Violence... The story so far

Updated: 6 Feb 2007

Theodor Herzl is rightly known as the father of Zionism. His appeal was first of all to Jews in the diaspora.


At the founding of Zionism as the 19th Century closed, Herzl declared:

"The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. "The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. "And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity. -Theodor Herzl 1896

Over a century of history has now watched the Zionists in action. Herzl's expectations never came to pass. Herzl's product, Israel, is building an iron wall to live behind; see Jabotinsky and Militarism in Israel for reasons why. There must be a better way: hands reaching across a social interface in dialogue is a Proven Method. The Rabin Government nearly accomplished that feat, before an Israeli bomber from an untraconservative sect of Judaism blew Rabin away in a murderous, suicidal explosion. Rabin's Government was singular in Zion history in that it recognized the real issues and acted upon them. For example, Rabin's Attorney General had this to say:

'The Six-Day War was forced upon us; but the Seventh day, which began on June 12, 1967, continues to this day and is the product of our choice. We enthusiastically chose to become a colonialist society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied territories, engaging in theft and finding justifications for all this." -- Michael Ben Yair, Israel Attorney General, Rabin Government --

Nothing on this page implies that all Jews are Zionists. Only a very few profess to be. Neither does this page condone terrorism in any way, from either side. Jews have every right to exist in peace, and so do the Arabs. We support the right of each people to live in security within the 1967 borders as recognized by the UN.

We also support an evenhanded approach to the Palestine issue. To continue the US policy of supporting Israel's Zionistic behavior at the expense of its neighbors is to continue sending a message to Islam and the world that we are anti-Islam. Israel's recent move to pull back behind an Iron Wall is a band-aid where major surgery is needed. It also vindicates Jabotinsky's belief that the Palestinians would not give up their homeland of millennia gracefully. An Iron Wall will not win the peace as long as the Palestinian society continues bearing humiliations at the hands of Israel. The Zionist's motive differs from that which drove the old USSR to erect the Berlin Wall. Like a moat and castle walls, an Iron Wall is meant to achieve security. Since it does not address the root problem of terror, it will in the end be a band-aid. Like Berlin, the Iron Wall will become a symbol. The Chinese Wall had a motive similar to that of the Zionists--with one crucial difference. The Chinese were not colonial invaders of disputed territories, to use Yair's words. Jabotinsky thought an iron wall would subdue the Palestinians. However, Palestinian frustrations could well increase if they view the wall as equivalent to a prison or a monument to their impotence. Time will tell.

As Thomas Jefferson said,


Understanding the Zionist movement that began in 1896 gives perspective to the Palestinian conflict. If we ignore this relatively hidden history we do so at our peril. Our need for understanding also extends to the culture of Islam. Neglecting both doubles our peril. Iraq and Palestine are showcase examples of our ignorance or at least intransigence.

To make our social points to those in power, we prefer the voting booth and non-violent resistance as, for example, GANDHI and KING practiced it and as AUNG SAN SUU KYI is practicing it.

Of course, that approach does not work against extremists, and terrorism is fostered by extremists and/or fundamentalists. Neither of our preferred methods exert much direct immediate effect. But that by itself is no excuse for continuing to foster conditions that humiliate, alienate, and radicalize a significant portion of humanity.

Of course we must defend ourselves and respond in such ways to prevent recurrence of 9/11. But just as surely, if that is all we do, by military means for example, the roots of terrorism will remain entrenched, intractable, and threatening.

Of course that cuts both ways between societies and within societies.




Zionism defined: Zionism has many definitions. This site has collected what is likely to be close to the mainstream. In practice, Zionism seems to define itself as having the following twin goals:


Intransigence amid bombs and guns cannot create dialogue; mutual understanding can. Extremism is the enemy in all camps, not the moderates of Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Moderates must come to grips with extremism in all societies, and that is more easily said than done.

