Rodinson, Maxime - Why Palestine? (en inglés)

7/26/2019 Rodinson, Maxime - Why Palestine? (en ingls)

1/11

Why

Palestine?

Maxime

Rodinson

I

haveoften een

asked-as

I

have beenhere-to explain he

origin f

my nterestnthecause of thePalestinians ndmyreasons ordefending

them.

People

seldom

fail

to draw attention

o the extent

o

which

my

attitudes

eem

contradictory:

ave

not several imes

mocked

nationalist

fervor, emonstrated

he

absurdities o

which

t

so often

eads

and

the

crimes t

nspires?

ave

I

not

frequentlyxpressed

mydeep revulsion or

nationalist

peeches?

And sn't

thePalestinian

ause as

nationalists that

which s

the

mainspring

f

the

Zionistmovement?sn't

t

nconsistento

grant

alestinian

ationalism

privileged osition

n

relation o

so many

others, nd particularlyn comparisonwith sraelinationalismnd the

form f

Jewish

ationalism mbodied

n

Zionism?1

I

make

no

claim

oescapetheweaknesses

ommon o human hinking.

I

merely

ry o

limit

theirhold.

Essentially,

do not

believe

that my

positions

re

so

absurd.To the

xtent

hat

my rguments

ave

beentaken

up by

others,

ave

converged

with heir

wn

positions

r are

ikely

o be

useful,

t s

perhaps

worth

my

xpanding

hem

omewhat ere.

First f ll-and Iwant o stress hispoint-I am nnoway xempting

Palestinian ationaism

rom he defects f

every

form f

nationalism.

These defects

re

very

lear

in the

speeches

and

actionsof

Palestinian

nationalists.

he

Palestinians

re

human

nd

t

would, ndeed,

e a

miracle

if they

had

escaped

the

universal

onsequences

of

humankind's

mobili-

zation

or

cause,

whether

good

or

a

bad one.

Now,

do not

believe n


2/11

WHY

PALESTINE? 17

miracles.

t

would

be

surprising

ndeed

f

they

id

not dealize heir

wn

ethnic

r

national roup, attributeo the atter n essence

ternallynd

entirelyood, nd, ncontrast,demonize he nemy,who salways nd

in

every

way treacherous.Here, as elsewhere, n

irresistibleendency

emerges o

link

the

national

dramato

an

alleged

ternal

osmicstruggle

between

Good and

Evil.

Nationalism s a

particularxampleof

a

militant

deology.Militant

ideological movementshave

constantcharacteristics,

nd Palestinian

nationalism

o more scapes them han

does

its

enemy, ionist r Israeli

nationalism.

verymilitant

deologicalmovement lso idealizestscause,

and demonizes theenemy.Within ts rankstherereigns constant

outbidding

which

hrows

uspicionon

everynuance,

on

every

ffort o

understand

the

other,

or

move

away

from the

utmost

degree

of

demonization.

he

struggle

or

power,

which s still

universal

actor

n

the

politicaldynamic,

s

only

suspended-and partially

t

that-to the

extent o

which

hecombat

mposesdiscipline.However,

many

ndivid-

uals

and

groups

re

eager

o take

t

up again

nd are

on

the

watch or

very

occasion to

begin

o do so at

the

very

east.The

leadership

s

constantly

tempted ya tendencyo broaden nd universalizehevalidityf a tactic

which

may only

be

temporary,

o

present

histactic

o the massesand

elites

s essential nd

eternal,

o

presuppose

t

n

past vents,

nd

to admit

the ikelihood f ts

continuing

n

thefuture. he

leadership onstantly

tends

o

subject

ll

its activities

nd all its

thinking

o

transitory

actical

needs. The intellectuals f the movement

re

always

tempted,

n

quite

parallel

ways, y

facile

xplanation:

conspiratorial

ision f

history

nd

of

the

present.

n

the

hadows,

he

treacherous orces

f Evil

have

always

wovencunning lots againstGood, and they ontinue o do so. In any

case,

t s

blasphemous-and dangerous-to express

he

eastdoubtas to

the

ventual utcome

f the

triumph

f the

movement,

hich an

butbe

preparing glorious

uture.

mong

he

militants

f he

rank

nd file

here

are

many

who

surrender

o

the

everyday assions

of

humankind,

o

all

kinds

f

rrationalityggravated y

gnorance,

hich

ometimes

o

as

far

as the atisfactionf sadistic

mpulses.

