THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Meinertzhagen: Early British
Supporter of Zionism Recalled
By DAVID FRIEDMAN
(Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.)
Throughout the history of
Zionism there has always
been a small number of inf-
luential non-Jews in Brit-
ain who have strongly be-
lieved in the return of the
Jewish people to Israel.
They were influenced by
Christian religious beliefs
that Jews must rebuild the
Holy Land, a belief similar
- that held by Christian
angelicals in the United
States.
The 63rd anniversary of
the Balfour Declaration on
Nov. 2 reminds us that Lord
Balfour was one of these
people. Another was Col.
Richard Meinertzhagen,
who died in 1967 at the age
of 89 and whose book, "Mid-
dle East Diary: 1917-1956,"
I recently came across.
A close friend of the late
Chaim Weizmann, Israel's
first • President,
Meinertzhagen served
under Gen. Edmund Al-
lenby in the Middle East
during World War I, was a
member of the British dele-
gation to the Paris Peace
Conference, was chief polit-
.ical officer in Palestine and
Syria from 1919-1920, and
from 1921-1924 was mili-
tary adviser to the Middle
East Department of the
Colonial Office. For the rest
of his life he was deeply in-
volved in Middle East af-
fairs, arguing incessantly
for the creation of a Jewish
state and then in support of
Israel.
Meinertzhagen was an
oddity in the British es-
tablishment. He blames
what he considers Brit-
ain's disastrous policy
during the Mandate to a
great measure on the
anti-Semitism he found in
the army, the Colonial
Office and among the
Mandate officials in
Palestine. In fact, this
Zionism and pro-Jewish
attitude was so out of
place, he was several
times accused of being
Jewish himself although
he points out his name
was probably of Danish
origin and his family had
been in Britain for more
than four centuries.
In "Middle East Diary" he
claims his belief that the
Jews should return to
Palestine goes back to his
childhood. His maternal
great-grandmother, Mary
"was so keenly in-
Vt.-Jested in the return of
Jews to their old home, that
she collected a handful of
Jews in England, bought a
white donkey and started
off for the Holy Land im-
mediately after the
Napoleonic wars . . . She
got as far as Calais with her
white dorikey but her fol-
lowing had deserted; her
husband had to cross the
Channel and bring her
back, donkey and all."
On a more practical level,
while stationed in Kenya in
1903 he wrote in his diary
that he hoped the Jews
would refuse the then
Britishoffer of Uganda ,.
.
"The Jews' Home is Pales-
tine, not in Africa," he
wrote, adding, "Why not
persuade the Turks to give
them Palestine? The Arabs
are doing nothing with it,
and the Jews with their
brains and dynamic force
would be a tremendous
asset to Turkey."
Meinertzhagen did not
come directly in contact
with Zionism until after he
was sent to Cairo in May,
1917 as head of Gen. Allen-
by's intelligence section.
But he soon became a com-
mitted Zionist and was
probably far ahead of the
Zionist leaders in pushing
for a Jewish state.
Part of this was due to
his dislike of Arabs who
he considered inferior.
But he pressed for a
Jewish state within the
British Commonwealth
which he believed would
ensure Britain's interests
in the Mideast and India.
Incidentally, he was one
of those who proposed a
canal from the Mediterra-
nean to the Dead Sea which
now appears to be about to
be realized. After the state
of Israel was created he
urged Britain not to base its
policy on the Arab states
but on an alliance with
Turkey and Israel. A typical
British imperialist, except.
in his support of Zionism, he
disliked the United States
which he accused of want-
ing to supplant Britain in
.7f
the Mideast.
His early support of a
Jewish state is shown in the
diary's account of a dinner
in 1918 after he had joined
the War Office in which the
Balfour Declaration was
discussed. Meinertzhagen
challenged Balfour, declar-
ing that the document was
"ambiguous" and could be
interpreted in many ways.
When he asked Balfour if
the declaration foresees
Jewish sovereignty in
Palestine, Balfour replied,
"My personal hope is that
the Jews will make good in
Palestine and eventually
found a Jewish state. It is up
to them now; we have given
them their great opportu-
nity." But Meinertzhagen
was not satisfied.
At the Paris Peace Con-
ference, Meinertzhagen
advised Weizmann to go
all out for Jewish sover-
eignty in Palestine. "He
might get it now whereas
in a year's time it will be
impossible," he wrote.
And for Meinertzhagen,
Jewish sovereignty
meant all of Palestine.
Nothing enraged him so
much as when Britain
lopped off Transjordan
from Palestine, an event
which he continued to go
back to again and again
in his diary as the biggest
mistake made by - Britain
during the Mandate.
"I dislike the splitting up
of the Middle East into a
multitude of little Arab
states each under its little
king," he wrote in his diary
on June 14, 1922. "It does
not lead to' stability. More
than ever I resent the hand-
ing over of Transjordan,
which is an integral part of
Palestine, to an Arab ruler.
Churchill is responsible for
this grave error.
"It deprives the Jewish
National Home of one of the
best parts of Palestine and
is bound to lead to trouble.
The French are not going to
last long in Syria and then
we shall have yet another
Arab state north of Pales-
tine and the Jews will be
entirely encircled by bitter
enemies, which places them
in a precarious position. I
trust I live to see an inde-
pendent Jewish state in
Palestine; their survival
will be precarious sur-
rounded by enemies; but the
Jews are good fighters."
Friday, November 1, 1980 19
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