From: "M Alfadel" <alfadelm-AT-batelco.com.bh> Subject: GHANDI'S OPINION Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 19:48:26 +0300 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. >Subject: GHANDI'S OPINION >Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 15:08:38 +0200 > > Gandhi's opinion. It came a few days before his assassination in 1948 > >"Several letters have been received by me asking me to declare my views >about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine and the persecution of the Jews >in Germany. It is not without hesitation that I venture to offer my >views on this very difficult question. >My sympathies are all with the Jews. I have known them intimately in >South Africa. Some of them became lifelong companions. Through these >friends, I came to learn much of their age-long persecution. They have >been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their >treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is >very close. Religious sanction has been invoked in both cases for the >justification of the inhuman treatment meted out to them. Apart from the >friendships, therefore, there is the more common universal reason for my >sympathy for the Jews. >But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The >cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. >The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which >the Jews have hankered after a return to Palestine. Why should they not, >like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they >are born and where they earn their livelihood? >Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to >the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose >Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be >justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction >but that of the last war. Surely, it would be a crime against humanity >to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews >partly or wholly as their national home. The nobler course would be to >insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are born and bred. >The Jews born in France are French in precisely the same sense that >Christians born in France are French. If the Jews have no home but >Palestine, will they relish the idea of being forced to leave the other >parts of the world in which they are settled? Or do they want a double >home where they can remain at will? >This cry for the national home affords a colorable justification for the >German expulsion of the Jews. But the German persecution of the Jews >seems to have no parallel in history. The tyrants of old never went so >mad as Hitler seems to have gone. And he is doing it with religious >zeal. For, he is propounding a new religion of exclusive and militant >nationalism in the name of which any inhumanity becomes an act of >humanity to be rewarded there and hereafter. The crime of an obviously >mad but intrepid youth is being visited upon his whole race with >unbelievable ferocity. >If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for >humanity, a war against Germany to prevent the wanton persecution of a >whole race, it would be completely justified. But I do not believe in >any war. A discussion of the pros and cons of such a war, is, therefore, >outside my horizon or province. >But if there can be no war against Germany, even for such a crime as >being committed against the Jews, surely there can be no alliance with >Germany. How can there be alliance between a nation which claims to >stand for justice and democracy and one which is the declared enemy of >both? Or is England drifting towards armed dictatorship and all it >means? >And now a word to the Jews in Palestine. I have no doubt that they are >going about it in the wrong way. The Palestine of Biblical conception is >not a geographical tract. It is in their hearts. But if they must look >to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to >enter under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be >performed with the aid of the bayonet or bomb. They can settle in >Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs. They >should seek to convert the Arab heart. The same God rules the Arab heart >who rules the Jewish heart... They will find the world opinion in their >favor in their religious aspiration. There are hundreds of ways of >reasoning with the Arabs, if they will only discard the help of the >British bayonet. As it is, they are co-sharers with the British in >despoiling a people who have done >no wrong to them. I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had >chosen the way of >non-violence in resisting what they rightly regarded as the >unwarrantable encroachment upon their country. But according to the >accepted cannons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the >Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds. >Let the Jews who claim to be the chosen race prove their title by >choosing the way of non-violence for vindicating their position on >earth. Every country is their home, including Palestine, not by >aggression but by loving service. A Jewish friend has sent me a book >called The Jewish Contribution to Civilization by Cecil Roth. It gives a >record of what Jews have done to >enrich the world's literature, art, music, drama, science, medicine, >agriculture, etc. Given the will, the Jew can refuse to be treated as >the outcast of the West, to be despised or patronized. >He can command the attention and respect of the world by being the >chosen creation of God, instead of sinking to the brute who is forsaken >by God. They can add to their many contributions the surpassing >contribution of non-violent action." > > ------- Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: Click Here
HTML VERSION:
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005