[lbo-talk] "One Palestine, Complete"

[mike larkin]

Chuck Grimes:

"Once the British got the Balfour declaration into the
League of
Nations Mandate for Palestine (1920), and the
establishment of a
Jewish Agency, the British set about controlling
Jewish immigration
through the Jewish Agency. Remember this history is
simultaneous with
Lawrence and Faizal. I think I would say the Brits
were not bumbling
or indifferent. They were pro-actively suppressing
Jewish immigration
into Palestine. That become much clearer in the 30s
when the Nazis
took power and the need for immigration became obvious
and
desparate. The British stalled and put up more and
more restrictions."


Segev takes on this thesis and demolishes it. The
British made a few half-hearted attempts and issued a
lot of rhetorical fluff about restricting Jewish
immigration, he says, but they almost always gave in
to Zionist demands in the end, in part, Segev says,
because they thought the Jews controlled both New York
and Moscow and had better be heeded. When the Nazis
came along, they did issue more substantive
restrictions, but these were were often just ignored.

Of course, I'm just parroting Segev's book, since I
know nothing else, but the evidence he offers of
British bumbling is extensive and breathtaking. And
I'm still struck by this idea that anti-Semitism
fueled the Balfour Declaration. That just blows my
provincial mind.



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