Nadene Goldfoot
SEPTEMBER 16, 1919 
On September 16, 1919, Hitler issues his first written comment on the so-called Jewish Question. In the statement, he defined the Jews as a race and not a religious community, characterized the effect of a Jewish presence as a “race-tuberculosis of the peoples,” and identified the initial goal of a German government to be discriminatory legislation against Jews. The “ultimate goal must definitely be the removal of the Jews altogether.”
Hitler's years in Vienna (1908–1913) and his military service were important stages for his development of a comprehensive racist ideology. Hitler had his hatred of Jews, which may have affected the 1920 proceedings in some way, against Jews, as that was the norm in those days. Some Jews were paying attention and getting out of Germany, but not all did or could; it was most complicated and expensive.
Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, declaring he would make the country "clean of Jews." The need for a haven in Eretz Yisrael became desperate. Between 1929 and 1939, 250,000 Jewish refugees; a quarter of a million people---came to Palestine. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party. He ruled absolutely until his death by suicide in April 1945. 
As the Nazi threat grew, the Zionists organized an immigration program, "YOUTH ALIYAH," to bring Jewish children out of Germany. This train left Berlin in 1935, filled with children on their way to Palestine. 
Many of these refugees settled in the growing cities. Others worked the land. Swamps were drained, and barren soil turned into fertile farms.
Building villages, which are called settlements by some people for new halutszim was no simple matter. If the immigrants were to spend weeks, or even days, at construction, they would be easy targets for Arab attack.
The solution was to build each new village in one day! The technique for doing this was called "stockade and tower" (Homah u-Migdal). The night before a village was to be built, all the materials for it were collected and prepared at a nearby village. At daybreak, all the equipment and structures were moved to the site. by sunup, the watchtower would be standing. by noon, the outer defense wall would be in place. At twilight, a small farm was functioning---complete with cows and chickens. These were like American Wild West settlements of Pioneers, watchtower and all, looking out for attacking Indians and modern pre-fabricated homes. Throughout the difficult years of the 1930s, Jews continued to build new settlements/ which were in fact villages.
Kibbutz Hanita, a "stockade and tower" settlement, founded in 1938, approximately 15 kilometres (9 miles) NE of Nahariya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In 2019 it had a population of 756, no longer a little village but a town.
It was built in only one day in the Western Galilee! Kibbutz Hanita was established on 21 March 1938, as part of the Tower and stockade operation during the 1936–39 Arab revolt. However, Hanita was a special project, the largest of the entire operation and led directly by Yitzhak Sadeh, a top military leader of the Yishuv (Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine). Hanita was one of the new Jewish settlements established in the area, with an additional defensive role, as it sat directly on the border with Lebanon, which was at the time controlled by France. The establishment of Hanita was hailed as the most impressive action of the Tower and stockade operation: it was in part captured on film, and became the subject of an opera.
The land, most of it in swamp and ruin, laying fallow for almost 1,860 years, was being restored to health. So were the Jewish people. Palestine under the Turks had been a miserable place. malaria and Tuberculosis were only 2 of the deadly diseases. Just before WWI, and American woman named Henrietta Szold visited the country. she was horrified by the poor health conditions.
When she returned to America, she organized the women's organization known as Hadassah to improve health in Palestine. Hadassah sent physicians and nurses to set up clinics and hospitals. Hadassah established schools for physicians, dentists, and nurses. It taught mothers how to take care of their children.
A participant in a Hadassah program, this donkey brought fresh milk to children in all parts of Jerusalem. today, the Hadassah organization continues to support quality health care in Israel, giving its name and financial backing to one of the country's finest hospitals.
Within a few decades, Hadassah raised the health standard of Eretz Yisrael from among the worst to the finest in the whole Middle East.
The Jews were building for life---land, farms, health. The Arabs were working to destroy---murder, looting, riots.
The world situation was growing worse. Adolf Hitler was rising in power. Arab violence in Palestine was increasing. The British picked the worst possible response to Arab violence: they gave the Arabs everything they wanted. (Isn't that about what it looks like the USA is about to do with Iran? More appeasement?)
In 1939, Great Britain issued a document called the "WHITE PAPER." It stated that England intended to set up an independent state in Palestine with a permanent Arab majority. Jewish immigration would be cut back to 15,000 people per year for 5 years. Then Jewish immigration would be entirely shut off!
In an attempt to quell the Arab Revolt of 1936-39, the British government declared a policy that became known as the White Paper of 1939. On the one hand it declared that the Jewish homeland would be created in Palestine in 10 years time, but it rejected the idea of partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, meaning that the Jews would be forced to live as a minority within an Arab state.
The Zionists throughout the world were appalled. If the White Paper went into effect, there would never be a Jewish Homeland. But before the Yishuv could organize against the White Paper, WWII broke out. Germany rapidly conquered most of Europe. Soon the only European nation standing against Hitler was GREAT BRITAIN. All Jews had to support the battle against the Nazi murderers. Yet, world Jewry could not accept British opposition to a Jewish settlement in Palestine.
The attitude of the Jews of Palestine was stated by David Ben-Gurion. "We shall fight the war as if there were no White paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war." This final British response was the white Paper of 1939, which announced the plan to shut off Jewish immigration and create an Arab state in Palestine. They had turned against the Jews 180 degrees.
Resource:
A young Person's History of Israel, 2nd Edition, by David Bamberger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanita
https://jewoughtaknow.com/the-white-paper-1939
No comments:
Post a Comment