Saturday, 17 May 2014

Central Zionist Archives


Logo CZA.jpg
The Central Zionist Archives (CZA; Hebrew: הארכיון הציוני המרכזי) is the official archives of the institutions of the Zionist Movement: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and Keren Hayesod/the United Israel Appeal as well as the archives of the World Jewish Congress.[1] The CZA preserves the files created in the course of the activities of these bodies and the secondary bodies created by them. In addition, the Central Zionist Archives holds the files of the institutions of the Jewish population in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel.
Similarly, the Central Zionist Archives preserves more than 1,500 personal papers of the leaders and activists of the Zionist Movement and the Jewish population in Palestine before the establishment of the State.[2] The list of personal papers includes well-known figures in modern Zionist history, such as Theodor Herzl, Nahum Sokolow, David Wolffsohn, Max Bodenheimer, Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Haim Arlozoroff and other functionaries and professionals.
The CZA collections include: files and printed material, a Maps and Plans Collection, a Photograph Collection, a Posters and Handbills Collection, a Newspaper and Periodicals Collection, a library, a Microfilm Collection, an Audio Collection and an Artifacts Collection.

History of the CZA


Herzl. From the photograph collection of the CZA
The Central Zionist Archives was founded in 1919 in Berlin by the historian George Herlitz who was nominated to the position of the archivist of the Zionist Executive, by the member of the Executive, Arthur Hantke. At the start, files of the Central Zionist Offices in Vienna and Cologne were transferred to the new institution, and thereafter the files of the Jewish National Fund and the Central Zionist Office in London. Concurrently the Archives began to collect books, periodicals and photographs that documented the history of the Zionist Movement and Palestine in the modern era.
With the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933, Dr. Herlitz asked for permission from the German authorities to remove the Archives from Germany. When permission was received, the material was packed in boxes and transferred to Jerusalem. The Archives was housed in the basement of the National Institutions building in Jerusalem. It was opened to the public in the autumn of 1934.
With the Archives' transfer to Jerusalem, its collections expanded considerably; in addition to holding the material of the various Zionist bodies, it also undertook to be the historical archives for the institutions of the new Yishuv. Concurrently, the systematic collection of the private papers of the leaders of the Zionist Movement and the Yishuv was begun. After the Second World War, an increased effort was made to bring to Palestine/Israel the scarce archival material that had survived the War.

Landmarks in the Archives' history


CZA building, Jerusalem
1937: The personal papers of Theodor Herzl were transferred from Vienna to Palestine.[3]
1948: With the establishment of the State of Israel, the CZA expanded the contents of its collections. Many files of the General Council (the Va'ad Leumi) and of various departments of the Jewish Agency were transferred to the Archives, including the files of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency.
1955: Dr. Alex Bein was appointed Director of the Central Zionist Archives. Among the objectives that he set for himself, were the locating of archives of Zionist personalities and associations that survived the Holocaust, including the archives ofMax Nordau and Nahum Sokolow, and their transfer to Israel.
1956: The 24th Zionist Congress convened in Jerusalem, and defined the status and the functions of the Central Zionist Archives as the "historic archives of the Zionist Movement and Organization and the Jewish Agency". The Congress passed a resolution that all the offices and institutions of the Executive of the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency are obliged to make all the files accessible to the Archives that are no longer necessary for their ongoing work.
1985: The construction of the new building began in proximity to the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. The architect Moshe Zarhi designed the new building. The building has six floors: two upper floors where there are the reading hall, a lecture room, a lobby for exhibitions and the offices of the Archives, and four underground floors where the various collections are stored.
1987: The new building of the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem was inaugurated.
2000's: The computerization and digitization of the various materials of the Archives progressed at full speed. The computer system contains about 2,876,000 records, and about 12,518, 000 scanned documents, photographs, maps, posters and graphic material.

