THE ONLY HOPE FOR ARABS AND JEWS
Hoffman, Isidor
the only hope for Arabs and Jews by ISIDOR HOFFMAN Now that the state of Israel has been a reality for ten years, it is increasingly clear that the Jews in Israel and the Arabs there and...
...voted to partition Palestine...
...Zionists and Arabs alike appear to be naively fascinated with the chance to play the game of power politics and political propaganda...
...Present Israeli policies and attitudes cannot assure ultimate survival...
...They believe that an enlightened public opinion can induce Zionists and Israelis to be more conciliatory in spite of the trials and tragedies of infiltrations, incitement, shootings, and boycotts...
...Jews have believed it was divine plan and promise that this land should be theirs...
...They have faith that eventually the high ethical values associated with Jews will prevail in the Holy Land, and peace and progress will come to the whole Middle East...
...They met and overcame many obstacles and setbacks...
...They tend to overlook or minimize the achievements of the mandatory power and the complexity of the situation with which it tried to deal...
...It envisaged a union of a bi-national, undivided Palestine with other nations of the Middle East...
...With all their good intentions, with an original desire to be brotherly, these Jewish benefactors never won the love of their Arab beneficiaries...
...No notice was taken of the dislikes of Arabs for the modern abbreviated dress of both women and men, for the easy-going commingling of the sexes, for the disdain of religion among so many of the pioneers, for the sudden, drastic change in the way of life of the country...
...With the death of Magnes, leadership in Ihud was taken by Ernst Simon of the Hebrew University, Rabbi Benyamin, and Martin Buber...
...Even when, under the British Mandate, they came to Palestine in large numbers, their leaders and the settlers did not give serious and sustained attention to the Arab question, except in times of violence...
...Political pressure was set in motion to secure United Nations support for an independent state, even if it meant partition of an already truncated Palestine...
...However, the U.N...
...They would like to have peace with the Arabs, so that they might decrease their burden of conscription and armaments and increase their economic viability by trading with their neighbor nations...
...Without the generous outpouring of funds from America could Israel afford the military strength which so largely determines its foreign policy...
...But to their chief problem, relations with the Arabs, they gave the least intelligent attention...
...Arabs and Jews are Semitic cousins...
...Why do Arab officials who recognize the need for the economic development of their countries concentrate so large a part of their resources and energies upon military strength...
...funds used in refugee camps to employ hundreds of Arab teachers whose major preoccupation is instilling hatred of Israel among their Arab pupils...
...But are they not winning Pyrrhic victories...
...Magnes, a man of unusual personal charm, combined prophetic courage and forthrightness with practical executive ability...
...But it did little toward encouraging self-government...
...Raising questions like these is important, but by itself will not cope with the problem...
...But none of them seems able to make the first move...
...The standard of living of the Arabs was raised...
...Current Jewish nationalism has much in common with other Nineteenth and Twentieth Century nationalisms...
...Why do appeals for unity among Arabs so predominantly emphasize anti-Israel sentiment...
...Israel, at present stronger militarily and economically, might well start the healing process of reconciliation...
...Events in succeeding years created more antagonism, and by World War II and the Nazi tragedy, it was clear that more vigorous efforts were needed to avert open warfare...
...At both they have been successful...
...The attachment of the Jews to Palestine goes back almost 4,000 years...
...With this brief background, we are now in a better position to understand the Arab-Jewish conflict and consider some proposals to solve it...
...Present policy of the United States seems to be to preserve peace at all costs and to prevent further Soviet influence and power in this crucial part of the world...
...Eventually Arabs are likely to learn how to work and fight together, and by that time they will have mastered the use of the latest weapons of warfare...
...With the increase in bitterness between the contending forces, some of these Arabs paid with their lives for their friendliness and conciliatory attitude...
...Instead of facing up to the psychological and ethical problems involved in establishing a Jewish state with a Jewish majority in a country where Arabs constituted the majority for many centuries, Zionists kept reiterating their "line" that it was only the exploiting Arab landowners who opposed them, that there was no genuine Arab nationalism, and that the Arabs had plenty of room elsewhere...
...But what of the Arabs...
...Plans were elaborated for immigration, land reform, self-government, and an intermediate trusteeship...
...In recent years the United States and the Soviet Union have become more deeply involved in the Middle East because of the cold war...
...And in two rounds of warfare they have triumphed...
...He is vice chairman of American Friends of Ihud...
...Demagogues roused dormant Arab pride against "the Zionist conspiracy...
...Soon the League for Jewish-Arab Cooperation and Rapprochement was established, which included Ihud, the Socialists of Hashomer Hatzair, and many followers of A. D. Gordon, an ethically perceptive writer and early leader of farm labor...
...To help Ihud in Israel and to make its viewpoint better known in this country, the "American Friends of Ihud" has been organized...
...in trying at the same time to please the Jews, the Arabs, and themselves, the British succeeded only in making everybody unhappy...
...Some Arabs were sympathetic, but most Arab leaders and almost all the Zionist spokesmen turned a cold shoulder toward the British Shalom program...