There is always potential for bias, and too commonly propaganda as well, no matter what the source. It is easy to read, even write, stories that report the opposite of what really happened and it is too often difficult or impossible to recover the truth after the fact. Historians live with this problem daily. And so do we.

Links for landmark events below provide some history leading to the current crisis.

1896 — Theodore Herzl Founds Zionism:
1915 — McMahon-Hussein Correspondence: Britain promised Hussein of Mecca control of territory liberated from the Ottomans —except for a vague area around Palestine and Lebanon.
1916 — Sykes Picot Agreement: Britain and France carve up Palestine.
1917 — The Balfour Declaration: by Arthur James Lord Balfour asserts the right of Jews to a homeland.
1922 — Palestine Mandate: League of Nations—assigned governance of Palestine to Britain.
1923 — The Iron Wall: by Ze'ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky —Zionism visionary and spokesman.
1948 — Independence Declared: "WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world…" in a hall under Jabotinsky's picture.
1948 — Altalena Affair: Jewish terror ceases. The IDF is unified.
1949 — Israel Statehood: United Nations. The government of Israel has no written constitution.
1964 — Palestine Liberation Organization born: "[PLO] was actually an umbrella organization for various factions."
1967 — Six-Day War: According to this IDF website, "[Their blockade and] concentration of forces gradually led the Arabs to believe that an opportunity had been created to realize their 19-year aspiration to destroy Israel. In the light of this development, Israel had no choice but to preempt." They did so from a position of military authority, and in their response toward Jordan in particular, the Israeli general staff went beyond civilian planning or even thinking.
1993 — Oslo Peace Process begins: A balanced and highly readable account, The Process, 1100 Days That Changed the Middle East, by Uri Savir, the Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and chief negotiator, is a must read for those seeking insight into the Palestinian conflict.
1995 — Yitzhak Rabin's Last speech: " Violence erodes the basis of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned and isolated. "
1995 — Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated: by Israeli extremist from the fundamentalist right wing.

For additional insight:

Case Against Israel
Israeli Opinion of Rabin's assassination Jewish Virtual Library.
Jews Against Zionism
Jewish Zionist Education
Mitchell Report -- Discussion
Rabin's legacy Efraim Inbar

This page also provides information from Ralph Schoenman: The Hidden History of Zionism, and we recommend it for your research. His book is thoroughly annotated and provides a relatively objective view of events leading to the establishment of Israel and thereafter up to about 1988. As Executive Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Schoenman negotiated with numerous heads of state. He initiated the International Tribunal on US War Crimes in Indochina and served as its Secretary General. He later became the Director of the Palestine Campaign which calls for establishing a democratic and secular Palestine and a cessation of aid to Israel.

For more on Schoenman's take, spend a few minutes and visit: Schoenman


Zionism has become the single most commonly mentioned sore point among Middle Eastern Arabs at this time. A corollary sore point is the eviction of Arabs from their homes, a feature beyond the twin goals of Zionism. A second growing sore point is our presence in Iraq. The war in Iraq aggravates the problems in Palestine.

As an aside, Iraq is looking more and more like Vietnam in a different flavor. In Vietnam the enemy was Communism at the height of the Cold War. The "hot war" solution in Vietnam did not work; the "cold war" solution did. Zionism is still in a hot war in Palestine. Our leaders seem not to appreciate any parallel in a conflict where Islam (and loss of oil supplies) has replaced Communism as the bogey. In each case:

• propaganda by an administration painted a picture rather different from reality. A misperceived threat was involved.
• specific American interests were involved that motivate ordinary Americans to fight the bogey, a perceived evil. In fact, actual threats to American interests existed, but their reality did not justify a hot war when other proven options were available.
• we are looked upon as alien invaders; our mere presence evoked patriotism on the other side.
• misguided projections were made about:
• the effectiveness of projected American power.
• how long the conflict would last and its human toll, not to mention its cost.
• possible responses by native people who feel invaded by alien forces and culture. See Iron Wall.
• the workings of history.
• our presence in a foreign land with force of arms that was and is vastly superior in head to head fighting.
• a diffuse "enemy" that did or can pick the time, the place, and the mode of conflict.
• terrorism on both sides led to grievous loss of innocent human lives.

