Summary
In Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Algeria is the test case of Israel’s alignment with French imperialism: France’s North African war made it Israel’s chosen ally, and Israel’s UN votes — against agenda discussion, against self-determination, against negotiations with the rebels — are catalogued as the record of that loyalty (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.156, p.171-172, p.175-177).
Details
- The authors hold the chances of Algeria attaining independence as Tunis and Morocco did to be infinitely greater than those countries reverting to colonies, as part of a causal process of colonial collapse predictable with certainty (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.159).
- Even Herut leaders who “today support the colonial war of oppression in Algeria” once declared support for peoples freeing themselves from foreign conquest (Merlin, 1/8/49) (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.161).
- France’s “war of repression in North Africa” is the premise of the 1955 French orientation: France could profit by diverting Arab strength to a different front through Israeli activism (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.156).
- UN votes: in 1956 Israel voted with France and against the Africans on a substantial number of motions on Algeria; in 1958 it voted along with France and South Africa against Africa on Algeria, a vote one vote would have reversed (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.171).
- Le Figaro (special edition, May 1960), quoted: in 1955 Israel voted against putting the Algeria problem on the agenda; in 1956 it joined the camp that did not want the discussion; in 1957 it voted against recognizing Algeria’s right to self-determination, for a moderate hope-for-peaceful-solution formulation, and against a motion for negotiations between France and the rebels — 10 votes supporting the French position in total (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.172).
- Ben-Aharon’s 1958 critique targets Israel’s UN representative Najjar’s Algeria speech, which supplied a “philosophy” — that because they have been in Algeria for 150 years, Algeria is surely theirs — that even the French representative Pinot did not rely on; Ben-Aharon demurs only tactically, supporting the pro-French vote itself (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.175).
- The Casablanca Conference resolution (UP, 7/1/61) condemned Israel as an instrument of colonialism especially regarding “Algeria, Congo, and the nuclear tests” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.177).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, France, Bandung Conference, Self-determination