place in China, with the Zionists of China making a significant contribution, especially considering the small size of its Jewish community. In contrast to popular belief, in the period discussed in our research China was not distant and disconnected from the Zionist centres in Palestine and Europe. Written Zionist propaganda and Zionist representatives did not overlook China. The notable extent of donations and investments made by the Jews of China benefiting the National Home through the Jewish Colonial Trust, the Jewish National Fund, and the Foundation Fund is the result of two main factors: firstly, the economic strength of the community, especially the very wealthy Iraqi Jews, and secondly, the Zionist passion of the Chinese Jews. The Kadoorie family, whose donations assisted in purchasing land for the Hebrew University, the building of Ha'emek Hospital, and the establishment of the Galilee agricultural school, played a pivotal role. There is no doubt that Eliezer Kadoorie serving as head of the Zionist Organization in China as well as some of its institutions helped widen the circle of donors among upper and middle class Zionists in China, and shared in their prominent part in creating the Jewish National Home in Palestine.     

The Second World War as a turning point in Arab–Jewish relations: the case of Jaffa and Tel Aviv

One of the gravest outcomes of the period of the Arab revolt was the heavy economic damage caused to the Arab community. Jaffa, which suffered greatly in the years 1936–1939, sought to rebuild and restore the city to its status as a leading economic center in Palestine. This need intensified still more with the outbreak of the Second World War. Hence, it was in Jaffa's evident interest to bring about an improvement in relations with Tel Aviv and with Jews generally. Problems regarding the proper management of economic life in wartime exercised the Jewish settlement also; therefore, Jewish–Arab cooperation steadily grew in this period. The article gauges the measure of this cooperation and the nature of the ties that consolidated between Arabs and Jews during the war. The situation of Jaffa and Tel Aviv serves as a test case well exemplifying the force of the subsequent change in relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.     

The Battle over Jewish Students in the Christian Missionary Schools of Mandate Palestine

Studies of Jewish students in Palestine's Christian missionary schools largely end at the close of the Ottoman period. But although a tiny and diminishing fraction of Jewish students studied in such schools after the First World War, the mandate period was marked by anxious and often zealous Zionist anti-missionary campaigns. The article considers this space of Jewish-Christian interaction, arguing that even as a Hebrew-dominant society took root, missionary schools provided education in European languages, particularly English, tools that offered advantages to Jewish students with an interest in clerical work or foreign study. The continuing appeal and importance of foreign language skills cast doubt on the Zionist pretence of a self-sufficient Hebrew society.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue. The Invention of the Jewish People , by Shlomo Sand. Jewish Terrorism in Israel , by Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger. My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq , by Ariel Sabar. Engaging the Muslim World , by Juan Cole. The Women of Hezbollah , directed by Maher Abi‐Samra. Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond , by Christopher M. Davidson.     

A Unique Denial: Israel's Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide

This article focuses on the Israeli politicization of the Armenian genocide from the perspective of foreign policy. Since the early 1980s Israel's official position has been to not recognize the Armenian genocide. The issue of recognition came to the surface in 1982 after Turkey put pressure on Israel to cancel a Holocaust and genocide conference. This article shows that Israel agreed to pressure the conference organizers to cancel the conference in order to secure protection for Jews fleeing Iran and Syria through the Turkish border. This article also explores the role of informal ambassadors in shaping Israel's position on this issue. Using recently declassified archival documents and oral interviews with key Israeli stakeholders, this is the first investigation into the role of informal ambassadors, specifically the Jewish minority in Turkey, and the American Jewish pro-Israeli lobby. The article also addresses a secondary incentive for Israel's refusal to recognize the genocide: ethnic competition between Jews and Armenians as victims of genocide.     

The 1948 Wartime Resettlement of Former Arab Areas in West Jerusalem

The 1948 war resulted in a sweeping spatial transformation of areas included in the bounds of the newly formed Jewish state, including that of the western Jerusalem. Arab neighbourhoods were almost totally depopulated during fighting and shortly after resettled by Jews, most of which has been war refugees from Jerusalem's Jewish neighbourhoods or newly arrived immigrants. The effect of war on human spatial structures is in many cases abrupt and sweeping. Yet, due to the limited use of heavy weaponry by both belligerent sides, the damage to built-up structures and infrastructure systems was not inclusive. Repopulation of former Arab areas by Jews was of large scale and carried out by different local and national institutions. Yet it seems as in many cases it was personal initiatives, especially of war refugees that sought for alternative housing that had a crucial effect over the newly formed settlement pattern. One way or another, the spatial structure of Jerusalem that was formed in decades of urban dynamic development was drastically transformed after a short period of fighting between December 1947 and early 1949, that affects the spatial structure of Israel's capital city until now.     

