In November 1900, the Ottoman authorities published an order prohibiting Jewish visitors to the Land of Israel from remaining there for more than three months at a time. Subsequently, on February 25, 1901, Theodor Herzl sent a letter to American Zionists, in his capacity as president of the World Zionist Organization, in an attempt to enlist their help by lobbying the United States to take action against the directive.
The appeal was typed in German on a typewriter and addressed to the president of the American Zionist Federation, Richard Gottheil. “Particularly you in America,” wrote Herzl, “must undertake the most important mission to work with all your might to see to it that a debate will be opened in the Congress or the Senate about the irresponsible difficulties put in the way of immigration to Palestine.
“I am asking you, therefore, to initiate with the greatest speed a discussion in the Congress or the Senate on the question as to whether it is permissible to deny American citizens - be they Jews or Christians - to tread on Palestinian ground, or to make distinctions between the various American citizens,” he added.
By means of the letter, sent from Vienna, Herzl tried to urge Gottheil to pressure President William McKinley to exert his influence on the Turks. “Of course,” he wrote, “I cannot give you any detailed instructions; I can only describe the aim to you and leave it to your intelligence and proven devotion to choose the fastest and surest path. In my opinion, the moment has now arrived for you to go to Mac Kinley [sic] and to request from him a declaration on this special matter.
“It will be difficult for him to refuse, since it is not a case of taking a position on Zionism but a matter of equal rights for all American citizens. It will be up to you to obtain the president’s remarks in the form of an interview, or in any other manner deemed suitable by you, to make sure they are spread among as much of the public at large as possible ... Do not make do with a debate in the Congress and Senate or with a declaration by the president, but make an effort to obtain everything: representatives, government and public opinion.
“The moment has arrived, Friend Gottheil, when you can demonstrate what our American friends, and in particular you, their leader, are capable of doing. You will understand me when I say that with a successful action on this question you will advance our movement in America better than with 100 meetings in the East End and West End.”
The letter Herzl sent Gottheil is part of a private collection of documents owned by the Shapell Manuscript Foundation, based in Herzliya, which collects and researches original materials of historical interest. The foundation’s work focuses on the history of the United States and Palestine in the 19th and 20th centuries. Now, to mark the 153rd birthday of Theodor Herzl, who was born on May 2, 1860, the letter - which apparently has never been on public display - is being published here for the first time, parallel to its publication on the foundation’s website. At the same time, it is now on display in a new exhibition entitled “Dreams and Diplomacy in the Holy Land” at the National Library in Jerusalem.
Three days after Herzl wrote the letter to his American colleague, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay officially protested to the Turks about the implicit discrimination against Jews. In reply, the Ottoman Empire clarified that the restrictions on Jews staying in Palestine applied only to those who try to come “in great numbers,” but did not prevent entry of individual tourists.
Seven months after the letter was written, McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was assassinated by an anarchist.
This was not the first time Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, had tried to apply pressure on the Turks to allow Jews to immigrate to Palestine. Five years earlier, in June 1896, he met with advisers of Ottoman sultan Abdulhamid II in Constantinople, to interest them in plans for Jewish settlement in the country. However, those attempts did not bear fruit, nor did Herzl’s efforts during a personal meeting with the sultan on May 17, 1901.
The pressure
Herzl tried to exert on the Americans could be seen to mark the start of the Jewish lobby in the United States. “Herzl tested his strength with the Americans in order to advance his aim of establishing a state for the Jews,” says curator Dina Grossman of the Shapell Foundation.
Another interesting document on display in the Jerusalem exhibition, which Grossman curated together with Dr. Nirit Shalev-Khalifa, is a photo with a personal inscription left behind by Herzl during a visit to Jerusalem in November 1898. Herzl had come to meet German Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the hope that he would influence the Turks to allow Jews to settle in the land. The efforts went nowhere, but the photograph is testimony to his visit
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