All

of

this

s

apparently

he

case,

and

naturally deplore

t.

But

one

must otforgethat ven henoblest ndmost dmirableauseshavebeen

sullied

y

imilar

efects,

nd

by

corruption

nd

criminal

ehavior n

the

part

of some of their

ollowers,

f not on the

part

of most

of

them.

A

retrospective

iew

of

thingsmay easily

convince that

they should,

nevertheless,

avebeen

upported.

o

wait efore

ommitting

neself

o

a


3/11

18 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES

cause

until

ll ts

representatives,lways

nd

everywhere,

rewithout ault

or error,s to takerefugenpassivitynd contribute o thevictoryfthe

enemycause whichmaybe corrupt,not only in the behaviorof its

followers,

ut in its

objectives.

This does

not, however,

mean thatone

should condone every

ction and idea of those one

supports

n their

overall

goal.

All

nationalismshave major defects nherent

n

their

nationalist

character,

n

addition o theviceswhich sually

dhere

o every ctionof

ideologicalmilitantism. ut it is imperative o establish istinctions

t

once.

A nationalism hich imsto

subject

thernations s

despicable

nd

must be fought.A static form of nationalismmaybe more or less

tolerated,

nd

fought nly

n

its more

extreme

manifestations.ut the

nationalism

f n

oppressednation,

which

wishes o obtain

espect or ts

collective ightss

a

nation,must

e

supported

n

ts

ssential im, ven f

certain f ts manifestations

re

open

to criticism.

It could be maintained,

nd

has

in

factbeen maintainedsee Albert

Memmi2), hat ionist ationalismsalsothenationalism f n

oppressed

people,

he

Jews.

t

s

true

hat,nitially,

ionism rew ts

trength

rom he

aspirations f theJewsof EasternEurope who werepersecuted nd

oppressed.However,

he

olution

f

Jewish

tate

s

proposed y

Zionism

to

remedy

his

ersecution

nd

oppression

was

not

he

nly

olution.

or

long

time t was

adopted only by

a small

minority.

owerful

Jewish

organizations,

he

Jewish eligious uthorities,

nd a

considerable umber

of ndividual

ews upported

ther olutions.

ewish

ationalism

tself,

s

the

concept

of

a

singleJewish

ation cattered ver the

planet,

did

not

necessarilympose

tself s

an

ideology f

combat.We

know,

n

fact, hat

this

collectivity,

he

gathering

f the

survivors

f a

very ong history

riddledwith liminations

nd

assimilations,

ould

only

e

classified ith

great

eal

of uncertainty:

s

a

fragmentedeligious ommunitybutmany

rejected

heir

ncestral eligion ithout easing o

be

considered s Jews

y

their

ntourage);

s a

grouping

f formationsloser o

the

thno-national

type,

which

could

have

ustified

everaldifferent

ewish

nations

an

ensemble

f

Yiddish

anguage

nd

culture

n

Eastern

urope-yet,

in

the

nineteenthentury, ncreasingly articipatingn the host cultures-

communities f

Ladino culture

nd

language

n

one

part

of the

Ottoman

empire,

etc..

.

?).

Few

things

drew

together

the

existing

groups

andthe

many

men nd

womenwho

escaped

ll

ofthese

lassifications

nto

a

centrifugal

ovement

which,

t

a

precise

moment

n

history,

eemed

irresistible.


4/11

WHY PALESTINE? 19

Thus, options other than

the

ideological constitution

f a

Jewish

people united

nto

one

nation and

(a

not

absolutelynecessary onse-

quence)a Jewish tate,wereputforward nd made clear.But thisJewish

state

had

to

be

located

somewhere.

