From the Editors 28 May 2021
According to Israel’s prime minister, Britain gave “staunch, unwavering support” to the offensive.
It is virtually certain that Israel used British weapons or components while bombing Palestinians.
Britain’s enabling of Zionist aggression has a long history.
I gave an overview of that history on Wednesday in a talk titled “How Britain wanted a Jewish Ulster in Palestine.”
The title refers to comments made by Ronald Storrs, a British governor of Jerusalem between 1917 and 1926.
In his book Orientations, Storrs noted one implicit purpose of the Zionist colonization in Palestine. That purpose was “forming for England ‘a little loyal Jewish Ulster’ in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.”
Storrs thereby drew a parallel between Jewish settlement in Palestine during the 20th century and the plantation of Ireland’s northern counties by Scottish and English Protestants during the 17th.
In my talk, I examined how Storrs was among a number of figures who depicted the Zionist project as useful for Britain, helping it remain a dominant player in world affairs.
By sponsoring colonization in Palestine – through the 1917 Balfour Declaration – Britain hoped to carve out a sphere of influence in the Middle East as the Ottoman Empire fell apart following the First World War.
The talk was among a series of events organized by the Belfast group Reclaim the Enlightenment. The events mark – though certainly do not celebrate – the centenary of Ireland’s partition.
Comments
a homeland
Permalink Mira replied on
Israel was never meant to be a homeland for the Jewish people.
The concept was forced upon them by self interested, opportunistic, zealots from all walks of life & not just Jewish aspects.