Brit Shalom (Hebrew: ברית שלום–Ž, lit. "covenant of peace"; Arabic: ø�ø�ø�ù„ù� ø�ù„ø�ù„ø�ù�–Ž, Tahalof Essalam; also called the Jewish-Palestinian Peace Alliance) was a group of Jewish 'universalist' intellectuals in Palestine, founded in 1925, which never exceeded a membership of 100.

The original "Brit Shalom" sought a peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews, to be achieved by renunciation of the Zionist aim of creating a Jewish state. The alternative vision of Zionism was to create a centre for Jewish cultural life in Palestine, echoing the earlier ideas of Ahad Ha'am. At the time, Brit Shalom supported the establishment of a bi-national state where Jews and Arabs would have equal rights.

Brit Shalom supporters and founders included economist and sociologist Arthur Ruppin, philosopher Martin Buber, Hugo Bergmann, Gershom Scholem and Henrietta Szold; others, such as Albert Einstein also voiced their support. Judah Leon Magnes, while associated with Brit Shalom by some, never joined the organization and only supported its views.^[1]

A letter from Arthur Ruppin to Hans Kohn in May 1930 states: "In the foundations of Brith Shalom one of the determining factors was that the Zionist aim has no equal example in history. The aim is to bring the Jews as second nation into a country which already is settled as a nation - and fulfil this through peaceful means. History has seen such penetration by one nation into a strange land only by conquest, but it has never occurred that a nation will freely agree that another nation should come and demand full equality of rights and national autonomy at its side. The uniqueness of this case prevents its being, in my opinion, dealt with in conventional political-legal terms. It requires special contemplation and study. Brith Shalom should be the forum in which the problem is discussed and investigated."^[2]

A binational state would have been consistent with the Balfour Declaration which called for the creation of a "national home for the Jewish people" without prejudice to the "the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" but not with aim of Zionism as conceived by Herzl which was for a Jewish state and not merely a "national home". Ruppin considered Herzl's project erroneous because it ignored the existence of the Arabs.^[3]

Ruppin was a major Zionist figure and held a senior position within the Jewish Agency as Director of the Palestine Land Development Company. Most Palestinian Jews and Arabs rejected the proposed binational solution, and Ruppin himself eventually became convinced it was unrealistic. The group disintegrated by the early 1930's.^[4] The idea of a single state for Jews and Arabs between the Jordan and the Mediterranean has never fully died, however.

Several years ago, a new American peace group took the name Brit Tzedek v'Shalom in a deliberate echo of the original Brit Shalom, but the newer group supports a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[edit] See also

• Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
• Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Cultural Zionism
• one state solution

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official Brit Shalom / Tahalof Essalam web site