Original subtitles

1948

for palestinians that year is enactma or

the catastrophe

when hundreds of thousands were forced

out of their homes

for israelis that year marks the

creation of the state of israel

as a filmmaker and as a palestinian this

documentary series was my way to

understand

the events of the past that are still

shaping

the present

do

our story starts here in 1799

outside the walls of acre in

ottoman-controlled palestine

an army under napoleon bonaparte

besieged

the city all part of a campaign to

defeat the ottomans

and establish a french presence in the

region

in search of allies napoleon issued a

letter

offering palestine as a homeland to the

jews under french protection

he called on the jews to rise up against

what he called their oppressors

napoleon's appeal was widely publicized

but he was ultimately defeated

in acre today the only memory of him is

a statue atop a hill

overlooking the city yet napoleon's

project for a jewish homeland in the

region

under a colonial protectorate did not

die

forty years later the plan was revived

by the british

this time as a means of thwarting the

rising power

of egyptian governor muhammad ali

in 1840 british foreign secretary lord

palmerston

wrote to his ambassador in

constantinople urging him

to convince the sultan and his entourage

to open

palestine for the immigration of jews

at that time there were estimated to be

no more than 3

000 jews in ottoman-controlled palestine

over the years jewish immigration to

palestine increased

helped on by wealthy benefactors one of

these

was the french aristocrat baron edmund

de rothschild

he began visiting palestine in the 1880s

and became one of the jewish community's

leading sponsors

he spent over 14 million french francs

to establish 30 jewish settlements

the most important was richard led zeon

founded in 1882

today the remains of baron de child lie

in a mausoleum

in northern israel it's a popular site

for israeli school children

learning about the wealthy patron who

bankrolled jewish settlement building in

palestine

over 100 years ago

in 1885 the term zionism was first

coined by austrian writer nathan

birnbaum

it's derived from the word zion one of

the biblical names for jerusalem zionism

came to mean the establishment of a

jewish homeland in palestine

but not all jews supported this

money

yeah in 1896

theodore herzl an austro-hungarian

journalist

wrote a book called the jewish state

it is considered one of the most

important texts

of early zionism

herzl envisioned the founding of a

future independent jewish state

during the 20th century his colleague

max

nordau sent two rabbis to palestine to

investigate the prospects for a jewish

state there

their report concluded the bride is

beautiful

but she is married to another man

the rabbis understood that palestine's

spouse

was the palestinian society rooted in

its soil

in 1897 herzl with birenbaum

and nordau convened the first zionist

congress

in the swiss city of basel the congress

adopted a programme for the

establishment of a homeland

for the jewish people in palestine

within

in 1907 the british government set up a

committee

to devise a strategy toward the muslim

arab population

of the ottoman empire the committee's

report

submitted to british prime minister

henry campbell bannerman in 1907

recommended establishing a so-called

buffer state in palestine

the report proposed this state be

hostile to its neighbors

and friendly to europe the aim was to

divide the region

and so assure britain's continued

imperial dominance

home

in 1907 heim weissmann a chemist who had

emerged as a leader among british

zionists

visited palestine for the first time

he set out to establish a company in

jaffa to develop the land of palestine

a practical means to pursue the zionist

dream of building a jewish state

his venture was supported by baron de

rothschild

within three years a major deal was

struck

the jewish national fund set up to buy

land in palestine

purchased some ten thousand dunhams in

the maj bin amer region of northern

palestine

the sale to the jewish national fund had

dire consequences

for the thousands of palestinian farmers

living on the land

foreign

a more uh drastic form of colonialism

than the average classical european

colonialism

in the sense that their purpose was