References

  1. Jump up^ Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem
  2. Jump up^ Central Zionist Archives
  3. Jump up^ Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem

External links

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Friday, 16 May 2014

Benyamin Netanyahu on Nakba Day

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said his response to those who mourn the creation of Israel is his newly proposed nationality law that seeks to enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state in the country’s Basic Laws.
His remarks were made as he toured a sports complex being built in Jerusalem as thousands of Palestinian Arabs held “Nakba” (“Catastrophe”) events throughout the West Bank and Gaza, to protest Israel’s founding in 1948.
“Today, not far from here, in the Palestinian Authority, they are marking what they call Nakba Day. They stand silent in order to commemorate the disaster of the establishment of Israel, the state of the Jewish People. They educate their children, with endless propaganda, that the State of Israel needs to disappear,” Netanyahu said. ”We have many responses to this.”
“The first response is that we are continuing to build up our state and our united capital, Jerusalem. We will also give another response to the Nakba: We will pass the nationality law that makes it clear to the entire world that Israel is the state of the Jewish People,” he said.

Nakba Day
Date15 May
Next time15 May 2014
Frequencyannual
1948 Palestinian exodus
Man see school nakba.jpg
Related categories/lists
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Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة Yawm an-Nakba, meaning "Day of the Catastrophe") is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after theGregorian calendar date for Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut). For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.[1]

Defining Nakba


During the 1948 Palestine War, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, and hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed.[2][3]

Palestinian refugees in 1948
These refugees and their descendants number several million people today, divided betweenJordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria(477,700), the West Bank (788,108) and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with at least another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel.[4]The displacement, dispossession and dispersal of the Palestinian people is known to them as an-Nakba, meaning "catastrophe" or "disaster”.[5][6][7]
Prior to its adoption by the Palestinian nationalist movement, the "Year of the Catastrophe" among Arabs referred to 1920, when European colonial powers partitioned the Ottoman Empire into a series of separate states along lines of their own choosing.[8] The term was first used to reference the events of 1948 in the summer of that same year by the Syrian writer Constantine Zureiq in his work Macnā an-Nakba ("The Meaning of the Nakba"; published in English in 1956).[9]
Initially, the use of the term Nakba among Palestinians was not universal. For example, many years after 1948, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon avoided and even actively resisted using the term, because it lent permanency to a situation they viewed as temporary, and they often insisted on being called "returnees."[10] In the 1950s and 1960s, terms they used to describe the events of 1948 included al-'ightiṣāb ("the rape"), or were more euphemistic, such as al-'aḥdāth ("the events"), al-hijra ("the exodus"), and lammā sharnā wa-tla'nā("when we blackened our faces and left").[10] Nakba narratives were avoided by the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon in the 1970s, in favor of a narrative of revolution and renewal.[10] Interest in the Nakba by organizations representing refugees in Lebanon surged in the 1990s due to the perception that the refugees' right of return might be negotiated away in exchange for Palestinian statehood, and the desire was to send a clear message to the international community that this right was non-negotiable.[10] The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has prompted Palestinians like Mahmoud Darwish to describe the Nakba as "an extended present that promises to continue in the future.”[7]

Timing

Nakba Day is generally commemorated on May 15, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israel's Independence. In Israel, Nakba Day events have been held by some Arab citizens on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day), which is celebrated in Israel on the Hebrew calendar date (5 Iyar or shortly before or after). Because of the differences between the Hebrew and the Gregorian calendars, Independence Day and the official 15 May date for Nakba Day usually only coincide every 19 years.[11]