As a

result f

circumstances,

f the

ideological weight f the past, of the ignorance f many, nd of the

imperialistnterests ith

which

hemovement

as

to

ink

tself

n

order o

become effective,

he and chosen

was Arab

Palestine.

his

fact

ed

the

Zionistform f nationalismn the direction f oppressivenationalism.

Logically,herewereonlytwowaysoftransforming

land

nhabited y

Arabs intoa Jewish erritory:he subjectionor expulsionof the indi-

genouspopulation.t snot surprisinghat fter hemany icissitudes,n

the

course

of

which

the

responsibilities

or

this

or

that

negative

consequencemaybe shared, hefinal esultwas practices f subjection

andexpulsion.

It seemsclear, herefore-and think hat his hould be obvious to

every

mind

free of

ideological camouflage-that

Zionist

nationalism,

whatever pinion one mayhave

of the

egitimacy

f a

plan for Jewish

statepurely

s

a

plan,

ook concrete

nd

practical

orm

n

the

oppression

of nother eople.Consequently,tmust eadmitted hat hePalestinians'

resistance o thisprocess

falls

nto

the

ategory f nationalistmovements

of

oppressed eoples

who

deserve

upport. y

hiswe mean

he

upport

f

all

whoare

committed o

fighting

ational

ppression,

nd

who

can

allow

no

exception

o this

eneral

rientation ithout

eing

ccusedof

ntellec-

tual

nconsistency

nd moraldeviation.

This, believe,

s what hould

ustifyupport

f

Palestinian

ationalism

in its present undamental

im

by everyone

who

proclaims n ethical

commitment.nce again, his nno waynecessarilymplies pproval f

the

programs,trategies,actics, ctions,

nd ideas which

merge

n

the

organizationshrough

hich he

Palestinian

laim s

expressed,

nd

which

evendominate hem.

As

in all

similar

movements,

here s

a

constant

nd

very trong ressure,

ot

only

on

the

part

f

these

rganizations,

ut

also

by

the

very

ature

f

things,

o

link

understanding,pproval

n

principle

and

global pproval

f

themovement

ith

ractical upport

f ts

ctions

and

trends,

nd evendirect

articipation

n t.

Sometimes hisbecomes

sortofblackmail. ach one is free o judgewhether moral mperative

propels

him

n

thisdirection.

ike

several

million

thers,

had

translated

my

onviction

f the

ustifiable

ature f the

protest gainst

he

njustice

organized y capitalism

nto

participation

nd

enrollment

n

the

Com-

munist

movement.

his

ong

nd hard

xperience aught

me

the

dangers

f


5/11

20

JOURNALOF

PALESTINE

STUDIES

such

mixtures.t

may

presenttself s a

duty

or

Palestinian ho

has no

means

of

struggling

gainst heoppression

f his

people

other

han otal

commitment.ora non-Palestinianabove all,for non-Arab), t s more

debatable.

For a

Jew, there

re

moreprecise nd

morallymore

constricting

reasons o add to

thosewhich

mustpush

everyone o at

leastan

under-

standing

f,

and

overall

sympathyor,

the

protest

xpressed-well

or

badly-by the

Palestinianmovement.

Every

ew,

hat

s,

n

this

ase,every

manor

woman

who s

considered

a

Jew,

s

implicated,

ike it

or not.3 t is well

known

that

the

Zionist

movement,rom hevery utset,ntendedospeak nthename f llJews.

The

development

iscussed

bove has

given hisclaim

ncreasing redi-

bility.But,

n

spite of

a

too extensive

omplaisance

n

the

part of

the

Jewishmasses for

reasons

which

re

sociologically

nd

psychologically

comprehensible-however uch heoutcome

may

e

deplored-it is

not

true

hat

ll

Jews in

the

bove

sense)

have

approved

nd

do

approve he

decisions f

the

uthorities

f

srael,

his

tatewhich

s the

utcome f

the

endeavors f the

Zionistmovement.

n

the

past,

therewas

scarcely ny

needto point his ut.AllZionist iteratureearswitnesso thehostility,

or at east he ack of

enthusiasm,

fthe

Jewish

masses

for he

ause t

was

defending.

he

rallying

ook

place

ittle

y

ittle. or

a

very

ong

ime,

he

principal

nemies

which he

Zionists

had

to

overcomewere

Jews.