actually not so

only to exploit the locals but to

drive them out from the very early

moment the zionist movement

targeted palestine as the the place for

jewish independence and statehood

and it was clear that there were

palestinians on the land

uh zionists leaders and common people

alike were

got used to the idea that the only way

of

making palestine a jewish state is by

causing the palestinians leave

a jewish militia known as hashemer was

established to protect the growing

number of jewish settlements

jews held demonstrations to demand the

recognition of hebrew

as an official language under ottoman

rule

surya

a palestinian pharmacist began

publishing a newspaper called

al carmel in it he warned of zionism

as a movement aimed at displacing the

palestinians

he wrote the jewish state would be a

poisonous dagger

in the heart of the arabs the outbreak

of world war 1

in 1914 created new opportunities to

um

in 1915 a secret memorandum was

presented to the british cabinet

under the title the future of palestine

it was drafted by herbert samuel a

british politician and zionist

committed to palestine becoming a home

for the jewish people

in the document samuel advised that the

time was not right

for the establishment of an autonomous

jewish state in palestine

he recommended instead that palestine be

annexed to the british empire

describing this as the most welcome

solution

to the supporters of the zionist

movement

he expressed the hope that under british

rule and over time

more jews would settle in the land and

grow

into a majority among what he called the

muhammadans of arab race

samuel's recommendations were taken into

account in the secret british french

agreement

formulated by british politician sir

mark sykes

and french diplomat francois georges

pico

the sykes pico agreement opened the way

for the establishment

of a jewish state

in 1917 the british cabinet headed by

prime minister david lloyd george

pledged to establish a homeland for the

jews in palestine

the pledge came in the form of a letter

from the british foreign secretary

arthur balfour to the influential

british zionist lord walter rothschild

britain had no moral or political

or legal right to promise

the land that belonged to the arabs to

another people

so the balfour declaration was both

immoral and illegal

a month after balfour's pledge a meeting

took place in london

to celebrate the declaration speakers

included lord rothschild

herbert samuel mark sykes and haim

weissmann

just several days later on december the

11th

1917 the british army commanded by

general edmund allenby

captured jerusalem

entering the holy city alongside allenby

was a jewish military unit

established under british auspices

one member of this unit was david

ben-gurion

who would later be israel's first prime

minister

the unit also included zev japotinsky a

future zionist leader

as well as nehemiah rabin soon to be

father of young boy

yitzhak rabin

within a month general allenby welcomed

heim

weissmann in jerusalem there were

approximately 50 000 jews in palestine

at this time

10 percent of the population among half

a million arabs

the great war ended in 1918 and

preparations were made for a peace

conference in paris

president of the united states woodrow

wilson commissioned an investigation

into the non-turkish areas of the former

ottoman empire

the commission was headed by the

academic dr henry king

and the politician charles crane

when it was eventually published the

crane king report

proved to be political dynamite the

report stated that

the non-jewish population of palestine

nearly nine

tenths of the whole was emphatically

against the zionist program

the report went on to warn that

anti-zionist feeling in palestine and

syria

was intense and not likely to be flouted

it divulged conversations with british

officers who suggested a force of

not less than 50 000 soldiers would be

required

to initiate the zionist program the

authors judged all this as

evidence of what they described as a

strong sense of the injustice of the

zionist program

the report concluded jewish immigration

should be definitely limited

and the project for making palestine

distinctly a jewish commonwealth

should be given up the crane king report

fell on death ears

at the paris peace conference in 1919

