Posted on 11/04/2003 10:49:48 PM PST by yonif
It's a good thing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict won't be decided by means of a history exam, because if this week's commemoration of Balfour Day is any indication, then the Arabs might just be gaining the upper hand.
From Lebanon to the territories, crowds of Palestinian marchers took to the streets on Sunday to protest the Balfour Declaration, in which British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour expressed "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations" and noted that "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".
From the Palestinians' heated opposition to the document, you would think that it had been issued last week, and not 86 years ago, on November 2, 1917.
Calling the Balfour Declaration a "crime", Youssef al-Kazzaz, head of the Palestinian Authority's official radio station, said that Britain should "make an official apology to the Palestinians for what this declaration caused." In the Ain-al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, over 200 protesters trampled on British, American and Israeli flags, setting them on fire while speakers addressing the group blasted the declaration, saying that it was directly responsible for the establishment of Israel (The Beirut Daily Star, November 3). And yet, while the Palestinians were burning with anger over the hated document, most Israelis hardly seemed to notice the anniversary of its release. Balfour Day came and went, and little attention was paid to it. Clearly, when it comes to historical consciousness, it seems the Palestinians now have the advantage. They are waging their national struggle while remaining keenly aware of modern history and its developments. They understand that the present conflict is not limited to the use of arms, but also encompasses the arena of ideas.
Hence, they devote so much energy and passion to criticizing a dusty old document such as the Balfour Declaration.
Israel, by contrast, has yet to fully grasp this concept. We have largely abandoned the war of ideas to the other side, focusing instead on fighting a war of headlines.
And so, the Palestinians continue to hammer away at the big issues, such as Israel's legitimacy, its standing in international law and its right to construct Jewish settlements, while Israel responds by focusing on how best to counter the latest New York Times editorial.
But headlines are transitory things. They may move or influence people, but they hardly have the power to captivate and motivate the way that ideas do.
The cumulative effect of this difference in focus is readily apparent. The Palestinians have succeeded in denting Israel's image across the board, convincing much of the world that the Jewish state is illegitimate, illicit or downright immoral.
BY HOMING in on the fundamental issues underlying the conflict, the Palestinians have managed to erode not only international support for Israel, but even the Jewish state's own sense of self-confidence in the justness of its cause.
For the most part, Israel has failed to respond in kind. When was the last time you heard an Israeli leader challenge the Palestinians' historical claims? Why has Israel conceded virtually every intellectual argument to the other side, granting their dubious claims to nationhood, autonomy and now even statehood?
By acquiescing on the big questions, we have led ourselves down a dangerous path, leaving us to argue among ourselves not about whether there should be a Palestinian state, but rather where its borders should be. If Israel is to win this war of ideas, we must re-engage the Palestinians on the big questions, on the issues that truly matter. We must stop accepting their fiction as fact, and start by challenging their underlying claims. Which brings us back to Balfour Day. What an opportunity to remind the world, and particularly the West, that Israel was established with the full backing and support of the international community.
As Norman Bentwich, who served as the British-appointed Attorney-General for mandatory Palestine in 1920, noted in his book, Mandate Memories, "The Balfour Declaration was not an impetuous or sentimental act of the British government, as has been sometimes represented, or a calculated measure of political warfare. It was a deliberate decision of British policy and idealist politics, weighed and reweighed, and adopted only after full consultation with the United States and with other Allied Nations."
Approved by the British cabinet, the Balfour Declaration laid the conceptual basis for international support for the creation of a Jewish state. It later became part of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, which paved the way for the vote at the United Nations to establish the modern State of Israel.
Balfour Day is something we should be celebrating, and utilizing to our national advantage. It is a day ripe with meaning, with positive Zionist fulfillment. It was a watershed on the road to Israel's establishment, and it provides compelling evidence that Israel's right to statehood was universally recognized and unassailable.
It provides us with a chance, year in and year out, to underline our internationally-recognized right to be here, something which far too many people around the world seem to have forgotten.
The Palestinians clearly understand this. When will we?
The writer served as deputy director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu.
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