From the Journal for Palestine Studies archives: Britain in Palestine, 1838-1882: The Roots of the Balfour Policy by Alexander Scholch (JPS 85 Vol. 22, No. 1 (Autumn 1992) It was in the 1840s that Englands Gentile Zionists broke into everyday politics with their notion of the restoration of the Jews; such notions were worked out at the level of foreign policy. In 1840 Palmerston, under the influence of Lord Shaftesbury, tried to win the sultan over to the idea of a return of the Jews, arguing that they should be encouraged to settle in Palestine. On the one hand, the sultan and the empire would profit from the riches that a great number of wealthy capitalists would give to Palestine. On the other hand, the Jews there would form a barrier against any future ambitions of Muhammad Ali. During the 1840s many British journalists, clerics, politicians, colonial officials, and officers were more direct: they demanded, in one form or another, Jewish colonies or even a Jewish state under British protection, to fulfill the goal of the restoration of the Jews and to protect British strategic and commercial interests in the region. Equally pressing demands for direct occupation or control of Palestine by England were made later on, first during the crisis years around 1880, and then during World War I. And learn about subscribing to the Journal: palestine-studies.org/jps/subscription-jps
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:35:11 +0000
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