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This is the fourth essay of a series of 17. (Here are the first, second and third.) These essays deal with 17 chapters of Ari Shavit’s “My Promised Land”. For a real understanding of these essays it is advisable to read the introductory essay titled “Can Ari Shavit be charged with High Treason?”
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In this chapter, titled “MASADA – 1942”, Shavit describes how the Zionist Shmaryahu Gutman, born in 1909 in Scotland who emigrated with his parents to Palestine when he was three years old, has played a crucial role at the age of 33 in the resuscitation of the Masada “myth”. In 1942 Gutman organized expeditions with groups of selected young Zionists, boys and girls, to the plateau of Masada which is very difficult to reach. He did so because in that year 1942 he was very aware of the fact that an unyielding “Masada mentality” would be needed to save Israel against the combined aggression of Nazi Germany and the Arabs.
“Masada” is legendary in Jewish history. It is about Jews who delivered in 73 AD a last ditch fight against the Romans in the natural fortress of Masada, situated highly on rocky mountains in the desert shores of the Dead Sea. They defended themselves successfully for some time, but the odds proved too big, and rather than expose their wives and children to rape and slavery following an inevitable defeat, the Jewish defenders committed collective suicide. Ten men, assigned by lotting, were to kill the others by the sword. Of these ten one man killed the other nine and this last man committed suicide. Of course the story became mythical but is also historical and chronicled by the Roman Flavius Josephus. In 1923 the account of Josephus was translated into Hebrew, as part of a revival of Jewish patriotism.
When the young Zionists, under the leadership of Gutman, actually have completed the difficult and dangerous climb, they camp for a few days and nights on the plateau and reflect profoundly on the significance of Masada. For Gutman that significance is not death and self-destruction, but a paradox: only those who are willing to die will be able to protect Israel. And when the short expedition comes to an end:
“Late at night, when the winds are howling at the mouth of the cave, the theatrical Masada ceremony comes to an end. The cadets sign a working-youth Masada scroll and seal it in a glass bottle that they bury under a headstone they erect. They call out that the chain has not been broken. They call out that Masada calls Israel to fight for its land. They sing the socialist anthem: “Strong be the hands of our brothers building the land.” They sing the national anthem: “Hope is not yet lost.” Then the youngsters dismantle the tents, and pack the rucksacks, and descend the mountain, which is now engraved in their consciousness.”
Indeed, says Shavit, in March 1942 the threat is so great that in leading Jewish circles in Palestine it is considered to start literally and concretely a Masada new-style on Mount Carmel:
“In Palestine there is little information regarding the death camps or Hitler’s mass-death project. But there is a growing understanding that Europe is experiencing a megapogrom. Similarly there is a growing understanding that if the British lose Egypt, a megapogrom will take place in Palestine. Therefore, in March 1942, the idea of establishing a modern-day Masada on Mount Carmel is seriously considered. There is no intention to commit suicide on Mount Carmel; the top-secret plan is to concentrate the Jewish population of Palestine in the mountainous region bordering the sea so that a war can be waged that might slow the Germans and convince the British not to abandon the Jews. Yet the nocturnal discussions held secretly by the Zionist leadership in the summer of 1942 on a Tel Aviv roof does not exclude the worst scenario.”
Why is there so much fear? Because Rommel and his tanks are on the verge of reaching Palestine and rumor has it, says Shavit, that the English will then give up on Palestine, in which case the Jews will stand alone. The reports on the very big pogrom carried out by the Nazis in “Europe, also reach Palestine.
“By June 1942, Rommel is only a hundred kilometers west of Alexandria. In Tel Aviv, Zionist leaders assume that if Alexandria falls, the British Empire will evacuate the Middle East and realign its forces in India. Some reports claim that British officers are burning secret documents in their Cairo offices. Some claim that the British are pulling elite units from Egypt. In Palestine there is much talk of Jews selling property to Arabs, preparing hideouts in monasteries, asking Christian and Muslim friends for protection. Some acquire foreign passports, others purchase poison pills.”
Of all chapters in the book this one is the least affected by Shavits Stockholm-dualism: i. e. the good-bad-ambiguities under which the readers detects the undercurrent of accusations toward Zionism and Israel.
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Martien Pennings 