*by Dr. Glenda Sacks.
Reflections on a changing Palestine by Major Edward Keith-Roach – the homeland promised to the Jews in The Balfour Declaration.
The centenary of The Balfour Declaration this month has stimulated heated debates and discussions about the consequences of Lord Balfour promising the Jews a “homeland” in Palestine then ruled by the Ottoman Turks. In the aftermath of The Great War (1914-1918), the Ottoman Empire was carved up by the victorious European countries, and Britain took over the governance of Palestine. Reading an article by a faithful servant of British imperialism, Major Edward Keith-Roach – the Colonial Governor of Jerusalem (1926-1945) – it came as a surprise to see a genuinely hopeful, benign, and generous view of the future of the biblical land which was to become, in Keith-Roach’s view, the “New Palestine”.
Major Edward Keith-Roach
His hopeful vision of a new utopia for the land promised to the Jews in The Balfour Declaration is discussed and contrasted here with the tumultuous events in Palestine which ultimately led to the creation of the State of Israel.
The Tumultuous Thirties
Major Edward Keith-Roach’s article “Changing Palestine”.
Keith-Roach’s article “Changing Palestine” was published in the April edition of “The National Geographic Magazine” in 1934. His description of what he calls the “New Palestine” is positively glowing, and he is amazed by the stunning changes brought about by modern technology such as oil pipelines from Iraq, railway lines from Beirut to Alexanderia, and seaplanes from London landing on the Sea of Galilee, “where Christ once walked.” (527)
He ends his 66-page article with an exclamatory cry:
“May the shepherd’s pipe and muffled roar of turbine join forces to create a Greater Palestine, Holy Land of three faiths!” (527)
Clearly, Keith-Roach is deeply affected by the ancient character of the Holy Land, and he sees it as the role of the British to encourage the development of this biblical land and to embrace the modernizing efforts of immigrant Jews to the area. According to his utopian perspective, Muslims, Christians and Jews would live together in splendid harmony of a Palestine under the governance and guidance of a ‘paternal’ Western power.
Harmony in Diversity
A telling example of his romantic view of the “New Palestine” is the caption under a photograph of a young woman chipping away at a piece of stone. Titled “A Woman Toiler in the Jewish National Homeland”, Keith-Roach writes: “Women immigrants work side by side with the male colonists. Young men, nude to the waist toil under the brilliant sun. The “shorts” worn by the colonists of both sexes contrast with the trailing robes in which Arab women walk like queens.” (517) For Keith-Roach, the wonder lies in the diversity of people and attitudes, toiling away in harmony to build a new modern land. His article is lavishly illustrated with photographs of seaplanes landing on the Sea of Galilee, the modern architecture of The King David Hotel in Jerusalem, and Muslims taking a ride on the Pilgrim Railway that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.
Woman Toiler. Women immigrants work side by side in their new national homeland with their male counterparts.
The author takes a paternal pride in the modernization of this ancient land, and there is no question of whether the Arabs or Jews will someday govern the area themselves. He comments that: “Today Jewish and Arab workers live together in a flourishing settlement, winning the riches of the Dead Sea which so long was dead but now is alive.” (507)
Later he notes that “Extensive drainage schemes undertaken by Jewish and Government enterprise have done much to exterminate the mosquito and rid Palestine of malaria” (511).
Torn sacred books and broken furniture in a synagogue desecrated by Arab rioters in Hebron, 1929
There is no mention in the article of skirmishes between Jews and Arabs such as the Hebron Massacres in 1929, that left some 69 Jews dead with scores wounded or maimed and homes pillaged and synagogues ransacked.
Nor does he mention the growing distrust of the British by the local population. Keith-Roach’s oversight in mentioning these conflicts is highlighted when, only five years later in 1939, The White Paper issued by the British Government under Neville Chamberlin in response to the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt severely curtailed the number of Jews allowed to immigrate to Palestine. Not only had the promise of the homeland in The Balfour Declaration been ignored, thousands of Jews could no longer consider be assured of entry into Palestine. Inevitably, Keith-Roach’s utopian plan was crushed under conflicting nationalist forces: Jewish Zionism versus the nationalistic aspirations of local Palestinians together with the thousands of Arabs who had flocked to Palestine from surrounding countries to enjoy the benefits of a healthy environment free of malaria, and plenty of clinics and job prospects.
It is easy to be cynical about Keith-Roach’s hope of a utopian society in Palestine because he was a British “imperialist” taking part in upholding a “colonialist” enterprise. However, one can’t deny the advances in agriculture, technology, medicine, architecture, and culture which took place during the time of the British Mandate. Keith-Roach applauds modern methods which he believes transformed “a purely pastoral people to a higher plane of life.” (527) However, despite the promising strides made by modern methods in the “New Palestine,” it was the nationalist aspirations of both Arabs and Jews that led to a bitter conflict culminating in the War of Independence of 1948 when seven Arab armies invaded the nascent State of Israel. This invasion precipitated the beginning of both the Jewish and Palestinian refugee problem, when hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from their homes in Arab countries, and thousands of Palestinians fled the war to neighboring states, believing that they would return to their homes soon.
Sadly, while the Jewish refugees were quickly absorbed into the young State of Israel, Palestinians who fled during the war have been left to languish in refugee camps all over the Arab world until today. Those Palestinians who resisted the call to leave the State of Israel during the war now enjoy all the benefits of the Jewish state, and many are vital members of a flourishing society. While Keith-Roach’s utopian vision of a “New Palestine” never materialised, it cannot be denied that The Balfour Declaration proved beneficial for the Jewish people who have been restored to their ancestral homeland, as well as providing a safe, democratic, and free environment for the Arabs who chose to stay.
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Works Cited: Keith-Roach, Edward. “Changing Palestine” in The National Geographic Magazine, Vol.LXV, September 1934.
Dr. Glenda Sacks
*Glenda Sacks, who received her BA, H Dip (ED), BA (FA) and BA (MA) in South Africa, is a founding member of the Israel Forum for Academic Writing (IFAW), and is the head of the Academic Forum for Literature (AFFL). After receiving the President’s Scholarship and her doctorate focusing on cognitive science and literature at Bar-Ilan University, she was involved in the training of English teachers at Achva Academic College. She currently teaches academic writing to students of government, communications, and psychology at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzylia. She has published numerous articles on cognitive science, literature and pedagogy, and is presently conducting research on the connection between multiculturalism, argumentation and academic writing.
