Quds, birthplace of divine religions (5)

Recognizing Bayt ul-Moqaddas (al-Quds) as the capital of the occupying regime of Israel, Donald Trump, once again put the issue of Palestine on the Muslim world agenda.

Approximately 70 years into the fabrication of Israeli regime, Zionists made every effort to normalize their relations with Islamic states and legitimize the occupation of Palestine and the holy city of al-Quds. The international reactions to the US president’s brazen decision to declare al-Quds as the capital of Israel further disclosed the isolation of the US and the Zionists in the world. Al-Quds and the land of Palestine have experienced a plethora of vicissitudes and the enemies of Islam have always sought to dominate the region.

In the previous program, we pointed to the 400-year rule of the Ottoman Empire over Quds. As the Ottoman Empire began to decline from inside and the western colonial countries especially Britain increased meddling in the Islamic lands, after World War I, the conditions for disintegration of the Ottoman Empire were provided. Britain’s share of the division was Palestine, Iraq and the land of Hejaz. Meanwhile, Zionists began an international campaign to establish a Jewish state and sought to usurp the land of Palestine as the main option for the fabrication of a Jewish state. They demanded Britain to officially guarantee that Palestine would be Jewish state. With the great efforts of then head of the Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann, then British foreign secretary, Lord Balfour, wrote a letter on November 2, 1917 to the Jewish politician and member of the House of Commons, Walter Rothschild. This letter is known in history as Balfour's declaration. The declaration proclaimed the “positive stance” of the London government to establish a national home for Jews in the land of Palestine.

Balfour declaration was the result of conspiracy of prominent and influential Jews in the US and Europe to fabricate a racist regime called Israel in the Islamic land of Palestine. Efforts to form a country for Jews had started in late 19^th century. As a result of these efforts, the colonial Britain granted Palestine to Zionists.

Balfour’s declaration greatly owed to the efforts and lobbying of then chief of the Zionist Organization Chaim Weizmann and member of the House of Commons and British banker Walter Rothschild, as well as Polish journalist and linguist Nahum Socolow, who played a key role in the negotiations. In addition to the influential figures in the formation of the Jewish state, we should not ignore the role of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement. The term Zionism was first introduced in 1893 by Nathan Birmbaum. But Theodor Herzl as the founder of Zionist ideology recognized the idea in his book “The Jewish State” which was published in 1896. Herzl claimed that the creation of a Jewish state is necessary to cure anti-Semitism in the world. The Zionist movement is the outcome of the thoughts of extremist and racist Jews who masquerade as advocates of a universal religion; but in fact are aiming at settling all Jews in Palestine to form a Jewish state in this occupied land.  

Benjamin Ze’ev ben Jacob Herzl, briefly called Theodor Herzl, was born in Budapest on May 2, 1860. He was the second child of a wealthy Jewish family. The Herzls were originally Serb and were considered to be German-speaking nationals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The most important feature of Herzl was his Zionist ideology with the political approach that made him a prominent figure in the history of Zionist thought. One of his renowned theories is “despicable nation” in which he believes that anti-Semitism is part of the western culture and civilization which cannot be got rid of. In fact, the form and content of the “despicable nation" means the exodus of the alien object from the larger organ in the western civilization, the complete overthrow of which is necessary, and exit is the final solution. Defending his Zionist plan, Herzl believed that although the Jews are “despicable nation,” and in this respect they are a nuisance to the European community, since the start of the renaissance Europe has realized the usefulness of Jews and the possibility of using them as a tool to enhance western civilization.

Herzl believed that the imperialist solution is the same as shifting Jews to different parts of the world, such as Palestine, which will have many benefits for the relevant governments as well as European countries. Herzl insisted that the Jews in Palestine should be part of the strongholds of Europe’s forefront against Asia, and form a civilized base against what he called "barbarism.” He described Palestine as “a corner of the ruins of the East” and described Jews as the representatives of western civilization which bring with them cleanliness, order and western culture to this ruin namely Palestine. Herzl's most important political activity was to form a Zionist Congress with the presence of Jewish representatives from all over the world. The Congress started working in Basel, Switzerland in 1897 under Herzl's chairmanship. At this Congress, the Zionist movement was drafted. Two major goals were announced at the Congress for the formation of a Jewish state. The first goal was to establish a local residence for the Jews in Palestine with the agreement of big and Ottoman Powers through negotiation. The second goal was to build and strengthen the Zionist Organization to interact with countries in various political and commercial fields. The Ottoman government's opposition to Herzl's demands after his frequent trips to Istanbul led him to resort to Britain to realize his dreams for a Jewish state in Palestine.

Herzl held the 4^th Zionist Congress in London to win the support of British officials and public confidence to his Zionist idea. With the help of L. G. Grenberg, Herzl established a solid relationship with the British government. Herzl did not have a long life to see his sinister dreams come true with the help of the British colonialist regime. He died on July 3, 1904. Herzl enjoyed a special posthumous status among Zionists. In August 1949, shortly after the establishment of the fake Israeli regime, the remains of Herzl's body were taken to a mountain in al-Quds, just as they had taken the remains of his father's body and built a family museum there. The death anniversary of Herzl is called the national day among Zionists. Herzl's successors in the Zionist movement continued his path, and Britain was the main venue for all consultations aimed at forming a Jewish state in Palestine. On April 25, 1920, the Allies High Council ceded the mandate of Palestine to the British government and on July 22, 1922, this was conveyed to British regime by the League of Nations. The issue of fabrication of the National Jewish center in Palestine was part of the mandate and the Balfour Declaration was listed word by word, requiring the mandate government to secure the independence and autonomy of the center. Article 4 recognized the Jewish brokerage that would cooperate with the mandate government to establish a national center, and reiterated that the brokerage was a Jewish organization. Article 6 stipulated that the government should provide the means of immigration and settlement of Jews so that the followers of other religions would not be abused.

FK/RM/ME