Jewish advocates in Kenya authorized an expedition to the Uasin Gishu Plateau 112 years ago, in response to a British proposal to establish a “Jewish territory.”
The Sixth Zionist Congress voted 295-178 on August 26, 1903, to send an investigation commission.
The territory would be locally administered by a “Jewish official” and be given a “free hand” in religious and domestic matters, Sir Clement Hill, Superintendent of African Protectorates, wrote in the run-up to the August 26, 1903, vote.
The Jewish community in East Africa, including Kenya, was largely confined to Palestine, a Jewish-controlled region. The British government’s control over the Jewish community was crucial for their autonomy. The history of East Africa and the Jewish people would have been different had many Jews settled in Kenya.
However, the Zionist Congress ultimately rejected the idea of a Jewish settlement in East Africa, focusing on Palestine as the only suitable site for Jews to settle en masse.
This decision could have saved many Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
Jewish history reveals that Jews had no emotional connection to East Africa, making it less acceptable as a home for Jews than other sites suggested in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1903, Herzl argued for the East African option, but he viewed it as a temporary safe haven for Jews.
The ultimate aim was to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, which was then under Turkish control.
This occurred in 1948 with the declaration of Israel in what Jews viewed as their ancient homeland.
The Zionist majority narrowly agreed in 1903 to consider the British proposal for an East African haven, believing Jews needed a safe place to escape the “pogroms” they experienced in Europe.
Jewish history reveals that Jews had no emotional connection to East Africa, making it less acceptable as a home for Jews than other sites suggested in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1903, Herzl argued for the East African option, but he viewed it as a temporary safe haven for Jews. The ultimate aim was to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, which was then under Turkish control.
This occurred in 1948 with the declaration of Israel in what Jews viewed as their ancient homeland.
The Zionist majority narrowly agreed in 1903 to consider the British proposal for an East African haven, believing Jews needed a safe place to escape the “pogroms” they experienced in Europe.
A few Jews had been living in the East Africa Protectorate during the first decade of the 20th century, but their presence was not a factor in the formulation of the Uganda Plan, contemporary scholars say.
In general, there were no cultural or historic links between Jewry and the land that was to be set aside in today’s Kenya.
Some British settlers in the East Africa colony spoke out against a move by Jews to the region. Commentators in the East African Standard denounced the threat of “pauper alien Jews” transforming the highlands into “Jewganda.”
The views of the local African population, consisting mainly of Maasai, were not known, says Prof Rovner, who recounts the debate over the Uganda Plan in a chapter of his book, published last year by New York University Press.
“The Maasai were not politically organised at the time and did not appear to have expressed opposition to the plan, though they may not have known of the idea and would not have been consulted, either,” Prof Rovner wrote in an e-mail message to The EastAfrican.
At least a few Jews did worry about the proposed settlement’s potential impact on the plateau’s African inhabitants.
Prof Rovner, who teaches at the University of Denver in the United States, cited comments at the time by Ber Borochov, whom he describes in his book as “an original thinker and fiery orator” who sought to blend Zionism with Marxism.
Borochov warned that the influx of Jewish immigrants into British East Africa or other undeveloped territories could disrupt the cultural and economic life of the land.
However, he dismissed the possibility of Jews brutalizing the indigenous people of East Africa, similar to the British’s actions in Australia.
He believed that the world would scrutinize their actions in their territory, and any unjust treatment of the locals would result in horrifying propaganda against them.
If Jews had established a settlement in western Kenya, many aspects of history might have been different.
In the years preceding World War II, countries shut their doors to Jews seeking to flee from the Reich.
A sanctuary of limited territorial borders in the Uasin Gishu Plateau could have saved hundreds of thousands or millions of Jews.
The Mau Mau uprising may or may not have displaced a Jewish territory.
“I like to think that a Jewish entity in Kenya would not have been exploitative of other tribes in the area and would have perhaps even sided with the Mau Mau to throw off British colonial rule, which might have played to both groups’ end goals,” he wrote.
The professor suggested that Jomo Kenyatta may have been educated in a Jewish university and become a Yiddish-speaking revolutionary, potentially aligning with local Jewish radicals to create a workers’ paradise and African Zion.
