Audio narration:
The birth of Zionism and the Israel Palestine "debate" is often assumed to have started with the impunity of the British, right? Well not entirely, it went further back. Napoleon is where it begun. More specifically, his little venture into the region we have all become acquainted with - The Gaza strip.
The beginning of European colonialism in the Muslim world is attributed to the French Emperor - Napoleon Bonaparte. In the 1790s, whilst attempting to establish French prestige, "midget man" (who wasn't actually small) looked beyond the borders of France. His goal was the creation of a grand French empire. Apart from the fact that homie today would probably not make it onto an Alton towers ride, Napoleon had undoubtedly mastered the art of indenting history.
He first looked towards the middle east and the aging Ottoman empire. In 1798, to compete with and hinder Britain's pathway to India, Napoleon began his campaign in Egypt, a scale of colonisation previously unseen since the crusades. He had taken Egypt in rapid succession and the centuries old Muslim Mamluk dynasty was toppled. The Al-Azhar Mosque was bombed and thousands brutally killed.
“Egyptians, you will be told that I am coming to destroy your religion: it is a lie, do not believe it!” - Napoleon's words etched on the walls upon the arrival of the French fleet in 1798.
Having taken Egypt, Napoleon then turned towards the holy lands, commencing with the Gaza Strip - a renowned Ottoman port city, celebrated for its role in importing precious Asian spices and goods to the western world. French forces swiftly capture Gaza and massacres were committed further up north in Jaffa with an estimated killing of 3,000.
On the 22nd May 1799, whilst advancing towards Jerusalem, Napoleon issues one of history's most forgotten and unprecedented proclamations - the "proclamation to the Jews of Africa and Asia" in which Napoleon "invites all the Jews" to "gather under his flag in order to re-establish the ancient Jerusalem". An official statement from the Gazette Nationale (a French newspaper) stated "he has already given arms to a great number, and their battalions threaten Aleppo". At this time, little under 3,000 Jews lived in Palestine...
"Israelites, unique nation, whom, in thousands of years, lust of conquest and tyranny have been able to be deprived of their ancestral lands...Rightful heirs of Palestine!" - Napoleon's proclamation
During that era, the aspiration to create a Jewish homeland came to the forefront. Important French literature, like the "Letter of a Jew to His Brethren," written by an anonymous author, urged the new French government under Napoleon to rally global Jewish support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. These ideals were provoked by the optimism associated with the birth of colonialism and pan-French imperialism. French Jews would even write Hebrew prayers praising Napoleon referring to him as the “Helek Tov” in Hebrew or “good portion” (bona-parte). Barron Edmond Rothchild, to whom which the Balfour declaration was addressed to, was also French.
Nevertheless, Napoleon's little excursion into Palestine would be short-lived. The courage of a Bosnian Ottoman garrison commander, aided by the British Navy at Acre, brought his advance to a halt. (out of all people a Bosnian!). Commander Ahmad Al-Jazzar had assisted the ummah in preventing the first establishment of the state of Israel.
Irrespective of Napoleon's political motives for issuing the proclamation, what remains clear is that ever since the late 1700s, the desire to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine was an increasingly relevant topic. One; creating a Jewish state in Palestine could help French interests by acting as a buffer against other upset Arab nations, especially when Egypt was under French control. And two; supporting Jewish nationhood could bring Napoleon support and resources from wealthy Jewish donors in Europe to bolster his campaigns in the Middle East. These same factors influenced British decisions in 1917 and 1922, when Herbert Samuel and Arthur Balfour aimed to place Palestine under British rule to establish a Jewish homeland.
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Quotes:
"The British mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country (Palestine) under political, administrative and economic conditions that will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home" The British Mandate Document 1922
"I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness."
Letter to Sheikh El-Messiri, (28 August 1798); published in Correspondance Napoleon edited by Henri Plon (1861), Vol.4, No. 3148, p. 420
The above demonstrates the political tactics of Napoleon, playing and placating any side that would assist his imperial ambitions.
Citations:
Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 (Studies on the History of Society and Culture) (Volume 49)
Popkin, Jeremy D. “Zionism and the Enlightenment: The ‘Letter of a Jew to His Brethren.’” Jewish Social Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 1981, pp. 113–20
Al-Jazeera "origins of colonial support for the Zionist Dream"
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