Palestine: A Modern History (ص 18)

غرض

عنوان

Palestine: A Modern History (ص 18)

المحتوى

38 = Crystallisation 1908-1914
country and we would be aliens’. {
Jamil Husseini put,the whole problem, including the dilemma of the
notables, in a nutshell: n
ran) y 4
Resisting: Zionism is a priority because it is harmful to the inhabi-
tants of the country and aims at dispossessing them of their. lands.
But how can we resist it and fight it when the Government lends it
backing and support, and when the inhabitants are simple ignorant
people. The Government employees are: working in the direction of
facilitating a Zionist takeover.
At,about the same time a number of notables-from Jerusalem, Jaffa
afd Gaza appealed to the members of al-Muntada al-Adabi in
Constantinople and to the Turkish newspaper Pyam. The appeal spoke
of the plight of the Palestinian peasant, as well as the.merchant and, the
Government employee, because of Zionist designs and influence. “If ©
sincere people did not come to the rescue of, the Palestinians’, the
appeal asserted,, ‘their fate, will be similar to that of the- American
Indians. Zionism, a state Within the Ottoman:state; threatens the very ~
existence of the Arabs in Palestine’.3”
In mid-April Ahmad al-‘Aref, a former member of Parliament, told
the editor of al-Iqdam that ‘The sole topic of conversation among
Palestinians at present. ..is the Zionist issue;:all are frightened and
scared of it’.
Qn 11 April, Falastin had ta publish a supplement, ‘owing to the
great deal of material on the Zionist Movement’. That issue carried-an
important. article on the economic boycotts and pressures applied -by
th Anglo-Palestine Bank against merchants and -businessmen who had
signed a telegram of protest against. Zionism. The ,article named the
merchants in question, and how they had to withdraw their signatures,
and even to deny that they had signed the telegram in therfirst place,
before the boycott of the Bank was lifted. Only one niérchant, refused
to withdraw,his signature and continued to, suffér from the, Bank’s
boycott. Falastin, then,,added that economic boycotts were not new
but: had become strict of late: ‘Jews dé not buy from Myslims and
Christians, there is hardly any trace of native labour,jin: Jewish. enter-
prise’. ‘
On 20 April 1914, the local.authorities suspended Falastin on orders
received from the Ministry of Interior, on the grounds that an article
which had appeared on.4 April was deemed guilty of exacerbating
yelations between the races. Subsequent to its suspension, Falastin
se
Crystallisation 1908-1914 39
issued a circular to its readers and subscribers ‘which attacked..the
Government for regarding the Zionists as a race, whereas the paper
contended that they were merely a political group. The paper distin-
guished bétween a Jew and a Zionist and blamed Zionism: for the
prevailing tensions:
Ten ygars ago the- Jews were living as Ottoman brothers loved by
all the Ottoman races. . living in the same quarters, their children
going to the same schools. The Zjonists put an end to all that and
prevented any intermingling with the indigenous population. They
boycotted the Arabic language and the Arab merchants, and
declared ‘their intention of taking over the country from its
inhabitants.**
\
The circular quoted Dr Urbach of the Zionist Movement as saying in
Haifa that Zionism should rise against the Arabs, divide them and evict
them; thus serving Ottoman interests.
Furthermore, Falastin warned the authorities that Zionism was no
longer’a ghost but a tangible menace. The central government could
suppress FAalastin, but there were other patriotic papers to ‘carry the
torch’, and there was the youth of Palestine, ‘boiling with anxiety over
the threatened future’,
THe British Vice-Consul in Jaffa 4s well as the Consul in Jerusalem
testified that the circular ‘faithfully mirrors the growing resentment
among the Arabs against the Jewish invasion’.°°
The anti-Zionist campaign in the press continued unabated until the
eve of the First World War in August 1914. However, the outbreak of
the War did not stop the Arabs from contemplating action against the
Zionists. According to.Pearlman, ‘Papers seized by the Turks'in 1915
outline a plan for getting rid-of Zionism; the colonies were to be razed
by fire, and the Jews driven out. The*Zionists it was argued were the
worst enemies*of the Arabs, that was why the: Turks were so ready to
assist them’.
The Palestinians came to viéw the Zionists and the ruling Turkish
nationalists’ as allies against Arab regeneration. It was not surprising that
the Palestinians started contemplating violent means to overthrow
Turkish hegemony on the eve of World War I as the only effective
method of. ridding themselves, of both hostile forces. The two secrét
revolutionary organisations al‘Ahd and al-Fatat which were active in
Promoting the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the war comprised
Many Palestinian. Army Officers. Although the Arabs fought on the side
emu: sole perm rs ana en
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تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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