Time for a New Hatikvah
On May 8, Israel will celebrate its 60th anniversary as an independent state [in accordance with the Jewish calendar]. Crowds of Israelis will flood the streets and congregate in public squares, reveling in the collective achievement of their determined people. Fireworks will decorate the night sky accompanied by elaborate aerial displays; light shows will beam over the land; concert music will echo from all corners of the state and attest to the talent allowed to surface since their declaration of freedom; military bases demonstrating the sheer magnitude and technological prowess of Israel’s arsenal will be open to the public so that the tools which established, consolidated and maintained Israeli dominance can be lauded over. The bill for the commemoration will be approximately $28 million. Meanwhile, the 5.25 million Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza will be unable to escape the reverberating sounds of joy bellowing from the land which once belonged to them. Instead, for every Jewish Israeli currently residing in Israel [approximately 5.5 million] and partaking in the celebrations, there is one Palestinian living as a refugee, displaced from their original homes in historic Palestine. An example of this fact being omitted from the Israeli mindset is the Jewish Agency for Israel website, which has posted a national anthem slide show delving into its composition, symbolism and providing easy methods of learning the melody so that it can be sung on May 8 by all Jewish Israelis. The poem, written by a Jewish secular poet called Naftali Herz Imber, was originally entitled Tikvateinu [“our hope”] when it was composed in 1878 but was transformed to “Hatikvah” [the hope] as it became more popular amongst the people. The piece was written at a time when the idea of Eretz Yisra’el [a land for Israel] was exactly as the song implies, a hope – a seemingly unattainable and distant one at that. Eventually in 2004, the song was adopted by the Knesset as the Israeli national anthem. “As long as deep in the heart the soul of a Jew yearns, And towards the East an eye looks to Zion, Our hope is not yet lost, the hope of two thousand years. To be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.” Although “Hatikvah” had been endorsed by some distinguished international figures during the latter stages of the nineteenth century, the dream gradually became a reality. Following the first Zionist Congress in 1897, which worked “to create for the Jewish people a home in Eretz Israel secured by law”, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish National Fund were initiated. The former consisted of regular gatherings of influential Jews who strived to establish the institutions by which a land for the Jews could be made more feasible. Meanwhile, the latter sought to acquire Arab land in Palestine which would become “the inalienable property of the Jewish people” and where only Jewish labor could be employed. With these specific organizations already operational by the start of the First World War, the Zionist cause came even closer to its ultimate goal when British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour stated in a letter to Lord Rothschild in 1917 that his government would “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The British government had borrowed a lot of money from Jewish banks such as Rothschild’s during the campaign and were greatly indebted to the influential bank owner who was also a leader of the British Jewish community. Therefore, when the League of Nations designated Britain the Mandate over Palestine in 1923 after their victory in the First World War and the subsequent breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the Jews already had the leverage with which to wield influence. In 1923, Palestinians made up 90% of the British Mandate and owned 97% of the land. Under the British Mandate, Jewish businessmen managed to strengthen their foothold in the Mandate by assuming important positions within the Palestine Electric Company, the development of minerals in the Dead Sea and the Palestine Land Development Company. Following the Second World War, the holocaust and the termination of the British Mandate, UNCSOP passed Resolution 181 in November 1947 which called for a partition of the British Mandate into two bilateral states – Israel and Palestine. Even with a quarter of a decade of immigration and colonization, Jews still only comprised 30% of the population and owned just 7% of the land. Despite these facts, the state of Israel would be granted 55% of the former British Mandate. A war ensued firstly between Palestinians and Jews, then later between Arabs and Israelis after Israel had claimed independence on May 14, 1948. The Arabs were defeated and by the time the armistice lines were drawn in July 1949, Israel had extended its territory to 78% of historic Palestine. 