ISRAEL QUIZ Years for the Reunification of Jerusalem (1967) p. 5

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1 ISRAEL QUIZ years for the 1 st Zionist (1897) p Years for the Balfour Declaration (1917) p Years for the Reunification of Jerusalem (1967) p. 5 The First Zionist Congress On August 29, 1897, the First Zionist Congress opened in Basel, Switzerland, a three-day conclave at which the movement that led to the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine a mere half-century later took its first organizational steps. Under the leadership of its visionary or in the estimation of some, delusional founder, Theodor Herzl, the movement was from the beginning a democratic one, and within a year, at the Second Zionist Congress, all the delegates in attendance had been elected by their respective communities. Herzl ( ) first thought he could convince his people of the need for a national home by way of writing a novel about it. He did eventually write such a novel, Altneuland, but that was published only in Next, he hoped that by enlisting the political and financial backing of a few wealthy, philanthropic and influential Jews in particular Baron Maurice de Hirsch and the French branch of the Rothschild family, it would be possible to jump-start the project. The idea was a naïve one, as bankers and industrialists probably had the most to lose by publicly identifying with a disruptive scheme such as this. But Herzl was learning on the job, and if he had understood from the start just how unrealistic his dream was, he might never have started out on the path. Finally, Herzl decided he would sell his idea to the relevant world leaders, such as the German Kaiser and the Ottoman sultan, whom he thought could be convinced that it would 1

2 be in their interest to assist the Jews in moving back to their ancestral home. That was another non-starter. Thus, he turned to the creation of a popular movement, one that by virtue of its sheer numbers and the desperation of its members, would take matters into their own hands. Already a decade before Herzl began his work, members of the Hovevei Zion movement had begun settling in Palestine and working the land, though they were not seeking to create a political entity there. Even if this approach was far from Herzl s first choice, it was the one that gave the movement its legitimacy, which came from below, from among the very people it presumed to represent. The first Zionist Congress was called by Theodor Herzl as a symbolic Parliament for those in sympathy with the implementation of Zionist goals. Herzl had planned to hold the gathering in Munich, but due to local Jewish opposition he transferred the gathering to Basel, Switzerland. The Congress took place in the concert hall of the Basel Municipal Casino on August 29, There is some dispute as to the exact number of participants at this First Zionist Congress, however, the approximate figure is 200 people from seventeen countries, sixty-nine of whom were delegates from various Zionist societies and the remainder individual invitees. In attendance were also ten non Jews who were expected to abstain from voting. Seventeen women attended the Congress, some of them in their own capacity and others who accompanied representatives. While women participated in the First Zionist Congress, they did not have voting rights. Full membership rights were accorded them the following year, at the Second Zionist Congress. The main items on the agenda were the presentation of Herzl's plans, the establishment of the World Zionist Organization and the declaration of Zionism's goals-the Basel program. In the version submitted to the Congress on the second day of its deliberations (August 30) by a committee under the chairmanship of Max Nordau, it was stated: "The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Eretz Israel secured by law". To meet halfway the request of numerous delegates, the most prominent of whom was Leo Motzkin, who sought the inclusion of the phrase "by international law," a compromise formula proposed by Herzl was eventually adopted: Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Israel secured under public law. The Congress contemplates the following means to the attainment of this end: The promotion by appropriate means of the settlement in Eretz-Israel of Jewish farmers, artisans, and manufacturers. The organization and uniting of the whole of Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, both local and international, in accordance with the laws of each country. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness. 2

3 Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, in order to reach the goals of Zionism. At the Congress, Herzl was elected President of the Zionist Organization and Max Nordau one of three Vice-Presidents. Thereafter, the Zionist Congress met every year ( ), then every second year ( , ). Since World War II, meetings have been held approximately every four years. Shortly after the closing of the First Zionist Congress, Herzl famously wrote in his diary that, At Basel, I founded the Jewish state. But even Basel was a second choice: Herzl had originally planned to found his state in Munich, a larger and more significant city than the quiet Swiss town that ended up serving as the venue for seven of the 11 Zionist Congresses that took place between 1897 and the start of World War I. It was the Jews of Munich particularly the Orthodox and Reform leadership and those who were prominent in the city s economic life who were concerned that hosting the meeting would stir up trouble for them. During its three days, the Congress established the Zionist Organization, with Theodor Herzl to be its president, and created the various internal bodies it needed to function. It also adopted the Basel Program, which in its first sentence stated explicitly that, Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine. Hatikvah, which already served as the anthem of the Hovevei Zion movement, was chosen to perform the same function for the Zionist Organization. 120 years later, the whole idea sounds no less audacious than it had to have been at the time The Balfour Declaration On November 2, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour writes a letter to Britain s most illustrious Jewish citizen, Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, expressing the British government s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Britain s public acknowledgement and support of the Zionist movement emerged from its growing concern surrounding the direction of the First World War. By mid-1917, Britain and France were mired in a virtual stalemate with Germany on the Western Front, while efforts to defeat Turkey on the Gallipoli Peninsula had failed spectacularly. On the Eastern Front, the fate of one Ally, Russia, was uncertain: revolution in March had toppled Czar Nicholas II, and the provisional government was struggling against widespread opposition to maintain the country s disintegrating war effort against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although the United States had just entered the war on the Allied side, a sizeable infusion of American troops was not scheduled to arrive on the continent until the following year. Against this backdrop, the government of Prime Minister David Lloyd George elected in December 1916 made the decision to publicly support Zionism, a movement led in Britain by Chaim Weizmann, a Russian Jewish chemist who had settled in Manchester. The motives 3

