10.12 Sauya Suna, Ƙirƙirar Kai, da Mayar da Kai ɗan Asalin Ƙasa da Tsoho: Canza Sunayen Mutum daga Membobin Ƙungiyar Masu Mulki ta Yahudawan Ashkenazi ta Sahyoniyya Mai Cin Zarafi a Isra'ila

10.12 Sauya Suna, Ƙirƙirar Kai, da Mayar da Kai ɗan Asalin Ƙasa da Tsoho: Canza Sunayen Mutum daga Membobin Ƙungiyar Masu Mulki ta Yahudawan Ashkenazi ta Sahyoniyya Mai Cin Zarafi a Isra'ila - Falasdinu: Tarihin Shekaru Dubu Hudu | Quran Course

Ga Ben-Gurion, ƙirƙirar al'adar Ibrananci da haɗa al'umma waje guda ya nufi cewa Littafi Mai Tsarki na Ibrananci ya zama ba takarda ta addini ko ma'ajiyar koyarwar tauhidi ba; an sake fasalta shi a matsayin rubutu mai tsarki na ƙabilanci da launin fata, wanda ke tsakiyar tatsuniyoyin kafa na Sihiyonanci na boko. A matsayin akida ta farko ta ƙabilanci na boko, wadda ke tabbatar da tsohuwar kasancewar ƙabilancin Yahudawa (Smith, A. 1986, 1989: 340‒367), kuma wadda ƙungiyoyin Eurocentric na völkisch da akidun launin fata suka zuga, Sihiyonancin Ben-Gurion ya kalli Littafi Mai Tsarki ta hanyar amfani kawai: harshen Littafin, labarinsa da sunayen wurare sun yi aiki a matsayin tatsuniya mai tada hankali da kuma "labarin tarihi" na "hakkin Yahudawa ga ƙasar" – da'awar da binciken kayan tarihi na kwanan nan ba koyaushe yake tabbatarwa ba. A wurin Ben-Gurion, ba shi da muhimmanci ko labarin Littafi da sunayen wurare sun kasance ingantaccen rikodin abubuwan da suka faru a zahiri da tarihi. Ba a bayyana sarai ba ko Ben-Gurion ya ɗauka cewa abubuwan da zamanin dā da jihar Isra'ila ke sake aiwatarwa sun taɓa faruwa a zahiri. Amma, kamar yadda ya bayyana, "Ba shi da muhimmanci ko labarin [na Littafi] rikodi ne na gaskiya na wani abu ko a'a. Abin da ke da muhimmanci shi ne abin da Yahudawa suka yi imani da shi tun a zamanin Haikali na Farko" (Pearlman 1965: 227; duba kuma Rose 2004: 9).

For Ben-Gurion, the invention of a Hebrew tradition and the synthesising of a nation meant that the Hebrew Bible became not a religious document or a repository of theological assertions; it was reinvented as a nationalised and racialised sacred text central to the modern foundational myths of secular Zionism. As a primordialist ideaology of secular nationalism, asserting the antiquity of Jewish nationalism (Smith, A. 1986, 1989: 340‒367), and inspired by Eurocentric völkisch and racial ideologies, Ben-Gurion’s Zionism viewed the Bible in an entirely functional way: the biblical language, narrative and place names functioned as a mobilising myth and as an ‘historical account’ of Jews’ ‘title to the land’ – a claim not necessarily borne out by recent archaeological findings. For Ben-Gurion, it was not important whether the biblical narrative and place names were an objective and true record of actual historical events and the past. It is not entirely clear whether Ben-Gurion assumed that the ancient events the Israeli state was re-enacting had actually occurred. But, as he explains, ‘It is not important whether the [biblical] story is a true record of an event or not. What is of importance is that this is what the Jews believed as far back as the period of the First Temple’ (Pearlman 1965: 227; also Rose 2004: 9).