Even

now,manyJews

keep

silent

through

ack

of

courage,

ack

of

information,

r

ndecision.

Manywaver, nly

partly onvinced

and when

they

re

convinced,

t s above all the

ndirect esult

f

Arab

propaganda).

Many,without

alling nto

question

he

Stateof srael

which

hey elieve

necessary or heir afety, ho fear heconsequences f tsdestruction,

strongly

isapprove

f

omeor

many

f

the

decisions

nd

directions

aken

by

srael.

Nevertheless,

ndeterred,

he sraeli

uthoritiesontinue

o

speak nd

act

n

thenameof all

Jews

n

all

occasions

exceptwhen,

ontradictorily,

they omplain

of the ack

of

Jewishmobilization

o as

to extract

more

money

nd

support

rom he

Jewish

masses).

One of the

most

hocking

examples-and,

if

I

mention

nly

this

one,

it is

simply

or

reasonsof

space-concernsthe ompensationbtained romGermanyor hemass

murder

f the

Jews

uring

he ast World War.

Among

the

millions f

Jews

massacred,

many

were nti-Zionist

r

at

leastnon-Zionist.

ut

that

has

not

prevented

he

Zionist tate rom

ollecting,

or tsown

profit

nd

for

hebenefit f ts

projects

nd

decisions,

he

price

of their

lood.


6/11

WHY PALESTINE? 21

In

short, ll theJews f the

earth ind hemselvesaught p, without

having been

consulted,

n

the

consequences of decisions taken in

Jerusalemy smallgroup fpersonswhom hey idnot hoose, ndwho

are nno

waytheir epresentatives.

To

illustratehe hocking nddangerous ature f

this, etus take n

imaginary

xample-though imilar

ases must

have

arisenmany time,

hopefully ftenwithout uch seriousresults. et

us

not

forget

hat

he

custom f

thevendettatha'r

n

Arabic) s aswidespreadn

theArabworld

as it s

n

Corsica

nd

many ther ocieties

which ave

retained

omething

of

their

raditionaltructure.

magine

Jew

rom small

own

n

Norway

or Venezuelawhohasneverhad the eastcontactwith heStateof srael

and theZionist

movement.

here

re,

fter

ll,

millions ike

his.

magine

Palestinian,r even notherArab,

whosefamily as beenkilledby sraeli

bombs

or

weapons

in

Hebron,

Sidon or elsewhere.

magine that,

convinced y Zionist ropaganda f the

ndefectible

olidarity

f

all

Jews

with srael on

every oint,

thisArab

avenges

himself

n this

Jew.

am

pushing

hings

o

the limit

o

make

my example

more

vivid,

but

this

correspondso

an

importantspect

of

the

present

ituationwhich

no one

candenywithout eingdishonest.

This

entire nalysis eems o

me

to demonstrate

hat-although very

person

of

sound

rational

nd moral

udgment

will find

he

Palestinian

protest

egitimate,

t least

n

essence-the

Jews

ave a

particularuty o

mobilize

gainst

he buse done

in

their

ame,

nd

they

ave the

greatest

interest

n

so doing.

A

similar

ituation mong

n

increasing umber f

ethno-national

roups

s

today

reating

n abundance f similar

mpera-

tives.The

nationaldemandsof

minority roups

re

increasing,

nd

the

tendencies owards ssimilationwhichpredominatednan earlier hase

are

becomingconsiderably

ess

strong,

t least

as

explicit

deologies.

Everywhere,

ithin

hese

groups,organizations

or

struggle

re

being

formedwhich

put

forward

rograms, evelop strategies

nd

tactics,

nd

move

n

to actions

which re

ncreasingly ilitary

n

form.All claim

o be

translating

he will-at least the

mplicit

will-of

all

the

members

f

the

same thnic

roup.

