M.k. Gandhi and the Birth of Israel[1]
Geoffrey COOK*
”Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum”
The Lamentations of Jeremias[2]
Most of your author’s Pakistani friends have no great respect for the ”great soul,” because they are of the opinion that his great political skill dominated his moral authority, but it must be remembered that, although a Hindu, he supported the Khilaphate (Calaphite) Movement (i.e., at that time, the Sultan of Turkey as the temporal leader of Islam) during the 1920s.[3] Further, he gained the ire of international Zionism’s claims to Palestine which was, also, an exacerbating point with South Asian Islam from the Nineteenth Century to the present.[4] Therefore, your writer has decided to write about the ideas of this great man on Palestine. It must be remembered that he spoke up for the welfare of Muslims as well as Hindus in India. If more of his ideas had been incorporated at the birth of an independent South Asia, there may not have been a Partition (in India), nor would we be staring down a nuclear ”gun” in that region, besides. The same might be said of the Middle East before the establishment of the Israeli State. The Muslims better respected the Jews, and integrated them into society as People of the Book than in Europe. Unfortunately, that has broken down.
Your author starts his composition with a remembered reading of Sri Gandhi’s ”The Jews in Palestine.”[5]. As recalled, his thesis permitted some room for a One-State solution in Israel-Palestine, but, after closely re-reading it again, there is not. Yet, in a comment to a reporter, shortly before his death, the profound man did give a suggestion for a solution to resolve the conundrum. If that proposal had been taken seriously, the crisis in Western Asia might have been solved then,[6] Gandhi’s mind was a curious mixture of the practical and impractical. His ideas on the Abrahamic ”Holy Land” bear this out. ”I cannot¢… say… I have made a… study of the… religion [Judaism], but I have studied as much as a layman can…”[7]. In fact, he makes no references of the traditional Indian Jewish indigenous communities – the Cochin, the Bombay and the Baghdadi. He seems to have known little about them. In fact, as he states in his article to be discussed, he was acquainted with ”… the Jews… in South Africa…”[8] principally. Incidentally, of course, South Africa was where he developed his methodologies on non-violence.
Although he states that he will be talking about the ”Jewish Question” in relation to Palestine and Germany, he knows very little about European Jewry and Palestine itself. He states in the same commentary as mentioned above: ”I should love to go… [to]… the Holy Land…” Much of what he does know about contemporary European Jewry and Palestine comes from Central European (German) and Zionist propaganda itself. Further, as he states in Young India of April 6th, 1921 – ”The Muslims… are bound to retain its [that is, the Fertile Crescent’s] custody, as an injunction of the Prophet,[9] but that does not mean that the Jews and the Christians cannot freely go to Palestine, or even reside there and own property. What non-Muslims cannot do is to acquire sovereign jurisdiction. The Jews cannot receive sovereign rights…”[10]. M.K. Gandhi denies that the majorities of Palestinians – directly after World War II – were (Eastern) Christians, and is still indigenous to the soil, but their population has been reduced to 7% of the Arabic-speaking people there today.
The whole question of a One-State resolution of the Israeli issue, which your scholar no longer personally holds, came up in a conversation with Richard Falk, a former United Nations’ Human Rights Rapporteur to (Israel’s) Occupied territories (Palestine)[11]. The Legal Doctor stated ”The Two-State solution is being undermined… because of the expansion of the Settlements and house demolitions…”. Curiously, Falk had not read Gandhi’s central essay which we shall look at, and he made a note to do so. Further, Palestinian intellectuals themselves are beginning to come to this position, too, such as Ali Abunimah who founded and maintains the Electronic Infitada (see his One Country). A one State solution would not work well in my opinion because the Israeli right would brutally repress it due to the fact that Israel would cease to be a Jewish State if successful. In Israel itself, it has support within their Left, though, and the far right envision it as a greater Israel where only Jews would have the civil rights of citizens.
First your researcher shall go through an exegesis of the Mahatma’s text, ”The Jews in Palestine.” He refers to it as the ”Arab – Jewish” question – not the Palestinian issue. Moreover, in accord with my statement above, when Gandhi applies the words ”Jew” or ”Jewish,” etc., please mentally replace it with ”Zionist” or ”Zionism” to avoid the sectarianism of the time – the 1930s and 1940s. The founding and maintaining of the State of Israel was a Zionist project that involved only a small part of the Jewish people.