Kamar Ben-Gurion, yawancin masu akidar Zionism na kwadago masu tsarin rayuwar boko sun nuna tun farko halin shakku mai zurfi game da addini. Ko da yake sunan ƙungiyar ya samo asali ne daga kalmar ‘Zion’, wadda asalinta sunan wani katafaren gini ne a Urushalima, Zionism ya sake fasalta Yahudanci ya kuma mayar da jigogin Yahudawa ayyukan siyasa. Haka kuma, Zionism yana da burin ƙirƙirar sabuwar al'ummar Ibraniyawa da za ta bambanta da rayuwar Yahudawa a bazuwar, kuma bai ga Urushalima mai addinai da dama da kuma yawan ra'ayoyi a matsayin wurin da ya dace a kafa irin wannan sabuwar al'umma ba. Ba wai kawai cike take da baƙi (’yan asalin Larabawan Falasdinu) ba, har ma tana zaune da tsohuwar al'ummar Yahudawa ta Yishuv mai zaman lafiya, waɗanda membobinsu sun kasance cikin al'ummar ultra-Orthodox masu adawa da Zionism. Don haka ba abin mamaki ba ne cewa Zionists sun fi son gina sabon birni na Yahudawa (mai tsarki) na Tel Aviv a gaɓar tekun Bahar Rum, a wajen birnin Falasdinu na Jaffa. An kafa Tel Aviv a shekara ta 1910 a wani yanki wanda, bisa ga Littafi Mai-Tsarki, Filistiyawa (ba Isra'ilawa ba) ne suka mallake shi.

Like Ben-Gurion, many secular labour Zionists displayed from the outset a deeply ambivalent attitude towards religion. Although the movement’s name is derived from the word ‘Zion’, which was originally the name of a fortress in Jerusalem, Zionism reinvented Judaism and translated Jewish themes into political action. Furthermore, Zionism had ambitions to create a new Hebrew society that would be different from Jewish life in the diaspora and did not see multi-religious and pluralistic Jerusalem as the appropriate place for the founding of such a new society. Not only was it full of aliens (native Palestinian Arabs), but it was also inhabited by the peaceful ‘old Jewish Yishuv’, whose members were part of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox community. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Zionists preferred to build the new (and pure) Jewish city of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast, just outside the Palestinian city of Jaffa. Tel Aviv was founded in 1910 in a region which, according to the Bible, was ruled by the Philistines (not the Israelites)

An sami sabuwar ƙwaƙwalwar al'adun maza ta kasance bisa ikon gwamnati mai mulki: harshen 'Sabon Ibrananci', 'Sabon Mutumin Ibrananci', wata sabuwar al'umma mai soja, da wani birni na Ibrananci keɓaɓɓe ga Yahudawa (Tel Aviv), wata sabuwar mazauna 'Sabon Yishuv', da kuma sabbin ma'aikatan Ibrananci masu makamai na Histadrut, Babbar Ƙungiyar Ma'aikatan Ibrananci a Ƙasar Isra'ila. An kafa Histadrut, wadda ke da tsarin soja, a shekarar 1920, kuma hidimar soja da ita sun kasance ginshiƙan aikin Zionism na mamayewa. Sun wakilci wannan sabuwar ƙasƙantacciyar kuma mai ƙarfi da tsattsauran ra'ayi a matsayin ainihin al'umma. Musamman ma, Histadrut mai tsarin soja ta mamaye duka kayayyakin tattalin arziƙi da na tsaro da soja na Yishuv na Zionist, kuma ta taka muhimmiyar rawa a shige da ficen mutane, daidaita ƙasa da mamayar yankuna, ayyukan tattalin arziƙi, ɗaukar ma'aikata da tsara soja da tsaro (Haganah), inda aikin ƙungiyar ma'aikata ya zama kaɗan daga cikin ayyukanta. Ba a karɓi 'yan ƙasar Isra'ila Falasɗinawa a matsayin membobi ba sai a shekarar 1959. Histadrut ta zama ginshiƙi a wannan yunƙuri da aka tsara domin ƙirƙirar 'Sabuwar Mazauna' ta jini da zuriya ɗaya, da kuma fansar 'ƙasar Littafi Mai Tsarki' ta hanyar mamaye. A shekarun 1920 shugabancin ma'aikata na Zionist ya fara samar da dabarar kauracewa a Falasɗinu. Saboda haka, a shekarar 1929, Ben-Gurion ya rubuta game da buƙatar 'Katangar Ƙarfe ta ƙauyukan ma'aikatan [Zionist] da ke kewaye da kowane birni da gari na Ibrananci, ƙasa da gadar ɗan adam da za ta haɗa wuraren da ke keɓe', wadda za ta iya tilasta koyarwar 'aikin Ibrananci' kaɗai ('avoda 'ivrit) da 'ƙasar Ibrananci' (adama 'ivrit) (Masalha 1992: 24‒25).