The

atter re

currently

eld

responsible

or

he

ctions

and

plans

of

these

minority

odies. As

in

the case of

the

Jews, hey

frequentlyxperience

ome version o

disassociating

hemselves

ublicly

from heir

brothers,

ven f

hey eplore

heir

nitiatives.

n

most ases

(the

Armenians,tc.),

there

xist

representativerganizations

hich an

issuedifferent

tatements,

nd

distance hemselves

rom hese

nitiatives.

Up

to the

present ime,

for

all

sorts

of

sociologicalreasons,

he

major


7/11

22 JOURNAL OF

PALESTINE STUDIES

Jewish

rganizations

ave

nothad

this

ourage nd,

n a

suicidal

way,

have

allowed heir dherence t

east o the

policies

decided n

srael

o go very

far.Let us hasten o add that,nthePalestinianase, thePLO's claimto

speak

n

thename f ll

Palestinians

s,

to

a

greatxtent,orne ut

by

facts.

* *

*

I

have,therefore,poken

of the

attitude esirable or ll

Jews.But

have been asked for

personal

estimony.My personal

motives an,

n

fact, e added to these eneral actorsnddoubtless ive hem particular

character.

shall

not

inger

oo

long

n these

or

have

lready

ouched n

this

ubject

n

earlier

ublications,

nd I

do

notwish o

leave

myself pen

to

the

reproach

f excessive

omplacency.

In

the main,this acute

consciousness

of theZionist

option as

not

constituting

n

mperativeor very

ew,

f ts

dangers,

f

he

dangers ven

of

everyJewish

ationalist

rend,

temsfrom he

milieu

n which

was

broughtup.

It was

a milieu

composed

of

Jews

who were free

of the

ancestral eligion nd oftenhostile to it,according o theanti-clerical

model

in

European

Christianmilieux.

They

were at

the

same time

internationalists,

enerally-but

not

exclusively-ideologically

riented

towards he ocialist

deal n

thewidest ense

nd,

with

egard

o

everyday

life, owards

ssimilation

ith he

urrounding

eople.

t

s

importanto

stress

hat,

before

1939,

thiswas

a

verywidespread

ttitude n the

so-

called

Ashkenazi

milieu,

hat

s,

among

the

Jews

f Eastern nd

Central

Europeanorigin.

According

o this

ttitude, ewish

dentity

n

twentieth

century uropewas but a residual henomenon.t was a question f the

descendants

f membersof

an

ancient

people

and/or of an

ancient

religious

community

whose

assimilation

was

underway,

ut

not

yet

completed

n

the ollective

onsciousness.

hus,public

pinion,

o

a

great

extent,

till lassified

hem s

possessing specificdentity,

hat

f

Jew.

I

will

not

go

so

far s

to

say

hat his

oncept

was

universal

mong hose

who claimed heir

ewish

ncestryin

the

ense

of

ancestry

n

the

Jewish

religious

ommunity

with ts

strong

thnic

onnotations),

or

among

those forwhom this ancestrywas known. But it was much more

widespread

han is

thought

o

today.

Other trends

ndicated their

attachment

o one of the

options

described

ery

riefly

bove. t

s

useful

to

stress

hat

hosewho

subscribed o

the

Jewish

aith

were

generally

ot

attracted

y

nationalist

ptions.


8/11

WHY

PALESTINE? 23

This ttitude,n thehalf enturyfter 920, became he

fficial ption

adoptedby theCommunist arties ndby their ewish

members. utone

mustbewary fthinkinghat heCommunists adsole rights o it. Only

the Communist nternational

xpanded

it

into

pedantic theoretical

versions

equipped-as

was the

rest

of

Communist

dogma-with the

prestige f science, f that urious science,

set

apartfrom ll

theusual

characteristicsf theordinary ciences,

which

was called Marxism. his

had

the

effect f

reinforcing,hrough omplexreasoning, ttachmento

the

rientation

n

question.

n

fact,

his

n

no

way ltered he

fundamental

arguments f good sense

and

fact

which

were tsbasis. But thebeliever's

faithn themwasthereby trengthened.

Such was

my case throughoutmy ong ourney hrough his ecular

religion. owever, he

French ommunist

arty

o which

belonged lso

obeyed

he

ogic

of the

political pparatus.

t was

very

losely ollowing

strategy

o

winmembers nd

supporters

n

France,

nd votes

n

the

French

elections.

