Sartre et la question Palestinienne (les limites d'un engagement)
Abstract
During the three decades following the Second World War, Jean-Paul Sartre remained the focus of attention of the majority of Arab intellectuals. They have always expressed their admiration for his ideas, writings, and committed stances towards the issues of his time, and it was for the concepts he presented in his literary and philosophical works, especially those related to the freedom of the individual and the responsibility of the intellectual towards what surrounds Its circumstances, and a great impact in the Arab intellectual circles. In France, Sartre practically embodied the principle of the committed intellectual by participating in an unlimited number of demonstrations and seminars against injustice and social abuse, publishing hundreds of articles and comments in favor of freedom and justice, and sought to establish a third ideology that stands in contrast to capitalism and Marxism. He also attacked the Gaullist ideology with all boldness and stood by the French youth movement during the events of May 1968. On the global level, Sartre supported the peoples seeking to get rid of colonial domination, as he supported the struggle of the Algerian people to gain independence from France, and because of this position he presented to various Types of criticism. On the other hand, he strongly opposed the war in Indochina, defended the rights of blacks in the United States and criticized its imperialist policy around the world, and during the Korean War expressed his support for Communist thought as a solution to the problems of the working class, and he strongly supported the Cuban Revolution in 1961 and condemned the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968. In the face of these bold stances at the French and international levels, Arab intellectuals had great hope for the emergence of a clear and fair reaction by Sartre towards the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but none of this happened at all, even in the most aggressive positions of Israel, As it happened during the 1967 war, when its army invaded the neutral West Bank and the Gaza Strip and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Sartres response was weak and adhered to his support for the Hebrew state and refused to offer any direct criticism of it, and it continued in this manner until the last days of his life! In this research, we will try to shed light on the social and value aspects that established Sartre's thought that dealt with the principle of double standards regarding the tragedy of the Palestinian people resulting from the establishment of the State of Israel on their land. And if the Palestinian thinker Edward Said confirmed before his death that he never knew whether the reason for Sartres reluctance to make a bold position on the Palestinian issue was his fear that he would be accused of anti-Semitism, or if that stemmed from a feeling of guilt about the allegations of the Jewish Holocaust or for other intellectual reasons, then The data presented by the research provide evidence that Sartres position on the State of Israel is linked to a number of reasons that made this remarkable writer a tool in the hands of the French Jewish lobby.