Arab-Jewish Crisis in Palestine Result of Anti-Zionist Propaganda

Foes of Movement to Establish Commonwealth in Holy Land Using Two Systems, One Emanating From Arab Damascus, the Other from French Beirut

By Marion Weinstein

Arab-Jewish Crisis in Palestine Result of Anti-Zionist Propaganda — The Binghamton Press, 3 June 1919 — The Binghamton Press · Binghamton, New York · 3 June 1919

Transcribed from the clipping

BY MARION WEINSTEIN. ARTICLE IV. The present Arab-Jewish crisis in Palestine is the direct result of a system of anti-Zionist propaganda — organized, unscrupulous, incendiary. In fact, there are two systems, equally questionable, the greater emanating from Arab Damascus and the other from French Beirut.

In order to understand how this propaganda functions, it is necessary to recall the present administration of Syria and Palestine. It is an Allied military occupation in four divisions, all under a Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Edmund Allenby, now Special High Commissioner of Egypt in addition. HOW COUNTRY IS ADMINISTERED.

“Occupied Enemy Territory Administration” it is called officially and familiarly referred to as “Oeta.” Palestine is “Oeta South,” under a British administrator, with headquarters in Jerusalem.

“Oeta East,” centering about Damascus, has local Arab rule, while “Oeta West,” Syria extending to Adana, is administered by the French from Beirut. Cilicia was added late in January, under Turkish officials, as a new section, “Oeta North.” These divisions, according to General Allenby, are purely military.

Political settlements are to be left entirely to the Peace Conference. The arrangement is simply a matter of control to maintain order.

Arabia proper with its capital Mecca is a separate, distinct kingdom under King Hussein, father of Emir (Prince) Feisal, head of the Hedjaz delegation to the Peace conference, representing Arab interests not only in his own realm but in “Oeta.” COUNTRY ALIVE WITH INTRIGUE.

Despite the Allies’ “gentleman’s agreement,” on which the “Oeta” divisions are based pending the final dictum of the Peace Conference, the Hedjaz Arabs and the French are unsettling Palestine with political propaganda.

The country is alive with intrigue, the details of which are well known to the British authorities and to the Zionist leaders. The British scorn counter propaganda, but the Zionists have recently begun to counteract these stealthy attacks upon them in a dignified campaign among the Arabs.

I have in my possession official copies of Arab propaganda that emanated from Damascus last Winter and was circulated throughout the Holy Land. The agitators did not dare to send statements of any length through the mails or by courier. For the British, however inactive, were watchful. So they hit upon the idea of printing anti-Zionist sentiments on perforated sheets of paper.

One of these little squares could easily be slipped through the post or a few distributed in the streets without attracting attention. Thus, one by one the whole set would finally reach its destination. WORKINGS OF PROPAGANDISTS. The set I secured was used in this way in the streets of Damascus and later in Beirut. Scores of copies found their way to Palestine.

It has thirty-five “Sentiments.” Here are some of the most striking: “Palestine is the soul of the Arab movement.” “If Zionism succeeds in Palestine, woe to Syria!” “Immigration of Zionists to Palestine must be prevented.” “The menace of Zionism requires Syria if it is spread in Palestine.”

“Palestine is a Moslem, Christian, and Arabic country.” “Give the Jews no chance in Palestine.” “Selling lands to Zionists is treachery.” “El Aksa, the third Mosque, is in Palestine.” CRIME AGAINST PALESTINE. “There will be no peace with the Zionists in Palestine.”

“Easy dealing of the natives with the Zionists is a great crime against Palestine.” “Zionist power is wealth and our power is unity.” “A Zionist rule? Ah! AH! Oh!” “Shall the Jew cast forth from Europe rule in Palestine?” “Can England become Germany? Then Palestine can become a Zionist State.”

“Every Jew is a Zionist and every Palestinian is an Arab.” Memoranda to the Arabs, urging them to arise against Zionism, were posted in the streets of Damascus and of Nablus, the center of Arab propaganda in Palestine. I have one of the original Arabic posters, of which I give here a free translation in part: TRANSLATION OF POSTER.

“To the Palestinians: The Jews have become aware of our unity and our fixity of purpose against their air castles. They have become convinced that they are the losing party and see before them certain disaster. So they have begun to spread false reports in the whole country.

They say that the Zionists have made agreements with the most representative Arab families in Palestine. They say, too, that they are in agreement with the hero of the Arabs, Emir Feisal, about Palestine. In this way they hope to sow enmity between the Christian and Moslem Arabs.” ANTI-ZIONIST MASS MEETINGS.

Another favorite propaganda stunt was to send Hedjaz officers down from Damascus on leave in Palestine. They would present their credentials to the British military governors and a few days later begin to hold anti-Zionist meetings among the Arabs. I know this was the case more than once in Tiberias and I have heard of similar occurrences in other cities in Palestine.

The agitators played upon utterly unfounded fears of the Arabs. These peasants were led to believe that their holy places were in danger of being seized by the Jew; that they would be expelled outright from the country, frozen out or overwhelmed by Jewish immigration.

The disturbers insisted falsely that the Zionist aim was a theocracy, in which non-Jews would have no comfortable place, if any place at all.

Context added by this archive

The earliest use of the word in this archive, and it is doing the whole job by itself. What the article actually describes is Palestinians writing political sentences, printing them on perforated squares small enough to pass through the post unnoticed, and handing them to each other. The word for that is propaganda.

The word for the other side’s version, two paragraphs earlier, is a dignified campaign.

Thirty-five of the sentences are counted and eight are reprinted, which means an American newspaper in 1919 carried Palestinian political speech to Binghamton in the act of dismissing it — including the line Every Jew is a Zionist and every Palestinian is an Arab, and a street poster that opens To the Palestinians.

Cite this item

"Arab-Jewish Crisis in Palestine Result of Anti-Zionist Propaganda," The Binghamton Press, 3 June 1919. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1919-016. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1919-016