New books by philosopher Hannah Arendt are out

Two lesser-known books by philosopher and political journalist Hannah Arendt deal with Palestine before and after the establishment of Israel. She asks herself what needs to happen to appease the “powder cake” in the Middle East.

Julian Schütt / ch media

Summer 1958 in Basel: Once again political theorist Hannah Arendt and her philosopher teacher and friend Karl Jaspers exchanged views on developments in Israel. His Jewish wife, Gertrude Jaspers, is especially worried about the country being surrounded by enemies. Arendt sends Jaspers a study on the Palestinian refugee problem, on which he has worked.

After World War II, eleven million people left. Most of them can return to their old homeland or find a new home within a few years. Not so with the Palestinian refugees: in 1958, ten years after the founding of Israel, there was no plan for them (an estimated one million people at the time).

Palestinian refugees are an “obstacle” to peace

They often live in inhumane conditions, without civil rights and without the opportunity to work. As Hannah Arendt analyzed, refugees spread across the entire Middle East are an “obstacle” to peace in the region.

In his answer, Jaspers points out that what is essentially at stake is: is there “pure reason and humanity to think of the particular situation” or are all parties caught up in their emotions and images of the enemy? Carl Jaspers speculates that the solution proposed by Arendt and her colleagues would initially “convince more Jews than Arabs.”

The question of guilt and anything emotional is excluded

The whole truth is: the report “The Palestinian Refugee Problem: A New Approach and a Plan for a Solution” was not taken seriously by any side and was recently rediscovered by researchers. However, the study will still explode today: the situation for the Palestinians must first improve before peace efforts can be considered.

Hannah Arendt advocates avoiding anything emotionally stressful. It primarily refers to guilt. The situation of the refugees does not change if there is a dispute over whether it was the Israeli forces that drove the Palestinians out, or the Arabs that forced them to flee, or the encircled rulers that forced them to flee. Deliberately prevented refugees from integrating.

It is not as if Arendt and co write that some pretend to be refugees because care in refugee camps is still better than in neighboring countries. Historical claims to Palestinian ownership should also play no role. The current refugee problem cannot be solved “by debating the relative validity of claims captured from three thousand, one thousand or ten years ago”.

Hannah Arendt did not present herself as a staunch anti-Zionist

Allowing displaced Palestinians to live “normal lives” should be a top priority. Arendt argues for the UN’s power of extradition. Refugees must be granted “full Israeli citizenship” if they pledge to the State of Israel and want to live there with “peaceful intentions.”

Hannah Arendt is sometimes not portrayed as a serious opponent of Zionism. Although he is critical of Israeli politics, he remains committed to the Jewish state. Indeed, Israel has refused to accept large numbers of refugees, as the report claims. It is not economically viable, it destroys the “Jewish character of the state” and promotes the creation of a “fifth column” that undermines Israel’s existence as an independent state.

Arendt’s study cannot dispel these fears, especially since the only common denominator found in the surrounding countries was the sometimes virulent anti-Semitism that was already widespread in 1958, not just with the Six Day War.

Egyptian President Nasser in particular celebrates his hatred of Israel and doesn’t let up on threats of destruction. Hannah Arendt made no mistake about this Arab hatred of the Jews. Concern for Israel’s security did not prevent her from writing the Refugee Report, but it may have contributed to her not pursuing the project further.

Why didn’t the US stand by Israel despite the carnage?

“On Palestine,” not an easy read but insightful and well edited by Thomas Meyer, contains another little-known text by Arendt on the Palestinian problem. The article “American Foreign Policy and Palestine” from 1944 refers to a resolution in the United States for a “national home for the Jews in Palestine.” But despite the Holocaust in full swing in Europe, it was unlikely to be implemented.

Arendt also speaks of a “severe blow to the Jewish people” and to Americans “concerned with the cause of freedom and security of small nations.” The reason is not anti-Semitism, but oil. That’s why they don’t want to spoil things with the Arab countries that oppose the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

According to Arendt, the United States adopted a policy modeled after Great Britain, which treated Arabs and Jews only as “colonized peoples.” Economic interests have priority over political interests. Even during World War II, Hannah Arendt clearly saw that the Middle East would become “the future powder cake of the world.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)