Kein Betreff

to the free development of the new nation, and should be dismantled,
like the scaffolding after a house is built. 

The new Hebrew nation is indeed a part of the Jewish people - as the
new Australian nation, for example, is a part of the Anglo-Saxon
people - but has a separate identity, its own interests and a new
culture. 

The Hebrew nation belongs to the country, and is a natural ally of
the Arab national movement. Both national movements are rooted in the
country and its history, from the ancient Semitic civilization to the
present. 

The new Hebrew nation does not belong to Europe and the "West", but
to awakening Asia and the Semitic Region - a term we invented in
order to distance ourselves from the European-colonial term "Middle
East". 

The new Hebrew nation must integrate itself in the region, as a full
and equal partner. Together with all the nations of the Semitic
Region, it strives for the liberation of the region from the colonial
empires. 

WITH THIS world view, we naturally opposed the partition of the
country.

Two months before the UN partition resolution, in September 1947, I
published a pamphlet called "War or Peace in the Semitic Region", in
which I proposed a completely different plan: that the Hebrew
national movement and the Palestinian-Arab national movement combine
into one single national movement and establish a joint state in the
whole of Palestine, based on the love of the country (patriotism, in
the real sense).

This was far from the "bi-national" idea, which had important
adherents in those days. I never believed in this. Two different
nations, each of which clings to its own national vision, cannot live
together in one state. Our vision was based on the creation of a new,
joint nation, with a Hebrew and an Arab component.

We hastily translated the essence of the pamphlet into English and
Arabic, and I went to distribute it to the editorial offices of the
Arab newspapers in Jaffa. It was no longer the town I had known from
earlier days, when my work (clerk in a law office) frequently took me
to the government offices there. The atmosphere felt dark and
ominous.
 
WITH THE expected UN resolution looming, we decided to publish a
special issue of ba-Ma'avak devoted completely to it. A student of
the Haifa Technical University volunteered to supply a drawing for
the front page, and that's why I found myself at that fateful moment
in that small Haifa hotel.

I couldn't go back to sleep again. I got up and, in the excitement of
the moment, wrote a poem that was published in that special issue.
The first verse went like this:

"I swear to you, motherland, / On this bitter day of your
humiliation, / Great and united / You will rise from the dust. / The
cruel wound / Will burn in the hearts of your sons / Until your flags
/ Will wave from the sea to the desert."

One of our group composed a melody, and we sang it in the following
days, as we bade farewell to our dreams.

THE MOMENT the UN resolution was adopted, it was clear that our world
had changed completely, that an era had come to an end and a new
epoch had begun, both in the life of the country and also in the life
of every one of us.

We hurriedly pasted on the walls a large poster warning of a "Semitic
Fraticidal War"' but the war was already on. When the first bullet
was fired, the possibility of creating the joint, united single
country was shattered.

I am proud of my ability to adapt rapidly to extreme changes. The
first time I had to do this was when Adolf Hitler came to power in
Germany and my life changed abruptly and completely. I was then nine
years old, and everything that had happened before was dead for me. I
started a new life in Palestine. On November 29, 1947, it was
happening again - to me and to all of us.

As the well-known saying has it, one can make an omelette from eggs,
but not eggs from an omelette. Banal, perhaps, but how very true.

The moment the Hebrew-Arab war started, the possibility that the two
nations would live together in one state expired. Wars change
reality.

I joined the "Haganah Battalions", the forerunner of the IDF. As a
soldier in the special commando unit that was later called "Samson's
Foxes", I saw the war as it was - bitter, cruel, inhuman. First we
faced the Palestinian fighters, later the fighters of the wider Arab
world. I passed through dozens of Arab villages, many abandoned in
the storm of battle, many others whose inhabitants were driven out
after being occupied.

It was an ethnic war. In the first months, no Arabs were left behind
our lines, no Jews were left behind the Arab lines. Both sides
committed many atrocities. In the beginning of the war, we saw the
pictures of the heads of our comrades paraded on stakes through the
Old City of Jerusalem. We saw the massacre committed by the Irgun and
the Stern Group in Deir Yassin. We knew that if we were captured, we
would be slaughtered, and the Arab fighters knew they could expect
the same.

The longer the war dragged on, the more I became convinced of the
reality of the Palestinian nation, with which we must make peace at
the end of the war, a peace based on partnership between the two
peoples.

While the war was still going on, I expressed this view in a number
of articles that were published at the time in Haaretz. Immediately
after the fighting was over, when I was still in uniform convalescing
from my wounds, I started meeting with two young Arabs (both of whom
were later elected to the Knesset) in order to plan a common path. I
could not have imagined that 60 years later this effort would still
not be over. 

NOWADAYS, THE IDEA appears here and there of turning the omelette
back into the egg, of dismantling the State of Israel and the
State-of-Palestine-to-be, and establishing a single state, as we sang
at that time: "from the sea to the desert".

This is presented as a fresh new idea, but it is actually an attempt
to turn the wheel back and to bring back to life an idea that is
irrevocably obsolete. In human history, that just does not happen.
What has been forged in blood and fire in wars and intifadas, - the
State of Israel and the Palestinian national movement - will not just
disappear. After a war, states can achieve peace and partnership,
like Germany and France, but they do not merge into one state.

I am not a nostalgic type. I look back at the ideas of my younger
days, and try to analyze what has been superseded and what is left.

The ideas of the "Ba-Ma'avak group" were indeed revolutionary and
bold - but could they have been put into practice? Looking back, it
is clear to me that the "Joint State" idea was already unrealistic
when we brought it up. Perhaps it would have been possible one or two
generations earlier. But by the middle of the 40s, the situation of
the two peoples had changed decisively. There was no escaping from
the partition of the country.

I believe that we were right in our historical approach: that we must
identify with the region we are living in, cooperate with the Arab
national movement and enter into a partnership with the Palestinian
nation. As long as we see ourselves as a part of Europe and/or the
USA, we are not able to achieve peace. And certainly not if we
consider ourselves soldiers in a crusade against the Islamic
civilization and the Arab peoples.

As we said then, before the partition resolution: the Palestinian
people exists. Even after 60 years, in which they have suffered
catastrophes which few other peoples have ever experienced, the
Palestinian people clings to its country with unparalleled fortitude.
True, the dream of living together in one state is dead, and will not
come to life again. But I have no doubt that after the Palestinian
state comes into being, the two states will find ways to live
together in close partnership. The walls will be thrown down, the
fences will be dismantled, the border will be opened, and the reality
of the common country will overcome all obstacles. The flags of the
country - the two flags of the two states - will indeed wave side by
side.

The UN resolution of November 29, 1947, was one of the most
intelligent in the annals of that organization. As one who
strenuously opposed it, I recognize its wisdom.

===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================


   I say: utopic illusions 



Comradely yours, 
Lüko Willms 
Frankfurt/Main 
/ Lueko.Willms at T-Online.de 



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