Commemoration


Palestinian girl in a protest on Nakba Day 2010 in Hebron, West Bank. Her sign says "Surely we will return, Palestine." Most of the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank are descendants of people whose families hail from areas that were incorporated into Israel in 1948.[4]
Commemoration of the Nakba by Arab citizens of Israel who are internally displaced persons as a result of the 1948 war has been practiced for decades, but until the early 1990s was relatively weak. Initially, the memory of the catastrophe of 1948 was personal and communal in character and families or members of a given village would use the day to gather at the site of their former villages.[12] Small scale commemorations of the tenth anniversary in the form of silent vigils were held by Arab students at a few schools in Israel in 1958, despite attempts by the Israeli authorities to thwart them.[13] Visits to the sites of former villages became increasingly visible after the events of Land Day in 1976.[12] In the wake up of the failure of the 1991 Madrid Conference to broach the subject of refugees, the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced in Israel was founded to organize a March of Return to the site of a different village every year on 15 May so as to place the issue on the Israeli public agenda.[14]
By the early 1990s, annual commemorations of the day by Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel held a prominent place in the community's public discourse.[12][15]
Meron Benvenisti writes that it was "…Israeli Arabs who taught the residents of the territories to commemorate Nakba Day."[16] Palestinians in the occupied territories were called upon to commemorate May 15 as a day of national mourning by the Palestine Liberation Organization's United National Command of the Uprising during the First Intifada in 1988.[17] The day was inaugurated by Yasser Arafat in 1998.[18]
The event is often marked by speeches and rallies by Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, in Palestinian refugee camps in Arab states, and in other places around the world.[19][20] Protests at times develop into clashes between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[21][22][23] In 2003 and 2004, there were demonstrations in London[24] and New York City.[25] In 2002, Zochrot was established to organize events raising the awareness of the Nakba in Hebrew so as to bring Palestinians and Israelis closer to a true reconciliation. The name is the Hebrew feminine plural form of "remember".[12]
On Nakba Day 2011, Palestinians and other Arabs from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria marched towards their respective borders, or ceasefire lines and checkpoints in Israeli-occupied territories, to mark the event.[26] At least twelve Palestinians and supporters were killed and hundreds wounded as a result of shootings by the Israeli Army.[27] The Israeli army opened fire after thousands of Syrian protesters tried to forcibly enter the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights resulting in what AFP described as one of the worst incidents of violence there since the 1974 truce accord.[27] The IDF said troops "fired selectively" towards "hundreds of Syrian rioters" injuring an unspecified number in response to them crossing onto the Israeli side.[27] According to the BBC, the 2011 Nakba Day demonstrations were given impetus by the Arab Spring.[28] During the 2012 commemoration, thousands of Palestinian demonstrators protested in cities and towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Protesters threw stones at Israeli soldiers guarding checkpoints in East Jerusalem who then fired rubber bullets and tear gas in response.[29]

Objections to commemoration of Nakba Day

Criticism of the observance of Nakba Day in the Israeli media involves claims that it is marked by Palestinians to celebrate their wishes for the dismantling of the Israeli state[citation needed] and the Jewish majority population,[citation needed] and that the more important issue is the failure to solidify a stronger national movement for Palestinian citizens as a foundation for nation-building.[30] Arab citizens of Israel have also been admonished for observing Nakba Day in light of their higher standard of living when compared to that of Palestinians who reside outside of Israel.[31]
On 23 March 2011, the Knesset approved, by a vote of 37 to 25,[32] a change to the budget, giving the Israeli Finance Minister the discretion to reduce government funding to any non-governmental organization (NGO) that organizes Nakba commemoration events.[33][34]

