Zionist Conferences and Paving the Way for the Occupation of Palestine

Herzl arranged a series of annual Zionist conferences as a form of his extensive activities for the establishment of Jewish government; these conferences were meant to provide practical solutions for the realization of Zionist dream and vie an in-depth analysis of the facilities at hand, make much use of it. These conferences included: The Supreme Council of the World Zionist Organization whose decisions and resolutions formed the general policy of this organization. The effect of such conferences in the realization of Zionist goals was so much that today after passing about a century from the death of Herzl, they are still being held.
These conferences were held in August in Basel, Switzerland, and only a few of them were held in other places, for example the fourth conference in1900 due to the impact on British public opinion was held in London. Conference VIII was held in The Hague and then in Hamburg, Vienna, Prague, Zurich, Geneva and after the formal occupation of Palestinian land, from the twenty-third conference in 1951, headed by Nahum Goldman, all conferences were held in the city of Jerusalem. It is worth recalling that this person, after the escalation of Israeli influence in the conference, was sacked in 1972.
And know a brief report of the most important conferences:
The first conference (Basel, 23 to 25 August, 1897)
This conference was held for three days and attended by 196 members of various Jewish groups around the world, headed by Theodore Herzl. In this conference the strategic policies of the Zionist movement and the principles of the World Jewish organization was adopted.
The decisions of the conference were outlined in four paragraphs which are as follow:
1. Strengthening the process of gradual occupation of Palestine, in a regular way and with a legal backing (!)
2. Organizing the Jewish community movement and creating unity among different groups of Jews around the world.
3. Stimulating the awareness and strengthening knowledge of Jewish population.
4. Attracting the consent of the different states, to achieve the goals of the Zionist movement.
It is to be noted that this conference avoided the use of the word "state" and instead used the term "homeland" for the Jews in Palestine, by indicating "legal backing" so as to endorse the agreement of the Jewish community and other governments.
In the implementation of the resolutions of this conference, "Jewish company of Jewish government" was established and was introduced as the headquarters of all Jewish communities.
All those who accepted the resolutions of this conference were considered Zionists and voluntary paid one Shilling per year to help pay the costs of the Executive Board. Paying one shilling gave this right to its owner to be able to have a dispatched delegate to the conference in the elections and have an independent vote. The dispatched delegate, in turn, was considered effective in politics and all the decisions that were taken for Zionist Organization as person who had the right to vote.
Basel Conference came to an end with the performing of anthem of "hope" that later became the national anthem of the Jews.
Form Basel conference onward, this deliberate policy was adopted to deny any prior intention of the establishment of a Jewish state. For example, fourteen years later, the leader of the Zionist movement, opened the Congress with a fiery speech in which he said: “Only those who remain in the compound ignorance, or have bad faith, can accuse us of wishing to establish an independent Jewish kingdom. That is while Herzl, after the first Zionist Congress, in September 1898, wrote in his memoirs:
Summing up the Basel conference in a statement- a statement that I have always avoided to express in public, I can say:
In Basel, I founded the Jewish state ... If today I announce this sentence out loud, I am faced with ridicules of the world. Maybe in five years, and certainly in fifty years from now, everyone will know this.
This statement shows very well the determination of these people to realize their ideals and beliefs. Zionist Jews by taking advantage of methods of deception and betrayal, and relying on various methods of intimidation and the use of Machiavellian, after fifty years from Basel conference, became able to officially dominate the Holy Land of Palestine. In this way, they killed many of the natives and as the result of financial and weaponry assistance of the United States and the UK displaced nearly a million Palestinian Muslims from their homes and lands.
Holding the first Zionist Conference coincided with a flood of East European Jewish immigration to Britain and the United States.
Joseph Chamberlain (1836- 1914), the British Colonial Secretary, who was dissatisfied with the massive migration of useless and harmful elements of Jews to England, which caused the crisis and had negative effects on the economy of his country, at the conference announced his plan of gathering the Jews in Palestine and welcomed the establishment of a Jewish state.
In this case, a meeting was arranged in London between Herzl and Chamberlain which was reminiscent of the meeting of Ben Israel with Cromwell and prepared the ground for the visit of Haim Weisman, secretary-general of the British Zionist Federation, with Lord Balfour, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, in 1914.
During the meeting, Herzl explained to Chamberlain and Secretary of State, Lord Lansdun that when the empire of Great Britain supported efforts of Zionism, it will not just be the owner of a wealthy colony, but in addition to that, it will attract the hearts of ten million Jews to itself ... and in this case, the land will act as a Garrison of the Jewish nation and the empire of Great Britain can entrust on tens of millions of its devoted fans all over the world. All the people of this garrison will be awaiting for the reverend government of Great Britain to provide their most favorable services, and in a word, the British will become owner of ten million mercenaries for developing its kingdom.
