Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 30)

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Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 30)

المحتوى

Palestinian Literature 1900 — 48
Part III
This is the third — and last — of a series of articles on pre — nakbah Palestinian literature. The previous
article dealt with the period 1920 — 39. This one deals with the period 1939 — 48, the saddest chapter in the
history of the Holy Land.
Lydda, pre —
1948 Palestine
by Mohamed Idris
During World War II the sympathies of Arabs lay with the
Axis powers, for no other reason than that the opposing
powers, the Allies, had fragmented and occupied the Arab
World, thus betraying the promises they had made to the Arabs
during World War I, when these were strongly pro — Allied.
The rift between the Arabs and the Allies was deepened by the
latter’s strong support for Zionism.
Meanwhile, Zionism itself was deepening and making
utmost use of that rift, «convincing» the Allies that the Arabs
were untrustworthy and hostile to strategic Allied interests.
Worse, the Arabs were made to appear as pro-— Hitler and,
therefore, pro— Nazi; and Arab opposition to Zionism was
interpreted as an Eastern version of anti— Semitism. Likewise,
in an effort to actualize its master dream, the seizure of
Palestine, Zionism exploited and even contributed to Nazi
persecution of Jews.
The course of events during World War II was extremely
favorable to the Zionists, who succeeded in channelling the
world’s understandable sympathy with the Jews into their
vicious, already powerful campaign for the seizure of Palestine
— a calculated effort to exploit a human tragedy for the
achievement of unjust political objectives. To this end,
Zionism took part in further persecuting Displaced Persons, as
were called the Jewish survivors of Nazi persecution, and
pressuring them into leaving their countries and immigrating to
30
Palestine. Whereas the British government had already curbed
the influx of Jewish immigration, other Allied governments,
especially that of the USA, gave full support to the Zionist
project. It became obvious that the West was determined to
solve the «Jewish question» at the expense of the Arabs, who
became scapegoats for a sin they hadn’t committed.
The weakness of the Arab world (the regional sponsor of
the cause of Palestine) under Allied military occupation, stood
in sharp contrast to the strength of Zionism and its sponsors,
especially the USA. It was then that the Zionists, with full
Allied support, achieved absolute military superiority over the
Arabs of Palestine, who, in contrast, were denied minimum
military organization and equipment. Whereas the British
Mandate authorities in Palestine turned a blind eye to the
smuggling of huge quantities of arms and other military
equipment to the Zionist paramilitary organizations, the mere
possession by an Arab of an antique rifle was outlawed and the
owner severely punished.
Against this grim background, Palestine seemed to be
standing on the verge of a fatal disaster, and Palestinians were
overwhelmed by a mixed feeling of bitterness appre—
hensiveness, helplessness and, worst of all, desperation.
1939 — 48: The Poetry
That sense of despair was now and then interrupted by
reports of German military success, and these occasional
outbursts of hope were reflected in the writings of this period.
In the preface to his volume of poetry entitled Fire Mountain,

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Democratic Palestine : 45

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