Napoleon, Egipte, Ottomans, Palestina

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Die hoof artikel kan beskryf word as ‘n kas wat menslike beendere bevat het.   Beendere het altyd ‘n geskiedenis, van waar en deur wie en wat dus onbeantwoorde vrae nalaat.  Dit  is tydens ‘n bergingsuitgrawing in die Kishle, die Ottomaanse polisiekompleks in Jaffa gevind. ‘n Tweede konsentrasie beendere is naby ‘n 18de-eeuse vesting wat aan die suidelike punt van Roslanstraat, reg langs die Middellandse See, opgegrawe.       

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Merkwaardig is die muur, 1,30 meter dik, is bo-oor fondamentboë gebou, ‘n kenmerk van grootskaalse Ottomaanse konstruksie in Jaffa vanaf die laat 18de tot vroeë 20ste eeue.   Sou Frankryk of Brittanje dit toegelaat het dat dit wat hulle in die midde ooste gedoen het, om grondgebiede binne te val en te beset, in Parys, London of enige ander stad plaasvind. 

Die oorlog in die midde ooste was geen speletjies nie.    Daar was baie gesukkel in die Sinai woestyn en word daaroor ook geskryf. 

Terwyl die Franse en Turke gesukkel het, het die Turke die koppe van gevalle Franse infanteriesoldate bymekaargemaak en die afgekapte koppe op pale bo die mure geplaas. Op 7 Maart het Bonaparte ‘n offisier gestuur met ‘n vlag van wapenstilstand om oor Jaffa se oorgawe te onderhandel. Die Turke het die stadspoorte oopgemaak en die offisier deurgelaat. Minute later is sy kop teen ‘n paal gelig.

The main cache of bones was found during a salvage excavation in the Kishle, the Ottoman police compound in Jaffa. A second concentration was uncovered near an 18th century fortification unearthed at the southern end of Roslan Street, right by the Mediterranean Sea. The wall, 1.30 meters thick, was built over foundation arches, a hallmark of large-scale Ottoman construction in Jaffa in from the late 18th to early 20th centuries.

Landing safely near Alexandria on July 2, 1798, the French army conquered the city, then set out for Cairo. On July 21, they met a vast force led by Murad Bey, commander of the Mamluk army. Some 2,000 Mamluks died that day, compared with 29 French, and on July 24, Napoleon rode triumphantly into Cairo.  

Jaffa hawestad

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Napoleon het voor 1800 reeds toegeslaan in midde ooste, naamlik om Egipte te beset, die Ottomansryk en veral gefokus op Palestina hawedorpe en stede.    Burgers van dorpies is voor die voet vermoor, erger as diere geslag.   Dit is niks anders as ‘n massamoord nie.  Vandag verduur dieselfde volke van Palestina dieselfde as wat by Jaffa gebeur het.   Later het die Turke dieselfde aan die Franse begin doen.

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Wat sou gebeur het as die midde oosterse lande Frankryk probeer beset het?   Dit is waansinnig om eenvoudig te dink om te beset en lewens te vernietig.  Dit het ook in suidelike Afrika gebeur waar Brittanje min of meer in dieselfde tydperke ons gebiede beset en oorlog gemaak het met ‘n handvol BOERE.   Die weerlose Boervrouens en kinders is aangejaag deur ruwe veld of op oop trokke, soos troppe vee en diere en in helkampe, konsentrasiekampe geplaas het.  Dit was nie vlugtelingskampe nie, want voedsel was ‘n skaarste, sowel water, medies en gepaste behuising.   As ‘n tent of oop hemel behuising genoem kan word is daar min wat hulself teen elemente beskerm het.

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Maart 1799 slagting – Jaffa 

Napoleon, die Ottomans en die dorpie 

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Ottomans – Die Levant en die beleg van Acre

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Die siekes en die plaag

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Napoleon se verowering van Egipte in 1798 was die eerste kontak tussen ‘n Westerse moondheid met imperiale doelwitte en ‘n antieke regime van ‘n Afrika-samelewing.

Sheik Al-Jabarti se kroniek is ‘n unieke kombinasie van historiese vertelling en refleksie gekombineer met daaglikse waarnemings oor die atmosfeer in Kaïro en die stemming onder die plaaslike bevolking. Die boek is ‘n Arabiese siening van ‘n keerpunt in die moderne geskiedenis.

Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798 was the first contact between a Western power with imperial goals and an ancient regime of an African society. Sheik Al-Jabarti’s chronicle is a unique combination of historical narration and reflection combined with daily observations about the atmosphere in Cairo and the mood among the local population. The book is an Arab view of a turning point in modern history.

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Die historikus Richard Ayoun verklaar dat Napoleon “die Jode verag het,” en hulle bloot vir sy eie projekte gebruik het. Ayoun haal opmerkings aan wat Napoleon in 1817 tydens sy ballingskap in Saint Helena aan generaal Gourgaud gemaak het: “Die Jode is ‘n nare volk, lafhartig en wreed.” Of toe Napoleon in 1808 aan sy broer geskryf het en Jode die “veraglikste mense” genoem het.

