Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Galilee and the North—Bus 1 (Nate Lyman)

The Galilee and the North (Bus 1)
27 July 2008
Submitted by Nate Lyman

After a lengthy bus ride to just south of Tiberias our group arrived at the Kinneret courtyard. The site itself was mildly impressive but the history behind the courtyard overlooking the Kinneret gives the site a very significant place in the history of the Zionist movement. The courtyard first served as a training farm for the Jewish immigrants to Israel from the period known as the Second Aliyah (1904-1914). During the Second Aliyah over 40,000 Jews arrived in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, mostly hailing from Russia, Yemen and Poland. Pictured Right - Kinneret Courtyard

Unhappy with the system of small farms implemented by Berman, the youth of the Second Aliyah revolted and looked to A.D. Gordon for direction in setting up the first of the socialist communal farms known as kibbutzim. The Kinneret courtyard and other former small farms similar in nature continued to serve as training farms well into the period of the Kibbutz.

We moved from the Kinneret courtyard north towards Tiberias to a graveyard of major importance to the history of constructive socialism and its relationship with Zionism. Located right on the bank of the Kinneret in lush woodland the graveyard is home to the founders of Labor Zionism and many workers who made up this early labor movement. Buried there are three of the founders of Labor Zionism: Moses Hess, Ber Borochov and Berl Katznelson.

Moses Hess was an early socialist from Germany and thought of by many as an early proponent of Zionism even though he never used that terminology. Hess published Rome and Jerusalem in 1862, a text that would ultimately give way to Labor Zionism. Herzl believed that he would not have written Der Judenstaat had it not been for Hess’s earlier work. In 1961 the remains of Moses Hess were moved to the cemetery overlooking the Kinneret.

Berl Katznelson was responsible for building some of the greater communal institutions in the history of Zionism and certainly the state of Israel. After his emigration from Russia in 1909 Katznelson became one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism. He started and edited the workers' party newspaper, Davar, and published many works of the Labor movement. A bit of a ladies man, Katznelson was buried between his wife and his mistress. He is known today as “the true friend” of David Ben Gurion.

Also buried in this cemetery was Ber Borochov. Another founder of the Labor Zionist movement, Borochov emigrated from the Ukraine to found Po'alei Tziyon, a Marxist Zionist Movement. He believed that the class struggle of Jews and Arabs in Palestine would bring them together as one people with one goal.

Surrounding these influential founders of Labor Zionism were the graves of members of the kibbutzim and proponents of early Labor Zionism. One of the more influential members who remains a key figure in Zionist ideology today is Rachel Bluwstein. Known today for her influential poetry that describes the hardship and struggle of the early Zionist movement, Rachel’s grave is not only a site of pilgrimage to Labor Zionists but also to Religious Zionists. She was buried in the cemetery because of her involvement with the early Labor movement that included her friendship with A.D. Gordon but also because of the lasting effects of her poetry. Pictured left - Grave of Rachel

From the graveyard on the Kinneret we rode the bus up the “Finger of the Galilee” surrounded on three sides by Lebanon, Syria and the Golan Heights. Entering the town of Qiryat Shemonah we learned of its founding as a development town in the 1950s that was composed of kibbutz workers and members of local industry. Since the 1970s the city has been a main target of rockets fired from Lebanon only a few kilometers to its north.

After a quick lunch in Qiryat Shemonah we traveled just a few minutes outside the city to Tel Hai. Tel Hai was the site of the famous clash between the Zionist settlers of the 1920s and the surrounding Arab population. Led by the one-armed Joseph Trumpeldor, the settlers achieved the first defensive victory against the Palestinian Arab population in the history of Zionism. Until recently (30-40 years ago), Tel Hai was a major site of importance but has since lost some significance as a national site. The loss of significance is perhaps attributed to the changing of Israeli attitude towards conflict and the communal environment; moving from Trumpeldor's famous dictum (apocryphal?) that “it is an honor to die for one's country” to perhaps a more progressive and more modern position on the necessity of war and also moving from a time when the communal lifestyle employed at Tel Hai was more popular to the now modern capitalistic approach of Israel towards the economy. Pictured Right - Monument to Trumpeldor at Tel Hai with Hebrew inscription it is an honor to die for one's country.”

The last stop on our bus tour was the small village of Metulla, north of Qiryat Shemonah and very near to Israel's border with Lebanon. The first thing we noticed was a yellow Hezbullah flag flying not more than a few kilometers away. We learned again of the history of conflict with Lebanon dating back to the rockets of 1970 fired by members of the PLO. Since the 70s conflict has come and gone and recently in 2000 Israel pulled out of Lebanon, only to have members of Hezbollah cross the border and capture Israeli border patrol members. After similar incidents Israel struck back with great force and pushed Hezbullah back from so near the border. It appears as though Hezbullah has returned to the border and with the Iran crisis looming who knows what could happen.

Today the conflict in the northern part of Israel constantly looms over residents of Metulla, Qiryat Shemonah and the other villages of northern Israel. All having experienced the threat of bombs and missiles or actually having their homes destroyed by bombs and missiles, the people of northern Israel are wary of the new developments with their neighbors to the north. If war with Iran breaks out in the near future, the northern Israeli residents will witness its events from the front row.