See also

References

  1. Jump up^ David W. Lesch, Benjamin Frankel (2004). History in Dispute: The Middle East since 1945 (Illustrated ed.). St. James Press. p. 102. ISBN 9781558624726. "The Palestinian recalled their "Nakba Day", "catastrophe" — the displacement that accompanied the creation of the State of Israel — in 1948."
  2. Jump up^ Morris, Benny (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7, p. 604.
  3. Jump up^ Khalidi, Walid (Ed.) (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Figures given here for the number of Palestinian refugees includes only those registered with UNRWA as June 2010. Internally displaced Palestinians were not registered, among others. Factbox: Palestinian refugee statistics
  5. Jump up^ Mehran Kamrava (2005). The modern Middle East: a political history since the First World War (Illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 125.ISBN 9780520241503.
  6. Jump up^ Samih K. Farsoun (2004). Culture and customs of the Palestinians (Illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 14. ISBN 9780313320514.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Derek Gregory (2004). The colonial present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq (Illustrated, reprint ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. p. 86. ISBN 9781577180906.
  8. Jump up^ Antonius, George (1979) [1946], The Arab awakening: the story of the Arab national movement, Putnam, p. 312, "The year 1920 has an evil name in Arab annals: it is referred to as the Year of the Catastrophe (cĀm al-Nakba). It saw the first armed risings that occurred in protest against the post-War settlement imposed by the Allies on the Arab countries. In that year, serious outbreaks took place in Syria, Palestine, and Iraq"
  9. Jump up^ Rochelle Davis (2010). Palestinian Village Histories: Geographies of the Displaced (Illustrated ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 237. ISBN 9780804773133.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Ahmad H. Sa'di, Lila Abu-Lughod (2007). Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the claims of memory (Illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. pp. 253–254.ISBN 9780231135795.
  11. Jump up^ Hertz-Larowitz, Rachel (2003). Arab and Jewish Youth in Israel: Voicing National Injustice on Campus. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 51-66.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Nur Masalha (2005). Catastrophe remembered: Palestine, Israel and the internal refugees: essays in memory of Edward W. Said (1935–2003). Zed Books. p. 221. ISBN 9781842776230.
  13. Jump up^ Hillel Cohen (2010). Good Arabs: the Israeli security agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 1948–1967 (Illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 142.ISBN 9780520257672.
  14. Jump up^ Masalha, 2005, p. 216.
  15. Jump up^ In 2006, for example, Azmi Bishara, an Arab member of the Knesset told the Israeli newspaper Maariv: "Independence Day is your holiday, not ours. We mark this as the day of our Nakba, the tragedy that befell the Palestinian nation in 1948." (Maariv article (in Hebrew))
  16. Jump up^ Mêrôn Benveniśtî (2007). Son of the cypresses: memories, reflections, and regrets from a political life. University of California Press. p. 164.ISBN 9780520238251.
  17. Jump up^ Shaul Mishal, Reʼuven Aharoni (1994). Speaking stones: communiqués from the Intifada underground. Syracuse University Press. p. 96. ISBN 9780815626077. "May 15, which denotes the nakba, will be a day of national mourning and a general strike; public and private transportation will cease, and all will remain in their houses."
  18. Jump up^ Rubin, Barry and Rubin, Judith Colp (2003). Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-516689-2, p. 187.
  19. Jump up^ "Anger over Palestinian Nakba ban proposal". BBC News. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  20. Jump up^ Bowker, Robert (2003). Palestinian Refugees: Mythology, Identity, and the Search for Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1-58826-202-2, p. 96.
  21. Jump up^ Analysis: Why Palestinians are angry, BBC News Online, 15 May 2000.
  22. Jump up^ Violence erupts in West Bank, BBC News Online, 15 May 2000.
  23. Jump up^ Israel - Palestinian Violence, National Public Radio, 15 May 2000.
  24. Jump up^ Pro-Palestine rally in London, BBC News Online, 15 May 2003.
  25. Jump up^ Al-Nakba Day Rally in Times Square, 2004.
  26. Jump up^ Gideon Biger (18 May 2011). "Israel was infiltrated, but no real borders were crossed". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  27. ^ Jump up to:a b c Bloodshed along Israel borders kills 12 on Nakba Day AFP. 15 May 2011.
  28. Jump up^ Israeli forces open fire at Palestinian protesters. BBC News. 15 May 2011.
  29. Jump up^ Thousands of Palestinians mark 'Nakba Day'. BBC News. 15 May 2012.
  30. Jump up^ The real Nakba by Shlomo Avineri, 5 September 2008
  31. Jump up^ "Time to stop mourning" by Meron Benvenisti
  32. Jump up^ Knesset Approves Nakba Law, by Elad Benari, 23 March 2011
  33. Jump up^ Elia Zureik (2011). Elia Zureik, David Lyon, Yasmeen Abu-Laban, ed. Surveillance and Control in Israel/Palestine: Population, Territory and Power (Illustrated ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 17. ISBN 9780415588614.
  34. Jump up^ "MK Zahalka: Racist laws target Arab sector" by Roni Sofer, 22 March 2011

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