The invention of a new masculine collective memory was based on hegemonic state power: the ‘New Hebrew’ language, the ‘New Hebrew Man’, a new and militarised society and an exclusively Jewish ‘Hebrew City’ (Tel Aviv), a ‘New Yishuv’ settler colony, and the new and armed Hebrew workers of the Histadrut, the General Federation of Hebrew Workers in the Land of Israel. Established in 1920, the militarised Histadrut and military service were central to the Zionist project of conquest. They represented that newly constructed muscular and militant national identity. The militarised Histadrut, in particular, dominated both the economic and military- security infrastructure of the Zionist Yishuv and played a major role in immigration, land settlement and colonisation, economic activities, labour employment and military organisation and defence (the Haganah), with trade union activity as only one part of its activities.26 Palestinian citizens of Israel were not admitted as members until 1959. The Histadrut became central to this drive designed to create a ‘New Settlement’ of blood and common descent and redeem the ‘biblical soil’ by conquest. In the 1920s the Zionist Labour leadership also began to develop a boycott strategy in Palestine. Thus, in 1929, Ben-Gurion wrote of the need for an ‘Iron Wall of [Zionist] workers’ settlements surrounding every Hebrew city and town, land and human bridge that would link isolated points’ and which would be capable of enforcing the doctrine of exclusive ‘Hebrew labour’ (‘avoda ‘ivrit) and ‘Hebrew soil’ (adama ‘ivrit) (Masalha 1992: 24‒25).

Within the Zionist strategies, there is a long list of Zionist leaders who formally changed their names from Russian and East European to Hebrew-sounding names. Many changed their names following Ben-Gurion's military directives after the establishment of Israel in 1948. While only a small minority of East European Jews who had migrated to the US or Britain chose voluntarily to anglicise their names, members of almost the entire Zionist elite of Israel were pressurised after May 1948 to change their European names to 'authentic'-sounding biblical ones. In fact this intense pressure was applied almost immediately after the establishment of Israel in May 1948. It was applied top down by Prime Minister and Defence Minister David Ben-Gurion, who effectively ordered all senior officers of the Israeli army to change their European surnames. Yigael Sukenik, chief of operations and acting chief of staff of the army in 1948, was the first to comply: 'On June 28, 1948, Ben-Gurion swore in the members of the IDF high command, insisting that each one adopted a Hebrew last name. Since most chose their Haganah code names, Yigael Sukenik became Yigael Yadin' (Pasachoff 1997: 220).

Within the Zionist strategies, there is a long list of Zionist leaders who formally changed their names from Russian and East European to Hebrew-sounding names. Many changed their names following Ben- Gurion’s military directives after the establishment of Israel in 1948. While only a small minority of East European Jews who had migrated to the US or Britain chose voluntarily to anglicise their names, members of almost the entire Zionist elite of Israel were pressurised after May 1948 to change their European names to ‘authentic’-sounding biblical ones. In fact this intense pressure was applied almost immediately after the establishment of Israel in May 1948. It was applied top down by Prime Minister and Defence Minister David Ben-Gurion, who effectively ordered all senior officers of the Israeli army to change their European surnames. Yigael Sukenik, chief of operations and acting chief of staff of the army in 1948, was the first to comply: ‘On June 28, 1948, Ben-Gurion swore in the members of the IDF high command, insisting that each one adopted a Hebrew last name. Since most chose their Haganah code names, Yigael Sukenik became Yigael Yadin’ (Pasachoff 1997: 220).