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Re: GANDHI ON JEWS, ARABS, AND PALESTINE
by Alan Spector
05 December 2000 14:43 UTC
The quote from Ghandi is interesting. It shows the importance of
anti-racism and anti-imperialism, and the limits of nationalism, even the
"nationalism of the oppressed", which can evolve into a nationalism of the
oppressor.
Of course the Israeli state was founded on the horrific stealing of land
from Palestinians, along with violence, terrorism and murder committed against
Arabs.
But to justify the argument with the following phrase:
>
"Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same
sense
>
that England belongs to the English or France
to
> the
French. "
This argument has been used to justify attacks against immigrants.
Then again, the rest of Ghandi's comments, prophetic in their terrible
wrongness, calls for the Jews to non-violently resist the Nazis in 1938.
Six million dead Jews and another ten-fifteen million executed civilians shows
the terrible consequences of Ghandi's philosophy, so popular among liberals
in the United States. But then again, Ghandi added this:
>The calculated violence of Hitler may even result in
a
>general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to
the
>declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind
could
>be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I
have
>imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy
that
>Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of
the
>tyrant. For to the Godfearing, death has no terror. It is a
joyful
>sleep to be followed by a waking that would be all the more
refreshing
>for the long sleep.
=================================================================
This comment is beyond reprehensible! It is in no way different from the
comments of a cult leader who convinces his "flock" of followers to commit
suicide! Much better the example of those Jews who resisted and of the Red
Army and the Partisans of Europe who destroyed the Nazi death machine and
undoubtedly prevented millions of more deaths.
===========
The Israeli state is an imperialist creation that deprives Palestinians of
a decent life, and of life itself. And it would have been better if Jews in
Europe, along with the rest of Europe, had resisted the Nazis more forcefully,
and resisted the anti-Jewish sentiments in Europe after the war rather than seek
to colonize Palestine. But to make that argument with a quote that
completely undermines any usefulness of that set of comments!
in struggle,
Alan Spector
================================================
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 10:34 PM
Subject: GANDHI ON JEWS, ARABS, AND
PALESTINE
> PROPHETIC WORDS FROM
MAHATMA GANDHI IN 1938
>
>
"Palestine belongs
to the Arabs in the same sense
>
that England
belongs to the English or France to
>
the French. It is
wrong and in-human to impose
>
the Jews on the
Arabs... Surely it would be a
>
crime against
humanity to reduce the proud Arabs
>
so that Palestine
can be restored to the Jews
>
partly or wholly as
their national home."
>
> Several letters have been received by me
asking me to declare my views
> about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine
and the persecution of
> the Jews in Germany. It is not without hesitation
that I venture to
> offer my views on this very difficult
question.
>
> My sympathies are all with the Jews. I have known
them intimately in
> South Africa. Some of them became life-long
companions. Through
> these friends I came to learn much of their
age-long persecution.
> They have been the untouchables of Christianity.
The parallel between
> their treatment by Christians and the treatment of
untouchables by
> Hindus is very close. Religious sanction has been
invoked in both
> cases for the justification of the inhuman treatment
meted out to
> them. Apart from the friendships, therefore, there is
the more
> common universal reason for my sympathy for the Jews.
>
> But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice.
The
> cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal
to
> me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity
with
> which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why
>
should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country
>
their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?
>
> Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England
>
belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and
> in-human
to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in
> Palestine today
cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The
> mandates
have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a
> crime
against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine
> can be
restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.
>
>
The nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews
>
wherever they are born and bred. The Jews born in France are French in
>
precisely the same sense that Christians born in France are French. If
>
the Jews have no home but Palestine, will they relish the idea of
> being
forced to leave the other parts of the world in which they are
>
settled? Or do they want a double home where they can remain at
will?
> This cry for the national home affords a colourable
justification
> for the German expulsion of the Jews.
>
> But
the German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in
>
history. The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to
have
> gone. And he is doing it with religious zeal. For he is
propounding
> a new religion of exclusive and militant nationalism in the
name of
> which any inhumanity becomes an act of humanity to be rewarded
here and
> hereafter. The crime of an obviously mad but intrepid
youth is being
> visited upon his whole race with unbelievable
ferocity. If there
> ever could be a justifiable war in the name of
and for
> humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton
>
persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified. But
> I
do not believe in any war. A discussion of the pros and cons
> of
such a war is therefore outside my horizon or province.
>
> But if
there can be no war against Germany, even for such a crime as is
> being
committed against the Jews, surely there can be no alliance
> with
Germany. How can there be alliance between a nation which claims
>
to stand for justice and democracy and one which is the declared enemy
>
of both? Or is England drifting towards armed dictatorship and all
it
> means?
>
> Germany is showing to the world how
efficiently violence can be worked
> when it is not hampered by any
hypocrisy or weakness masquerading
> as humanitarianism. It is also
showing how hideous, terrible and
> terrifying it looks in its nakedness.
