HERZL ZIONISM (1895-1905)

Theodore Herzl, the Austrian journalist, is considered the founder and the godfather of the modern Zionist movement; he laid its ideology and dedicated the last 10 years of his life to realizing his ideals and thoughts. He united the Zionist sects to form an international organization and called all the Jews in the world to the first Zionist conference. He made a lasting impression on the modern Zionist movement with his ideals and principles.

Tracing the history of Zionism, we can see that all modern Zionist actions are related to what Herzl had called for, and so it has become an international movement and the Allies have supported it to a large extent. Moreover, this gave Zionism remarkable political weight and made it a strategic ally on which the imperial powers could rely to achieve their common interests. Therefore we must first determine Herzl’s ideals that were outlined in his writings.

Theodore Herzl authored a book entitled The Jewish State in 1896, describing it as an attempt to find a modern solution for the Jewish Cause. This became clearly evident in his preface when he writes, “The notion which I have already simplified in this booklet is a very old one—that is the rebuilding of the Jewish State.” He added that he had been keen on persuading the reader that what he had called for had not been an innovation, and he warned the superficial reader of judging him wrongly according to his Utopian and imaginary plans such as:

1. The Jewish Cause is neither a social nor religious issue—although it could be perceived as such—but rather it is a nationalistic one.

2. Given that the Jewish Cause is a nationalistic issue, it cannot be settled unless it is treated as a global political matter by the most developed nations through conferences. He said, “The Jewish State is a necessity for the whole world and so it must be created.”

3. The historical unity of the Jewish people is a non-negotiable fact.

4. Everything depends on momentum and a driving force which has been perpetuated by the miserable conditions suffered by the Jews.

5. The anti-Semitic movement should be perceived from a purely Jewish viewpoint because he considered it as an advantage and fertile soil for Zionism to grow. Consequently, he emphasized the idea that this movement made them Jews, and it is the essence of Zionism. Accordingly, he divided people into two groups: the first group outwardly shows enmity for Semitism while the other hides it.
   Thus, the whole world has become an enemy for the Jews according to Herzl’s views, and we do not exaggerate if we say that this view is keen on keeping this attitude although it is about to disappear because, as Herzl said in his dairies, “Anti-Semitism, a powerful and effective means of propaganda amongst the peoples, will not harm the Jews in any way, but I consider it an advantage for them because it will educate the audience, and it may disappear sometime.”

6. Herzl had realized the importance of the State as an attraction for the Jews to encourage them to gather because nothing can uproot a nation and take it to another country except the notion of the State.

7. Dreams can be realized, and the Jewish immigration to Palestine will not be against them but rather it will be a great advantage, and it will put them at the top of the world. From this aspect, he said the old prisoners leave their cells unwillingly.

When he presented his plans, he showed that the notion is quite simple but it is difficult to be realized, since it can only be done by establishing the Jewish Society and the Jewish Agency. The Society will carry out the preliminary and preparatory political and educational steps while the Agency will apply these concepts and sponsor the interests of the immigrant Jews, in addition to organizing the commercial exchanges in the new occupied country. Moreover, the Agency will deal only with the Arab landowners  . On the other hand, the Society will decide where the Jews should go, either to Argentina or Palestine, but Herzl said, “We will take what the Jewish public opinion decides.” However, he reminded the masses that “Palestine is our unforgettable country”, and it could powerfully attract all of the Jews.

In the chapter dedicated to the relationship between the Jewish Society and the Jewish State, he stressed that his booklet is directed at lawyers. Then, he presented his theory on the legal basis of the State, thereby rejecting Rousseau’s old ideals of the State as a social contract or one that can be formed on a piece of land, uniting the people by a powerful master. In order to avoid any contradiction with his old Zionist notion, he cited the old Roman notion of the deputy whereby the Jews would deputize the State to run their affairs. What we should do is replace Global Zionism with the deputy of all Jews all over the world in order to know what Herzl means exactly when he considered the Zionist state as a deputy for all Jews, whereas Zionism represents the majority of Jews who deputize the State.

This will become more obvious when we deal with political Zionism and its concept for the relationship between the people, the government and the State. The first Zionist conference was held in Basl, during the period 29-31 August 1897. It was attended by more than 197 representatives of the various Jewish and Zionist organizations, institutions and societies. It was presided by Herzl, and the presidential board and the board of trustees of the Labour Committee were also elected. The venue for the conference was Vienna, and the programme of the Zionist movement, known as the Basl programme, was adopted, thus the International Zionist Organization was founded. This programme determined that the ultimate purpose of Zionism was to “establish the Jewish State in Palestine by the force of the law.” It is noteworthy that the term “watan” (country or home) is similar to the German term “Heimstatee”. This term was invented to show its moderate connotation; therefore the programme cunningly avoided the term “Jewish State” because the Zionist leaders did not want to provoke the Turks, who might realize what Zionism was planning. Most who were contemporary stressed that what was meant by the term “watan” was only the Jewish State, and they said, “We have realized what was meant by this term—the Jewish State—and so there was no need to hide our real goals.” These goals can be realized thorough the following means:

1. Colonizing Palestine by industrial farm labourers on a suitable basis.

2. Organizing Global Zionism by connecting it with suitable international and local organizations according to the regulations in each country.