britain was represented by prime

minister david lloyd george

and arthur balfour a delegation from the

zionist organization

attended headed by haim weissman

they presented a map seen here proposing

the area to be allocated

for a jewish homeland the map included

both palestine

and the east bank of the jordan river as

well as parts of what are today

southern lebanon and syria parallel to

the conference

the leader of the arab delegation prince

faisal bin hussein

signed with the zionist delegation's

leader what became known as the faisal

weissmann agreement

it outlined faisal's approval for a

jewish homeland in palestine

and an arab nation in the larger middle

east

the agreement was mediated by lieutenant

colonel thomas edward lawrence

known as lawrence of arabia

faisal signed adding in his own

handwriting that the agreement

be dependent on the arabs gaining their

independence

is

habilihood in 1920 the first british

high commissioner for palestine was

appointed

controversially london selected herbert

samuel for the post

samuel was a committed zionist many

suspected he would set out to implement

what he had proposed

five years earlier by favouring jewish

immigration

to transform palestine into a jewish

homeland

in 1922 the league of nations formalized

british rule in palestine

the second clause of the british mandate

document approved by the league of

nations

stipulated the british mandatory shall

be responsible for placing the country

under political

administrative and economic conditions

that will secure the establishment

of the jewish national home

british high commissioner herbert samuel

decreed hebrew

as an official language of palestine

alongside arabic

and english the letters e and y

were added to the word palestine in

hebrew

as an abbreviation of the words eretz

israel

meaning land of israel

britain provided the muscle um under

which they could

simply emigrate i mean they couldn't

have immigrated were it not for

the british presence

because the um the crucial battle in the

early stages was

simply getting jews into palestine

and acquiring land they couldn't have

done that without british

government's sponsorship

palestinians viewed the british

mandatory authority

and british troops on the ground as

siding with the jews

more and more palestinian farmers

expelled from farmlands

began to join newly formed revolutionary

groups

in 1921 palestinians organized large

demonstrations

against jewish immigration

at that time the palestinian leadership

was in effect hereditary

within one family the grand mufti of

jerusalem

amin al-husseini inherited his position

at the age of 25

following the death of his brother who

had in turn

succeeded their father

the leadership sent successive

delegations to london

to discuss the palestinian question

is

the changes on the ground in palestine

can be noted in the british government's

report to the council of the league of

nations in 1925.

the document reported the immigration of

more than 33

000 jews who were granted palestinian

nationality

this was three times the figure of the

previous year

thirteen new settlements were built

according to the report

a jewish labor union called the

histadrut had been set up

under the direction of david ben-gurion

and the jewish town of tel aviv was

accorded municipal autonomy

in addition the hebrew university was

officially opened in 1925

at a ceremony attended by british high

commissioner

herbert samuel the former british

foreign secretary

arthur balfour and the head of the

zionist organization heim weissmann

as weissmann's guest balfour visited a

number of jewish settlements

in jerusalem he met with samuel and alan

b

the two men who had helped implement the

policy he himself had laid out

eight years earlier in the famous

balfour declaration

the palestinians went on strike to

protest against balfour's visit

they raised black flags to signal their

opposition to the policies balfour had

set in train

the palestinians were in somber mood

not so the zionists

say

weissmann congratulated samuel for his

work towards the establishment

of a national jewish homeland

the zionist movement was active in its

propaganda

this film in french showed the map of

palestine with areas highlighted as land

the zionists claimed to have acquired as

of 1925.

