Written by Richard Becker
Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241

Chapter 11 - Fortifying the US-Israeli alliance (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

The aim of the Zionists to dispossess Palestinians of their land and rights was no mystery to the Palestinian population. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were numerous uprisings against British colonialism and Zionist settlements, the most famous and protracted of which was the 1936-1939 revolt.

In 1936, Palestinians launched a general strike that lasted six months—the longest general strike in history. The strike was followed by a guerrilla war that lasted nearly three and a half years. It was mainly based in the countryside among poor peasants. The war tied down a large part of the British army. It was not until September 1939—the same month that World War II began in Europe—that the British finally succeeded in crushing the rebellion by brute force. 

Both the justice of the Palestinian resistance and colonial nature of Zionism had been admitted in the midst of the revolt by none other than the central Zionist leader, Ben-Gurion: 

"In our political argument abroad we minimize Arab opposition to us. But let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. … A people which fights against the usurpation of its land will not tire so easily."

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 6 - The Palestinian revolt of 1936-1939 (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Though it had its own distinct roots, Zionism shared some of the characteristics of the reactionary European movements. It fiercely opposed the anti-colonial and genuine national liberation movements.

The Zionists, while aiming to create a Jewish nation-state, did not seek to acquire territory in Eastern Europe where most of the European Jewish population was concentrated and most violently repressed. Instead, the Zionists offered to make themselves available to be transported as settlers to any number of places in the colonized continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America, before settling on Palestine.

Political Zionism was thus a unique form of narrow nationalism. Lacking its own indigenous land base, it could only hope to succeed as an extension of European colonialism. Unlike any genuine national liberation movement, Zionism was always completely dependent on imperialist sponsorship.

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 5 - Building a settler state American-style (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zionism represented a small minority among Jewish people. It was mainly a movement of the middle class, with support from a few wealthy sponsors, particularly the Rothschild oil and banking interests. 

Jewish workers and intellectuals of that time played a vital role in the socialist, communist and other progressive movements in Europe and the United States. They fought for equality rather than separation. Prior to World War II, political Zionism was widely regarded as a reactionary nationalist and dangerous ideology in progressive circles, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 4 - Zionism: A colonial project (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

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Chapter 11 - Fortifying the US-Israeli alliance (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

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