by Izeth Hussain(May 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)For me S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was the only statesman produced by Sri Lanka in the twentieth century. I have in mind here the widespread notion that the politician thinks only of the next election while the statesman thinks in terms of the next century. Admittedly Bandaranaike could muck things up as a politician, but he had a statesman’s vision of Sri Lanka’s future and also a gift for seeing the future.
A remarkable example of his prophetic gift was given in the speech he made in Parliament on August 14, 1958. He expressed an authentic humane sympathy for the Jews over the horrible persecution to which they were subjected during two millennia, but he thought it wrong to have set up Israel all the same. He referred to Arab fears that Israel would expand, and the assurance given to him by Ms Golda Meir during his UN visit that Israel had no such intention. He then went on, "Obviously, that is what the Jews say when they get their head into the tent till the rest of the body in due course follows into the tent, if I may quote an Arab saying." Nine years later Israel expanded, and the rest is history.
But how was it that the same Bandaranaike, who showed such remarkable insight into the real expansionist nature of Israel, allowed the opening of an Israeli mission in Colombo, which was not allowed by the UNP? In the same speech he explained it thus, "I was asked some question about our representation in Israel, and there I might say that the position is that the previous Government had agreed to diplomatic representation by Israel here; of course, I presume, with the implication of our representation there. When I assumed office the Israeli Government, naturally, very kindly kept on pressing us to find out whether they could send their Representative here as the previous Government decided. ‘Well, Sir, I said, Yes you may do so.’ Then the question of appointing a Representative of ours to Israel arose, and I have just laid it by for further consideration."
According to that version Bandaranaike agreed to the opening of an Israeli mission here very reluctantly and only because of a virtual obligation created by a previous UNP government. However, that fact was forgotten – though it was there in print – and during the period 1977 to 1994 the UNP kept on taunting the SLFP over the fact that it was Bandaranaike who had agreed to an Israeli mission here. The truth was that he was practically forced to agree because of an act of blatant Israeli trickery.
Here I will have to resort to oral history basing myself on what was divulged to me by a former colleague who was Chief of Protocol at that time. According to him our Foreign Ministry kept on putting off – on one excuse or another – Israeli requests to start the mission here. One day however the Foreign Ministry received a telegram stating that the Israeli Charge d’affaires and family had emplaned for Sri Lanka and giving the date and time of arrival. The explanation for the contretemps was that the Israeli Foreign Ministry deliberately misread a telegram to mean assent for starting its mission here. At the airport the Chief of Protocol found the Israeli Charge emerging from the plane carrying one child, his wife carrying another, and accompanied by two more children. They were deposited at a hotel, and the facts were immediately reported to the Prime Minister. He decided after some reflection to raise no questions, obviously because it would have been far too embarrassing to dispatch the Charge and family back home. The earlier commitment made by the previous UNP Government would have loomed large in his mind. I hope that this bit of oral history will become part of our recorded history as it seems to me important to establish without equivocation that the UNP has been pre-eminently our pro-Israeli party.
Another bit of oral history about SL-Israel relations is mystifying in the extreme. Lorche, the first Israeli Charge in Colombo, a skilful diplomat and shrewd operator, managed to establish excellent relations with the then Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, Gunasena de Zoysa, who for some reason had conceived an intense dislike of the Egyptian Ambassador, the only Arab one in Colombo at that time. The Arab League applied for consultative status with the FAO, and predictably Israel wanted us to vote against it. Lorche pretended to the Permanent Secretary that he had given me a heap of documents establishing overwhelmingly the case against the Arab League application. It was a barefaced lie. By the time he produced the documents it was so delayed that I had to take them home and work into the night to produce a detailed minute by the next morning. Obviously he expected me to do a hurried job and make a grand blunder.
The case made out by Israel was absolute bull, while the case for voting in favour of the Arab League application seemed obvious. I made my recommendation accordingly, but – to my stunned surprise – the Permanent Secretary straightaway sent a telegram to our Ambassador in Rome instructing him to vote against the Arab League application. There followed a telegram from the latter stating that he had voted in favour because it had become clear that the Arab League had overwhelming support. It turned out that even the US had voted in favour, while the only negative vote was that of Israel. It was fortunate for Sri Lanka – and indeed for our then Permanent Secretary – that our man in Rome was an exceptionally distinguished former Civil Servant, Sir Arthur Ranasinghe, who felt authoritative enough to go against a mad instruction.
How did it come about that Gunasena de Zoysa, who was one of the ablest Civil Servants of his time like Sir Arthur, could have committed so egregious a blunder? He could have been the victim of a diabolical trick played on him by Lorche, his hands could have been forced in some way, or it maybe that he had a deep devotion to Israel like so many Sri Lankans of his time. Today Zionist racist Israel is held in widespread international contempt, and is regarded as constituting together with its brutish master, the US, the world’s most excruciating pain in the anatomy. So it is difficult to imagine the depth of the pro-Israeli sentiment that held sway in Sri Lanka at one time, the last great exemplar of which was J.R. Jayewardene.
That pro-Israeli devotion was quite a problem for our local Muslims because it usually went together with hatred and contempt for all Muslims. A recent excellent article by Latheef Farook has useful illustrative material for my purpose.
In the newspaper office where he worked some time ago, he found that the owner and the editor were devotedly pro-Israel, and their publications made free with the use of the contemptuous racist term, "Thambiya" That illustrates my point that devotion to Israel and contempt for Muslims usually go together.
It is not surprising therefore that our Prime Minister’s recent visit to Israel has upset many of our Muslims. I would like to make some brief observations on this subject – divagating from the main theme here – rather than write a separate article about it. I have not the slightest doubt that the vast majority of SL Muslims accept the need for rapprochement with Israel for the purpose of getting military assistance. But they are disturbed by the prospect that Israel may try to poison SL Muslim relations with the other ethnic groups, as it allegedly once did. There is no hard evidence for it, and quite frankly I cannot see how Israel – which above all has wanted international acceptance – can hope to profit by causing problems for the globally insignificant Muslim minority. But fears can be very real however unrealistic they may be. The SL Muslims need to be assured that the Government will be watchful over possible negative consequences flowing from the SL-Israel rapprochement.
I must say in conclusion that we must bear in mind that international relations can be a very murky business indeed. Bandaranaike was attacked most viciously by the Jewish-owned New York Times, and there are suspicions that the CIA backed his assassination. Our American friends are known to have a peculiar penchant for bumping off people. I have for long suspected for certain reasons that the US incited President Zia to hang Bhutto, and we now know that the CIA was behind the assassination of Aldo Moro of Italy. I have particularly in mind the fact that the Jain Commission seemed to take seriously the allegation that there was a CIA-Mossad-LTTE conspiracy behind the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. I have been wondering about Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to that female conspirator in jail, and the fact that her mother was also in touch with that female. Certainly, it could all be explained in terms of behaviour shaped by a great civilization which has behind it the Baghavad Gita. But I wonder. It could be of much moment for India to know whether there was indeed an international conspiracy behind the Rajiv assassination. What I am really trying to say is that we may need Israel, but we have to be wary about what that could imply in a changing global power configuration.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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