09.06.08
Is this the way?
RG mail
Jerusalem Post August 19, 2008
Is this the way?
By Daniel Gavron
Why would a pamphlet published 60 years ago be of any interest today? This
was the question I asked myself, when it arrived on my computer recently, in
response to a public discussion in which I had participated in London.
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian, noted academic and peace activist Tony
Klug and I had debated “Two-states for two peoples: solution or illusion?”
At the end of the evening, Prof. Michael Zander approached me about his late
father, Walter Zander, and subsequently e-mailed me his Web site (
www.walterzander.info ). I was fascinated by both the books and essays, but
particularly struck by a 45-page pamphlet he wrote in 1947.
“Is This the Way?” was published early in 1948 by Victor Gollancz, price one
shilling. While much of the material relates very much to its own time, I
was astounded at how relevant its insights are to our situation today. The
German-born Zander was the secretary of the Friends of the Hebrew University
in Britain for almost three decades. A lawyer by training, he was a prolific
author, writing about everything from economics and legal matters to Soviet
Jewry and the holy sites in this country.
“Is This the Way?” was composed in the dramatic period between the United
Nations vote partitioning Palestine in November 1947 and the declaration of
the State of Israel in May 1948. Very much in defiance of the triumphal mood
in the Jewish community at that time, Zander criticizes the Zionist policy
toward the Arabs.
IN ITSELF, this is not remarkable. There were several critics of the Zionist
movement’s policy – or rather lack of policy – toward the Arabs. What makes
Zander’s essay special is his insistence that, with a Jewish state on the
way, we Jews should stop blaming everybody else for our problems and take
responsibility ourselves. In the shadow of the Holocaust and with the
nascent Jewish state fighting for its life, it must have required great
courage to stake out such a position.
“For many years it has been our custom to put the blame for every new
difficulty and every new setback to our cause on the shoulders of others. As
long as our political fate was mainly determined by other peoples, it was
understandable that we were inclined to see the cause for our situation in
the actions of others. But since we have taken again the shaping of our
political history into our own hands, full responsibility now rests upon us,
and this will require the greatest moral courage. We must ask fearlessly to
what extent we ourselves have contributed to the present situation.”
Quoting Ahad Ha’am to the effect that “since the beginning of Palestinian
colonization, we have always considered the Arab people as non-existent,”
Zander asserts (writing in 1947) that he sees no fundamental change in this
attitude. “Rather than concentrating on the people who have been living in
the country for more than a thousand years,” he notes, “we put our trust in
those who happened to be their rulers for one generation.” The Zionist
movement, he points out, has focused its efforts on London, rather than on
Jerusalem. Underestimating Arab opposition to Zionism, “we omitted to give
adequate consideration to the question of how the two peoples could live
together within the Jewish commonwealth.”
How similar to the present, when, instead of seriously engaging our own Arab
citizens and the neighboring Palestinians, we focus almost all our attention
on enlisting the support of the United States and, to a lesser extent,
Europe. Washington may have replaced London as the center of our universe,
but the mentality is fundamentally the same as it was then. Even 60 years of
sovereignty have not changed us.
WHILE ACKNOWLEDGING that the Jewish conquest of Palestine was driven by
great need, Zander argues that “we never admitted that our return requires
from the Arab a sacrifice of the first order.” Deploring the fact that the
Jews have refused to accept any guilt, he writes: “We have blamed everybody
but ourselves; and very few of us have indeed accepted the full share of
responsibility for what has been done.”
He continues in a passage that could have been written yesterday: “The main
task, as in all periods of the whole movement, remains the solution of the
Jewish-Arab problem. It is obvious that ultimately peace with our neighbors
is required if the Jewish state is to survive. At present we are trying to
achieve this peace by force and to build up in feverish haste the military
strength which is to guarantee our security. But under no conditions can
force be enough.”
Reading and listening to the daily comments by Israeli political leaders and
commentators, one cannot help but admit that reliance on force remains a
central pillar of our policy and general approach. Against this prevailing
attitude, let us consider the wise and courageous words written 60 years ago
by Walter Zander, a thoughtful attorney, living in Gerards Cross near
London: “It is obvious that this situation creates a particular
responsibility and obligation on our side. The spirit of mutual retaliation
and vengeance – aiming at subduing the opponent by fear – is not only
utterly senseless, but, as far as we Jews are concerned, fundamentally
wrong. We Jews should have a deeper insight and should be able to see both
sides of the problem. It is we who aim at a change of the existing
conditions, and it is therefore our duty to find a solution. The initiative
for this task must remain with us.”
The writer’s most recent book is Holy Land Mosaic, published in the US by
Rowman & Littlefield.