In
Palestine, the first wave of Zionist immigration led to the creation of a
society that was based on Jewish supremacy. With its religious and secular
branches, the Zionist movement considered supremacy to be a fundamental and
dominant principle. The way that Zionism interacted with Arabs was
characterized by a sense of superiority and a condescending attitude that
served as a key element of its dominance as a racist settlement-colonial
movement.
As a matter of
fact, Zionism portrayed the East much as the West did: as backward, savage, and
uncivilized—a region deserving of domination for the sake of its own
development, security, and welfare. This brings to mind a speech
delivered by Weizmann in Tel Aviv on April 23—just after the outbreak of the
1936 Revolt—in which he described the Arab-Zionist conflict as a struggle
between forces of the desert and ruin on the one hand, and forces of
civilization and development on the other.[1]
There is a strong correlation between
supremacy and the denial of the existence of others, and the two are strongly
interconnected. The
Zionist immigration to Palestine was characterized by the denial of the
existence of the indigenous Palestinian population, which was a defining
characteristic of the Zionist immigration. As Edward Said points out, far from
the Arab multitudes signifying an already inhabited land, to the early Zionist
colonists these peoples were to be ignored. [2] Disregarding the indigenous Palestinian population’s presence
involved denying and negating their history, culture, economy, and social
dimensions. Zionists' supremacy led them to reject cooperation with
Arabs and acknowledge their experiences, resulting in their marginalization.
One of the causes of the sense of superiority
is the way that Judaism has evolved into nationalism – Zionism.
Therefore, denying the existence of the indigenous people and rejecting
everything associated with their history and culture are necessary for preserving Jewish nationalism - Zionism.
“The Zionist
movement was fully aware that people were actually living in Palestine; yet
they chose not to view them as fully human beings deserving of rights equal to
those of Jewish settlers. The infamous Zionist slogan coined by Israel
Zangwill—"a land without a people for a people without a land"—did
not imply an absence of people in Palestine; rather, it meant there were no
people deemed worthy of consideration within the prevailing framework of
European notions of superiority,” wrote Nur Masalha. [3]
The dominance of Zionism over the sports sector cannot be
attributed only to the fact that immigrants brought administrative expertise
and a culture of sport from Europe, or that the British provided them with
assistance and facilities in this area. There was also a sense of racial
superiority associated with Zionism, which was also one of the defining
characteristics of Zionism as a settler-colonial movement as it also
represented a sense of racial superiority.
A sense of superiority can easily be justified by the
argument that Jewish sport in Palestine has achieved notable success over the
years. Therefore, its leadership believes it has the right to impose views and
rules that align with its ambitions and serve to achieve its political
objectives.
No one can argue against the fact that Jewish sports have made
tremendous gains over the years, which have surpassed Arab sports in terms of
skill level, organization, and competition level. There were a large number of
Jewish immigrants to Palestine from advanced industrial nations, bringing with
them a wealth of experience, culture, and even a sporting culture as well.
Zionism was a society born out of a Western, industrial, and socialist society
where centralized organization was a hallmark, a society shaped by elite of
administrators and committed individuals who held great confidence in their own
abilities.
There is no doubt that the Zionist leadership had a much better
understanding of the role that sports could play in achieving their objectives
in Palestine than did the Arab leadership; combined with the support Jewish
sports received from the Zionist establishment and the facilities provided by
the Mandate authorities. This provided a powerful boost to the development of
Jewish sports within the Jewish community. The advanced level they have
achieved in all spheres of life, including sports, however, does not entitle
them to enjoy a sense of superiority, dominate sports, or marginalize the Arabs
as a result of their superiority.
On his way to London with the motorcycle
tour, he tried to meet with Alice Milliat of FSFI (Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale) in Paris. She
was supportive of his efforts to affiliate Maccabi Palestine to her
international federation and to develop sport among women in Palestine.
Yekutieli told her in their exchanges that Muslim women in Palestine still wore
the veil, and that many waters would flow from the Jordan River to the Dead Sea
before they uncovered their faces and allow sport to penetrate their lives. And
if that miracle ever happened, it would be thank to Jewish women. [4]
As a
result of examining the works of contemporary Israeli researchers, we are not
surprised to discover that there is a complete disregard for Arabs-and a clear
intent to erase not only their history, but their very existence as well. These
studies reveal that Arabs have been, and remain, absent from the Zionist
ideology which these Israeli historians subscribe to; whenever Arabs are
mentioned at all, they are portrayed as aggressors against Jewish settlements,
as refusals to cooperate with Zionists across all sectors, including sports,
and as rebels against the Mandate authorities which were supposed to have
liberated them from the Ottoman yoke and enriched them with civilization and
modernity. Seeing Israeli sports historians’ lavish praise on the British who
issued the Balfour Declaration at the beginning of the 20th century and paved
the way for the establishment of the Jewish national home is not surprising.
It
has been demonstrated that people who harbor racial and cultural superiority
complexes show several key characteristics, such as the presence of cultural
bias, stereotyping, competitiveness, and feelings of insecurity, which are all
characteristic of people with such complexes. The persistent Zionist effort to
maintain a predominant position in sport, compete with Arabs on the sports
field, and monitor the development of Arab sports was a manifestation of
competitiveness in sport at the time. It was evident that the Zionist
leadership in sports felt insecure when they realized that the Palestinian
Sports Federation had made some progress following the restructuring in 1944,
and when the federation applied to become a member of FIFA as a result of the
restructuring in 1946. This insecurity of the Zionist leadership in sports was
reflected in the tension that gripped the leaders.
References
[1] Abdel Wahab Al-Kayyali, Modern History of Palestine,
[Tarikh Falastin al-Hadith], (Beirut: Arab Institution for Research and
Publishing), Tenth Edition, p. 265.
[2] Edward Said, The Question of Palestine (New
York: Vintage Books, 1980), p18.
[3] Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians:
The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Thought and Planning, 1882–1948,
[Tard al-Falastinyyeen: Mafhoum “al-Transfer” Fi al-Fikr wal-Takhteet
al-Sahyouniyyeen 1882 – 1948], (Beirut, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992).
[4] Federation Sportive Femenine Internationale,
“Correspondenc, Affiliation Request, Milliat to Yekutieli,” 1-39, Women’s
Olympiad London 1932 -34 (4), Joseph Yekutieli, Maccabi Sport Archives (Tel
Aviv, Israel, 1931), 1. Quoted from San Charles Haddad. The
File, Origins of the Munich Massacre, p. 77.
No comments:
Post a Comment