This

committedt

not

to

advance ts

theoreticaldeas

on the

Zionist ption s a general ule.After

he

dvent f theState

of srael nd

the

universaldemonstrations

f

sympathy

t received n the

West,

particularlynFrance,which pread qually n eft-wingewishircles,t

was not appropriate, olitically peaking,

o

bring p

this

ssue

on which

the

Party

octrine ould

give

rise o

opposition, ncluding

withints

own

ranks.

The issue

was

avoided as

far

s

possible.

A

decision

on

it

was

only

taken

when

as

in

1953)

theSovietUnion was called nto

question

n

that

respect.

n order o defend he

USSR,

the

bastion f

ocialism,

he

Party

had

risked

widespread npopularity

nd

condemnation

t the

ime

f

the

German-Soviet

act,

rom 939

to

1941.

It

could

wellface

esser

waves

n

the ubject ftheStateof srael.

My originality

as

that

was

already

nformed n

the

ubject.

had

spent

even

years

n

Lebanon

where

had

been

n

direct

ontactwith

he

problem.

Assisted

y my pecialization

n

Arab

and

Islamic

tudies,

had

understood

the bases of the

Arab

attitude

oward srael.

This was

extremely

are

t

the

time. t has become

only

little ess

so

today.

Temperamentally,

find t

difficult o tolerate

laring

rrors, nd

I

quickly

eel desire

o

fight hem,

o

engage

n

polemics.

n

theface

fthe

errors,

he

untruths,

ndtheobtuseness f which he

press

ndthemedia

were

veryday uilty,my xasperation

as

permanent.

he fact

hat

uch

obtuseness

eigned

lmostto

the same

degree in spite

of

the

doctrine)

within

he

ranks f

the

Party

f

which was a

member

nly

ncreased

my

exasperation.


9/11

24 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES

This is how

I

came to write rticles

nd give ectures n order to

contribute

o

correcting

alse

pinions

with

egard o themotivations f

thePalestinianmovement.ssentially,attemptedo make t understood

that hismovement

ad no

connectionwithHitlerian

nti-Semitism.

n

opposition, articular

acts

were

ited

whichwere

eal,

but no

more

han

details levated o the

rank f

explanatoryymptoms:

he

ollaboration

f

theMuftiHajj

Amin l-Husseiniwith

Hitler,

heuse n theArab

ranks f

reasoning

nd

themes

f

the

type

which re

clearly

nti-Semiticn

the

traditional

ense of the word in the

West,

that s to

say,

attacksnot

directed

gainst articular

ctions

n the

part

f

particular roups

f

Jews,

butagainst hevery ssence fJewssa whole hroughhe ges, udged o

be by nature

vil and

depraved.

attempted

o

explain

hat he

protest

movement,

whatever

he

form

nd

subjects

of its

propaganda,

id

not

derive ts

origin

nd

essential

nature rom uch

phantasms,

ut from

concrete act

whichconstituted serious

grievance:

he

occupation

of

Arab Palestine

y

a

Jewish opulation.

It must

be

recordedthatmyefforts

nd

those of the

groups and

individualswho have come to this

position

have metwith

nlyrelative

success. The majority f the Westernpublic continues to link the

Palestinian evolution, nd

Arab

protest

n

general,

with

Hitlerian nti-

Semitism.

his

misleading omparison

s

encouraged y

a

considerable

number

f

speeches

and

publications

rom

he Arab

side.

Lastly,

he

publicity iven

o the

revisionist

heses f

Faurisson4

nd

others an

be

mentioned, espite

hedemonstrationsf their alsehood.How

can

t

fail

to be

apparent

hat he

Zionist

heses re

trengthened

n this

way,

ot

only

through

reaction frevulsion n

the

part

f he

Western

ublic, ut lso

on a purely ogicalplane?Doesn't thismply peakingndwritings if he

great

number

f

Jewish

ictims f

genocide ustified

he Zionist

under-

taking? therwise,

what

benefitwould t be to

the

Arabs to

support

he

allegation

hat

ewer

ews erished

han s

currently

aintained?5

Nevertheless, rogresshas

been made. When

I

was

beginning o

publishmy writings,

herewas

practically

o othervoice to

shake the

consensus

f Western

pinion.