800,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes, 530 villages were destroyed and 86% of the Palestinians who now fell within the 1949 armistice lines were displaced. Of the 14% that remained, 70% of their land was confiscated or made inaccessible to them. According to UNRWA estimates, there are presently 5.5 million refugees spread across 58 camps in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. These have been replaced by some 5.5 million Jews living in Israel flourishing in freedom, prosperity and international acceptance in what can only be described as obstinate blindness and pure disregard for the brutality they employed and still adopt today in order to sustain their existence. They maintain that their actions are justified after being subject to worldwide contempt, suffering years of persecution and anti-Semitism. It is as if their unwavering resolve to achieve their goal supersedes Palestinian claims and relegates them to the unfortunate byproduct or obstacle standing in the way of their destiny. Now formed and thriving, it appears that Israel will not succumb to any pressure that threatens their future. Subsequently, Israel has ignored UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and UN Security Council Resolution 237, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [8 & 13], the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Law of Nations [5 & 14], Criminal Law under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court [8 & 75] and the UN Guiding Principles on Right to a Remedy and Reparation under the Law of State Responsibility. Palestinians have not forgotten. They were promised under the Anglo French Declaration of 1918 “the complete and final liberation of the peoples who have for so long been oppressed by the Turks” and were, according to the Treaty of Sevres 1920, to “be provisionally recognized as an independent state” and receive advice from the Mandate until they could stand alone. Furthermore, their cause is supported by all legal documentation released on the subject. All they ask is to be able to return to their own land, a plea already secured by law unlike the Jewish appeal of the late nineteenth century. On May 15, 21,915 black balloons [one for every day since the expulsion] will be released by Palestinians to mark the remembrance of al-Nakba [the displacement of the 800,000] in full view of leading political figures such as US President G.W. Bush, his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who are in Israel to commemorate the event. What does 60 years mark for Palestinians? There are millions of refugees, Palestinians in the West Bank who are restricted from 38% of their land with roads exclusively for Israelis, a Separation Wall, a quarter of a million illegal Israeli settlers, 560 checkpoints and Jerusalem is annexed. The Palestinians hold 13.6% of the 22% allocated by the 1949 armistice lines and are in partial/full control of only 6.6% of the 22%. In Gaza, 1.5 million Palestinians are suffering from an Israeli blockade that threatens the lives of the whole population. Reverting back to the words of “Hatikvah”, it seems Israel has all it ever desired while Palestinians have less than they have ever had. Applying the notion that as the holiest place in Judaism, Jerusalem is the “land of Zion” referred to in “Hatikvah”, [although this would be contested amongst certain branches of Judaism] Israel unilaterally annexed Jerusalem in 1967 and now has indisputable control over the city. Thus the quest has been reached, the goal achieved, the service completed and destiny fulfilled. The Jews have triumphed in creating what they proposed by their own parameters. This realization may compel them to cast their eyes on the West Bank and Gaza during “Hatikvah” on May 8 and reflect on what their relentless ambition reduced them to – the complete brutality, indifference, inhumane treatment and disregard for the Palestinians – an innocent demographic tormented and punished simply for residing in the land coveted by Jews. The question remains, has the democracy and affluence brought by Israeli self-determination managed to dispose of their primitive behavior or does Israel’s collective conscience continue to be clouded? This year will also mark the 60th anniversary of Judah Magnes, a leader in Jewish communal affairs, born at the same time as the composition of “Hatikvah”. The founder and president of the Hebrew University believed that Jews in both the Diaspora and Eretz Israel were of equal importance and aliyah was simply a matter of circumstance and choice. As a firm advocator of Jewish/Arab cooperation and an avid supporter of a binational state in which equal rights became the governing principle, Judah Magnes desperately attempted to halt the partition before his death, predicting that it would just lead to further bloodshed. In 2008, it is time for a new “Hatikvah” to be recognized. In order for Israel to truly reap the benefits of their labor and if Israel is “ready to pay the price for the day of peace” as Israeli President Shimon Peres announced during Yom Hazikaron, they must accept that there is a people who were unlawfully and wrongly expelled for the Jewish dream to be fulfilled and thus rectify this accordingly by seriously constructing an agreement. After all, the position the Palestinians find themselves in now is not too dissimilar to the Jewish plight of the late nineteenth century, but the balance of power is still overwhelmingly in Israel’s favor. Palestinians have a right to the land, deserve this right and should be extended this right. There is normally a time lag between the conception of an idea and its implementation. In the case of “Hatikvah”, it took 70 years for the dream to materialize. Sixty years have passed since Judah Magnes died with the dream of Israeli/Arab cooperation. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake that the implementation of his idea is close at hand.
http://www.miftah.org |