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bonly attacked Jewish immigration and land sales but directed its bmajor shafts against the very idea of a Jewish state. The rise of bbitter anti-Zionist Arab journalism led a young Jew named bDavid Ben-Gurion to complain, in 1910: “On the one hand they bspread libel and false charges against the Hebrew settlement in bthe Land of Israel in governmental circles. On the other, they bsow hatred toward Jews among all the levels of the Arab peo- bple.” bIn January 1911 the Jaffa newspaper Falastin warned bagainst the danger of “Zionist imperialism.” And when the Ar- babs succeeded in electing some sixty-five representatives to the bnew Turkish Parliament—about one-quarter of all the delegates b—the Zionists suddenly realized their power. They watched in bdismay as the three Arab representatives from Jerusalem, who bhad been wooed assiduously, joined all the rest in strong anti- bZionist stands. S.D. Levontin, head of the Anglo-Palestine Com- bpany office in Jaffa, wrote to Wolffsohn: “We have realized for bthe first time that the Arab population is not so primitive and bthat they have cultural powers that should not be bdenigrated. . . . They have people who understand what free- bdom means and . . . new political forces are emerging that we bmust contend with.” bThe vast majority of Zionist leaders were not impressed. bThe fact that the Arabs might look upon the land as their land bwas simply too implausible. Three points were constantly raised band reemphasized: b1. The Land of Israel was a barren land, large enough for ball the Jews who would come to build their state, as well as the bArab peasants. b2. Arab attacks on Zionism and Jewish settlement were a bproduct of the wealthy landlords’ (effendis) fear of losing their bpower. b3. The Arab masses would eagerly welcome the Jews, who bwould raise their living standards and free them from feudalism. bAlmost all Zionists believed this nonsense for years. It does bnot behoove us to scorn them, however, since nonsense not too bdissimilar was spouted even by Begin and other leaders of the bIrgun underground, who told the UN commission investigating bconditions in Palestine in 1947: “There is no such phenomenon bas independent Arab opposition, and all Arab opposition was b
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