The Israeli heseswere lmost

universally

recognized

s

expressing

he real

truth,

the

objective reality.

No

publisher

ared o

publish

bookwhich

isputed hem;

o

paperprinted

an article

ontradicting

his ersion f he acts

except

or he

Communist

press,

nd

only

when nti-Soviet

ropaganda

n the

ubject bliged

hem

to

do

so);

no

film

was

hown

which ook ccount

f

heArab

point

f

view.

Events

fter

967

have somewhat

haken his

universal

omplacency

nd


10/11

WHY

PALESTINE?

25

allowed at least some publicity

o

be

given

o the critics

f

the Zionist

project nd Israelipropaganda.

This

breakthrough

s

still imited.

t is

sometimesccompanied y rrors r deviations. ut tdoes exist, nd am

proud

to

have

contributed

o it.

Translated yMargaret

hiari

*410

1.

I am well aware that the designation

nationalist

for the

Zionist movement

often

gives

rise to

protest n the partof

Arab ntellectuals.havealready ome up

against t. This is because in the Arab

world, orreasons

which

re

evident, he

termnationalism

as acquired positive

connotation, sacred aureole. For the

Arabs,

nationalism s by definition

feeling, passion,

duty, praiseworthy,

even

dmirable,

movement. ionism, eing

in

their iew

omething

hich

s

n

ts

very

essence bad, a perverse undertaking,

cannot be

nationalistic.

t

is a projectof

pure banditry,n operationplanned by

Satanicmanipulators hich weeps long

the

deceived

masses or

individuals ssen-

tially ust

s evil. Some

ideologists acking

both

scruples

nd

rigor,

but who

have,

nevertheless,oisted hemselves p onto

more onceptual

lane,

have

had recourse

to

a

verbal stratagem o extricate

hem-

selvesfrom hedilemma et

nto

relief

y

the revulsion f

progressive pinion

for

certain uropeannationalisms,nd these

nationalisms'

upport

of colonial

expan-

sion:

setting

nationalitarism

orthy

f

praise

in the

Third World

against

a

pernicious

ationalism or

which,

atural-

ly, Europe provided

the model. This

represents erely

he ntrusion f passion

into the

rational

nalysisor

self-serving

calculation f

ideologists

who are

careful

only of their

own

reputation.

deologies

and

ideological

movements which

put

forward s an ideal,rightlyr in a manner

open to criticism

r

even

detrimental,o

promote,

efend, xtend, r even

create

nation,may

egitimatelye classifiedn

the

vast

category f nationalisms.

hey

are

different,

utcommon

raits an

be

picked

out. This n no

wayprejudges

he

moral

r

rational

alue of thedemandswhich ach

of them

uts

forward.

2. French ovelistndessayist lbertMemmi

was born n Tunis n 1920. He haswritten

interesting

ovels

n the

utobiographical

vein

llustrating

he ife

of Tunisian

Jews,

followedby

a

noteworthy sychological

essay

on the

relations etween olonizers

and colonized

n a

colonial

society.

He has

also

produced

ome books on the

Jewish

problem.Although ecognizing

rrors

n

the sraeli

eadership

nd

weaknesses

n

the

Zionistmovement,

e

strugglesgainst he

idea that srael s tobe seen as a colonial

phenomenon.He maintains hatZionism

is essentially

liberationmovement

f the

Jewish eople.

3.

There has been strong ppositionto the

arguments

erived rom he

Jewish

itua-

tion whichconvinced

Jean-Paul

artre-


11/11

26

JOURNAL OF

PALESTINE

STUDIES

more

through ntuition-

that the

only

definition

f

a

Jewwas the

perception f a

non-Jew

hoclassified im

or her s

such.

