বেলফোর ঘোষণা ও মধ্যপ্রাচ্যের ক্যান্সার ইজরায়েলের সৃষ্টি

ইজরায়েল দেশটি সৃষ্টির সূচনা হয়েছিলো ১৯১৭ সালের ২ নভেম্বরে ব্রিটিশ পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আর্থার বেলফোর কর্তৃক ব্রিটেনে বসবাসরত ইহুদী জাতিসংঠনের নেতা লর্ড রথচাইল্ডকে পাঠানো সেই ৬৭ শব্দের চিঠির প্রতিশ্রুতি অনুযায়ী। যা ইতিহাসে Balfour Declaration নামে পরিচিত। Declaration এর একটা অংশ এমন ছিলো, ব্রিটিশরা প্যালেস্টাইনে (Where 92% population were Muslims & Christians) ইহুদিদের জন্য একটি ভূমি দখলের জন্য সর্বাত্মক চেষ্টা করবে। Which is a clear indication that from that very day Zionism has become a very crucial objective of then British Foreign Policy. Declaration এর কয়েক সপ্তাহ পরেই ব্রিটিশ জেনারেল Edmund Allenby জেরুজালেম দখল করে নেয়। তৎকালীন ব্রিটিশ প্রধানমন্ত্রী জেরুজালেম দখলকে ব্রিটেনের জন্য Christmas Gift হিসেবে উল্লেখ করেন।

During the war UK made a number of promises that it wouldn't keep.

To the Sheriff of Mecca Hussein Bin Ali, the great great grandfather of Jordan's King Abdullah II, - Britain promised their support for a single independent unified Arab State. And in return he agreed to be a part of a revolt against the Ottoman Caliphate.

To France - Under a secret agreement between colonial powers to divide up the Middle East region between them. Under the Sykes Picot Agreement Palestine would be an international zone. But the agreement wasn't honoured later on. Britain wanted Palestine for itself.

To British Zionist Federation - This is the one that British actually honoured. Its ambiguous language created problems. But it was a deliberate choice to use the word HOME rather than STATE in the declaration.

Each of the five official drafts of declarations were carefully reviewed by the foreign office. The Zionists' project in Palestine was one way for the British govt to resolve the problem of growing anti-semitism in Europe. It would also protect Britain's interests throughout the region. After the war five colonial powers at the time UK, USA, France, Italy, Japan gave Britain a mandate for Palestine. The British govt and the Zionist movement made sure it included the wording of the Balfour Declaration. It then became International Law and Balfour Declaration and also became a legal Obligation for Britain. The British mandate of Palestine would last for 30 years. A land that was called Palestine by Europeans, Philistine by Arabs became land of Israel by Jews. There's a part of the Balfour Declaration that's often forgotten. It backs the idea of a Jewish Home provided that nothing would be done to harm the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. In fact in 1917 only 8% of the population of Palestine were Jewish. For much of the 1920s & 1930s the British facilitated Jewish immigration to Palestine automatically granting each newly-arrived Jewish immigrant with a Palestinian passport. And as the demographics changed resentment grew between the Jewish and Arab communities of Palestine and towards their occupiers the British. When Britain decided to leave in May of 1948 the Zionist paramilitary army was ready with a plan to colonise all of historic Palestine. Ethnic cleansing can it be labelled. More than 700,000 local Palestinians were kicked out their ancestral homes. Hundreds of Arab villages were razed to the ground and 15,000 Palestinians were killed that year in several massacres. All this happened while 10,000 British soldiers were still in Palestine. Zionists' declared their own state on May 14, 1948. And began the process of wiping the word Palestine off the map and deleting it from the historic record. That continues to this day. 12 millions descendants of those indigenous Palestinians refer to Israel's violent birth as Al Nakba or the catastrophe. And every year when Israel celebrate their state, Palestinians mark the systematic destruction of their society. So, British celebrations of the Balfour Declaration are as problematic as the declaration itself. The British govt is proud of its colonial legacy even though it opened Pandora's Box putting in motion events that would lead to future wars between its allies and while celebrating this British Declaration Israel cannot escape its own colonial past which continues to the present. Palestinians and Arabs called Balfour Declaration one of the most shameful documents ever created by a colonial power. They're demanding that Britain apologise for it not celebrate it.

 

লিখেছেন - সাজ্জাদ শিহাব ডিপ. ইংলিশ নোবিপ্রবি