3. Fostering and promoting the Jewish spirit and national consciousness.

4. Taking preliminary steps to gain the necessary approval to realize these goals.

Consequently, the Zionist movement has become the authority which seeks to establish the Jewish State with the executive committee as the cabinet and the Zionist conference as the parliament. Therefore the Zionist movement became the deputy for all Jews repeating what Israel Zanqwel said, “Let us give this land which has no people to this people which has no land,” ignoring the fact that Palestine was inhabited by its own indigenous people for thousands of years. Moreover, the Zionist organization began to collect annual taxes (shaqel) from its members under the pretext of membership fees of the Zionist council and the organization which had emerged from it. This organization made itself a cabinet without either land or people, then it collected taxes from the people who had nothing to do with the sought-after State. Undoubtedly, the span of 20 years since the Zionist conference up to the Balfour Promise (1897-1917) represented a process of gaining international recognition of the basic goals; this is what Herzl had been doing through his position as the head of Zionism and through his efforts to gain what he called “innocence”. The following are additional stages and developments through which the Zionist move passed.

The second Zionist conference was held in Basl in 1898 in order to gather the Jewish sects from all over the world and to gain their allegiance to the Zionist movement because the Jews are the only people who would adopt the Zionist ideals and plans. The Zionist conference allowed one representative for each 400 Jews who pay the tax to attend its sessions and meetings. Thereafter, the Imperial Jewish Bank was established which refused the secret immigration to Palestine and suggested that this should be organized and carried out openly under their sought-after “innocence”. The Jewish Imperial Bank was established at the third conference in Basl in 1899 under the name of the Jewish Insurance Fund of Colonization in order to finance the settlement activities in Palestine and to ensure the financial services for the Zionist Movement. This conference was not attended by those Herzl-political Zionists for dogmatic reasons. The function of this Bank was decided by the founder of Zionism as a means to gain the sought-after “innocence”, emphasizing particular matters such as the Jewish cultural activity regarding the decision to establish the society by using Hebrew for all communication and to spread the Hebriac culture among the Jews all over the world, to rebuild the permanent administrative system of Zionism in order to replace the temporary one, and to divide the committee of work into a main and    a minor one presided by Herzl. The fourth Zionist conference was held in London in 1900, and it was attended by more than 400 delegates. It stressed the following issues:

1. The severe conflict between the religious Orthodox Jews and the secularists, which Herzl asked all members to ignore these conflicts and pay more attention to the common goals and interests.

2. The spreading of Zionist propaganda all over the world.

3. The hopes that Herzl and Zionism pinned on Britain.

4. The return of the draught of the project to establish the National Jewish Fund under the motto of Jewish work on Jewish land.

The fifth Zionist conference held in Basl in 1901 witnessed the establishment of the National Jewish Fund, in addition to further discussions concerning the cultural issue and establishing the Hebrew University; however, there was opposition within the Zionist movement by the Democratic Wings, which was presided by Haim Viseman and Martin Pauper among others. It was decided to hold the Zionist conference once every two years, and the conflict between the religious and the secularists occupied most of the talks. Therefore a lot of members asked for the establishment of relationships with all non-Zionist imperial societies in order to purchase a lot of land in Palestine on a large scale. Consequently, the conference decided to use all of the money available in the Jewish National Fund to purchase this land. However, the religious split, led by Rabbi Issac Rince, protested against the fierce radical and scientific conflicts within the movement, so they established another Zionist movement called Mezrahi, which remained an integral part of the Mother movement, which adopted most of its ideals as well as Herzl policies.

During the sixth conference, several issues were dealt with, especially those presented by Britain to colonize Uganda. The conflicts became more obvious between the real Zionists, who reject any land other than Palestine, and those who sided with Herzl’s ideas to accept any other land other than Palestine. Thus, an expedition was sent to explore the situation in Uganda, but Palestine was accepted by the majority. Consequently, Anglo-Palestine was founded in Jaffa as a department of the Jewish Insurance Fund for imperialism.

Finally, when the seventh conference was held in Basl in 1905, Herzl was already dead, and the conflict among his followers was severe, especially between those who adopted Uganda and those who favoured Palestine. David Wilfson was subsequently elected as president of the Zionist movement, thereby defeating and causing to retreat those who favoured Uganda, thereafter forming an organization called the International Regional Organization. The most important deeds accomplished at this conference were the amendment of the Jewish Insurance Fund to give priority to the housing projects in Palestine, Syria, Asian Turkey, the Sinai Peninsula and Cyprus.