| Our Fathers’ Children |
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bsubsidy, the “pro-Zionist” would turn around and embarrass
bhis Jewish friends by “repenting” and signing an anti-Zionist
bpetition.
bAn even more expensive delusion was the decision to take
bhard-earned Jewish money and attempt to soothe “the Arab
bbeast” by grassroots benefits. It is estimated that between 1918
band 1921 some £3,000 went for this, and we know that in 1923
bColonel Kisch, head of the Political Department of the Palestine
bZionist Executive (PZE), requested £8,500 for such activities.
bTo angry (and sober) Zionists who bitterly protested the spend-
bing of such large sums (at the time) of money that had originally
bbeen raised for colonization, Dr. Chaim Weizmann pathetically
breplied (June 8, 1920): “It may show little return, but if it only
bbrings a temporary relief to the situation, that is all one wants.”
bSuch is the politics of confusion.
bThe most ambitious delusion was the attempt to create an
bArab political movement that, in the words of Kalvarisky, would
bbe a “large Muslim-Arab party favorable to our aspirations.”
bThe rankest amateur political realist could have predicted the
bfailure of such an Uncle Ahmed party. What self-respecting
bArab would support a political group conceived by Zionists,
bcome into the world with Zionist midwives, and whose entire
bbasis lay in its success in paying out baksheesh? Thousands upon
bthousands of pounds went into Arab pockets, and Dr. Eder of
bthe PZE, commenting on Kalvarisky’s “generosity,” observed:
b“He gives out money very readily to people who may be taking
bthe money and laughing at us.”
bThe Zionists went through two Arab political movements,
bthe Muslim National Association and the Palestine Arab Na-
btional Party, before giving up. In the words of Tel Aviv Mayor
bMeir Dizengoff in 1923: “The moderates . . . are the baksheesh
btakers who will oppose us if we don’t pay them.” Samuel
bTolkowsky, an Israeli expert on Arabs, gave vent to his “Zionism”
bby adamantly supporting bribery, because “we must prove to the
bArabs that our coming into the country will really be to their ad-
bvantage and . . . the big majority of the Palestinian Arabs under-
bstand by ‘advantage,’ only material advantage.” And Aaron
bAharonson: “So far as we know the Arabs, the man among them
bwho will withstand a bribe is still to be born.”
bWhat a policy of coexistence! What a way to guarantee
b