Mohandas Gandhi, ever the adroit politician, states, ”My sympathies are… with the Jews;” then, he switches his position ”… my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice.” [12] He points out the mythical basis for the demand for a homeland for the Jews in Palestine within the text of the (Old Testament) Bible itself. [13] Clearly, he states his opposition to a Jewish State with these famous words, ”Palestine belongs to the Arab… [as]… England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to… impose the Jews on the Arabs.” Further, the Mahatma, as in his struggle in India, appeals to his readers’ ethical sensibility: ”What is going on… cannot be justified by any code of conduct.” It is quite apparent here that Gandhi’s perceptions are still relevant to the previous century.
More importantly, ”It would be a crime against humanity to reduce the… Arabs… that Palestine can be restored to the Jews…”. This is a pretty strong attack upon the Zionists of the time since the principle of ”crimes against humanity” had not been established in International Law. Strangely, Gandhi had accused Zionists of collaboration with the Nazis[14], as Leni Brenner’s book (Zionism in the Age of Dictators), written in our generation. Gandhi states in the essay under discussion, ”…a cry for a national home affords a… justification for the German expulsion of the Jews…” to which, curiously, the archives of the Third Reich that Brenner utilizes in his book attests.
M.K. Gandhi goes on to damn the National Socialist regime in Berlin. He asks ”Is England drifting towards armed dictatorship…?” Here he is equating his struggle in British India and the conflict in West Asia. He makes assumptions that often are inaccurate because he cannot get away from his Indian environment. He applies the Jewish concept of God with his Hindu perception of the Divine: ”… Jehovah of the Jews is a God more personal than the God of the Christians, Mussulmans [another word not used much anymore because it is in bad taste] or the Hindus.” Gandhi’s theology is quite mistaken here. Muslims and Christians look to a most personal God, too. All three religious systems deriving from the Numen of Abraham share this principle. Therefore, for Mohandas Gandhi ”… the Jews ought not to feel helpless.” Further, ”The same God rules the Jewish heart… [that]…rules the Arab heart.”
M.K. Gandhi felt that the Jews (Zionists] were going about it the wrong way. He does not say that they cannot emigrate there, but they have to do so under Palestinian law. ”The Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical tract.” This is, also, true for non-indigenous Muslims and Christians – except for their sacred places. Thus, it is mere a locality ”… in their hearts.”
”…it is wrong [for the Zionists] to enter it under the shadow of the British bayonet…”. Here Gandhi is speaking in terms of the Indian reality again, and, I believe, does not fully understand the crisis in the Levant of his period in history!
”They can settle in Palestine… by the goodwill of the Arabs.” That is under their law and permission, and it follows that they can only buy the land that the Arabs may alienate – not grabbing it violently from the Palestinians as they have proceeded to do! He advises them to ”… seek to convert the Arab heart.” Further, he emphasizes the commonality between the two peoples, ”…there are hundreds of ways of reasoning with the Arabs, if they [the Zionists] discard… the… British bayonet.” (Again he is in looking at Palestine from the perspective of India once more, and considers the two resistances as one against the same Imperialism,), but the Mahatma accuses the Zionists that ”… they are co-sharers with the British in despoiling… people who have done [them] no wrong…”. For the Mahatma his interest and attraction for Palestine is that they are both English ”possessions, ”which is only partly accurate. For him what pushes this view askew is the Zionist factors that are actively plotting to steal the land when the Colonialist leaves. Fortunately, this was not true in South Asia where the dominant demand was just as disrupting – a homeland for the Muslims. Gandhi seems to have envisioned Palestine as a Muslim majority Mandate, which in actuality it was not so. Although the United Kingdom invented the census for British India, they never had a chance to apply it to their Middle Eastern jurisdictions. The best estimates are that before 1948, up to 45% (probably considerably less) of the population may have been native Christians; next the Muslims; then Palestinian Jews. It was a multi-religious State or Province (Mandate?) that worked! There was little tension between the three groups. The establishment of the State of Israel lowered the Christian population to 7%; the Muslims now dominate the Occupied Territories, and the Arab Jews were forced into Israel proper where they are treated rather shabbily for being ”Oriental.” Historically, the Jews were treated better in Islamic dominated areas than in Europe. The Christian less so probably because of the mistrust generated from the Crusades. After the establishment of Israel, unfortunately, Jews in other Islamic lands became highly resented of the ”Jewish” (Zionist) theocracy. Israel itself moreover was perceived as a European neo-colony in the midst of Arab territory, and a threat to all of Islam and the Arabs.
