Why Only The Historical Land of Israel Can Be The Jewish Homeland - YJ Draiman

Why Only The Historical Land of Israel Can Be The Jewish Homeland

Why not Uganda?

Throughout Jewish history there have been a number of proposals to establish a Jewish homeland outside the borders of current day Israel.  While the Jews have ultimately and consistently maintained their historical and cultural ties to the holy land and Jerusalem with daily prayers beseeching the almighty to return to Israel and rebuilt the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem on Temple Mount. Many world leaders have attempted to create a Jewish state in less desirable locations such as Madagascar, swamplands in the Soviet Far East and Japanese territories.  The majority of these plots were anti-Semitic in nature, trying to rid Jews from unwelcoming countries or to accomplish Jewish isolation.

Ironically, despite the constant dream of the Jewish people to one-day return to their promised land, the very founder of the Zionist movement, Theodore Herzel, was not instrumental in one such proposal to settle the Jews outside of Israel. In 1903, as the president of the World Zionist Congress Herzel received The British Uganda Program, a proposal which would establish a very temporary refuge in Uganda for Jews urgently needing to flee the pogroms in Russia. In collaboration with the British mandate, the plan slated 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) of British East Africa to be given to the Jewish people as a homeland.  While Herzel maintained that this temporary solution did not in any way replace the ultimate Zionist goal of obtaining their historical land of Israel for the Jewish people, the proposition nearly caused a rift in the Zionist movement and was ultimately rejected in 1905.

Clearly, Herzel’s proposal stemmed from his desire to save Jewish lives as well as a likely sense of desperation after years of failed efforts to reestablish the Jewish homeland in Israel. If, under the Uganda proposal, the Jews finally had an opportunity for freedom, self-sovereignty and nationhood, why were his attempts met with such virulent opposition by most of his Zionist comrades? Why was Uganda out of the question?

For those with any sense of historical or religious perspective, it is inconceivable to consider a Jewish homeland in any part of the world other than Israel, the Jewish holy-land consecrated by the almighty. The bond between the Jewish people and The Land of Israel has its origin in the Bible, when G-d promised the land to Abraham and his Israelite descendants.  Throughout history, the Jewish people in Israel have been forced to live under foreign occupation and sovereignties and periodic Jewish self-rule.  Nevertheless, the Jews continually pray for their own country, with religious Jews praying three times a day facing Jerusalem and the site where their holy temple once stood, longing to return to their eternal holy city.

After WWI, when the Supreme Allied Powers defeated Germany and conquered the Ottoman Empire after 400 years of domination, which included The Land of Israel and Jerusalem. The Jews and the Arabs helped the Allied Powers. The Supreme Allied Powers after WWI; in 1920 at The San Remo Conference allocated over five million sq. mi. to the Arabs and allocated Palestine aka The Land of Israel to the Jewish people to reconstitute the National Home for the Jewish people in their historical land; this was implemented by incorporating the 1917 Balfour Declaration as international law and instructing the League of Nations to set-up the Mandate for Palestine with its primary mission to encourage Jewish immigration and developing the land and bring about the sovereign Jewish state in Palestine aka The Land of Israel. The British insisted that they want to assume the responsibility of implementing the Mandate and will abide by its terms with no deviation. Many more Jewish people arrived in Palestine aka The Land of Israel after WWI, and the Jewish population revived the land dried out the quicksand’s and planted agriculture, roads and industry. The British violated the San Remo Resolution and the Faisal Weizmann Agreement of 1919; and reallocated over three quarters of Jewish territory, all the territory east of the Jordan River to the Arabs, as the new Arab independent state of Transjordan aka Jordan.

Throughout the early 1930’s, during Hitler’s rise to power, many more Jews immigrated to The Land of Israel aka Palestine. The local Arab population in Palestine who wanted the benefits of the Jewish development of the land and capital infusion, but now was objecting to the influx of Jewish immigration. The local Arabs applied pressure on the British to violate the terms of the Mandate; the Arabs attacked Jewish communities and rioted consistently and at time attacked and killed Jews and British personnel. The British relented and initiated restrictions on Jewish immigration and the purchase of land.

As a result of the massive calamity that struck the Jewish people during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, the world began to sense the importance of many of the Jews returning to their Jewish homeland. Around the same time, the Uganda proposal was briefly revived by Winston Churchill in an attempt to create a place of refuge for Jews fleeing the Nazi regime.  This time, however, the Zionist organizations were firmly opposed to settling for any state outside of Palestine aka The Land of Israel, fearing that accepting such a plan would threaten their efforts to increase Jewish emigration to Israel as instituted by international law and the terms of the Mandate for Palestine to reconstitute the National Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

In 1948, after six Arab armies invaded Palestine, the Jews in Palestine who were fighting for their survival, defended their land and fought back with limited weapons and personnel, and finally retained some of their territory. The Jewish people’s resistance paid off and they finally achieved their dream of over 2,000 years, regaining control of their historical promised land and establishing their national homeland within some of its borders. There is no other land in the world which holds as much significance, history and holiness for the Jewish people. In Israel, after the 1967 war, when Israel liberated its territory and destroyed Jewish communities from Arab control; the Jewish people can now freely practice their religion and visit their holy sites without trepidation.  What’s more, religious worshippers of all denominations from throughout the world are welcome as well, and can freely enjoy pilgrimages to this holy country and Jerusalem.

Starting in the 1940’s through the 1970’s; The Arab countries terrorized and expelled over a million Jewish families and their children; confiscated all their assets, including businesses, homes and over 75,000 sq. mi. of Jewish owned land; valued today in the trillions of Dollars. The million expelled Jewish families from Arab countries, who lived in the Arab countries for over 2,500 years, majority now live in Greater Israel and comprise over half the population.

The Jewish people are tied to the land of Israel historically, biblically and emotionally in ways that they could never be connected to Uganda or any other land.  The establishment of a Jewish homeland in Israel is a testament to this strong bond, and the fulfillment of a dream that will never be forfeited.

“Jewish Determination and perseverance will bring your goal to fruition” – never give-up and NEVER AGAIN.

YJ Draiman