Nakba survivor and former PLO member recounts the history of Zionism
Published in the NB Media Co-op
(*artwork: ‘Rajieen’ by Incé Husain. ‘Rajieen’ means ‘return’ in Arabic.)
On Saturday, June 22nd, a crowd gathers at the student encampments at Western University to listen to Ahmed Abu Shawish. A Nakba survivor who served in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Shawish recounts the history of Zionism - the movement that led to the creation of Israel.
The Nakba - “the catastrophe” - describes the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 by Israeli forces. Thousands of Palestinians were ousted or killed; their homes were stolen, their villages destroyed; and millions were sentenced to refugee status. Laws forming Israel’s apartheid regime emerged: denying Palestinians the right to land ownership, to work, to move freely in their land, to return to Palestine; and nullifying Palestinian citizenship and passports. Shawish was eight years old when the Nakba happened.
The PLO, founded in 1964, is an overarching political group encompassing several political parties. It was conceived with the intention of liberating Palestine from Israeli occupation and ensuring the return of Palestinian refugees. Shawish served in the PLO for thirty years.
The sky is gray and prophesying rain. The birds sing faintly. Shawish begins speaking in Arabic, his voice deep and unwavering. An encampment attendee translates his speech, live, to English.
“I am happy to be here among you,” Shawish says. “You are playing an important part by supporting us all, by supporting our cause, your cause, the cause of the people in Gaza. The Palestinian cause. The student movement that is happening brings hope to our cause. Historically, these movements have a good outcome, eventually.”
He begins recounting the roots of Zionism - its beginning, its allies, and the circumstances that enabled its rise.
He explains that the Levant region - modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and historic Palestine - was always eyed by the world’s powerful nations. It has been marred by conflict since the “beginning of history”, bearing invasion from the Persians, the Mongols, the Crusaders, the Greeks, and the Romans. Throughout these wars, the indigenous people remained.
“What is significant about these conflicts is that the world’s powerful nations' ambitions were always to occupy this part of the world, because this land is considered the centre of the world,” he says. “They are greedy in wanting to expand, they favour their greed.”
He describes the 19th century as an era of “pure colonialism” by Europeans in the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia. Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali conquered some of these areas, striving to unite the Levant (see heading The Conflict with the Porte). Ali captured the region of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire*.
At his peak, Ali controlled Egypt, the Sudan, parts of modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Levant, Crete, and parts of Greece.
European forces opposed his rule. Britain, Austria, and Russia brokered a deal with Ali: that they would cease to threaten his rule over Egypt and the Sudan if he withdrew his armies from all other areas (see heading The Capitulation of Muhammad Ali). The Levant returned to the Ottoman Empire, within which Britain enjoyed political power*.
Lord Shaftesbury, a British politician, then conceptualized Zionism. He reasoned that building a Jewish nation in the Levant would ensure a perpetual British ally - and foothold - in the region.
“Shaftesbury was a strategic thinker. He thought of a way to guarantee power all the time,” says Shawish. “He came up with the idea that you’ve probably heard and keep hearing - a land with no people for a people with no land.”
Lord Palmerston, the British minister of foreign affairs, approved the plan. With the knowledge that Palestine was considered the Jewish “promised land”, all British efforts were poured into expelling Jews to Palestine. They created a consulate in Jerusalem; they created a fund to send engineers, archaeologists, and other experts to study all aspects of Palestinian life. These efforts were cast beneath the ideology of “Zionism”.
“All this to conclude that it wasn’t the Jewish people who started this,” says Shawish. “It was Britain that created Zionism.”
Shawish emphasizes that Jews themselves had never sought life in Palestine: in their history of expulsion from European countries, they fled elsewhere.
For example, when Christian armies overthrew Muslim Spain in the 15th century and violently expelled Jews and Muslims, Jews sought refuge in Morocco and thrived in Moroccan society. Similarly, when the Russian people violently expelled Jews in the 19th century after they were blamed for attempting to assassinate the Russian tsar, they did not enter Palestine. Even after the French Revolution - when violence against Jews lessened and they were given rights in European countries - they traveled to the Americas (see heading The Jews in Eastern France: The Alsatian example).
“The Jewish people didn’t think of going to Palestine, even though there were no borders, no visas needed or passports - they could have just boarded ships and gone to Palestine,” says Shawish. “All this denies the claim that it had always been the dream of the Jewish people to “return” to Palestine. It was a British idea all along, for the sole purpose of serving its own interests and greed.”