the film also shows the areas zionists

planned to acquire

within the next 25 years

in the summer of 1929 ardent zionist

groups

organized a gathering at the wailing

wall in jerusalem

known to the palestinians as al-buraq

the incident ignited violent

demonstrations called the burak revolt

led by a palestinian farmer named farhan

al-sadi

more than 100 arabs and jews were killed

on both sides

sir john chancellor the new british high

commissioner in palestine

issued a strongly worded memorandum

calling for all those who took part in

the revolt

to be severely punished three

palestinians were arrested

and accused of participating in the

revolt they were

fuad hassan hijazi from safad

atta ahmed al-zir from hebron

and muhammad khalil jamjum whose picture

could not be found

the three men were jailed here at acre

prison

the british sentenced them to death

arab delegations pleaded for their

sentences to be commuted

but on june the 17th 1930 the british

authorities

had the three men executed

a cemetery in acre still contains the

graves of the three men

in a final statement before their

execution they had written

at the end of our lives we say to the

arab leaders

and muslims all over the world do not

trust the foreigners we lived and died

for the arab cause

such sentiments of anti-colonialism and

pan-arabism

would become increasingly common in

subsequent decades

during the first 10 years of the british

mandate the number of jews in palestine

more than doubled to reach 175 000

zionists all over the world we're proud

of their achievement

i am here today to ask you my fellow

zionists

which attitude shall we take

which of the possible attitudes that we

face shall be our own

i would say to england though i am only

an

american jew but an old time

reverencing admirer of great britain

i would say to england if i could

an arab palestine is a

threat to great britain and a menace to

the world

a jewish palestine is an asset to great

written and a

blessing for the world

god

with heim weissmann beside him former

british prime minister david lloyd

george

reaffirmed his own zionist credentials

it is as your german has reminded you

it is nearly 16 years

since he recruited me to the zionist

movement

palestine baron and malarial swamps

have been converted into happy

settlements science has been harnessed

to water which had been running

wild in waste since the early days of

creation

without vegetation and without life

empty desertion

that is palestine british news bulletins

at the time described palestine

as akin to a desert

the reality was very different

happy

british politicians of the early 20th

century had

a distorted view of palestinian society

frequently labeling it as

[ __ ] despite the population

including over 100

000 palestinian christians they

did not regard them as yet belonging to

either an arab national group in general

or to local national groups uh

the only way they were able to view them

was as a religious

uh group of believers so i think they

they missed the point for instance that

christians and muslims

actually founded a new identity

and not a religious one but the national

one

is

for

by 1933 protests against jewish

immigration were becoming

ever more frequent in palestine women

took part side by side with men

the british authorities cracked down on

demonstrations

and arrested thousands

many were killed and wounded

the 80 year old former mayor of

jerusalem was beaten by british soldiers

during a demonstration in jaffa he later

died

of his injuries the british authorities

became

ever more heavy-handed

this letter was written by a palestinian

policeman condemning the behavior of his

british senior officer

john faraday

a number of other complaints were filed

against faraday

the officer was never charged

four years later faraday was awarded the

king's police medal for his

valuable services in palestine

in

only still images of the palestinian

demonstrations

are available in the archives

movie cameras did capture jewish life in

palestine

as well as british pomp and ceremony

this footage shows the star of david

flagg over the tel aviv municipality

building

this is footage of work in the diamond

factories of tel aviv

and this footage shows the flow of new

immigrants and the building of new

settlements

footage of palestinian life in the early

20th century proved more difficult to

find

a palestinian film archive had once

existed

but had since been lost or gone

mysteriously missing

we spent months searching for pictures

of palestinian lives

eventually in the vaults of the british

library we found

glimpses of this bygone era

most of the palestinians intellectuals

leaders journalists

were still unaware how determined the

zionist movement is of dispossessing

them

from palestine in the 1930s

the number of jews immigrating to

palestine began to increase

significantly from 4 000 in 1931

the figure jumped to 9500 the following

year

in 1933 the number rose to 30

000 in 1934 42 000

and in 1935 a further jump

to 62 thousand that same year

palestinian poet abdul raheem mahmoud

wrote a poem which he read aloud to

prince saubin

abdul aziz of saudi arabia who was

visiting jerusalem

he asked did you come to visit the holy

axa mosque

or to bid it farewell before it is lost

foreign

a revolutionary group to strike at

zionist and british targets

in 1935 in the hills near janine

he and a small band of men were

surrounded by british forces

making a defiant stand al qasam and

those with him were killed

the palestinian political leadership

came under pressure to halt negotiations

with the british

palestinian poet ibrahim tukan addressed

a poem to the leadership in 1935

a poem dripping with iron

oh you sincere patriots you who carry

the heavy burden of the cause

only a fragment of the country remains

for us

so please step down before the remaining

parts fly away

on april 19th 1936 palestinian anger

boiled over protests erupted in the city

of jaffa

in coordination with a general strike

the wave of anger

spread throughout palestine the reasons

for the protests

were explained by a spokesman for the

palestinian political leadership

the main case of the arabs is against

the british

government's policy in palestine

a policy which if continued will surely

have

as a result the replacement of the arabs

by the jews against all principles

the british government imposed the

balfour declaration

which is abhorred by all arabs in the

near

east and on favoring the establishment

of a national home

for jews for god intentionally

to safeguard the civil rights of the

non-jewish

population the arabs who decided

on a general and a complete strike until

the total

and immediate stoppage of jewish

immigration is brought about

and until the government introduces an

essential change in its present

qualities

utility

the 1936 revolt shocked the british

mandatory authorities

who carried out harsh punitive actions

anyone suspected of links with the

revolutionaries was arrested

their homes destroyed in jaffa alone

more than 200 houses were demolished as

a collective punishment

demolitions in other villages and cities

followed

the british insisted that destroying

palestinian houses

was justified as a means to end the

revolt

foreign

foreign

during the arab revolt david ben-gurion

then a prominent leader of the zionist

movement

reportedly made a startling suggestion

to the british high commissioner

arthur warhol ben-gurion is said

to have suggested all palestinians

expelled from their land by jewish

settlement building

should be resettled in neighboring trans

jordan

the british high commissioner is

reported to have replied that this was

in his words a good idea