In 1799 word Napoleon se veronderstelde oproep vir ‘n Joodse tuisland in die Midde-Ooste deur die meeste historici vandag verontagsaam. Waarom sou so ‘n fiktiewe verslag in joernale van sy tyd verskyn het? In ‘n 1940-opstel “The Great Beast: Some Reflections on the Origins of Hitlerism” vergelyk Simone Weil Napoleon met Hitler as ‘n outoritêre leier wat die wêreld geterroriseer het. Was Napoleon Hitleriaans? Daar was in Napoleon ‘n kant van monsteragtigheid en waansin. Hy het nooit geweet wanneer om te stop nie, wat tot sy ondergang gelei het.

Daar is seker analogieë wat gemaak moet word tussen Napoleon en Hitler; hulle was albei veroweraars van Europa. Tog bly Napoleon steeds ‘n erfgenaam van die era van lig. En hy het geglo in vryheid as die basis vir die moderne samelewing. Hy is die seun van ‘n land wat gebaseer is op sentralisasie en regeringsmag, Frankryk, maar waarin die regering, die monargie, die samelewing van feodalisme en kerklike gesag geëmansipeer het. Die [Franse] regering was dus altyd ‘n faktor in vryheid, teen die adel. Napoleon het al hierdie tradisie geërf. Al was sy storie onredelik en ‘n bietjie waansinnig, het dit rede agter dit gehad.

Die Franse historikus Pierre Birnbaum sien ook Napoleon se anti-Semitisme, toe hy Jode vergelyk het met “kraaie” en “sprinkane wat Frankryk verwoes,” as ‘n “diep regressiewe keerpunt.”

In 1808 is Napoleon se sogenaamde berugte dekreet wat die verblyf van Jode in Frankryk beperk, vryhede weggeneem en hulle ekonomies benadeel het, gedoen om tsaar Alexander I van Rusland as ‘n tydelike maatreël te paai.    Dit was ‘n voorlopige dekreet waarvoor daar diplomatieke motiewe was, want Rusland was vyandiggesind teenoor Franse beleid teenoor Jode. Politieke sukses hang af van kortstondige toegewings aan teenstanders van enige beleid en Napoleon het soortgelyke dinge elders gedoen.

In 1827 het Jean-Baptiste Pérès ‘n bedrogspul gepubliseer waarin hy beweer dat Napoleon nooit bestaan het nie. As Napoleon inderdaad nooit bestaan het nie, sou die assimilasie van Jode in Europa sonder hom plaasgevind het?

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The historian Richard Ayoun has stated that Napoleon “despised the Jews,” and merely used them for his own projects. Ayoun cites remarks made by Napoleon in 1817 during his exile in Saint Helena to General Gourgaud: “The Jews are a nasty people, cowardly and cruel.” Or when Napoleon wrote to his brother in 1808, calling Jews the “most contemptible of people.”

In 1799, Napoleon’s supposed call for a Jewish homeland in the Middle East is discounted by most historians today. Why would such a fictional report have appeared in journals of his time? In a 1940 essay “The Great Beast: Some Reflections on the Origins of Hitlerism” Simone Weil compares Napoleon to Hitler as an authoritarian leader who terrorized the world. Was Napoleon Hitlerian?

There was in Napoleon a side of monstrousness and madness. He never knew when to stop, which led to his downfall. There are analogies to be made, to be sure, between Napoleon and Hitler; they were both conquerors of Europe. Yet Napoleon still remains an heir to the age of light. And he believed in freedom as the basis for modern society. He is the son of a country based on centralization and governmental power, France, but in which the government, the monarchy, emancipated society from feudalism and church authority. So the [French] government was always a factor in freedom, against the nobility. Napoleon inherited all this tradition. Even though his story was unreasonable and a bit insane, it had reason behind it.

The French historian Pierre Birnbaum also sees Napoleon’s anti-Semitism, when he likened Jews to “crows” and “locusts ravaging France,” as a “deeply regressive turning point.”

In 1808, Napoleon’s so-called Infamous Decree limiting the residency of Jews in France, taking away freedoms, and harming them economically, was done to appease Tsar Alexander I of Russia as a temporary measure.   This was a provisional decree for which there were diplomatic motives, because Russia was hostile to French policies toward Jews. Political success depends on momentary concessions to opponents of any policy and Napoleon did similar things elsewhere.

In 1827, Jean-Baptiste Pérès published a spoof claiming that Napoleon never existed. If indeed Napoleon had never existed, would the assimilation of Jews into Europe have occurred without him?

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https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2017-05-24/ty-article-magazine/mass-graves-found-in-jaffa-date-to-napoleon-conquest/0000017f-def4-db22-a17f-fef5c1550000

https://forward.com/culture/319002/the-secret-jewish-history-of-napoleon-bonaparte/

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Egipte word ingeneem 1798

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Verwante artikels en inligting

Ottomans – Arabs – Palestine – Israel – England – France

Balfour verklaring – Jan Smuts

Jaffa Palestina 1900

Jaffa 1900 (Ottomans) (Brittanje)