Anyway, in the conference of Basel, the seeds of the illegitimate Zionist state was incepted; but Zionists in doing their actions, faced opposition from many Jews. These opposition took place among the middle-class and the liberal reformers. They believed that immigration to Palestine is a kind of religious return and is not accepted in today's world. Jewish socialist workers considered commitment to the Zionist movement as the epitome of bourgeois capitalism and considered enmity with Semitic people an adverse effects of the capitalist system which may not last long.
On the other hand, the Israeli Union of France also strongly opposed Zionism and considered Zionist propaganda as a potential weapon against Jews in France.
The sessions of American rabbis also criticized American Zionist Conference resolutions because of its harmful Zionist actions for the Jewish community and declared that this action causes the Jews to be considered foreigners in their respective countries to which they belong and depend.
In 1907, Jacob Schiff, the leader of the Jewish immigrants in America, while announcing his resignation from the Zionist movement declared: “I cannot be both an American patriot and a supporter of the Zionist movement at a same time”.
The second conference (Basel, August 1898)
The conference has led to the establishment of a bank which is in charge of financial affairs of Jewish company. The capital of the bank was amounted two million sterling. In 1902, the Bank was established and began its activities practically. Herzl then tried to attract the consent and approval of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid to grant some autonomy to the Jewish draw during the meeting of the second Guillaume Wilhelm, Emperor of Germany to the Palestinian territories. Therefore, in Jerusalem he succeeded to get the permit for the presence against the German Emperor and ask his request, but the emperor saw this as a kind of interference in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire that could stimulate the sensitivity of big states that sought ti end the life of this eastern sickness, rejected his proposal and Herzl failed in achieving his demands.
The third conference (Basel, August 1899)
At this conference, the International Zionism Covenant and the policy of Economic Fund for Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories were discussed.
The fourth conference (London, August 1900)
Herzl in order to gain the support and approval of the empire of Great Britain for the establishment of the Zionist State met with Lord Lanzdafon, British Foreign Secretary.
The fifth conference (Basel- December 1901)
The meeting saw the emergence of differences regarding the Hebrew culture and the need for paying attention to it, as a first priority, to make preparations for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
Haim Weizmann gave a proposal to establish a Hebrew Language University and the conference agreed with the formation of a council to discuss this proposal. In addition, in order to fund the purchase of lands from Palestinian Arabs, the establishment of "National Bank of the Jews" was also approved.
The sixth conference (Basel, 1903)
This was the last conference that Herzl was able to attend because he died in July 1904. Attendants of the conference due to the negotiations of Herzl with "Van Bolivie" for satisfying him as to the settlement of the Jews, strongly revolted against him and criticized him hardly. The abovementioned man was Interior Minister of Russia of that time and was accused of incitement to murder of a number of Jews in Chisinau, Russia.
Moreover, Conference members criticized and strongly rebuked Herzl for accepting the offer of Joseph Chamberlain, colonial minister of the Great Britain, for Jewish settlement in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, while maintaining the autonomy and sovereignty.
Herzl talks with Van Bolivie, Russian Minister and influential element, has been in order to use his influence with the authorities, to allow Jewish emigration from Russia, on the condition of the immediate end to the Zionist propaganda against Russia. DeWitt, Russian Minister of Economy and Finance, also agreed to the establishment of a Jewish bank branch in the country.
But members of the Sixth Conference attacked Herzl for this reason that in his talks he hadn’t focused on the Palestine as their first and last goal.
However, Max Norado, Herzl's close friend, make a great effort to decrease the severity of the inflammation and attacks of the opponents of the plan to establish a Jewish state in Africa. He explained that the land of Africa is nothing but a temporary refuge for Jews to be safe from the current pressures and difficulties. He emphasized that they will be able to gain necessary experience in Africa for the correct management of their future country in Palestine.
But this argument did not convince extremist members, especially representatives of Russia. Therefore, the conference rejected the plan and it was decided that only an expert group can go there to visit the land in question in Africa, provided that the cost of this will not be paid by non-Jewish banks. For the adoption of this decision, they voted, and because most of the members voted for the plan, delegates from Russia left the meeting with the violence and in protest and in the adjacent hall were seen crying out loud, as if Palestine was forever lost. It was here that Herzl promised them and stressed that he never change his mind as to establishing the Jewish national state in Palestine. They were satisfied and the next day they returned to the main hall of the conference.
The seventh conference (Basel, August 1905)
After the death of Herzl, Max Norado was appointed as the chairman of the conference, but because he did not accept the position, an Executive Council, comprised of seven persons was formed. Four of them believed that Zionism should not take a specific measure before achieving political guarantees in Palestine, but three others believed that purchasing of lands in Palestine should be continued seriously and non-stopping, so that the opportunity to achieve Jewish national home will be made and big governments take it under their protection.
Thus, the chain of these conferences, in terms of effects and good results that it had in the way for the realization of goals of Zionist movement and the creation of unity among the scattered tribes of Israel, in a full century, from 1897 to 1997, they held 33 conferences, the last 10 of which had been held in Jerusalem since 1951.