In several of these ways, Iraq today parallels the Zionist and Vietnam experiences where hot wars failed. Is there a lesson there?

These regional complications have been on their way since Zionism was established in 1896 by Theodore Herzl. For possible reasons why, read The Iron Wall. The British formally endorsed the Zionist movement in 1923. See The "Balfour Declaration." France and Italy later signed on.

Conflict existed between the Zionists and the Arabs well before World War II. The Nazi holocaust gave the Zionists a strong moral boost, for who could help but sympathize with a people being systematically slaughtered by the millions. The Zionists seized the opportunity to be identified with a just cause.

Statehood for Israel brought open rebellion by the people indigenous to Palestine who viewed the Zionists as invaders. The Palestinians attempted to defend their homes but were effectively dispossessed by war in 1948 after the declaration of a new state of Israel. Israel refused to allow refugees to return to their homes (mostly destroyed).

Nevertheless, a significant fraction elected to remain in their homes and become part of the Israeli society. And they have prospered more than their Palestinian brethren even though not having full opportunities equal to those enjoyed by the Jews. See Bishara for more on their struggle to achieve full equality. Israel is essentially a Jewish state.

Golda Meir summed up the Zionist attitude:


The Zionists were artful about their dispossession of the native populace; so effective was their propaganda that much of the rest of the world came to equate Judaism with a benevolent Zionism. Evidence for that comes from observers who noted that the prime minister of Israel has/had more influence over the foreign policy of the United States than he has/had over that of Israel!

Notable examples in a similar vein:



Another excerpt from Hurley's book:


Yet another Hurley excerpt:


A telling point Ralph Schoenman makes is apparent in the following statistics that illustrate the numbers of existing Palestinian Arab villages destroyed in 1948. These numbers equate to 4 of every 5 Arab homes razed.

District	Before 1948	1948	Destroyed
Jerusalem	33	4	29
Bethlehem	7	0	7
Hebron	16	0	16
Jaffa	23	0	23
Ramle	31	0	31
Lydda	28	0	29
Jenin	8	4	4
Tukarm	33	12	21
Haifa	43	8	35
Acre	52	32	20
Nazereth	26	20	6
Safad	75	7	68
Tiberias	26	3	23
Bisan	28	0	28
Gaza	46	0	46
Total	475	90	385

To be sure, once Israel achieved statehood, the Palestinians went on the warpath. Just as surely, Israel retaliated. By the 1949 armistice, Israel was some three times larger than defined by the United Nations.

Whatever happened after that and whoever you want to believe, the fact is that hundreds of thousands of civilian Palestinians were displaced and their homes destroyed.

This is the history. And this just may have been why Einstein feared what Zionists might do to Judaism. Nevertheless, Einstein actively supported the creation of a Jewish university with a strong graduate school. When the wealthy Jewish supports had other ideas, he resigned from the board in protest.

Sparknotes.com: "Einstein's Zionism was primarily cultural rather than nationalistic; he wanted to preserve the values of social justice and intellectual aspiration that he associated with the Jewish people." "...As Einstein feared and Jabotinsky predicted, Israel now lives in a fortress behind an iron wall--Jabotinsky's description."

Einstein: "I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish State."

Further on Einstein: Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq Upper Iowa University: "... I also personally endeavored to set the Times record straight on one rather important matter, the exploitation of Dr. Albert Einstein by the Zionist movement. ... This "kidnapping" of Einstein for Israel was one of the most extraordinary coups ever perpetrated by any political group anywhere, but with the help of the omnipotent Times anything is possible. The great mathematician had vigorously opposed the creation of the State of Israel, but a myth to the contrary has been widely spawned by the media, and was repeated sixteen years later. ...
... Einstein stated: 'The State idea is not according to me (sic) heart. I cannot understand why it is needed. It is connected with narrow-mindedness and economic obstacles. I believe that it is bad. I have always been against it.'...
... Einstein then told me that he had never been a Zionist and had never favored the creation of the State of Israel."

