On March 6, 1938, a grenade exploded in the market of Haifa city in Palestine, killing 18 Arabs and wounding 38 others. That explosion was one of about 60 similar attacks that took place in Palestine in 1938 alone. But this series of killings that began in the 1930s and continued until 1948 introduced a terminology to the world that has had a fascinating impact on our lives: “Terrorism”.
These attacks were orchestrated by members of a Zionist organisation called ‘Irgun’, one of many such organisations founded by Jewish immigrants in Palestine at the time, which were all committing the same type of attacks: Bombing, assassinations, massacres against the Arab population and British soldiers. Also known as ‘Etzel’, ‘Irgun’ had an emblem showing a map of Palestine and Jordan and a hand carrying a gun, with two words in Hebrew inscribed at the bottom: ‘Rak Kach’ which means: “Only Thus”.
It was amazing when I recalled this old record in the midst of following up the repercussions of the recent terrorist bombings in Paris. An English version of a newly composed page on Wikipedia about the November 13 Paris attacks caught my attention. It is bigger and more abundant in its content than the Arabic and French versions. This version includes a statistics of what is called a “list of Islamist terrorist attacks”, which was not included in the Arabic version and was truncated in the French version. Does this have any significance?
The importance of that list of “Islamist terrorist attacks” is that it records attacks from 1980s up to 2015, including some in Israel. According to this list, the 1980s witnessed 13 attacks, including two in Israel. But strikingly, the first attack recorded against Israel is on November 11, 1982 — an attack on the headquarter of the Israeli army and intelligence unit in the city of Tyre in south Lebanon, just a few months after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in June of that year. Here, a person would wonder about the exact definition of “terrorism”, when such an attack is termed “Islamist terrorism”. It’s not about wordplay but concepts and definitions. Apparently, those who included such an attack, on the headquarters of an occupying army, wanted to convince the readers that the invasion and occupation of another country was a noble, human act and that Israeli soldiers who were present at the spot at the time of the attack were engrossed in preparing bouquets of roses and candy boxes to distribute to the people of the country that they had invaded, occupied and destroyed!
A closer look at the Wikipedia list leads one to just one conclusion: It reflects exactly the comments of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made after the recent Paris attacks. Netanyahu said Israel has suffered from terrorism since its inception until today.
Netanyahu and the rest of Israeli leaders have one favourite game: Manipulating words and history and playing with public memory. Facing and combating terrorism do not require a change in perception, such as the acceptance of occupiers as ‘victims of terrorism’. Rather, it involves putting incidents and events in their correct historical context and understanding their roots. Of course, that is something incongruous to Netanyahu’s hypocrisy.
‘Irgun’ was one of many similar paramilitary organisations founded by Jewish immigrants in the 1930s. Historians say that it’s responsible for 71 terrorist attacks from March 1937 to April 1948, including the bombing of King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948, that was carried out together with ‘Lehi’, also known as ‘Stern Gang’, on April 9, 1948.
It is astonishing to notice the similarity between the 1930s’ terrorism, which took place in Palestine, and the incidents happening now. As such, gangs always need a mentor. The policy of ‘Irgun’ was based on what was called “Revisionist Zionism”, founded by Russian immigrant Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who had propounded: “Every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state.”
It’s amazing to note also that terrorism of the 1930s was similar in style and form to what is currently going on around the globe. In those days, the Jewish terrorists of ‘Irgun’ and ‘Stern’ used grenades, bombed vehicles and even hid bombs in vegetable boxes and explosive-laden barrels were trundled from the Jewish Quarters in the Karmal mountain, down to the nearby market of Haifa city. Alongside massacres in Palestinian villages, United Nations, British and American governments, the Anglo-American investigation committee and a section of American media, including New York Times, classified and described ‘Irgun’ as a terrorist origination. The list of condemnation also included the Jewish agency and prominent global figures, such as Winston Churchill, Hanna Arendt and Albert Einstein.
When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, those terrorist organisations disappeared and the stars of the 1930s’ terrorism turned to wear ties and ‘Irgun’ metamorphosed into the Herut party — the backbone of Likud coalition that Netanyahu is heading now. The young leader of ‘Irgun’ in the 1930s, Menachem Begin, became Israel’s prime minister in 1977. Later on, his friend, Polish immigrant Yitzhak Shamir, became the leader of ‘Stern’, succeeding Begin.
Truly, terrorism escalated since the 1990s, but if the world confines its understanding of the scourge in terms of a Hollywood thriller, loosely based on clippings of atrocities committed by Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), then it will serve little purpose. It is important to realise that the killing machines never ceased to operate in this region — starting from the 1930s, until now. The only difference here is that while killings by Daesh and Al Qaida produce a loud echo in the media, the blood spilled by the other killing machines is treated as normal, everyday stories.
Israel had signed the Oslo Accord with Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1993, but the period from 1990-2015 witnessed the highest number of Palestinian victims killed by Israeli forces and colonists: Around 12,125 Palestinians from various age groups were killed between 1990-2015. This includes four wars waged by Israel against West Bank and Gaza. Apparently, the number of victims reviles the Israeli understanding of peace, which is in keeping with its skewed logic that seeks to justify invasion of another country: The occupiers are the victims, while those who resist such occupation are terrorists! “Only thus”.
Mohammad Fadhel is a Bahraini writer and Media consultant at “b’huth” (Dubai).
