One of the false claims you sometimes here is that the State of Israel was created in response to the Holocaust, the Daily Beast has an interesting column on that topic.
In fact the opposite is true, the Holocaust only happened because the State of Israel hadn't been created earlier in the Century.
With that in mind, I thought the following article from the Pittsburgh Press in 1919 very interesting. It talks about a Jewish state for 20,000,000 Jews, the approximate Jewish population before Hitler destroyed a third of our people. And talks about the proposed future borders of the state, borders that make today's "Greater Israel" proponents look like minimalists.
Also interesting that the it assumes that the Jewish state would be referred to as "Palestine", at that time the only people who identified themselves as "Palestinian" were the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael. The Arab Palestinian National Movement had not yet been invented.
Certainly a lot of food for thought in the article...
Room for 20,000,000 Jews in New Jewish State Formed in Palestine
International News Service Stall Correspondent.
London. Dec. 20.-There is room for 20.000.000 inhabitants in the new Jewish state being created in Palestine, according to Max Nordeau, famous French aviator, who is keenly interested in arousing interest of Jews in this project throughout the world.
This is the hour before the dawn for the Jews, thanks to the English-speaking nations, declared Dr, Nordeau today. "For 1,000 years the Jews have looked for the coming or the Messiah and I feel that his coming is about near. I hope it will not prove a false Messiah.
"The Jews are just beginning to realize what this Zionist movement really is. Zionism for the Jews is
their real salvation. The Jews of the world have assimilated the habits and customs of all nations. but they realise that Palestine is their real home. The masses of Jews hail this movement, and it there should be any deception it would be tragic. Those not wanting to go to Palestine may easily remain where they are and God bless them.
“It is expected that a method will be devised of giving citizenship in the new state of Palestine to Jews who
do not wish to go there right away. A system of taxation has been proposed, also, by which Jews would
contribute to the support of the Palestine government whether they live there or not, it they secure citizenship papers.
"There is going to be competition for space in Palestine. The boundaries of the new state probably will
be defined after the lines of the Bible. We do not anticipate a return of the whole Jewish people from the
outside world, but it is already known that the territory which the new state will possess between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates river, will hold 20,000,000 souls. The Bolsheviks and the Jews have severed their bonds and now hold nothing in common
Source: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19191221&id=IyIeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qo4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2886,1863998
2 comments:
Wow! Interesting article and excellent post.
Interesting thought but the "What if there had been an Israel" ranks with "What if we could send a modern IDF brigade back in time"
The problem is that an Israel created in the 1920's might not have survived. There was almost no industrial base, agriculture was still limited and the Arabs were very hostile to the notion of a non-Muslim state. America was isolationist, the British, other than Balfour, were Jew haters and the mass economic chaos of the Depression all have to be considered.
Further, even if an attempt had been made remember that the leadership of both European Orthodoxy and American Reform were staunchly against aliyah and would have held their followers back. The attempt might well have failed and destroyed the new Jewish community.
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