## The Iron Wall (Nov 4th, 1923) >[!quote]- "An enemy of the Arabs" >"Emotionally, my attitude to the Arabs is the same as to all other nations - polite indifference. Politically, my attitude is determined by two principles. First of all, I consider it utterly impossible to eject the Arabs from Palestine. There will always be two nations in Palestine - which is good enough for me, provided the Jews become the majority." >[!quote]- Equality of rights >"I am prepared to take an oath binding ourselves and our descendants that we shall never do anything contrary to the principle of equal rights, and that we shall never try to eject anyone. This seems to me a fairly peaceful credo. But it is quote another question whether it is always possible to realise a peaceful aim by peaceful means. For the answer to this question does not depend on our attitude to the Arabs; but entirely on the attitude of the Arabs to us and to Zionism." >[!quote]- No such precedent >"My readers have a general idea of the history of colonisation in other countries. I suggest that they consider all the precedents with which they are acquainted, and see whether there is one solitary instance of any colonisation being carried on with the consent of then native population. There is no such precedent. >The native populations, civilised or uncivilised, have always stubbornly resisted the colonists, irrespective of whether they were civilised or savage." >"Every native population, civilised or not, regards its lands as its national home, of which it is the sole master, and it wants to retain that mastery always; it will refuse to admit not only new masters but, even new partners or collaborators." >[!quote]- "Arabophiles" >"To imagine, as our Arabophiles do, that they will voluntarily consent to the realisation of Zionism. In return for the moral and material conveniences which the Jewish colonist brings with him, is a childish notion, which has at bottom a kind of contempt for the Arab people; it means that they despise the Arab race, which they regard as a corrupt mob that can be bought and sold, and are willing to give up their fatherland for a good railway system." >[!quote]- All Natives Resist Colonists >"Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised. That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and what they will persist in doing as long as there remains a solitary spark of hope that they will be able to prevent the transformation of "Palestine" into the "Land of Israel". >[!quote]- No "Misunderstanding" >"There is only one thing the Zionists want, and it is that one thing that the Arabs do not want, for that \[immigration] is the way by which the Jews would gradually become the majority, and then a Jewish Government would follow automatically, and the future of the Arab minority would depend on the goodwill of the Jews; and a minority status is not a good thing, as the Jews themselves are never tired of pointing out. So there is no "misunderstanding". The Zionists want only one thing, Jewish immigration; and this Jewish immigration is what the Arabs do not want." >[!quote]- The Iron Wall >"Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach. That is our Arab policy; not what we should be, but what it actually is, whether we admit it or not." >[!quote]- Eventual Agreement >"In the second place, this does not mean that there cannot be any agreement with the Palestine Arabs. What is impossible is a voluntary agreement. As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people. And when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character it is only when there is no longer any hope of getting rid of us, because they can make no breach in the iron wall. Not till then will they drop their extremist leaders whose watchword is "Never!" And the leadership will pass to the moderate groups, who will approach us with a proposal that we should both agree to mutual concessions. Then we may expect them to discuss honestly practical questions, such as a guarantee against Arab displacement, or equal rights for Arab citizens, or Arab national integrity. >And when that happens, I am convinced that we Jews will be found ready to give them satisfactory guarantees, so that both peoples can live together in peace, like good neighbours. >But the only way to obtain such an agreement, is the iron wall, which is to say a strong power in Palestine that is not amenable to any Arab pressure. In other words, the only way to reach an agreement in the future is to abandon all idea of seeking an agreement at present." - Link: https://en.jabotinsky.org/media/9747/the-iron-wall.pdf ## The Ethics of the Iron Wall (Nov 11th, 1923) >[!quote]- "Neither your honey nor your sting" >"But it is absurd to expect the Arabs to have the mentality of an impartial judge; for in this conflict they are not the judges; but one of the contending parties. And after all, our chief question is whether the Arabs, even if they believed in peaceful collaboration they would agree to have any "neighbours", even good neighbours, in the country which they regard as their own. Not even those who try to move us with high-sounding phrases will dare to deny that national homogeneity is more convenient than natural diversity. So why should a nation that is perfectly content with its isolation admit to its country even good neighbours in any considerable number? I want neither your honey nor your sting", is a reasonable answer." >[!quote]- "Not much we can concede" >"There is not much that we can concede to Arab nationalism, without destroying Zionism. We cannot abandon the effort to achieve a Jewish majority in Palestine. Nor can we permit any Arab control of our immigration, or join an Arab Federation. We cannot even support Arab movement, it is