Koenig Memorandum
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The Koenig Memorandum (also known as The Koenig Report) was a confidential and internal
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
i government document authored in April 1976 by Yisrael Koenig, a member of the
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(then the ruling party), who served as the Northern District Commissioner of the Ministry of the Interior for 26 years. The document put forward a number of strategic goals and tactical steps aimed at reducing the number and influence of
Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
in the
Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
region. Outlining what he viewed as "objective thought that ensures the long-term Jewish national interests," Koenig stressed the need to "examine the possibility of diluting existing Arab population concentrations". The leaking of the report by the Israeli newspaper Al-Hamishmar is frequently referred to as "a major turning point in the relationship between the Israeli State and the Palestinian minority."


Background

The Koenig Memorandum was the first publicly available document to outline some of the "policies of discrimination and containment" that Palestinian citizens have been subject to since 1948, reflecting "planning and deliberations at the policy-making circles." Its publication also exposed policy options that Israeli policy makers were considering prior to Land Day, as its first (main) section was finalized on 1 March - one month before the events of Land Day. Although the Israeli Government never officially acknowledged that official government policies were guided by this plan, some of Koenig's recommendations were implemented, particularly those regarding the expansion of land expropriations from Arab owners and the establishment of new Jewish settlements in the area in order to fragment and contain the Palestinian Arab population in Israel. Additionally, both the Tel Aviv magazine, New Outlook and the New York newspaper Jewish Press reported in the fall of 1976 that Koenig had collaborated with prominent activists in
Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...
, the party of Ben-Gurion, Eshkol, Meir, Peres and Rabin to prepare the report, and that Zvi Aldoraty, Mapai candidate for Director of Arab Affairs, was a major co-author.


Public reception

The Koenig Memorandum came to the public’s attention in September 1976, when it was reprinted in full in
Al Hamishmar ''Al HaMishmar'' (, ''On Guard'') was a daily newspaper published in Mandatory Palestine and Israel between 1943 and 1995. The paper was owned by, and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine, ...
, a Hebrew-language newspaper in Israel. Its publication provoked widespread debate in both the domestic and international arena.


International reaction

The comments of the
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ian Representative to the
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
, Ahmed Asmat Abdel-Meguid, provide one illustration of such debate in the international arena. At a meeting of the Security Council on November 1, 1976, Meguid stated, “The aims of the Israeli Government are well known, but recently one of these official plans came to the notice of public opinion: it is a secret document, known as the Koenig memorandum, presented to the Office of the Prime Minister by Mr. Koenig, who is a high official in the Israeli Interior Ministry and is responsible for the treatment of Arabs in Israel. The Israeli Government is somewhat embarrassed — or so it says — not because of the contents of this memorandum, but only because it was brought to the attention of world public opinion.”


Domestic reaction

Domestically in Israel, the memorandum’s publication was received with a generally more muted response. The Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot reported on September 7 that senior elements close to the Prime Minister attached importance to the Koenig report. Israeli radio on September 8 reported that
Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
, Yosef Burg, reacted to the document’s publication by saying that he had complete faith in Mr. Koenig. On September 9,
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
newspaper reported that Amos Eiran, Director General of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, deplored the "leaking" of the Koenig Report by Al-Hamishmar, but no governmental figures repudiated its recommendations. Ahmad H. Sa'di, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and Government at the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...
in Israel claims that "The racist language of the Report and its draconian suggestions caused wide-ranging indignation by Palestinians. However, State officials dismissed this reaction as unwarranted. They maintained that the Report represented the opinion of its author(s), and did not represent an official policy nor did it reflect the mode of thinking in decision-making circles. The debates that followed the Report's publication have mostly centered on the limits of freedom of expression (and racism) that civil servants ought to observe, instead of dealing with the premises of the State policy towards the minority."


Main content

The first section of Koenig's report is entitled, "The Demographic Problem and the Manifestations of Arab Nationalism." In this section, Koenig claims that the Arab population of the Galilee region would constitute a majority (51%) of the population there by 1978 and that this, along with rising "nationalistic" sentiments "will endanger our control of that area." He then proceeds to review the organizational capabilities of the Rakah party, foreshadowing and reflecting the important role they played in Land Day demonstrations that took place on March 30, 1976, in which six
Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
were killed by the IDF and
Israel Police The Israel Police (; ) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction o ...
. In her book, "The Fate of the Jews: A People Torn Between Israeli Power and Jewish Ethics", Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht summarizes some of the major strategic objectives and tactical steps endorsed by The Koenig Memorandum, as follows: * To preclude any possibility of an (independent, Arab) political union, Koenig recommended building more Jewish settlements in areas that are predominantly Arab. * Hostile Arab leaders should be replaced by compliant ones, whom Israel was to ‘create.’ Koenig wanted the number of Arab intellectuals reduced, because their frustration is potentially dangerous. He would encourage "the channeling of rabstudents into technical professions, the physical and natural sciences. These studies leave less time for dabbling in nationalism and the dropout rate is higher." Koenig wanted to make it easier for Arabs to study abroad and harder for them to return and find jobs. Graduates who did remain in Israel were to be coopted. * Koenig also proposed mounting a smear campaign against Arab activists, reducing liquid savings to limit funds available in the Arab community to support political causes, and reducing the effectiveness of Arab student organizations. Further elements in the memorandum included Koenig's reflection that, "Social and economic security free the individual and the family from economic worries ... and give him, consciously and subconsciously, leisure time for social and nationalistic thoughts that are exploited by hostile elements to generate ferment and bitterness." As one practical measure to help obviate this end, Koenig proposed "neutralizing grants to large families." An English translation of the full report appeared in ''SWASIA''.


References to the Koenig Memorandum in books on the Middle East

In his book, "Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts About The U.S.-Israeli Relationship," Paul Findley cites among other examples, the recommendations of the Koenig Memorandum, to refute the common pro-Zionist assessment that Jewish citizens of Israel "do not have more rights than their non-Jewish fellows." He notes that these recommendations included encouraging
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of Palestinian Arabs through study abroad programs and giving "preferential treatment to Jewish groups or individuals rather than to Arabs." Edward Said thoroughly analysed the Memorandum on his "The Question of Palestine", firstly published in 1979. According to him, "Nothing in Koenig's report conflicts with the basic dichotomy in Zionism, that is, benevolence toward Jews and an essential but paternalistic hostility toward Arabs".Edward Said (1980). The Question of Palestine. Random House, New York. p. 110.


Recent statements by Yisrael Koenig

In Haaretz's online English Edition, Yisrael Koenig, now a pensioner, is quoted as saying that Israel's Arabs "only want to suck the best out of us." He further relates a story about a friend of his, "a rich Christian from
Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...
," who is grateful to him for Koenig's having persuaded him to immigrate to Canada. Koenig relates that the rationale he used was: "Your children will never have it good here."


See also

* Demographic threat (Israel) * Judaization of the Galilee


References


External links


Translation of the Koenig Memorandum published in SWASIA hosted on the Issuu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenig memorandum Politics of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1976 in Israel Political history of Israel Memoranda 1976 documents Anti-Arabism in Israel Documents of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict