Uundaji wa "ukweli uliopo ardhini" wa kisiasa pamoja na kutumiwa kwa urithi wa kitamaduni kama chombo ni jambo kuu katika miradi yote ya kisasa ya ukoloni wa walowezi.

The creation of political ‘facts on the ground’ together with the instrumentalisation of cultural heritage is key to all modern settler-colonial projects.

Matumizi ya urithi wa kitamaduni wa Palestina kama chombo cha malengo ya walowezi wa Kizayuni ni kiini cha sera za elimu za Israel, cha taaluma ya Biblia ya Israel, na cha miradi ya serikali ya Israel ya kubadilisha majina. Uundaji wa "zamani zinazoweza kutumika" (Peled-Elhanan 2012: 12) na mfumo wa elimu wa Israel pamoja na taaluma ya Biblia ya Israel umechunguzwa na wasomi na waandishi kadhaa wa Israel, akiwemo Nurit Peled-Elhanan (2012: 12–47), Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi (1992), Shlomo Sand (2011), Meron Benvenisti (2002) na Gabriel Piterberg (2001, 2008). Katika kitabu chake Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel, Beit-Hallahmi (wa Chuo Kikuu cha Haifa) anatoa maoni kuhusu "maarifa" ya Israel kuhusu Biblia:

The treatment of the cultural heritage of Palestine as a tool for Zionist settler purposes is central to Israeli educational policies, the Israeli biblical academy and the Israeli government’s renaming projects. The creation of a usable past (Peled-Elhanan 2012: 12) by the Israeli educational system and the Israeli biblical academy has been examined by several Israeli academics and authors, including Nurit Peled-Elhanan (2012: 12–47), Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi (1992), Shlomo Sand (2011), Meron Benvenisti (2002) and Gabriel Piterberg (2001, 2008). In Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel, Beit-Hallahmi (of Haifa University) comments on Israel’s biblical ‘knowledge’:

Wayahudi wengi wa Israeli leo, kutokana na elimu ya Israeli, wanaiona Biblia kuwa chanzo cha kuaminika cha taarifa za kihistoria za aina ya kidunia na kisiasa.

Most Israelis today, as a result of Israeli education, regard the Bible as a reliable source of historical information of a secular, political kind.

Toleo la Kizayuni la historia ya Kiyahudi linakubali hadithi nyingi za Kibiblia kuhusu mwanzo wa historia ya Kiyahudi, isipokuwa uingiliaji wa Mungu.

The Zionist version of Jewish history accepts most Biblical legends about the beginning of Jewish history, minus divine intervention.

Ibrahimu, Isaka na Yakobo wanachukuliwa kuwa watu wa kihistoria. Kushuka kwao Misri na Kutoka kwa Waisraeli ni hatua katika historia ya kidunia ya taifa linaloendelea, kama vile ushindi wa Yoshua wa nchi ya Kanaani.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are treated as historical figures. The descent into Egypt and the Exodus are phases in the secular history of a developing people, as is the conquest of Canaan by Joshua.

Mpangilio wa matukio wa Biblia unakubaliwa, lakini tafsiri yake ni ya kizalendo na ya kidunia.

The Biblical order of events is accepted, but the interpretation is nationalist and secular.

Historisation ya Biblia ni jitihada ya kitaifa nchini Israeli, inayofanywa na mamia ya wasomi katika vyuo vyote vikuu. Hatua ya kuanzia ni mpangilio wa matukio ya Biblia, kisha ushahidi (ambao ni mdogo) na dhana (ambazo ni nyingi) hupangwa kulingana na mpangilio huo. Wizara ya Ulinzi ya Israeli hata imechapisha mpangilio kamili wa matukio ya Biblia, ukitoa tarehe kamili za uumbaji wa dunia … Kudai kwamba hadithi hii ya kale ni historia ni sehemu muhimu ya utaifa wa Kizayuni usio wa kidini, katika jitihada zake za kuwasilisha simulizi lenye mshikamano kuhusu asili ya taifa la Kiyahudi katika Asia Magharibi ya kale. Inatoa kitovu cha utambulisho ili kupinga mapokeo ya kirabi ya Diaspora. Kufundisha Biblia kama historia kwa watoto wa Kiisraeli kunajenga dhana ya mwendelezo. Ni Ibrahimu (‘Mzayuni wa kwanza’, aliyehamia Palestina), Yoshua na ushindi wa Palestina (kuwaangamiza Wakanaani, kama ilivyo leo), na ushindi wa Mfalme Daudi wa Yerusalemu (kama ilivyo leo). (Beit-Hallahmi 1992: 119)

The historicisation of the Bible is a national enterprise in Israel, carried out by hundreds of scholars at all universities. The starting point is Biblical chronology, then evidence (limited) and speculation (plentiful) are arranged accordingly. The Israeli Defence Ministry has even published a complete chronology of Biblical events, giving exact dates for the creation of the world … Claiming this ancient mythology as history is an essential part of Zionist secular nationalism, in its attempt to present a coherent account of the genesis of the Jewish people in ancient West Asia. It provides a focus of identification to counter the rabbinical, Diaspora traditions. Teaching the Bible as history to Israeli children creates the notion of continuity. It is Abraham (‘the first Zionist’, migrating to Palestine), Joshua and the conquest of Palestine (wiping out the Canaanites, just like today), King David’s conquest of Jerusalem (just like today). (Beit-Hallahmi 1992: 119)

Ikiangazia udhibiti mkali wa serikali na usimamizi wa historia ya Palestina pamoja na "maarifa ya Biblia" katika mfumo wa elimu wa Israeli, Shlomo Sand (wa Chuo Kikuu cha Tel Aviv) anaeleza zaidi:

Reflecting on the tight state control and supervision of the history of Palestine and ‘biblical knowledge’ in the Israeli educational system, Shlomo Sand (of Tel Aviv University), further explains:

Mafundisho ya Biblia, yakitumika zaidi kama kitabu cha historia ya taifa kuliko kama kanuni takatifu za dini, pia yalikuwa somo tofauti katika elimu ya msingi na sekondari machoni pa wahamiaji wa kwanza (kabla ya mwaka 1948

The teachings of the Bible, used more as a book of national history than sacred religious canons, also became a separate subject in primary and secondary education in the eyes of the first immigrant [pre-1948

Yishuv] jumuiya katika Palestina. Kila mwanafunzi katika kila ngazi ya mfumo wa shule za Kiebrania husoma historia ya zamani yao ya pamoja kando na historia ya ulimwengu wote. Ilikuwa jambo la kimantiki kwamba ukuzaji wa kumbukumbu ya pamoja ukamilike kwa elimu ya kutosha ya chuo kikuu. "Miaka elfu tatu ya taifa la Kiyahudi" ilikuwa na haki ya kuwa na uwanja tofauti wa elimu na utafiti, ambao ulikatazwa kwa wanahistoria "wasio na idhini" ambao wangethubutu kuufikia. Mojawapo ya matokeo yanayovutia zaidi ya mbinu hii ya kipekee ni kwamba kuanzia miaka ya 1930 hadi miaka ya 1990, hakuna mwalimu wala mtafiti kutoka idara mbalimbali za "Historia ya Taifa la Kiyahudi" katika vyuo vikuu vya Israeli aliyejiona kuwa mwanahistoria asiye Mzayuni. Wanahistoria wa historia ya jumla ambao utambulisho wao wa Kizayuni haukuwa daima umethibitishwa kikamilifu walikuwa na uhuru wa kushughulikia maswali yanayohusu historia ya Kiyahudi, lakini hawakustahili kupata bajeti, ufadhili wa masomo, taasisi za utafiti, nyadhifa za uprofesa, wala kuongoza tasnifu za udaktari zinazohusiana na historia ya Kiyahudi. (Sand 2011: 159–160)

Yishuv] community in Palestine. Each student in every level of the Hebrew school system studies the history of their collective past separately from universal history. It was logical that the development of the collective memory was completed by an adequate university education. The ‘three-thousand years of Jewish nation’ had the right to a separate field of pedagogy and research prohibited to ‘unaccredited’ historians who would presume to access it. One of the most striking results of this original approach was that from the 1930s to the 1990s, no teacher or researcher from the various departments of ‘History of the Jewish People’ in Israeli universities considered him- or herself to be a non-Zionist historian. Historians of general history whose Zionist identity was not always as confirmed had the freedom to treat questions dealing with Jewish history, but they were ineligible for budgets, scholarships, research institutes, chairs or directing doctoral theses relate to Jewish history. (Sand 2011: 159–160)

Katika kutoa maoni kuhusu uzalishaji, uenezaji na usambazaji wa "maarifa ya nchi" ya kijiografia na kiakiolojia ya Biblia, Meron Benvenisti, mwandishi wa Kiisraeli na naibu meya wa zamani wa Jerusalem (kuanzia 1971 hadi 1978), alieleza kwamba katika mtaala wa shule za serikali na katika jeshi, somo la "maarifa" ya ardhi ya Biblia (yedi'at haaretz)

Commenting on the production, propagation and dissemination of biblical geographical and archaeological ‘knowledge of the country’, Meron Benvenisti, Israeli author and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem (from 1971 to 1978), explained that in the state school curriculum and in the army the subject of ‘knowledge’ of the land of the Bible (yedi’at haaretz)

ni ya kupindukia. Zaidi ya hayo, 'maarifa ya ardhi' yamegeuzwa kuwa ya kijeshi na ya kiume. Utafutaji huu wa kiserikali unaopindukia wa kujikita katika ardhi, unaofanywa na wasomi wa Kiisraeli na mara nyingi vituo vya utafiti vya Kizayuni vinavyofadhiliwa na Magharibi, pamoja na kuchukulia Biblia kama 'historia' halisi, unafanywa na wanahistoria wasiofuata dini wengi wao wakiwa Waashkenazi, wanaakiolojia wenye msimamo wa kizalendo na wasomi wa Biblia. Benvenisti anaandika:

is obsessional. Furthermore, ‘knowledge of the land’ is both militarised and masculinised. This obsessive state-directed search for rootedness in the land by Israeli academia and often Western-funded Zionist research centres, and the treatment of the Bible as actual ‘history’, is conducted by predominantly secular Ashkenazi historians, nationalist archaeologists and biblical academics. Benvenisti writes:

Biblia iligeuka kuwa mwongozo wa kufundishwa kwa kurejelea mandhari ya nchi, kidogo kwa ujumbe wake wa kibinadamu na wa kijamii – na si kwa asili yake ya kiungu. Hakuna kitu cha kimapenzi zaidi na wakati huo huo cha kiestablishment zaidi kuliko kuunganishwa kwa namna fulani na ibada hii. Makuhani wake ni madrichim – waongozaji na viongozi wa vijana. Mtandao mpana wa kitaasisi uliidumisha yedia’t haaretz [maarifa ya nchi ya Biblia]: taasisi za utafiti, shule za uwandani, Jumuiya ya Kuhifadhi Mazingira ya Asili nchini Israeli (SPNI), Mfuko wa Taifa wa Kiyahudi, harakati za vijana, vikosi vya kijeshi-kiraia, jeshi. (Benvenisti 1986: 20; pia 2002)

The Bible became a guidebook, taught by reference to the landscape, less for its humanistic and social message – and not for its divine authorship. There is nothing more romantic and at the same time more ‘establishment’ than to be connected in some fashion with this cult. Its priests are the madrichim – guides and youth leaders. An extensive institutional network sustained yedia’t haaretz [knowledge of the biblical country]: research institutes, field schools, the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the Jewish National Fund, youth movements, paramilitary units, the army. (Benvenisti 1986: 20; also 2002)

Katika Uzayuni, ujenzi upya wa kuchagua wa historia ya kale na "kumbukumbu ya Biblia" iliyotengenezwa ulikuwa sehemu ya dhamira ya kihistoria ya kufufua mizizi ya kale ya kitaifa na roho yake. ‘[Kale iliyochaguliwa] ikawa chanzo cha uhalali na kitu cha kupendezwa’ (Zerubavel 1995: 25). Msomi wa Kiisraeli-Mmarekani Selwyn Ilan Troen, wa Chuo Kikuu cha Brandeis na Chuo Kikuu cha Ben-Gurion, chini ya kichwa kidogo cha ‘Kudai kwa Kutaja’, anaeleza mwendelezo wa ukoloni wa Wazayuni wa Ulaya huko Palestina na uchimbaji wa kiakiolojia wa Wakristo wa Magharibi wa karne ya 19 na mwanzo wa karne ya 20 pamoja na utengenezaji wa maarifa:

In Zionism, the selective reconstruction of antiquity and manufactured ‘biblical memory’ was part of the historical mission of reviving the ancient national roots and spirit. ‘[Selective] Antiquity became both a source of legitimacy and an object of admiration’ (Zerubavel 1995: 25). The American Israeli academic Selwyn Ilan Troen, of Brandeis University and Ben- Gurion University, under the subheading ‘Reclaiming by Naming’, remarks on the continuity of European Zionist colonisation of Palestine and 19th century/early 20th century Western Christian archaeological excavations and knowledge production:

Uzionism pia ulianza kazi ya ‘kufikiria upya’ na ‘kujenga upya’ mandhari ya nchi. Mchakato huo kwa kweli ulianza na wachunguzi Wakristo, pamoja na wanaakiolojia na wataalamu wa Biblia kutoka Ulaya na Marekani waliotembelea Palestina kuanzia katikati ya karne ya kumi na tisa, wakati nchi hiyo ilikuwa chini ya utawala wa Kituruki. Majina ya Kiarabu ya wakati huo yalikuwa marekebisho au upotoshaji wa majina ya kale yaliyopatikana katika maandiko matakatifu au vyanzo vingine vya kihistoria. Walowezi wa Kizayuni waliendeleza mchakato huo, ingawa kwao haukuwa tu kurejesha Ardhi Takatifu ya Maandiko. Badala yake ilikuwa jaribio la kina la kibinafsi la kujifikiria upya wenyewe katika nchi ya mababu zao. Kwa sababu hiyo, katika kuibadilisha majina ya nchi hiyo, walipuuza kwa makusudi au kuweka kando alama nyingi za kimwili pamoja na zile za kijamii na kiutamaduni, za Ulaya na za majirani Waarabu … Wazayuni walisherehekea kurejea katika historia kwa Rehovoth ya Kibiblia na Ashkelon [‘Asqalan] … Aidha, maelfu ya majina yalipewa mitaa, viwanja vya umma na mandhari, huku alama za Kiebrania zikionekana kila mahali. Kwa jumla, hali hiyo iliwafanya watazamaji kuthamini kwamba makazi hayo yalikuwa udhihirisho halisi wa uamsho wa kitaifa wa watu ambao wangeweza kudai kwa haki kuwa wenyeji wanaorejea. (Troen 2008: 197)

Zionism also set out to ‘re-imagine’ and ‘re-constitute’ the country’s landscape. The process actually began with Christian explorers, and archaeologists and Bible scholars from Europe and the United States who visited Palestine from the mid-nineteenth century when the country was under Turkish rule. Contemporary Arab names were but adaptations or corruptions of ancient designations found in sacred texts or other historical sources. Zionist settlers continued the process, although for them it was not merely to recapture the Holy Land of Scriptures. Rather it was a deeply personal attempt to re-imagine themselves in the land of their ancestors. As a consequence, in renaming the land they consciously ignored or set aside many of the physical markers as well as the social and cultural ones of both Europe and the Arab neighbours … Zionists celebrated the return to history of Biblical Rehovoth30 and Ashkelon [‘Asqalan] … In addition, thousands of names were given to streets, public squares and the landscape, with signs in Hebrew everywhere. The total effect invited observers to appreciate that the settlements were the concrete manifestation of national revival by a people who could legitimately claim to be returning natives. (Troen 2008: 197)