The arithmetic of rights: Zionist intellectuals imagining the Arab minority May–July 1938

ABSTRACT

This article examines Zionist debates regarding the status of the Arab minority in the Jewish State following the Royal Commission's recommendation to partition Palestine. Three conclusions arise from the debates: first, that the Zionist leadership regarded the civil and political rights of the Arab minority to be dependent on the power equilibrium between Jews and Arabs in all of Palestine. Second, the Zionist leaders imagined the Jewish State as a parliamentary democracy, but argued that a democratic regime should be created only after a Jewish majority had been achieved. Finally, because democracy in the Jewish State – including minority rights – was dependent on the creation of a Jewish majority, Zionist plans to transfer Arabs out of the Jewish State were not considered by them to be undemocratic, but rather a precondition to the creation of a Jewish and democratic state.     

‘Their Blood is Eastern’: Shahin Makaryus and Fin de Siècle Arab Pride in the Jewish ‘Race’

This article studies the origins and functions of a belief in Jewish race in the Arab fin de siècle through a case study of the writings of Shahin Makaryus and al-Muqta?af, the influential journal he co-edited. The article begins by examining the racial definition of the Jews proffered by Makaryus and al-Muqta?af. It situates this view, first, within the then-recent controversy surrounding Darwinism and the problem of secularism within the Arab renaissance of the fin de siècle and, second, within the contemporary Egyptian discourse about race concerning Egypt's rule over the Sudan. It then studies the presumed implications of this categorization of the Jews for their supposed racial relatives, the Arabs. It argues that it was precisely the imagined racial link between Jews and Arabs that made race an attractive category for understanding the Jews in the minds of certain Nahda thinkers. Next, it examines Makaryus's approach to Jewish nationalism and Zionism and contends that his apparent sympathy toward the movement may be understood, at least in part, in relation to his racial definition of the Jews. Finally, it concludes with some reflections on the implications of this study for our understanding of secularism in the world of the Nahda.     

Integrating non-Jewish immigrants and the formation of Israel's ethnic–civic nationhood: from Ben Gurion to the present

The aim of this article is to outline the development of Israel's citizenship and immigration policy from its inception to the present, emphasizing the invaluable role of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion. We argue that through a series of decisions pertaining to civic registration, immigration and naturalization of non-Jews, Ben Gurion set the fundamental principles of modern Jewish nationhood: on the one hand, he rejected the option of establishing a civic-Israeli nation, advocating Jewish-ethnic nationhood instead; on the other hand, this was an inclusive Jewish nationhood which incorporated cultural–territorial elements that were based on a secular interpretation of biblical sources. Despite inserting religious elements into Israel's immigration laws over the years, we claim that Ben Gurion's fundamental principles have for the most part remained in effect until today, constituting the key to understanding the nature of Jewish-Israeli nationhood in our times.     

Saudi Arabia's rapprochement with Israel: the national security imperatives

The purpose of this article is to examine the evolution of Israel's relations with Saudi Arabia since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. The author explains how the major events in the Middle East affected Saudi Arabia's foreign policy orientation. It shows how Saudi Arabia's policy toward Israel was affected by the deterioration in Saudi-Egyptian relations, by its quest for security in the Arabian Gulf region and by its aspiration to hegemony in the Middle East. The author argues that Saudi Arabia's policy toward Israel remained far less hostile than that of the Arab states surrounding Israel. In addition, it argues that it was not until 1973 that Saudi Arabia became seriously involved in the attempt to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in the Six-Day War. The author concludes by showing that neither Saudi Arabia's acquisition of the intelligence-gathering AWACS aircraft, nor Israel's invasion of Lebanon or the massacre of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila had a serious impact on the bilateral relations, and that it was not until the emergence of the Iranian nuclear threat that Saudi Arabia's relations with Israel began to improve.