Message from discussion
Napoleon, the Jews and Palestine
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From: "Francis A. Miniter" <famini...@comcast.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.mystery
Subject: Napoleon, the Jews and Palestine
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:56:42 -0400
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Last evening, while boxing some books I am not interested
in, I came across *The Romance of Palestine: A History for
Young People* by Rev. James W. Lee (1897), and I was
reminded of our earlier discussions in this newsgroup about
claims of the Jews and Palestinians to what is variantly
known as Israel and Palestine. I had remarked at one time
that I had come across British maps of the 1890s naming the
region "Palestine". So I browsed through this book, which
combines a tour guide (with photographs!!) with religion
lessons and some history. What surprised me was a short
section about Napoleon in Palestine.
That caused me to do an internet search and I came up with
some interesting information. It should be remembered that
on September 27, 1791, the Convention granted Jews full
citizenship in France. Napoleon apparently was shocked when
on coming into Italy in 1797, he discovered that Jews were
forced to live in Ghettos in the big cities. He abolished
the ghettos - there and elsewhere. And he abolished the
laws of the Inquisition which were constant threats to "new
Christians". On Malta, he allowed the building of a
Synagogue. And so, when he reached Palestine, he prepared a
proclamation dated April 20, 1797, that would establish an
independent Jewish state in Palestine. Only his defeat at
Acre prevented it from being issued.
But that was not the end of it. On May 22, 1799, he
announced a proclamation asking Jews to join with him to
re-establish the ancient Jerusalem. He followed this up on
August 16, 1800, with the statement that if should govern a
nations of Jews, he would rebuild the Temple of Solomon.
From all this a few things are clear. First, the name
Palestine for the region was well established (Napoleon also
uses it in writing his own account of the Egyptian
Campaign). Second, the idea of establishment of a Jewish
state in Palestine precedes even the formation of a Zionist
movement later in the 19th century. Third, perhaps
Napoleon was the first Zionist.
--
Francis A. Miniter
Oscuramente
libros, laminas, llaves
siguen mi suerte.
Jorge Luis Borges, La Cifra Haiku, 6
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