Although Gandhi did not approve of the ferocity of the Arab defiance, for he wishes they had chosen non-violence (which shows Gandhi’s impractical side). Under the circumstances, ”… nothing can be said against the Arab resistance…”.
M.K. Gandhi concludes his important essay by urging the Jews to employ non-violence in Germany since it had been effective in India, but, realistically, would not in Germany. Unfortunately, Zionism itself was entwined within the Fascist goals by destabilizing the British Empire in the Middle East. In his last paragraph Gandhi says ”[The Jews] can command… [the] respect of the world by being [truly] the chosen creation of God instead of the brute beast… forsaken of God.”
Shortly before the end of his life, when it was likely that a State of Israel would be formed, a Don Campbell of Reuters (the news gathering agency) asked our subject, ”What is the solution of the Palestine problem?” Gandhi replied, It ”… seems almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: Do not… resort to terrorism [in which the Zionists were engaged at the time]. The Jews should meet the Arabs, make friends with them, and not depend on British [non-players now]… or American aid.” (A.K. Ramakrishna, The Wisdom). How much different would the world be if we followed Mohandas Gandhi’s words, and that includes the Islamic world in the Middle East!
M.K. Gandhi, a South Asian thinker, has had a tremendous influence worldwide during the last century into this century. Although his solutions were or seemed impractical, how many of them should be re-examined now to see if we can extract anything practical for our times. Though he had never been to West Asia, if his suggestions had been factored into the equation, the crisis that presently threatens a World War, which, most assuredly, would bring in the West, would never have unfolded in such a dangerous manner. Still, what he replied to Don Campbell’s question is even now applicable. Washington should step aside from acerbating the conflict, and let the two parties negotiate amongst themselves. At this point both sides should follow non-violence to allow the talks to proceed, and the West can enforce non-violence only if it has to do so. M.K. Gandhi even at this time has much to say to our world.
Alas, the Zionist sees Judaism (heretically) as a religion of real estate. Until that Settler Colonialism ceases to be equated as religion, there can only be resistance.
[1] www.muslimobserver.com/m-k-gandhi-and-the-birth-of-israel
* Columnist at Muslim Observer, San Francisco Bay Area
[2] Bar Hellish, Jeremiah; the Book of the Prophet of Jeremiah; translated above into Latin by Saint Jerome (A.D. 342-407) [the prologue-quotation above, and translated into Greek from the Third Century – c. 132 B.C.E.]) as the Septuagint by committee are unknown; and the English King James Bible, 1611, London, also, by a committee.
[3] From an unsigned e-Book; ”Mahatma Gandhi leads the Congress – Declaration of Non-Cooperation Movement” a subsection of ”The Khaliafat Movement” which in turn was the first Division of the Third Part of the of the India’s History: Modern History ”Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,” the author states, ”… to enlist Muslim support in his Movement… [Gandhi] supported the Khilafat cause, and [even] became a member of the Central Khilafat Committee in…1920… At the Nagpur Session of the Indian National Congress… [the Mahatma] linked the issue of Swaj Raj [Indian independence from Britain]… with the Khilafat demands…” (http://indiahistory.com/khaliafat – movement.htm; (Visited on March 31, 2010.)
[4] Jalal, Ayesha; Partisans of Allah; Jihad in South Asia; Cambridge (Mass.); 2008; pg. pg. 212.
[5] Gandhi, Mohandas K.; ”The Jews in Palestine” (There are many different titles cited for this same article.); Harijan; November 26th, 1938 in his Collected Works, Volume 74 Ahmadabad; 1939, pps. 239-242? or http://www/. countercurrents.org/pa-gandhi170903. (Visited on April 5th, 2010). (It is available on several websites under slightly different titles.)