...Zionism, Arabs claim, is a creature and tool of imperialism...
...to study the refugee problem...
...The major factors underlying the conflict are Jewish and Arab nationalism, imperialism, and the East-West cold war...
...In fact, to raise questions, to suggest unorthodox solutions, is likely to bring charges of anti-Semitism or pro-Israelism or imperialism...
...Why are U.N...
...Not until the present century did the rising world tide of nationalism materially affect the intellectuals and military men among the Arabs...
...Also active in behalf of the Ihud program were religious philosophers, Martin Buber and Samuel Hugo Bergman, and the leader of social welfare work in Palestine, Henrietta Szold, who had founded Hadassah, the powerful women's Zionist organization in America...
...Some territorial adjustments would be made...
...This regional union would advance the well-being of the entire area and represent it in international relations...
...Out of respect and association and mutual need, friendship and cooperation would emerge...
...Israel was established...
...But it has some distinctive characteristics and it has long and unusual antecedents...
...their numbers grew...
...In the long run, a change of attitude of the Israelis toward the Arabs could come about by educating their children and youth to respect the Arabs and their potentialities...
...They were socialists of many varieties, and they pioneered in the voluntary rural commune (Kibbutz) with great devotion and astonishing success...
...What percentage of Israeli resources, including United Jewish Appeal and Bonds for Israel, goes directly or indirectly for military purposes...
...But Arabs couldn't help noticing how every advance was trumpeted about, how often Jews contrasted their superior Western ways of agriculture, industry, and education with those of the primitive and lowly Arabs...
...This was true, for example, of the majority of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry when it listened to Ihud spokesmen in Jerusalem in March, 1946...
...On the contrary, the more pious Jews opposed Zionism because for them the Return was not to be man-made but divinely accomplished through the Messiah...
...They resent the past and are determined henceforth to be independent nations...
...Then came the great catastrophe, the cruel liquidation of most of the Jews of central and eastern Europe...
...Much of this attitude has continued down to the present day...
...Israel would be generous in repatriating as many refugees as possible and giving financial help to others...
...Appeals were made to arouse Israeli concern with the plight of the Arab refugees...
...Ihud included, too, a group of younger people whose Zionism was indissol-ubly linked to concern with humanistic traditions and ideals...
...Confidence begets confidence...
...True, the Arabs benefited from the change—from the health work of Hadassah and from the higher standard of living brought about by the hard and skillful labors of Jewish settlers...
...Their devotion to their fellow-Jews was channeled into help for Israel and pride in its achievements...
...The government and most of the people of Israel have thus far been indifferent or indignant in regard to lhud's proposals...
...Yet there are organizations inside and outside Israel, some with roots reaching back into the 1920s, that are striving for understanding and friendship between the Jews and the Arabs...
...Associated with him in Ihud were veteran Palestinian settlers whose confidence in the possibility of Arab-Jewish friendship came from long and close association with Arabs...
...the only hope for Arabs and Jews by ISIDOR HOFFMAN Now that the state of Israel has been a reality for ten years, it is increasingly clear that the Jews in Israel and the Arabs there and elsewhere need each other both economically and psychologically...
...But altogether, Ihud was still only a tiny organization functioning more as conscience and gadfly than as a political force...
...They spoke of bringing a people without a country to a country without a people...
...It can happen again, v Elsewhere—in Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, and Canada— diverse peoples live side by side without warfare...
...Zionists usually get the best of arguments on radio and television and in the press...
...She would come to understand how to deal with cultural differences...
...Understanding and friendship between the two peoples were emphasized...
...The apparent pro-Israel stand of the West was a factor in the anti-Israel and pro-Arab position of the U.S.S.R...
...Already in the middle of the 1920's, there was a small group of Jews, principally among the faculty of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, that saw the central importance of the Arab question...
...Only if they can replace fear and conflict with mutual trust and cooperation can either people fulfill their deepest hopes...
...Through public meetings, posters, and publications, Ihud has urged conciliation and regard for world public opinion...
...Many Christians were deeply impressed with the Ihud point of view...
...The "British Shalom" was founded, first for study, later for action, in regard to Arab-Jewish cooperation...
...Military strength became allimportant...
...When and how did nationalism arise among them...
...Contacts were developed with a few of the more enlightened leaders among Arab landowners, peasants, and intellectuals...
...A bi-national Palestine was the common ground upon which they were united...
...The Arab nations can afford to lose battles—are they not likely to win the war in the end, if war is to be the method of solving the conflict...
...Zionism as an organized movement arose chiefly out of reaction to anti-Semitism...
...She would go still further in lessening discrimination against her Arab citizens in the hope and confidence that they will be loyal to her...
...They feel that in a time of crisis and danger, one must take sides, follow the line, stand up and be counted...
...lhud's program went even farther...
...A strong factor reinforcing Zionism was the social idealism of those who wanted to establish in Palestine a more just, a more brotherly, a more productive kind of living...
...A proposal was set forth that Israel and the Arab nations agree to abide by recommendations made by a commission to be instituted by the U.N...
