Laughed
At by Time
All the
same we take our chances
Laughed
at by time
Tricked
by circumstances
Plus ca
change
Plus
c'est la meme chose
The
more that things change
The
more they stay the same
Maybe history wouldn't have to
repeat itself if we listened once in a while.
The year is 1911; the place is
Libya, Syria, Palestine; the man is Muhammed Iz-al-Din
al-Qassam. But the story is just one of type: it has been repeated
regularly both before and since, in all regions of North Africa, the Middle
East and Central Asia, by many others.
I will add: there is one other
difference. All of the violence fostered in 1911 was local – local
to the region, local to Palestine. Today, the blowback is not
regionally restricted; we read of events almost daily, mostly throughout Europe
but also the United States. London and Manchester are merely the
recent examples.
Otherwise, there is nothing new
under today’s sun. If you find something different while reading
this story, please raise your hand.
In 1911, Italy invaded Libya
and al-Qassam declared a jihad, a holy war, against the infidel Catholics
defiling a Muslim nation.
At the time, al-Qassam was imam
of a local mosque in Haifa. He began collecting funds for the Libyan
resistance; he wrote a victory anthem; he recruited dozens of volunteers who
set out for Libya. All reasonable actions to take if one was fending
off an invasion of homeland, as was the case.
Yet, the Ottoman authorities
turned his volunteers back – not allowing them to continue to Libya.
After World War One, the entire
region was “in the grip of lawlessness…and everyone was fighting everyone
else….” Also after World War One, Britain had the Mandate from the
League of Nations regarding Palestine; Britain also had the complications of
competing promises made to the local Arabs and to the Zionist
Jews. It was a recipe for conflict.
Somewhere around this time,
al-Qassam was appointed to an official position within the Supreme Muslim
Council; using this position he would go from village to village, encouraging
people to organize terrorist cells against the British and the Jews.
Fathers were proud of their
“martyred” sons, those who joined to fight against the British and the
Jews. Neighbors would visit the home of a dead son, offering, not
condolences, but congratulations, to the parents. The parents would
joyously accept such sentiments.
In addition to human targets,
these cells went after symbolic targets: trees planted by the Jews; railroad
tracks laid by the British.
The popular and near
spontaneous outbreaks of violence, fostered by al-Qassam, were expressions of
social unrest, national rage, and the dark mood of a generation that had
matured under British rule.
In November, 1935, al-Qassam
hid in the hills, along with several men; it was felt at the time that if
Jewish immigration continued, Palestine’s future was “very
black.” Yes, rather. Especially for Palestinian Arabs.
In the meantime, Mussolini
invaded Ethiopia; Hitler and the Nazis came to power in Germany, opening the
benefit of more international pressure supportive of bringing even more
European Jews to Palestine. The conflict – both in Palestine and throughout
the region – was certain to escalate.
When al-Qassam died, thousands
attended his funeral; it turned into a mass demonstration of national
unity. In death, his work had only begun.
What the Jewish community
called “the events” and the Arab community referred to as their “rebellion”
began on April 19, 1936, in Jaffa, when nine Jews were murdered and four
wounded.
The Arabs launched a war for
their homeland.
Now the conflict between the
two peoples became a threat to the security of every individual, every day of
the week and every hour of the day; life was a routine of total horror.
Bombs, bullets, burned fields –
every night before sleep and after morning after
awakening. Countless thousands killed – including unknown thousands
in inter-Arab violence. Throwing a grenade into a passenger train
full of Jews was considered heroes’ work.
The Arabs went on strike; Arab
leaders were murdered by Arabs, accused of collaborating with the British;
family feuds were brought to a head – charges taken to the British by one Arab
brother against another brother.
Many Arabs lost their lives at
the hands of other Arabs.
And many Arabs lost their lives
at the hands of the British and the Jews; many Jews lost their lives at the
hands of the Arabs.
And, in the meantime, more Jews
were coming. The British were seemingly impotent to offer any
meaningful solutions. British officials in Palestine were
sympathetic to the Arabs; those in London felt otherwise.
Conclusion
If history repeats itself, and
the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from
experience.
This “unexpected” hasn’t gone
on for over one hundred years because political leaders are stupid,
“incapable…of learning from experience.” When something like this is
sustained – when the same “mistakes” occur repeatedly – one might consider
other reasons.
I will revisit my view for the
reasons behind this ongoing history in the coming days.
