The origin of settlements
Someone pointed out to me in the comment section that Kfar Darom was actually built in 1946 (according to the Jewish Virtual Library, "to prevent the British from separating the Negev from the Jewish state") , abandoned in 1948, and re-established (again, the JVL says "reformed", that it was never abandoned) some time after that as the Kfar Darom of the recent past.
"just a comment about kfar darom: it was a zionist kibutz built in 1946. Abandoned in 1948 after it was besieged by the Egyptian army. A settlment carrying the same name was built in 1989, but as far as i know, they had no connection to the pre-48 settlers. "
Of course residents of Dair al-Balah say many of the inhabitants remained well through the '50s, even under Egyptian rule.
Brings up the interesting debate about the origins of the settlement movement. Essentially, Israel itself was founded on settlements. Many settlers I've spoken to consider themselves "pioneers" establishing "villages" or Kibbutzim and tell me that they have gotten a bad rep in the media as "agressors and occupiers". Does that exhonerate them? I think not.
It seems that a thin red line was drawn somewhere at some point, and suddenly some kind of status quo was reached where it was no longer acceptable, at least in the eyes of the international community, to used this method of "pioneering" on other people's land to expand the borders and claim to your state (See: native americans. Also see: facts on the ground.).
posted by Laila @ Tuesday, August 23, 2005
4 Comments:
Rattu-thanks for much for the comments, I forget to say that earlier. Been very tired and overworked lately. Canyou believe I am up at 3am! Will comment more tommorow.
Laila,
I know that it was touched apon already in the comments but I would like to point out that many if not most of the early "pioneers" from the 1900's and the 1940's and 50's were themselves in fact refugees. In the 1900's they were escaping from the pogroms of Eastern Europe (although pride made them talk and react in a more proactive manner) and the 40's obviously the great drive was the holocaust.
I also don't think that it detracts from what the Palestinians went through and the homes that were lost, I don't believe that two wrongs make a right, but I do think that it helps to understand that those were desparate times and desparate people trying to survive.
The settlements of today within the West Bank and Gaza were built in a completely different way and with different motivations. They may also have been viewed differently had Israel annexed the areas and offered citizenship to the Palestinians
On another note - I hope it goes well for you in Gaza. Irrespective of other issues (West Bank etc.) I hope that the transition goes well and peacefully for you and that you are able to deal with the many issues that will start to arise (I believe that Lebanon wants to address the issue of refugees there) and be able to build a pleasant and prosperous home for the residents of Gaza.
Laila, Thank you for your continued stream of information and commentary from Palestine, it has done wonders for me being a Palestinian living in exile. My continued question is vis-a-vis the early settlers: if they were indeed 'refugees' why didn't they just imigrate legally and become Palestinian Jews? After the 400 years of Turkish occupation (and the British occupation) Palestine was on the verge of rebuilding itself. At a time when the Palestinian-Jewish population was a mere 5 percent I don't see why they wouldn't want to simply join Palestinian society...unless the goal was indeed the outcome which we see today, an exclusive Jewish state...
Abu-issa,
That's an easy one.
The early settlers 1900's did emigrate legally, they bought land from Turkish landlords and moved here to small villages, Jerusalem and communal settlements. Their numbers were fairly small, in proportion to the number of Jews in Eastern Europe, most of whom moved to Western Europe and the US. They did in fact think of themselves as Palestinians but did not formally move to "Palestine" because such a political entity did not exist, my understanding is that many Arab nations viewed the area as part of Syria.
The numbers of Jews increased steadily over the years and while there was certainly unrest and animosity between Jews and Arabs it had not yet reached all out war.
The big influence was WW II and the death of 6 million Jews in the holocaust. The remaining Jews were homeless, stateless and traumatized. Many of them wanted to move to the West but were barred from entering. They tried to move to Israel but the British (fearing reprisals from oil producing Arab nations) refused them entry and interred them in camps in Cyprus. From then on all hell broke loose, they pushed for a country, partition was suggested, the Jews accepted, the Arabs rejected and a war started.
Yes, I know this is a little simplistic, everyone will disagree with something I said. But it's a lot of history and this isn't my blog so I am not entitled to take up too much space.
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