As Einstein feared and Jabotinsky predicted, Israel now lives in a fortress behind an iron wall--Jabotinsky's description.

For more on Einstein and Zionism see: Setting the Record Straight.

Websites for researching this further are:

Alfred M. Lilienthal: (Author)The Zionist Connection II
Dark Web Pages of Zionism
Jews Aganst Zionism
More Jews Against Zionism

All this does not mean that we favor either side; we favor balance and truth when we can find it. There is ample evidence for terror and provocation on both sides, depending on the leadership at various times. There is also the history of the area, a people dispossessed. Along with that is the established fact that Israel now exists and is recognized the world over. Since America came to exist by replacing this country's native people, we might have some empathy with both sides.

Uri Savir, of the Oslo Peace process, sums it up nicely:


Arabs and Jews have a lot more in common than in difference except for circumstance. They can even engage in dialogue as Uri Savir Process admirably points out. Most Israelis would likely disclaim that they are Zionists. The problem remains that the continued settlement of the West Bank bears the trappings of Zionism.

Ariel Sharon, Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, 12 April 2001, was quoted:


Of course these issues are important to area residents. Sharon layed it out plainly. In fact, Israel uses about 70% of the aquifer's water. He did not mention aid, but aid from the US to Israel in all forms is more than a hundred times that received by the Palestinians. Foreign investments in the two countries have a similar ratio.

This kind of disparity in economic assistance can only increase the suspicion that American policy has been hijacked by the Zionists. Humiliation, a common root of terror, is increased in parallel.

A religion "grounded in the earth" is also a factor. For example:


For further information, visit:

• Americans and Palestinians for Peace -- AMPAL. "AMPAL condemns any act of violence against Israeli or Palestinian civilians." AMPAL calls for immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians and to end the perpetration of war crimes with impunity. AMPAL believes in the creation of an independent Palestinian state and supports all peaceful efforts to achieve this goal."
• Amnesty International -- Working to protect human rights worldwide.
• B'Tselem (In The Image Of) -- Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
• Canadian Muslims for Peace -- " Let there be among you a nation who calls to good they command what is right and prohibit what is wrong. These are the successful ones. (Quran 3: 104) CaptiveMinds.org firmly believes that "Knowledge is Power!" Therefore CaptiveMinds.org will strive to disseminate significant information aiming to build awareness among our communities. Political and Social activism are a religious duty upon every Muslim."
• Palestine Chronicle -- "Palestine Chronicle is an independent internet magazine, dedicated to addressing issues and offering perspectives rarely seen in mainstream western media. These issues include the plight and welfare of Palestinian refugees, as well as other displaced and oppressed people around the world. We are committed to democracy and freedom of expression, and we encourage contributions from people who are genuinely concerned with the specified above."
• USAID -- United States Agency for International Development.

Uri Savir, Israel's Chief Negotiator in the Oslo Process, recalls in his 1998 book The Process:


Uri Savir is now Director General, The Peres Center for Peace. For more on his position, see Peace Talk and his book, The Process, for the 1,100 days that changed the Middle East.

See also: SERGE SCHMEMANN for more.

As the Oslo Peace Agreement was nearing implementation, Baruch Goldstein killed 31 Muslim men in prayer at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron 25 February 1995. Then, with implementation well along, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a peace rally on 4 November 1995 by an assassin from Israel's own religious-nationalist movement. These events have the appearance of Zionism in action; both were designed to torpedo nationhood for the Palestinians. Like it or not, terrorism does change the course of history from the outside and from the inside.

Religious Issues were at the root of Rabin's assassination. Many devout Jews believe God gave them the lands described in the Old Testament, Genesis 15:18 and Deuteronomy 11:24--25. It is part of their doctrine. In scope, the region mentioned in the OT includes Jordan and Iraq as well as Palestine and Israel. This land is a key religious component to devout Jews. They were ecstatic after the Six-Day War, and regarded it as a modern miracle portending the Messiah's arrival. After the Yom Kippur War, many devout Jews became Messianic Jews and began settling in the occupied lands they believed God had returned to them.

