Looking at Palestine from Zion

The past few weeks I have been on a mission to meet and hear from Palestinian and Jewish voices. The angst, ambivalence, and longings associated with this journey found catharsis and resonance for me in a comment of Rashi to this weeks Parashah. This is from my heart.

An explotation of the backdrop to the Tiberias massacre of Oct. 7 1938 and its similarities to Oct. 7

Transcript of my notes for the episode:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YZ-HW_Z_OcGkI0OuYdDEVzKBuM8dOYwpPmKCG6YjhLI/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography:

1929 Ground Zero by Hilel Cohen

Palestine 1936 by Kessler

ספר תולדות ההגנה

Oriental Neighbors by Jacobson and Naor

Hebrew Article in Ha'aretz about the Assasination of Zaki Alhadif

Sept. 9th 1938 Article in Davar about the assasination of an Arab civil servant

Sept 7th article in Davar about Tiberias Shooting in a store

Rabbi Jacob Beirav's Zimrat Ha'Aretz

TIberias and Its Arab Residents during the British Mandate by Mustafa Abbasi

JTA article about the assasination of Arab city council member

Thus episode revisits the letter Ben Gurion wrote to his son that I addressed in the earlier episode "Cleansing Pappe's Distortions." Here I seek to put that letter into the context of Ben-Gurion's well documented statements on transfer made over the course of decades. I draw conclutions about the motivations of Ben-Gurion's interpreters and the implications for the conflict in general.

List of sources cited:

The 1918 article that Ben Gurion wrote in the Yiddish organ of the Jewish Socialist Party Poalei Tzion -- Hebrew Version: https://benyehuda.org/read/1469 

For the English translation see My Talks with Arab Leaders pg. 7-8 :

https://archive.org/details/MyTalksWithArabLeadersDavidBenGurionTranslatedFromTheHebrewByAryehRubinsteinAndMishaLouvish/page/n13/mode/2up)

1924,speech given at Kibbutz Ein Charod Ben Gurion:

https://benyehuda.org/read/1469

Ben-Gurions 1929 Plan for a Bi-National State that was presented in 1930 and published in 1931:

For an English Summary of the 1929 plan see My Talks with Arab Leaders by Ben Gurion ppg. 23-24

For the partition plan that that Ben Gurion conceived of in early 1937 and his embrace of transfer in a letter to his son Amos see Letters to Paula by Ben Gurion pg. 129 Letter dated July 27, 1937): https://archive.org/details/letterstopaula00davi/page/128/mode/2up

For Ben-Gurions embrace of population transfer in his diary entry of July 12, 1937

Ben Gurion's testimony for the UNSCOP committee

March 23, 1941, Guideline for Zionist Policy, Submitted to the Jewish Agency Executive Meeting, in Jerusalem by Ben Gurion:

https://israeled.org/resources/documents/david-ben-gurion-guideline-for-zionist-policy-1941/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Extended Bibliography:

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe

The Birth of the Palestinian Refuge Problem, 1947-1949 by Benny Morris

Palestine 1936 by Oren Kessler

Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel by Anita Shapira

Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh

Industry of Lies by Ben-Dror Yemini

Journal of Palestine Studies Compounds its Ben-Gurion Error

JPS Responds to Camera's Call for Accuracy

Quoting Ben-Gurion: An Exchange

Benny Morris' Reign of Terror Revisited

Ilan Pappe and CAMERA: How the Zionists are fighting history

The Concept of "Transfer " in Zionist Thinking and Practice: Historical Roots and Contemporary Challenges

My Talks with Arab Leaders by David Ben Gurion

Letters to Paula and to the Children by David Ben Gurion

In the Spring and Summer of 1949 Israel offered repatriation of Gazan refugees. This episode includes that story and a critique of Ilan Pappe's recounting this historic episode.

Links

Time Magazine story

https://ecf.org.il/media_items/358?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1fCnUEgTYscYUUhH_5mdUgRRMXb3dsZV1oBsZcyRuVhh6uea0NU5PiNW8_aem_Hh0tTZeobsjwNpnlSvr7hA

Survey of Proposals to the Conciliation Committee

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/15205/16274

Lessons of the Failed Gaza Initiative from the Begin-Sadat Center:

https://besacenter.org/lessons-from-the-failed-gaza-initiative-of-1949/

The Amazing Story of the Jews of Urfa and their place in Israel's story.

For a virtual tour of Abraham's cave in Urfa:

For the full interview of Harun Bozo from Centropa's Library of Rescued memories:

This episode explores an 11th century Western European scholar's take and a 12th century Spanish/North African scholar's understanding

We see that aspirations for Jewish self-determination and autonomy were ingrained in Jewish discourse a millennium before Zionism.

The passage from the Talmud around which this episode revovles is Tractate Rosh Hashanah 18b. Rashi's comments are to that passage.

The passage quoted from Maimonides/Rambam is from his commentary to the Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:3.

The Letter quoted her comes from Rabbi Messas' three volume collection of his letters known at Otzar HaMichtavim אוצר המכתבים. The letter cited is in volume three, page 163 letter #1,769.