Othershad longunderstood hiswithout

having

expressed t so

strongly.

have

returned

o it several

imes.One

must, f

course,

exclude

from hiscategory

those

Jewswho

ndicate,

y formal

dherence o

the dogma and

resolute

practice

of the

rites, heir

will

to belong to the

Jewish

religion. f other

people consider

hem s

Jews,

t

is

according o theirown

stated

wish.Butthis s

not themost

general ase,

and itwascertainly ot thecaseinFrance

until

recently.The

same

uncertainties

appear

wherever

ld ethnic

rconfessional

adherencesre

disintegrating,reno onger

clearly

pparent

to

all, or are no

longer

claimed

y

ll

those

whocould claim

hem.

What is a

Catholic

n

France

f

not one

who

declares

himself

uch,

or

who is

considered uch? What is

a Black n

the

countries f Americawhere

kin olor has

legal and social significance,ut where

racial

mixtures, hether

n

the

distant r

recent

ast,

dilute he

olor

sometimes o

the

extreme)

n

pursuance

of Mendel's

laws?

A

manor

woman

whohas white kin

but who had

a

black

ancestor

s

Whiteor

Black

(socially, and

sometimes

egally)

according

o

a

milieu

lassifying

im r her

as

such,

unlesshe

or she

claims o be black.

(See,

for

xample,

he

recent

egal

ase in

the United States referred o by Guy

Sitbon,

Le Nouvel

Observateur,

o.

981

(August

26, 1983), p. 42.)

4.

Robert Faurisson,

a

professor

at

the

University f

Lyons,

is

now the chief

figure

mong

French

ollowers f the

so-

called

revisionistchool

n

recent

istory.

His

books and

papers

have aimed to

demonstrate

hat the

number of

Jews

killed

n

Nazi

concentration

amps

was far

less

than what

is

commonly

said and

taught.nthe ameway, ccordingohim,

the Germans

must have killed

fewer

people

n

the

gas

chambers

han aid n the

currenthistories.

aurisson

has few

fol-

lowers

in France.

He is

associated

with

some

people in

Europe and the

United

States

whoprofess he ame

deas.Many f

them follow the same

path in

raising

doubts (e.g. Noam Chomsky) bout the

number of

Cambodians

killed by the

Khmers

rouges. Some

are right-wing,

others eftists. he

common premise s

that, ince

onservativesn

theWest have

an

interest

n

inflating

he numbers

of

victims

f

mass

killing y theReds,

and

since

anti-Nazis nd

Israelis lso use the

number

of Jews

massacred for

their

propaganda,

he

realnumber

must,

here-

fore, be very much lower. Faurisson

himselfhas been

accused of

pro-Nazi

tendencies.

5.

It is sad that

many Arabs

fall into the

Zionist rap y

taking p the

rguments

in

general false

-of the

so-called

revisionist writers

(the Frenchman

Faurisson s

the

mostwell-knownf

these)

in order o

minimizehe

persecution fthe

Jews

y

theNazis n

1939-1945. Whatever

the exact number fJews laughtered,t

certainly

mounts

o

several

million.

Hair-

splitting

n

this

figure

nd

on

the

method

of execution

n

no

way

diminishes he

horror f this

ystematic

laughter

imed

at

people only,

nd in a

clearly

tated

way,

because of their eal or

alleged ncestry.

hhere

has been no

example

of

this

magnitude

or

ong

enturies. ther

xam-

ples

of the same

type, ut

with

onsider-

ably fewer victims (the Tasmanians,

Gypsies, etc.),

mass

murder as a

by-

product

of

war,

the

transport

f

slaves,

etc., colonial

wars,

he

Blacks)

n

no

way

alter his rutal act.No

moredoes the act

of

the busive

xploitation

fthemassacre

by

Zionism

and

the State

of Israel. The

Arabs

who

use

this

type

of

argument,

repeat, fully

gratify

he

wishes

of

the

Zionist movement

n

another

way,

too.

They thus put themselvesforward

s

enemies f the

Jews

s a

whole,

ndnotas

enemies

f theZionist

lan.

This can

only

help

to cause

all

Jews

to

perceive

all

Arabs

as

their

nemies, gainst

whom

hey

mustmobilize.

Rodinson, Maxime - Why Palestine? (en inglés)

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