British
Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain was aware of the ambitions of the
Zionist Organization, which had been on his mind during a trip to East Africa earlier in the year. Chamberlain noted during his trip that, "If Dr Herzl were at all inclined to transfer his efforts to East Africa there would be no difficulty in finding land suitable for Jewish settlers."
[3]
Herzl was introduced to Chamberlain by
Israel Zangwill in the spring of 1903, a few weeks after the outbreak of the
Kishinev pogroms.
[4]
Chamberlain offered 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi) at
Uasin Gishu (also spelled "Gwas Ngishu"), an isolated area atop the
Mau Escarpment in modern
Kenya (not Uganda).
[5]
The land was thought suitable because of its temperate
hill station-like climate and its relative isolation, being surrounded by the
Mau Forest. The offer was a response to
pogroms against the Jews in
Russia, and it was hoped the area could be a refuge from persecution for the Jewish people.
[6]
Chamberlain saw the land as he was passing by on the
Uganda Railway, although the land was not in fact in Uganda but in the
East Africa Protectorate (modern Kenya).
[7] This territory had only recently been transferred from the
Uganda Protectorate to the East Africa Protectorate in 1902, as part of the
Uganda Railway development plan.
[8]
Herzl presented the plan at the Sixth Zionist Congress but it faced resistance from many of the 573 assembled delegates. They considered it a betrayal of the 1897
Basel Program which had promoted settlement in
Palestine. The plan won the formal support of the congress but it caused a rift between those who were in favor of the plan and those who were against it. Especially the Russian delegates were unhappy with the plan. "These people have a rope around their necks, but they still refuse," Herzl commented.
[1]
Shortly afterwards, the British withdrew their offer of land in East Africa.
[1]
