Pre-Zionist Palestine in the Media: The Jews in Rafah
Image Source: Facebook
I am not going to go in strictly chronological order with this series; more like I’ll be making large circles through history. I noticed this article on Rafah, and considering the imminent invasion into Rafah, I thought it would be a good choice. So, we’re jumping to the early 1900s! Here is a short article posted in the April 5, 1913 issue of Filastin, one of the most widely distributed newspapers in Palestinian society. I posted the actual article alongside the translation because I didn’t want people to think I was posting erroneous information—I’m not sure the facts stated in this article were checked… You can also view it at the link above.
The Jews in Rafah
An editor of The Egyptian Gazette in Alexandria met Sir Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda (founder of the newspaper HaZvi in Jerusalem), a Hebrew linguist who owns the largest Hebrew dictionary. He asked him questions, including one about the colony that, according to the rumors, the Zionist Organization wanted to establish in Rafah. Sir Ben-Yehuda told him the following:
The Egyptian government has put up some obstacles in establishing this colony. First, this is because it does not recognize the veracity that these lands are empty [simply] because the Bedouins who inhabit them do not have proof of ownership. Second, from a military standpoint, it does not want to allow Russian and German Israelite collectives to establish colonies for themselves on important sites along the border between Egypt and Palestine. Third, there is an administrative issue, which is that the Sinai Peninsula and Rafah are among territories that are subject to the Sudanese government’s authority. Sir Eliezer had mentioned that Sir Goldenberg, Vice President of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, is now in Egypt negotiating with the Egyptian government (he returned some time ago)
I have two notes for this translation:
I added [simply] to the translation because I felt a pure translation of the first reason Ben-Yehuda gave would be confusing without it. It seemed that Zionists believed the lands they wanted for their colonies should be considered empty because the Bedouins didn’t have deeds and the like, but the Egyptian government rejected this reasoning (which quite frankly surprised me because governments aren’t usually so benevolent towards nomadic peoples—could’ve just been a convenient excuse, I guess).
Ben-Yehuda claims that the Egyptian government said the Sinai Peninsula and Rafah were subject to the Sudanese government’s authority, but I cannot verify this claim at all. There was a territory dispute between Egypt and Sudan, but it was a piece of land along their borders, not so far north near Palestine. I doubted my eyes, my ability to read and translate Arabic, which is why I added the article alongside, but I don’t see another translation. If you do, please don’t hesitate to share it.
Jewish Media
There were very few relevant mentions of Rafah in Jewish media. In the July 16, 1910 issue of The Reform Advocate and the July 22, 1910 issue of The Hebrew Standard, it was reported that members of the British Jewish Company wanted to establish a colony in Rafah because they had liked the land. The only other mention I could find around this time was on April 25, 1919, when Thomas Preston was detailing what a Jewish Palestine would be like when the Zionists prevailed at the Peace Conference.
While I didn’t find many mentions of Rafah, I did find a lot of content about Ben-Yehuda, who was apparently a very interesting person. He was highly regarded for promoting the local Jewish population in Palestine to speak Hebrew and really made modern Hebrew a vital language. He was mentioned in a December 1919 article about an Arabic newspaper championing Jewish rights and justifying the proposal of officially recognizing Hebrew for government announcements and proclamations—though this newspaper definitely has the most (supposedly) positive view of Britain I’ve come across yet.
According to the June 11, 1915 issue of The Jewish Voice, Ben-Yehuda was asked to comment on what would happen to Palestine if the Ottomans were defeated in WWI, and his response was:
I am an Ottoman subject. I cannot even conceive the idea or talk of it. It would be a very great thing for Jews everywhere, and particularly in Palestine, if the race should be officially represented at the International Peace Conference certain to follow hostilities.
According to the December 12, 1919 issue of The Hebrew Standard, his newspaper was “opposed to outside interference with Palestinian affairs, and [was] especially bitter against attempts of the group of Russian Maskilim to formulate policies for the native Jewish population.” Maskilim were people versed in Hebrew or Yiddish literature and followers of Haskalah, which includes the revival of Hebrew. I find this especially interesting because he himself is a Russian who was the most knowledgeable in Hebrew and most efficient in revitalizing Hebrew…
US Press
The only mentions of Rafah in the US press that I could find is in 1917, when they reported the British’s WWI battles or showed maps of Egypt (related to said battles). I tried finding mentions of Jews in Egypt (nothing but mentions of Passover and scripture) or Ben-Yehuda, but no such luck. I guess this topic wasn’t too interesting to Americans.