...Pan-Arabism is on the rise...
...the attack of the Arabs and their defeat by the Israelis followed...
...Decisive help was given by American Jews, many of whom became Zionists or Zionist sympathizers under the impact of the anti-Semitism of the 1930s and the futility of their own efforts to save the Jews from the Nazis...
...For many years Zionists paid little attention to the fact that there was a large Arab population in the Palestine which they planned to make the Jewish Homeland...
...In the aftermath of World War I and as the result of British and French design, Arab states were set up in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Trans-Jordan...
...Increasingly the Arabs have reacted adversely to all aspects of western imperialism—political, religious, moral...
...Zionists believed that Jews should have their own country where economically and culturally and perhaps even politically they could determine their own fate...
...To some extent they were correct, but it was poor taste and bad policy for them to say so, and more important, it was blindness not to see that a genuine Arab nationalist movement would inevitably develop in Palestine and throughout the Middle East...
...without reconciliation they appear destined to deepening frustration and continued strife...
...She would reckon with face-saving needs...
...To meet this crisis, the Ihud (Unity) movement was founded in Israel in 1942 under the leadership of Judah L. Magnes, head of the Hebrew University and former American rabbi...
...Meanwhile, they are morally debilitating and a source of deep disappointment to those Jews and Christians who have greatly admired the spiritual achievements of Judaism and had hoped that "from Zion might once more come forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem...
...He was a compassionate humanitarian, sensitive both to human suffering and to the universal values and hopes connected with the Holy Land of Jew, Christian, and Muslim...
...Statements were issued criticizing the treatment of Arabs as second-class citizens and the policy of large-scale government-sponsored reprisal raids...
...It would be a mutual process, a two-way street...
...But they have been unwilling to make significant concessions or take any risks for peace...
...They once lived together in harmony and cultural creativity...
...The British mandatory regime was helpful in Palestine in the building of roads, in the maintenance of a semblance of order, and in the development of fiscal and judicial systems...
...The Zionists, for their part, blame much of their Arab problem on British "divide and rule" policy...
...Associated with it are Don Peretz, noted expert on the Middle East, and Reinhold Niebuhr, Roger Baldwin, James Pike, Erich Fromm, Horace Kallen, and other outstanding American Jews and Christians...
...Federations have been formed...
...Under the British mandate, half a million Jews came to Palestine and worked hard cultivating the soil, draining swamps, building roads, houses, schools, hospitals, a few factories, and even electric power works...
...By clever logical disputation they may prove others wrong, but in winning the argument lose the friendship of Arabs and alienate large numbers of Christians and non-Zionist Jews...
...Moderates on both sides are sympathetic, but the most articulate spokesmen among both the Arabs and the Zionists are indifferent or hostile toward the conciliatory approach...
...They have been admirers of Judaism and friends of Israel...
...Instead, they are busy building up military strength by immigration and armaments, and arguing the Tightness of their case vis-a-vis the Arabs...
...It proposed that Palestine become a bi-national state in which Jews and Arabs would live in equality...
...But they resented British and Jewish assumption of superiority and they were fearful lest Zionist claims and propaganda might eventuate in Jews taking over the country...
...demanding of the causes of conflict and a program of constructive solutions are much more important...
...Moderation, ethical ideals, long-range perspective were brushed aside —nothing less than an immediate establishment of a Jewish state would suffice...
...They will have a population of more than 50 million as against two or three million Israelis...
...The Arabs were alarmed by the large influx of Zionists with their western dress and morals, their agricultural and industrial techniques...
...The Balfour Declaration, with its ambivalence regarding a Jewish homeland and the rights of the overwhelming majority of inhabitants of Palestine (Arabs), was both a spur and a challenge to Arab nationalism...
...It was not this essentially religious concern with Palestine, however, which was chiefly responsible for the emergence of Jewish nationalism in the Zionist movement in the 1880s and '90s...
...Some Arab and Israeli leaders realize this and know that steps could and should be taken to break the fruitless impasse...
...Why do Israeli spokesmen broadcast the most extreme Arab pronouncements, but give the silent treatment to moderate sentiments voiced in the press, over the radio, or in semi-public conversations...
...Arabs would eventually make the greatest single concession: the recognition that Israel is here to stay...
...Why do the people of Israel, especially her youth, depreciate Arabs as primitive and, at the same time, encourage the immigration and integration of "Oriental" Jews, who they admit are so much like Arabs in so many ways...
...The contagion of love can prevail over the pestilence of hatred...
...Here are some of the indelicate but pertinent questions which should be asked: Why have so few Arab leaders stated publicly what they admit privately—that Israel is here to stay...
...As hard as one tries to be objective in analyzing the complex factors in this situation, neither Jewish nor Arab nationalists will be satisfied...
...Analysis and un/ ~**-.-;ISIDOR B. HOFFMAN, counselor to Jewish students at Columbia University, has made two extended trips through Palestine and the Middle East...
Vol. 22 • July 1958 • No. 7
