Kisch, Ben Gurion, and 1930’s population transfer

The subject of the potential transfer of the population of Gaza to another Arab territory has been in the news several times since the 7th October. This suggestion that Arabs be removed from the Holy Land has a long history.

In October 1979, the New York Times leaked a portion of the censored version of Yitzhak Rabin’s memoirs.

Around 1937, Frederick Kisch of the Jewish Agency had suggested the transfer of at least 1/5th of the Arab population of Palestine to Trans Jordan.

According to these leaked memoirs, “we walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?’ Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said ‘Drive them out!'”

This idea was preceded in 1923 by a statement known as The Iron Wall, made by Zionist Revisionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky.

“Seek but one instance of a country settled with the consent of those born there. Zionist colonization, even the most restricted, must either be terminated or carried out in defiance of the will of the native population. This colonization can, therefore, continue and develop only under the protection of a force independent of the local population – an iron wall which the native population cannot break through. This in toto is our policy towards the Arabs.”

These precedents, particularly the writings of Jabotinsky, are held in high esteem by most of the people who have governed Israel for the past two plus decades.

They clearly preceded Hitler’s rise and the enactment of the final solution.

As such aims have been in train for over one hundred years, it is likely that those on the other end of these policies, the Palestinians, will have lost while Zionists gained.

Perhaps we can think about how such a cycle of intent is playing out today, and how this can be ended so peace and security can be achieved in a sustainable fashion.