Can the Jews resist this
> organized and shameless persecution? Is
there a way to preserve
> their self-respect, and not to feel helpless,
neglected and
> forlorn? I submit there is. No person who has faith
in a living God
> need feel helpless or forlorn. Jehovah of the Jews
is a God more
> personal than the God of the Christians, the Mussalmans or
the Hindus,
> though, as a matter of fact in essence, He is common to all
and
> one without a second and beyond description. But as the
Jews
> attribute personality to God and believe that He rules every
action
> of theirs, they ought not to feel helpless. If I were a Jew and
were
> born in Germany and earned my livelihood there, I would claim
Germany
> as my home even as the tallest gentile German may, and challenge
him to
> shoot me or cast me in the dungeon; I would refuse to be expelled
or
> to submit to discriminating treatment. And for doing this, I
should
> not wait for the fellow Jews to join me in civil resistance but
would
> have confidence that in the end the rest are bound to follow
my
> example. If one Jew or all the Jews were to accept the
prescription
> here offered, he or they cannot be worse off than now. And
suffering
> voluntarily undergone will bring them an inner strength and
joy which
> no number of resolutions of sympathy passed in the world
outside
> Germany can. Indeed, even if Britain, France and America were to
declare
> hostilities against Germany, they can bring no inner joy, no
inner
> strength. The calculated violence of Hitler may even result
in a
> general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to
the
> declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind
could
> be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I
have
> imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy
that
> Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of
the
> tyrant. For to the Godfearing, death has no terror. It is a
joyful
> sleep to be followed by a waking that would be all the more
refreshing
> for the long sleep.
>
> It is hardly necessary
for me to point out that it is easier for the
> Jews than for the Czechs
to follow my prescription. And they have in
> the Indian satyagraha
campaign in South Africa an exact parallel.
> There the Indians occupied
precisely the same place that the Jews
> occupy in Germany. The
persecution had also a religious tinge.
> President Kruger used to say
that the white Christians were the
> chosen of God and Indians were
inferior beings created to serve the
> whites. A fundamental clause
in the Transvaal constitution was that
> there should be no equality
between the whites and coloured races
> including Asiatics. There
too the Indians were consigned to ghettos
> described as
locations.
>
> The other disabilities were almost of the same type
as those of the
> Jews in Germany. The Indians, a mere handful, resorted
to satyagraha
> without any backing from the world outside or the
Indian
> Government. Indeed the British officials tried to dissuade
the
> satya-grahis from their contemplated step. World opinion and the
Indian
> Government came to their aid after eight years of fighting.
And
> that too was by way of diplomatic pressure not of a threat of
war.
>
> But the Jews of Germany can offer satyagraha under
infinitely better
> auspices than the Indians of South Africa. The Jews
are a compact,
> homogeneous community in Germany. They are far more
gifted than the
> Indians of South Africa. And they have organized world
opinion behind
> them. I am convinced that if someone with courage and
vision can
> arise among them to lead them in non-violent action, the
winter of
> their despair can in the twinkling of an eye be turned into
the summer
> of hope. And what has today become a degrading
>
man-hunt can be turned into a calm and determined stand offered
> by
unarmed men and women possessing the strength of suffering given to
> them
by Jehovah. It will be then a truly religious resistance offered
> against
the godless fury of dehumanised man. The German Jews will
> score a
lasting victory over the German gentiles in the sense
> that they will
have converted the latter to an appreciation of
> human dignity.
They will have rendered service to fellow-Germans
> and proved their title
to be the real Germans as against those
> who are today dragging, however
unknowingly, the German name into the
> mire.
>
> And now a
word to the Jews in Palestine. I have no doubt that they
> are going about
it the wrong way. The Palestine of the Biblical
> conception is not
a geographical tract. It is in their hearts. But if
> they must look to
the Palestine of geography as their national home,
> it is wrong to enter
it under the shadow of the British gun. A
> religious act cannot be
performed with the aid of the bayonet or the
> bomb. They can settle in
Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs.
> They should seek to convert
the Arab heart. The same God rules the
> Arab heart who rules the Jewish
heart. They can offer satyagraha in
> front of the Arabs and offer
themselves to be shot or thrown into the
> Dead Sea without raising a
little finger against them. They will find
> the world opinion in
their favour in their religious aspiration. There
> are hundreds of ways
of reasoning with the Arabs, if they will only
> discard the help of the
British bayonet. As it is, they are
> co-sharers with the British in
despoiling a people who have done no
> wrong to them.
>
> I
am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of
>
non-violence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable
>
encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted
canons
> of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab
>
resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.
>
> Let the Jews who
claim to be the chosen race prove their title by
> choosing the way of
non-violence for vindicating their position on
> earth. Every country is
their home including Palestine not by
> aggression but by loving service.
A Jewish friend has sent me a book
> called The Jewish Contribution to
Civilisation by Cecil Roth. It
> gives a record of what the Jews have done
to enrich the world?
> literature, art, music, drama, science, medicine,
agriculture,
> etc. Given the will, the Jew can refuse to be treated as
the
> outcaste of the West, to be despised or patronised. He can
command
> the attention and respect of the world by being man, the chosen
creation
> of God, instead of being man who is fast sinking to the brute
and
> forsaken by God. They can add to their many contributions
the
> surpassing contribution of non-violent action.
>
>
November 20, 1938
>
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