4 behind this decision were various: aside from a genuine belief in the righteousness of the Zionist cause, held by Lloyd George among others, Britain s leaders hoped that a formal declaration in favor of Zionism would help gain Jewish support for the Allies in neutral countries, in the United States and especially in Russia, where the powerfully anti-semitic czarist government had just been overthrown with the help of Russia s significant Jewish population. Finally, despite Britain s earlier agreement with France dividing influence in the region after the presumed defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Lloyd George had come to see British dominance in Palestine a land bridge between the crucial territories of India and Egypt as an essential post-war goal. The establishment of a Zionist state there under British protection would accomplish this, while seemingly following the stated Allied aim of self-determination for smaller nations. Over the course of 1917, a vigorous anti-zionist movement within Parliament held up the progress of the planned declaration. Led by Edwin Montagu, secretary of state for India and one of the first Jews to serve in the cabinet, the anti-zionists feared that British-sponsored Zionism would threaten the status of Jews who had settled in various European and American cities and also encourage anti-semitic violence in the countries battling Britain in the war, especially within the Ottoman Empire. This opposition was overruled, however, and after soliciting with varying degrees of success the approval of France, the United States and Italy (including the Vatican) Lloyd George s government went ahead with its plan. On November 2, Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a prominent Zionist and a friend of Chaim Weizmann, stating that: His Majesty s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non- 4

5 Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. By the time the statement was published in British and international newspapers one week later, one of its major objectives had been rendered obsolete: Vladimir Lenin s Bolsheviks had gained power in Russia, and one of their first actions was to call for an immediate armistice. Russia was out of the war, and no amount of persuasion from Zionist Jews who, despite Britain s belief to the contrary, had relatively little influence in the country to begin with could reverse the outcome. Nonetheless, the influence of the Balfour Declaration on the course of post-war events was immediate: According to the mandate system created by the Versailles Treaty of 1919, Britain was entrusted with the temporary administration of Palestine, with the understanding that it would work on behalf of both its Jewish and Arab inhabitants. Many Arabs, in Palestine and elsewhere, were angered by their failure to receive the nationhood and self-government they had been led to expect in return for their participation in the war against Turkey. In the years after the war, the Jewish population in Palestine increased dramatically, along with the instances of Jewish-Arab violence. The area s instability led Britain to delay making a decision on Palestine s future. In the aftermath of World War II and the terrors of the Holocaust, however, growing international support for Zionism led to the official declaration in 1948 of the State of Israel. Reunification of Jerusalem Despite Israel s appeal to Jordan to stay out of the war, Jordanian forces fired artillery barrages from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Although Israeli forces did not respond initially, not wanting to open up a Jordanian front in the war, Jordan continued to attack and occupied UN headquarters in Jerusalem. Israeli forces fought back and within two days managed to repulse the Jordanian forces and retake eastern Jerusalem. On June 7, 1967, IDF paratroopers advanced through the Old City toward the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, bringing Jerusalem s holiest site under Jewish control for the first time in 2000 years. IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin (r), Defense Minister Moshe Dayan) and Jerusalem Commander Uzi Narkiss (l) enter through the Lion's Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem, June 7, 1967 Photo: GPO/Ilan Bruner There are sound recordings of the scene, as the commander of the brigade,lt. General Mordechai (Motta) Gur, approaches the Old City and announces to his company commanders, We re sitting right now on the ridge and we re seeing the Old City. Shortly we re going to go in to the Old City of Jerusalem that all generations have dreamed about. We will be the first to enter the Old City... and shortly afterwards, The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands! General Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief chaplain of the IDF, sounded the Shofar at the Western Wall to signify its liberation. To Israelis and Jews all over the world, this was a joyous and momentous occasion. Many considered it a gift from God. 5

6 For some two thousand years the Temple Mount was forbidden to the Jews. Until you came you, the paratroopers and returned it to the bosom of the nation. The Western Wall, for which every heart beats, is ours once again. Many Jews have taken their lives into their hands throughout our long history, in order to reach Jerusalem and live here. Endless words of longing have expressed the deep yearning for Jerusalem that beats within the Jewish heart. You have been given the great privilege of completing the circle, of returning to the nation its capital and its holy center...jerusalem is yours forever. Commander Motta Gur to his brigade upon their recapture of Jerusalem s Old City and holy sites We have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have returned never to be parted from it again. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, upon reaching the Western Wall The Wall was before us. I trembled. There it was as I had known it immense, mighty, in all its splendor...overcome, I bowed my head in silence. General Uzi Narkiss, Head of Central Command during the Six Day War I felt truly shaken and stood there murmuring a prayer for peace. Motta Gur s paratroopers were struggling to reach the Wall and toudh it. We stood among a tangle of rugged, battle-weary men who were unable to believe their eyes or restrain their emotions. Their eyes were moist with tears, their speech incoherent. The overwhelming desire was to cling to the Wall, to hold on to that great moment as long as possible. Chief of Staff Yitzchak Rabin I am speaking to you from the plaza of the Western Wall, the remnant of our Holy Temple. Comfort my people, comfort them, says the Lord your God. This is the day we have hoped for, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation. The vision of all generations is being realized before our eyes: The city of God, the site of the Temple, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, the symbol of the nation s redemption, have been redeemed today by you, heroes of the Israel Defense Forces. By doing so you have fulfilled the oath of generations, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning. Indeed, we have not forgotten you, Jerusalem, our holy city, our glory. In the name of the entire Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, I hereby recite with supreme joy, Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us in life, who has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this day. This year in Jerusalem rebuilt! General Shlomo Goren, Chaplain of the Israeli Defense Forces, at the Western Wall "Peace has now returned with our forces in control of all the city and its environs. You may rest assured that no harm whatsoever shall come to the places sacred to all religions. I have requested the Minister of Religious Affairs to get in touch with the religious leaders in the Old City in order to ensure regular contact between them and our forces, so as to make certain that the former may continue their spiritual activities unhindered." Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, June 7, 1967 In a statement at the Western Wall, Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan indicated Israel s peaceful intent and pledged to preserve religious freedom for all faiths in Jerusalem: 6

7 To our Arab neighbors we extend, especially at this hour, the hand of peace. To members of the other religions, Christians and Muslims, I hereby promise faithfully that their full freedom and all their religious rights will be preserved. We did not come to Jerusalem to conquer the Holy Places of others. Before visiting the Western Wall, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol met with the spiritual leaders of different faiths in his office and issued a declaration of peace, assuring that all holy sites would be protected and that all faiths would be free to worship at their holy sites in Jerusalem. He declared his intention to give the spiritual leaders of the various religions internal management of their own Holy Sites. Defense Minister Dayan immediately ceded internal administrative control of the Temple Mount compound to the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) while overall security control of the area was maintained by Israel. Dayan announced that Jews would be allowed to visit the Temple Mount, but not to hold religious services there. Dayan also gave immediate orders to demolish the anti-sniping walls, clear the minefields and removed the barbed-wire barriers which marked the partition of Jerusalem. Within weeks, free movement through Jerusalem became possible and hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews flocked to the Old City to glimpse the Western Wall and touch its stones. Israeli Muslims were permitted to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock for the first time since And Israeli Christians came to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. On June 27, 1967, the Israeli Knesset extended Israel s legal and administrative jurisdiction to all of Jerusalem, and expanded the city s municipal borders. Eshkol again assured the spiritual leaders of all faiths that Israel was determined to protect the Holy Places. The Knesset passed the Protection of Holy Places Law granting special legal status to the Holy Sites and making it a criminal offence to desecrate or violate them, or to impede freedom of access to them. Jerusalem became a reunified city that ensured freedom of religion and access to holy sites for all. The religious freedoms enjoyed by Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the reunified Jerusalem had been un heard of during Jordanian occupation of the city, prompting even a former Jordanian ambassador to the United Nations, Adnan Abu Odeh, to acknowledge that "the situation in Jerusalem prior to 1967 [under Jordanian rule] was one of... religious exclusion" whereas post-1967, Israel seeks "to reach a point of religious inclusion..." (The Catholic University of America Law Review, Spring 1996). Brief history of Jerusalem Jerusalem, capital of Israel. Since the time of King David, except for the 19 years between 1948 and 1967, there has always been a Jewish presence in the ancient city of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. From 1948 until 1967, the western part of the city was in Israeli hands, while the ancient, eastern part - apart from a small Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus - was under Jordanian control. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the city's liberation - a seminal event in the history of Israel and the four thousand year history of the Jewish people. 7

8 King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom and the religious center of the Jewish people in 1003 BCE. Some forty years later, his son Solomon built the Temple (the religious and national center of the people of Israel) and transformed the city into the prosperous capital of an empire extending from the Euphrates to Egypt. Exiled by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, who conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, the Jews were allowed to return and rebuild the city and the Temple some 50 years later by the Persian King Cyrus. Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem in 332 BCE. The later desecration of the Temple and attempts to suppress Jewish religious identity under the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV resulted in a revolt led by Judah Maccabbee, who rededicated the Temple (164 BCE) and reestablished Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty. A century later, Pompey imposed Roman rule on Jerusalem. King Herod, installed as ruler of Judah by the Romans (37-4 BCE), established cultural institutions in Jerusalem, erected magnificent public buildings and refashioned the Temple into an edifice of splendor. Jewish revolt against Rome broke out in 66 CE, as Roman rule after Herod's death became increasingly oppressive. In 70 CE, Roman legions under Titus conquered the city and destroyed the Temple. Jewish independence was briefly restored during the Bar Kochba revolt ( ), but again the Romans prevailed. Jews were forbidden to enter the city, renamed Aelia Capitolina. After Byzantine conquest of the city (313), Jerusalem was transformed into a Christian center under Emperor Constantine, with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the first of many grandiose structures built in the city. Muslim armies invaded the country in 634, and four years later Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem. Only during the reign of Abdul Malik, who built the Dome of the Rock (691), did Jerusalem briefly become the seat of a caliph. The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, massacred its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, and established the city as the capital of the Crusader Kingdom. Synagogues were destroyed, old churches were rebuilt and many mosques were turned into Christian shrines. Crusader rule over Jerusalem ended in 1187, when the city fell to Saladin. In 1247 Jerusalem fell once more to Egypt, now ruled by the Mamluks, until the conquest by the Ottoman Turks in Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the city walls (1537). After his death, the central authorities in Constantinople took little interest in Jerusalem and the city declined. Jerusalem began to thrive once more in the latter half of the 19th century. Growing numbers of Jews returning to their land, waning Ottoman power and revitalized European interest in the Holy Land led to renewed development of Jerusalem. The British army led by General Allenby conquered Jerusalem in From 1922 to 1948, Jerusalem was the administrative seat of the British authorities in the Land of Israel (Palestine), which had been entrusted to Great Britain by the League of Nations. 8

9 Upon termination of the British Mandate on May 14, 1948, and in accordance with the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, Israel proclaimed its independence, with Jerusalem as its capital. Opposing its establishment, the Arab countries launched an all-out assault on the new state, resulting in the War of Independence. The armistice lines drawn at the end of the war divided Jerusalem into two, with Jordan occupying the Old City and areas to the north and south, and Israel retaining the western and southern parts of the city. When the Six-Day War broke out in June 1967, Israel contacted Jordan through the U.N. as well as the American Embassy, and made it clear that if Jordan refrained from attacking Israel, Israel would not attack Jordan. Nevertheless, the Jordanians attacked west Jerusalem and occupied the former High Commissioner's building. Following heavy fighting, the IDF recovered the compound and removed the Jordanian army from east Jerusalem, resulting in the reunification of the city. From the IDF website: "The eagerly awaited command to take the Old City was given at sunrise on the third day of the war, 7 June The Command assigned this task to the paratroopers, who started with an attack on the Augusta-Victoria hills and the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Old City. After firing in the direction of the breakthrough path, the Lions Gate, the force from the east advanced forward very quickly and broke through into the Old City. The paratroopers ran towards the Dome of the Rock, located next to the last remains of the Temple, the Western Wall, where, in the presence of the sector commander and the deputy head of the armed services, General Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the chief chaplain of the IDF blew a long blow on the rams horn, announcing the release of the Western Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the divided and split capital of Israel, was reunited." After the liberation of the city by the IDF, the walls dividing the city were torn down. Three weeks later, the Knesset enacted legislation unifying the city and extending Israeli sovereignty over the eastern part of the city. The reunification of the city was also a fundamental moment in the history of religious tolerance, opening the city of Jerusalem to worshippers of all faiths, permitting Jews to return to the Western Wall and other holy sites, and allowing Israeli Muslims and Christians to visit those sacred places in eastern Jerusalem from which they too had been barred since One year later, in 1968, it was decided that the day marking the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem - 28 Iyar according to the Jewish lunar calendar - would be national holiday in Israel. On Jerusalem Day we celebrate the reunification of the city and the Jewish people's connection with Jerusalem throughout the ages. Bibliography Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jewish Virtual Library David B. Green Haaretz Aug 29, 2016 CAMERA-Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America 9