According to the halakha (Jewish Religious law), The punishment of a person who hands over sacred property to the gentile shall be death (the Mosser ruling). Betrayal of fellow Jews is dealt with with equal harshness (the Rodef ruling.) Yigal Amir, Rabin's assassin, surely felt that Rabin was putting the survival of the Jewish people in danger and that his assassination was fully justified. He evidently felt Rabin was committing the ultimate sin of giving away Jewish land. See Monotheism and Violence for more in this connection.

A stunning feature of all this was the frank admission by a high-level Israeli diplomat that Israel had lived an illusion. What Savir discovered is contrary to the Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate, and the United Nation's General Assembly endorsement of a Palestinian state. In subjugating others, Israel seems to have even gone beyond the basic tenets of Zionism, not to mention human decency itself. Humiliation and terrorism became a certain result.

Finally, we quote US Ambassador William Scranton from the "New York Times," 25 March 1976. "Resettlement of the Israeli civilian population in occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under the fourth Geneva Convention." See also: Land Grab B'Tselem releases new report.

From this history, one can hardly avoid concluding that continued Zionistic actions are at least one root of the present conflict. A humiliated, dispossessed, and subjugated people are clear results. From these downtrodden people and their sympathizers, terror groups were spawned that eventually touched or threatened every world citizen at home or abroad. For too many Americans, this was a new experience. They bought into the propaganda and the acquiescence of their own government in the matter.

Zionism and Palestinian dispossession are recent histories; they can only be redressed, never altered. Many Middle Eastern governments sponsor state terrorism, Israel included by Webster's definition: "the use of terror and violence to intimidate and subjugate."

If we pursue bin Laden to some kind of conclusion and forget it, terrorism will still be the method of expressing grievances for much of the world. It is not going away with bin Laden, or the demise of another despot or two, or three. It is going to take political changes on a much grander scale, which may well take a generation or two.

On the world citizen scale, those changes appear to be freedom and equal opportunity for all world citizens. We believe the message of the 19th and 20th Centuries is that freedom is an idea whose time has come. Individual freedom is on the march; equal opportunity, relatively speaking at least, follows. We can only hope that it doesn't take yet another century to provide freedom for every world citizen.

On the national scale, the world faces for the first time a threat of a new order: fanaticism and nuclear missiles. The future of humankind is at stake. Fanaticism and extremism seem to arise spontaneously in most societies, perhaps from the human genome itself. There are no glib answers to this one. The nuclear club continues to expand, as individual nations express their "freedom" to do so.

Dialogue can establish peace among neighbors, even angry neighbors, as the Oslo Peace Accord has shown. Northern Ireland is a similar example.

America is virtually Israel's only benefactor. Britain and France having long since softened their support. Indeed we are the only ones Israel has looked to for permanent support. Every American and only a small fraction of us are Jewish or Zionists has now come to be identified by the Palestinians and their benefactors with the Zionist cause. This is not something any of us asked for. The World Trade Center bombing and our astonishment by it looks inevitable from this hidden history.

The problem is now institutional; the way out is to find some political backbone.


The Iron Wall, a metaphor from Jabotinsky, is now Israel's reality. See Haaretz.com for today's news.


We "demand" the Palestinians write a constitution, while the Israelis govern without one; the UK does also for that matter. We meddle in the selection of local Arab leaders when history shows that rarely works. Are we showing the wisdom needed to solve this conflict?

We are caught in a Catch 22 that could well become another Vietnam if we become mired in a costly occupation and presence that we cannot walk away from. Isn't it time we turned some of this "hind-insight" (looking honestly with insight at how we got into all this) into fore-insight?