at present hostile to us and consequently we all, including even the pro-Arab rhetoriomongers, rejoice at every defeat sustained by this movement, not only adjacent Transjordan, and Syria, but even in Morocco. And this state of affairs will continue, because it cannot be otherwise, until one day the iron wall will compel the Arabs to come to an arrangement with Zionism once and for all." >[!quote]- Morality >"Let us consider for a moment the point of view of those to whom this seems immoral. We shall trace the root of the evil to this – that we are seeking to colonise a country against the wishes of its population, in other words, by force. Everything else that is undesirable grows out of this root with axiomatic inevitability. What then is to be done?" >There are no more uninhabited islands in the world. In every oasis there is a native population settled from times immemorial, who will not tolerate an immigrant majority or an invasion of outsiders. So that if there is any landless people in the world, even its dream of a national home must be an immoral dream. . Those who are landless must remain landless to all eternity. The whole earth has been allocated. Basta: Morality has said so." >[!quote]- Refuge >"From the Jewish point of view, morality has a particularly interesting appearance. It is said that we Jews number 15 million people scattered throughout the world. Half of them are now literally homeless, poor, hunted wretches. The number of Arabs totals 38 million. They inhabit Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, Syria, Arabia and Iraq – an area that apart from desert equals the size of half Europe. There are in this vast area 16 Arabs to the square mile. It is instructive to recall by way of comparison that Sicily has 352 and England 669 inhabitants to the square mile. It is still more instructive to recall that Palestine constitutes about one two hundredth part of this area. Yet if homeless Jewry demands Palestine for itself it is "immoral" because it does not suit the native population. Such morality may be accepted among cannibals, but not in a civilised world. The soil does not belong to those who possess land in excess but to those who do not possess any. It is an act of simple justice to alienate part of their land from those nations who are numbered among the great landowners of the world, in order to provide a place of refuge for a homeless, wandering people. And if such a big landowning nation resists which is perfectly natural – it must be made to comply by compulsion. Justice that is enforced does not cease to be justice. This is the only Arab policy that we shall find possible." >[!quote]- Democracy >"All sorts of catchwords are used against Zionism; people invoke Democracy, majority rule national self-determination. Which means, that the Arabs being at present the majority in Palestine, have the right of self-determination, and may therefore insist that Palestine must remain an Arab country. Democracy and selfdetermination are sacred principles, but sacred principles like the Name of the Lord must not be used in vain –to bolster up a swindle, to conceal injustice. The principle of self-determination does not mean that if someone has seized a stretch of land it must remain in his possession for all time, and that he who was forcibly ejected from his land must always remain homeless. Self-determination means revision – such a revision of the distribution of the earth among the nations that those nations who have too much should have to give up some of it to those nations who have not enough or who have none, so that all should have some place on which to exercise their right of self-determination. And now when the whole of the civilised world has recognised that Jews have a right to return to Palestine, which means that the Jews are, in principle, also "citizens" and "inhabitants" of Palestine, only they were driven out, and their return must be a lengthy process, it is wrong to contend that meanwhile the local population has the right to refuse to allow them to come back and to that "Democracy”. The Democracy of Palestine consists of two national groups, the local group and these who were driven out, and the second group is the larger." - Link: https://www.sajr.co.za/wp-content/uploads/attachments/the-iron-wall---sajr.pdf ## The New Exodus (March, 1937) >[!quote]- The failure of assimilation >"I have no intention of depicting the present position of Jews in various countries: I am weary of it, and the Jewish reader has long ceased to react to tales of horror. Does it matter what the name of the town is where ',it' happened yesterday? Nor does it make any difference what happened: whether "it” was physical attack of legislative discrimination. That is immaterial; the rope round our necks is tightening, and it is all one whether the rope is of hemp or of silk. All the panaceas have failed. That the ideas of assimilation and of equality of rights have proved to be wrong is no longer denied even by converts and renegades." >[!quote]- "Exodus" >"Our people are now confronted with an 'Exodus'. The geographical area of our present-day Egypt is expanding. Where it will end we do not know: will we have to transfer all Jews from everywhere, or shall we find oases from which we shall have to remove only half or a third? We do not know. But one thing is certain, in the next couple of generations we will be compelled to take may millions of Jews out of the Galuth \[diaspora], and there is no real opening except Palestine." >[!quote]- "Liquidation of the Galuth" >"All the forms of the Zionist movement to which we have grown accustomed, 'spiritual', national-cultural, political, have been outlived. We are now faced primarily by a humanitarian movement, a vast movement in relation to the number of human beings who are looking for deliverance. Without that, all Zionism is worthless." >[!quote]- Tiny as San Marino >"Even if fifteen and a half of the 16 million Jews could find their happiness in the Galuth... I would still go out into the world and gather a handful of people around me, with the watchword: 'We want no Galuth, give us our own State, be it ever so small even as tiny as Marino.... and this, precisely, is 'Zionism'." Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zktR1sdz4Xwb_gWLF32GlRdARg4rUyW60tw9oh2z7P0/edit?tab=t.0 ## Selected writings on Zionism >[!quote]- Biographical note >"At home, he did not receive a traditional upbringing. He was, therefore, unable to nurture his love for Zionism even from a prayer book. He also never stated that he was subjected to personal insults or anti-Semitic persecution." >[!quote]- Geography of Palestine >"What does 'Palestine' mean? Palestine is a tract of land whose main geographical characteristic is that the Jordan River flows not along the border of this territory but down the middle. >What does Zionism mean? Zionism does not aspire to find a moral prop to support the afflicted Jewish people, or some form of consolation in Palestine. In the past, the meaning of the word Zionism had always designated a real solution to the political, economic and cultural tragedy of many millions. Thus, the meaning of Zionism is not only the creation of a Jewish majority in Palestine, but the creation of room for millions in Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River." >"... Zionism was never meant as an ornament for consolation, but always as a yearning for the salvation of millions from their tragic situation." >- Address at the 16th Zionist Congress, Zurich, August 1929 >[!quote]- "Greater Zionism" >"It is within our rights to state that Palestine can solve our immigration problem without having to deport its Arab inhabitants and without causing them any harm." >"If by chance a miracle should occur, say tomorrow, and 800,000 Jews arrive and the establishment of a Jewish republic is declared; obviously, it would still be necessary to take into account the absorption of the millions of Jews still in the Diaspora into that Jewish state." >- Address at the 'Research Institute for National Problems,' Warsaw, 1936 >[!quote]- "Zionism is the answer" >"Zionism is the answer to the massacre of Jews. It is neither a moral consolation nor an intellectual exercise..." >- From *Ha'aretz*, December 1919 >[!quote]- On the "National Home" or the "Spiritual Centre" ideas >"I would not prefer to be one of those contented Jews, living in this type of paradise. In the course of time, each one would sense the feeling of betrayal..." >"As one perched upon a rock in a raging sea, his brethren drowning before his eyes; and on this rock, a vacant space. All the while he sees how they are being cast back into the maelstrom, and he is not permitted to intervene." >- From the 'Morgen Journal', August 1930 >[!quote]- All or nothing >"No Jew, even in his inner heart, could imagine that the end result of 'redemption' would lead to the creation of a paradise in Palestine for a small minority, while the masses would hunger and languish in Europe as in the past, continuing to knock on the doors of America, as in the past. If any Jew could truly believe that this is how the Zionist assault would end, he would turn his back on Zionism and claim: Such a 'redemption' is impossible." >- "Immigration", Feb 1931 >[!quote]- "Humanitarian Zionism" >>"I object to the prospect of a Jew being attacked while at the same time being proud of his chosen brethren in their tranquil abode, with no possibility of ever joining this chosen place. No, this is not my Zionism! My Zionism calls for: the transfer of all the downtrodden Jews; all our great authors, our gifted creators; and all those simple Jews who proudly bear the burden of the Diaspora. This Zionism I call 'Humanitarian Zionism'" >>- Address at the Physicians and Engineers Club, Warsaw, 1936 >[!quote]- Immigration in 1939 >"... there is a letter in a London paper today from Dr Weizmann. The arguments of the letter are very logical, but the conclusion is as a death-blow to all the arguments. 'Therefore... permit the entry into Palestine of a hundred thousand Jews (and ultimately many more).'" >"What does it mean to you, with such a catastrophe, if they will sent 100,000 somewhere - something like two percent of those five million who are doomed? And should we, because of this, because of two percent of your pain, for a comfort which will not save you and which will be only a drop in an ocean of tears, smother the Arab protest? My dear colleague, I understand that for the sake of something great, for the sake of a plan to save a people or solve a tragic problem it would not be such a terrible crime to overcome the Arab protest by force." >- 'The Partner', *The Jewish Herald*, Feb 1939 >[!quote]- Every Jew >"The first demand, which is logical and just, is that every Jew must put aside a tax for building the Jewish State, especially Jews living in the Diaspora who have no other way to contribute to the practical side of building." >"'Those who are privileged to live in Palestine give the country the sweat of their brow or the intellect of their minds, or sometimes in tragic moments, sacrifice their lives. they are called pioneers. Nevertheless, every Jew of the Diaspora can also be a part of that pioneering sacrifice, by giving the same thing. In fact, we demand it of you." >"This is, and will remain, the obligation of every honest Jew." >- 'Funds for Palestine', September 1934 Source: Jabotinsky, Z, The Political and Social Philosophy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Ch. 1