[6] Ramakrishnan, A.K.; ”Mahatma Gandhi on Zionism and Palestine,” The Wisdom Fund; http://www.twf.org /index.html; (Visited on April 5th, 2010.). I could not find this citation off the web in a print version although the statement is found in M.K. Gandhi’s Collected statements on E.S. Reddy, Editor (Compiler); Gandhi, the Jews
¢and Palestine; A Collection of Article, Speeches, Letters and Interviews; (Visited on April 5th, 2010): Further, the Mahatma, also, replied to Collected works in an Interview in the Daily Herald: London; March 16th, 1921: ”… therefore… Palestine must be under Mussulman control.” Further, op. cit., Ramakrishnan in a reply to a Reuter correspondent on May 18th in 1947: ”… [Zionist] terrorism has no place. They [the Zionists] should meet the Arabs; make friends with them, and not depend on… American aid…”
[7] Gandhi. M.K. from an interview granted to The Jewish Chronicle; London; October 2nd 1931; for the full text of his comments then and other statements he made on Zionism (see http://information/writings_online/ articles/-jews-palestine.html). I thought the reference literature on this would be much less, but his comments on this subject alone could be the basis for a substantial book; op. cit., Vol. 74 (?); pps?.
[8] Gandhi; op. cit.; ”The Jews in Palestine;” http://countercurrents.org/pa-gandhi17093; (Visited on April 5th, 2010); the Daily Herald; March 16th, 1921: ”… therefore… [again]… Palestine must be under Mussulman control.” This is a term (although it has legitimate Turkish linguistic roots) not employed in the West today because it shows disrespect to Muslims as equating Zionism with Judaism does, too.
Additionally, the Islamic basis for the Muslim claim to Jerusalem, and, thereby, to Palestine is Found in the Seventeenth Surah of the Koran. The Chapter is called the ”Night Ride: ”…Allah…took his Servant for a Journey by Night from the Sacred Mosque (Mecca) to the Farthest Mosque (Masjid al-Aqsa, the Temple Mound in Jerusalem)…” Koran 17:1, where the Prophet (Praise and Blessed Be his Name!) ascended through the Seven Heavens. Jerusalem and the Holy Land are mentioned several times in the Hadith, too, as the Third most sacred place in Islam!
Continuing, the Jews were never in reality a ”problem” or a ”question!” These comments show Gandhi to be a man of his generation. Although the British invented the census in India, they never were able to apply it to Palestine, but it is estimated that the Christian population may have been as high as 45% with the Muslims and Jews following in numbers. It appears at Partition and the formation of the State of Israel within the (former) Ottoman province, the viable multi-religion based political entity was destroyed. Gandhi, in no way, understands the Christian rights to the land through Christ’s Passion: ”Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτὴν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε,” or in the King James translation: ”O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings…” The Prophet Jesus (Praise and Blessed be his Name!) Matt. 23:37.
What we are seeing is conflicting religious theology (mythology?) that divided the three communities in Palestine after WWII, and still stands unresolved with unreasonable (Medieval) sanity (Medieval) after 60 plus years! The community that was planted from Europe upset the balance between the various previous inheritors of Abraham’s land. (The variables of DNA are not resolved yet, but the first statistics show the three (religious) and two (national) communities to be distant but similar.
As can be comprehended, Gandhi’s knowledge of West Asia was confused by the rightist propaganda from Central Europe (i.e., Nazi Germany) although, at the same time, he despised everything for which they stood.
[9] Gandhi. M.K. from an interview granted to The Jewish Chronicle; London; October 2nd 1931; for the full text of his relevant comments in this interview and other statements he made on Zionism see http://www.gandhi serve. org/ information /writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html.
[10] Gandhi, Mohandas K.; ”The Jews in Palestine” (There are many different titles cited for this same article.); Harijan; November 26th, 1938 in his Collected Works, Volume 74 Ahmadabad; 1939, pps. 239-242? or http://www/. countercurrents.org/pa-gandhi170903. (Visited on April 5th, 2010). (It is available on several websites under slightly different titles.)
[11] Ibidem
[12] Ibidem
[13] Ibidem
[14] Ibidem
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