More on the hindsight must include the powerful effects that projections of attitude have on each side. If one grows up in a green world, one learns to trust things green. In like manner, if one grows up in a red world, one learns to trust all things red. Green folks understand and empathize with green folks as the red folks do with other red folks.

Now substitute any other word-pair for red / green: liberal / conservative, Muslim / Jew, West / East, or free marketer / Communist. Still the two do not meet in understanding and peace. Things simply look different to different folks.

One key to the attachment Westerners have to Israel may be seen as follows: Muslims, with their largely closed societies have always been rather opaque to Westerners. The converse is even more extreme. While European and Americans actively learn about Muslims as they exploit the lands and people of Islam, Muslims do not do likewise. Muslims feel envious, oppressed and disenfranchised all at once. With the Zionists responsible for each of these features, Zionists and all their cohorts are similar. Hatred comes before understanding has a chance. Muslims who see Zionists as reds, will certainly see any supporting Christians as being pink or crimson. While Jews and Christians differ markedly in their faith, that makes no difference to the Muslim mind.

It works the other way around too. Christians see Jews as cousins (if not brothers or allies) in Western culture, governance, and geographic circumstance. Christians see Muslims as rather more alien. So when a Zionist accuses Palestine of terrorism and instigating terrorism, the Christian mind tends to believe the Zionist rather than the Muslim. The Zionist can report the opposite of what happened and the Christian will believe the Zionist simply because they see Jews as being more like themselves than the Muslims are. Christians find it hard to believe that the Zionists ever dispossessed anyone even as Israel came into being from Palestinian land. This we think is how the Zionists were so successful in hijacking Western thought. They understood this equation better than anyone else.

The Christian Right, "Warrior's World," posted the following:


Others, closer to the action, see this otherwise. In our lead-in to this page we quoted Michael Ben Yair, Israel Attorney General, Rabin Government:


Carmi Gillon was chief of the Shabak, the Israeli general security service when Rabin was Assassinated. Jessica Stern quotes Gillon:


Stern observed that both terror groups use selective readings of history and religious texts to justify violence over territory.

Muslim Peace Fellowship, The World after 9/11, by Uri Avnery, has this to say about the most recent turn of events in Palestine:


This was due in no small part to the challenge of Uri Avnery and his words; mainstream Israeli peace groups are slowly beginning to resume their activity.

Uri Avnery was a member of the Jewish underground fighting the British, twice wounded in Israel's wars with the Arabs; political organizer; Knesset member; publisher; journalist; founder of "Gush Shalom," Israel's Peace Bloc; and recipient of numerous international human rights and peace awards.

For more on Zionism, you may research:

Institute for Counter Terrorism -- ICT
Rabbi Meir Kahane -- Jewish Virtual Library
Terrorism and Zionism -- Mostasfa Aboutaleb "Bloody Meatloaf"

If possible, we must avoid a "religious war." Can we not eventually join with the highest secular power embodied in the United Nations in the pursuit and containment of terror? See Pakestan's Nuclear threat.

At the same time, we note that many societies are as peaceful as others are violent. Ashutosh Varshney, in his "Ethnic Conflict & Civic Life," illustrates vividly how several communities of Hindus and Muslims in India live in peace while others do not. Can we Americans build on these peaceful models? Not with the arrogance this administration now displays.

Our position is that both the Palestinians and the Israelis need and deserve homelands. We believe it can happen if the forces of extremism on both sides can be dealt with in ways that allow that to happen. The additional fact that many Palestinian-Israeli friendships exist with mutual trust leads us to believe this position can happen.

The enemy is not the people of Palestine, it is not the people of Israel; it is their extremist factions who are driving this problem. As someone once said: "It is not the wolfishness of the wolves we have to fear so much as the sheepishness of the sheep." Hassen Abdu Libdeh adds: "Only fanatics on both sides pay homage to violence." Finally, Uri Savir noted: Israeli demonstrators against the peace process came from the West Bank and their allies on the radical Israeli right. There were no such demonstrations by doves. The radical few wield much too much power.