In the late 19th century, British Jewish businessman Baron Rothschild funded settlements in Palestine, investing about 40,000,000 francs over a span of 18 years, or 3,500,000 francs a year*. At this time, there were indigenous Jewish Palestinians living in Palestine.
“There were Jewish Palestinians… just like any other Palestinian who existed for thousands of years,” says Shawish. “Palestinians used to tell stories about how they all lived and played together as children, they went to schools together.”
In 1916, British rule over Palestine was officialized: the Sykes-Picot agreement forged between French and British chief negotiators stated that Palestine and Jordan would go to Britain, and Lebanon and Syria to France, if Turkey - the remnant of the Ottoman Empire - was defeated in World War One. Turkey was defeated, and the British took Palestine (see heading The Campaign in Palestine).
Herbert Samuel, a British Jew, became the first High Commissioner for Palestine. He “opened the door” to immigration to Palestine, backed by an army.
Palestinians resisted. Throughout the 1920s and In 1936, they revolted powerfully. But Britain seized Palestinian lands and gave them to the Jews for establishing settlements. Militant Zionist gangs began to take root there; Britain supplied them with weapons to seize more land.
“They called on the Palestinian people to end the strike, stating that they have trust in Britain, their friend who will not backstab them,” says Shawish. “That’s, of course, like someone believing the snake won’t bite.”
Britain, militarily and economically weakened by unrest in Palestine from Arab revolts and Jewish terror attacks on British forces*, began to withdraw from Palestine (see heading The Problem Referred to the United Nations). But then the United States “took the throne”, supporting the Zionist gangs financially, politically, and militarily (see dates 1942, 1945). Israel was established in 1948, in synchrony with the Nakba*. The United States was the first country to recognize Israel.
Shawish believes that the United States will “never get rid of Israel and will always support it.” But he says that Israeli society has thrived in political, economic, and social planes that have created a range of ideologies. He says “a lot” of Israelis are against Zionism, referencing Israeli historian Ilan Pappé who has written books on Zionism’s violent origins.
“As Palestinians, we are not against Jewish people. We are against the Jewish people who came and stole our land and killed us. We are against those who are killing our people in Gaza.”
Regarding the unfolding genocide in Palestine, Shawish believes that peace must come in two parts. First, international law must be respected by all countries in the world. Secondly, Palestinians must be given an independent state, the right to return to their lands, and the land they are legally owed according to the United Nations.
“I think if international law made strict laws and forced the Israelis to abide by them, then that’s a beginning to something,” Shawish says. “(But) personally, I think it’s in the United States’ hands. The people of these big, powerful countries should pressure their governments to make this stop.”
But Shawish says that the internal pressure in Israel is novel. Civil unrest within Israel has been building: for nine months, all hostages have not been rescued and Hamas has not been eliminated.
“After all this time, you didn’t get the hostages out, you didn’t get rid of Hamas, you didn’t accomplish anything except the genocide against the civilians,” says Shawish of Netanyahu. “The only person who doesn’t care about this is Netanyahu because of his power trip and greed. Will the war end? Yes, eventually. It will end with Netanyahu’s failure.”
“We’re facing a very, very difficult situation. We’re in a situation where no one can envy us. But this is not the first time that Palestinains have faced something this difficult. It happened to us multiple times before. We will suffer because of the war that’s going on and because of what we’re witnessing. But the Palestinians have not all died yet. Their lives will continue. It’s almost miraculous how this resistance and this faith just keeps on going, regardless of the atrocities that we see.” ♦
This article was written using an English transcript of Ahmed Abu Shawish’s talk. The English transcript was created by Rana Abbout from an Arabic recording of the talk.
The last quote by Shawish in this article was translated from Arabic into English by an encampment attendee.
*this content was not mentioned by Shawish, but was included to provide some historical context to Shawish’s talk.
For further reading on the history of Zionism that elaborates on the content in this article, see the following books:
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (2020)
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Norman Finkelstein (2005)
A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples by Ilan Pappe (2004)
The Non-Jewish Jew and Other Essays by Isaac Deutscher (1968)
For further information on the history of Zionism that elaborates on the content in this article, see the following podcast episodes:
Empire: Episode 38 - Sykes-Picot: Carving up the Middle East (Podcast by by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand)
Empire: Episode 39 - Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab Revolt (Podcast by by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand)
Empire: Episode 40 - Origins of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Podcast by by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand)
A modified version of this article appeared in The NB Media Co-op on August 6th, 2024: