State of Terror

Thomas Suarez

Description

The massacre of innocent Arab villagers at Deir Yassin by Jewish terrorists has often been described as an isolated act. But this new book shows how,in fact, the use of terror by supporters of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine was systematic, routine and accepted by Jewish leaders as necessary to achieve their aims. At the height of the British Mandate in Palestine, terrorist acts were carried out at a frequency and with an intensity that has been forgotten nowadays, and that compares with the worst acts of terrorism by Palestinians in Israel, or ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In this book, Suarez present the terrorists' own accounts in secret internal papers boasting of their successes.

Sujets

• Histoire
• 21st century
• Jewish studies
• International relations
• 20th century
• Terrorism
• Middle East
• History of Asia

Informations

• Publié par: Skyscraper Publications
• Date de parution: 13 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781911072034
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

A tour de force , based on diligent archival research that looks boldly at the impact of Zionism on Palestine and its people in the first part of the 20th century. The book is the first comprehensive and structured analysis of the violence and terror employed by the Zionist movement, and later the state of Israel, against the people of Palestine. Much of the suffering we witness today can be explained by, and connected to, this formative period covered thoroughly in this book.
ILAN PAPP , ISRAELI HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR
Other books by Thomas Su rez
Palestine Sixty Years Later
[Americans for Middle East Understanding, 2010]
Early Mapping of the Pacific [Charles E. Tuttle, 2004]
Early Mapping of Southeast Asia [Charles E. Tuttle, 1999]
Shedding the Veil: Mapping the European Discovery of America and the World [World Scientific, 1992]

First published 2016 by
Skyscraper Publications
20 Crab Tree Close, Bloxham,
Oxon OX15 4SE, U.K.
www.skyscraperpublications.com
Copyright 2016 Thomas Su rez
The author s rights are fully asserted. The right of Thomas Su rez to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Nor be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-911072-03-4
Cover concept and design by John Chandler and Thomas Su rez
Designed and typeset by Chandler Book Design
Printed in the United Kingdom by Latitude Press
The growth of Fascism in Palestine at a time when the liberated nations will put it into its grave is a tragi-comedy.
-Physicist Wolfgang Yourgrau, a German Jew who emigrated to Palestine but left in 1948,
in the journal Orient, February, 1943 . 1
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Illustration credits
Introduction
Notes
Part I Other People s Lands
1. The Third Temple
2. Zionism and the British Mandate to 1938
3. While the War Raged, 1939-1944
Part II The Fall-and Rise-of Fascism
4. Allied Victory, 1945
5. Race for Fanaticism, 1946
6. A Besieged Garrison , 1947
Part III Only a Beachhead
7. Partition, the temporary expedient , 1947-1948
8. Israel sans fronti res
9. Postscript: Segue to Today
Bibliography
Sources used at The National Archives (Kew)
End Notes
Index
Dedicated to the resilient youth of Palestine,
who from their parents unwavering
struggle for freedom
will build a future of their own choosing.
Acknowledgments
T his book grew out of conversations with Ghada Karmi in the aftermath of Israel s Cast Lead attacks against Gaza. Documents I had come across when writing my 2010 book, Palestine Sixty Years Later , raised questions about Mandate-era terrorism that Ghada encouraged me to pursue. This led me to the National Archives-and to the present book. Without her encouragement and assistance, this book would not exist.
I was fortunate to have had very smart people peruse the draft and share their expertise-Laurence Dreyfus academic rigour and acumen; Nancy Elan s attention to language and political context; Francis Manasek s organizational perspective as a scientist; Nancy Murray s historical input; John Su rez help with detail and cohesion; and my daughter Sainatee s tenacious regard for logic and accuracy. My gratitude goes as well to Emily Dreyfus, Mirene Ghossein, Yosef Grodzinsky, Elaine Hagopian, Reem Kelani, Joseph Massad, Sami Musallam, Jamal Rjoub, Rona Sela, Chris Somes-Charlton, Rawan Yaghi, as well as the entire always-helpful staff of the National Archives in Kew.
My publisher Karl Sabbagh s encouragement, trust in my work, and extensive knowledge of the subject all helped make this book a reality. I was fortunate to have Skyscraper Publications bring the book to the light of day, joining such other works on its list as Mads Gilbert s Night in Gaza and Karl Sabbagh s own Britain in Palestine .
Three eye-witnesses to events in the 1940s shared their experiences with me. The late Hanna Braun, ex-Hagana member, met with Nancy Elan and me in London in 2007. Max Maxwell, Sgt Maj, 16 Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps, was present after the Austrian train bombing of August 1947, and kindly shared his documents and photos. Ted Steel, who was in Palestine with the British during the last years of the Mandate, spent an afternoon sharing memories, information, and photographs. On 22 July, 1946, he delivered documents to the British headquarters in the King David Hotel and, breaking with his routine of heading straight to the canteen, left the building. As he did, it blew up. He awoke later in an oxygen tent. An unknown well-wisher visited him in the hospital and handed him a few photographs of the bombing as a souvenir, one reproduced herewith. My thanks to Camilla Saunders for making our meeting possible.
During my last two years of work on this book, I was teaching at Palestine s National Conservatory of Music, first at its exquisite ex-Ottoman home in Jerusalem, and then at what is arguably its most important branch: Gaza. However, Israel blocked me from ever meeting any of my twenty Gaza-branch violin and viola students face-to-face. Lessons by Skype video, whenever Gaza had electricity, were as close as my students and I could come. I would like to acknowledge these students, who refuse to yield their humanity, their dignity, their resolve, despite the inhumanity thrust upon them.
Among my many West Bank friends and colleagues, I would like to acknowledge in particular violinist Michele Cantoni, a tireless powerhouse of empowering diverse musical life in Palestine, and an unending source of discussion about the region and the conflict ; and Mathilde Vittu, professor of music analysis at the Conservatoire de Paris, who devotes herself tirelessly to music and children in Palestine. My thanks as well to my flatmate in Bethlehem, guitarist Pedro L pez de la Osa, and my colleague across the hall in Jerusalem, violinist Vilde Aln s.
To my mother and my late father I owe everything, not least of which was growing up with their sense of universal fairness, of healthy scepticism, and of searching for truth beyond the headlines, that has led me to all that has mattered in my life.
Finally, my partner Nancy Elan was my constant alter-ego, perceptive critic, and idea tester. I could not imagine having written the book without her. In the midst of it all, my topic proved unexpectedly prescient when her activism in the Palestinian cause led its adversaries to come knocking at the door of her professional life.
Illustration credits
1. (27) Mappamundi . Woodcut, published in L beck by Lucas Brandis, 1475. Photograph courtesy Jo Ann and Richard Casten Ltd.
2. (41) Landing place, Jaffa. Photograph by American Colony (Jerusalem); marked between 1898 and 1914 ; negative, glass, dry plate, 5 x 7 in. Library of Congress, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, LC-M32- D-3.
3. (51) Political cartoon, The man of the two wives , in the Jaffa based newspaper Falastin , June, July, or August 1936. Image taken from Pragnell, F. A., Palestine Chronicle, 1880-1950 [Pragnell Books, 2005]. My thanks to Fred Pragnell for his kind assistance.
4. (61) Palestine Broadcasting Service, photograph by American Colony (Jerusalem), Nitrate negative. Library of Congress, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection; LC-M33-11118.
5. (78) Arab recruits in Nablus, May 6, 41 , Library of Congress, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection; negative, safety film, 5 x 7 in.; LC-M34-12055.
6. (99) Jerusalem from the north. Photograph by American Colony (Jerusalem); marked between 1898 and 1914 ; negative, glass, dry plate, 5 x 7 in.; Library of Congress, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, LC-M32- D-17.
7. (118), Railway bombing, from Palestine Pamphlet Terrorist Methods With Mines and Booby Traps. Headquarters, Chief Engineer, Palestine and Transjordan . December 1946.
8. (142) Operation Agatha, 29 June, 1946. TNA, CO 537/1711.
9. (144) King David Hotel; Photograph courtesy of Mr. Ted Steel, who was given it while hospitalised after the bombing. Photographer unknown. Photograph also used in Palestine Pamphlet ...,Dec 1946..
10. (158) Partition cartoon, The Jewish Struggle , No. 6, London, August 1946, page 2. TNA, HO 45/25586.
11. (172) Vehicle blown up by a road mine, c1946. Photograph courtesy Mr. Ted Steel.
12. (186) Bombing of police and civilian vehicles by Lehi, 1947. Verso stamped 6th Airborne. The author and publisher have tried to find all copyright holders.
13. (203) Lehi letter bomb preserved in TNA, EF 5/12.
14. (222) Medloc train, from British Morning News , 17 August 1947 (Allied Commission for Austria. British Element. Political Division. Information Services Branch) TNA, FO 1020/1774.
15. (232) Irgun anti-Partition broadside, summer, 1947. My thanks to Mosh Machover for his assistance via email, November, 2011, and to Yael Kahn for enabling the contact.
16. (244) Anti-Arab cartoon, Arthur Szyk, in The Legionaire , Voice of the Hebrew Legion , London, 13 February, 1948. TNA, KV 5/11. (Odd spelling Legionaire is correct.)
17. (280) Palestinian refugees, from Aid to the Palestine Refugees , US Government Printing Office, 1951.
18. (294) Wadi Araba incident, TNA, FO 905/111. A similar photo was published in The Rising Tide of Terror or Three Years of an Armistice in the Holy Land , Press Publicity Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amman, February, 1952.
19. (302) MAC barrel incident, photograph by John Scofield, from Hutchison, Violent truce [Ca