31.01.2012                      07.Schwat. 5772

Meinung:

Herzl's still-timely realizations

A Zionist delegation was sent to examine the possibility of establishing agricultural settlements in the El-Arish area, with Herzl himself visiting Egypt in 1903.

As the world marks the first anniversary of the fall of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime, it's interesting to note that Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl, in his political activity a century ago, was sensitive to what was going on in Arab societies. After he despaired of receiving a charter from the Ottoman Empire to settle Jews in Palestine, it seemed for a brief period that there might be an option to settle Jews in El-Arish in the northern Sinai (or "Egyptian Palestine," as Herzl called it ).
The international status of Egypt at that time was unique: Although there was an Egyptian regime headed by a khedive (viceroy) from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, effective control over it was in British hands….