From the Harrar Council to Somaliland: Israel's Historical Search in Africa

 Israel's decision to formally recognize Somaliland, an entity not recognized by the international community, is undoubtedly not a last-minute diplomatic maneuver. This step is the product of a series of geopolitical calculations, ranging from the search for a military foothold against the Houthis in the Red Sea and access to potential maritime resources, to controlling trade routes, balancing Turkey's Mogadishu-centered regional influence, and gaining leverage over Ethiopia through port promises. However, reading this move merely as a reflection of current power struggles might obscure its most striking and disturbing dimension: the fact that the Horn of Africa has previously been envisioned as a 'solution geography' for 'problematic populations.'

The plans being woven around Somaliland today resemble an updated version of dreams conceived for Harar and its surroundings eighty years ago.

The Search for Jewish Land

The search for alternative settlement sites for Europe's "Jewish Question" evolved into a series of plans ranging from Uganda and Madagascar to Angola and other parts of Africa, after Theodor Herzl's Palestine-centered project was rejected by Ottoman rule. However, these attempts were shelved one by one, due to both conjunctural reasons and rejection by Zionist congresses. By the 1940s, the final stop of this search was Harar, the fourth-largest Islamic city in eastern Ethiopia.

The Harar Council, established at that time, put into official correspondence the idea of declaring Harar and its surroundings (including British Somaliland) an autonomous settlement area for European Jews. Erwin Kraft, an American Jewish refugee and one of the council's pioneers, communicated this plan to both US authorities and the Emperor (Negus) of Ethiopia.

The letters particularly emphasized that the region had a favorable climate, could be developed with agricultural projects, and could sustain a new settlement due to its low population density.

In his letters addressed to the Emperor of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie), Kraft resorted not only to strategic but also to a religious argument. By stating that the Negus descended from the lineage of King David and bore the title "Lion of Judah," he implied that he should accept European Jews as "half-brothers," making a moral responsibility call based on the shared heritage of Judaism.

The correspondence emphasized that Jews had brought agricultural development to the societies they lived in so far and were law-abiding, trouble-free settlers:

"There is no particular need to emphasize the ability of Jews to establish and develop an agricultural and settlement order. Palestine offers a perfect example in this regard."

The irony these lines carry today is striking! What was presented in 1944 as an example of a "successful and trouble-free settlement" would, a few years later, become the center of a colonial state project characterized by forced migrations, ethnic cleansing policies, and the systematic erasure of the indigenous people.

The Harar Council plan was not implemented, rejected by the Emperor of Ethiopia due to Harar's symbolic status, concerns over state territorial integrity, and fears that externally supported autonomous settlements could create separatist dynamics in the long term. The intervening years changed the actors and justifications, but the same geography is now being articulated again, this time for the people of Gaza.

The Repetition of the 'Solution Geography'

Even in the first year of the genocide in Gaza, Israeli officials held negotiations with other African countries, seeking ways to send the people of Gaza—whom they could not eliminate through savage slaughter—to Africa. Israel, never abandoning this dark quest, is now acting on inspiration from history and concretizing its strategic calculations by targeting Somaliland, an unrecognized separatist entity.

Undoubtedly, Israel's ability to take such brazen steps today cannot be explained solely by its own will. The infrastructure, silent support, and *de facto* gains provided by some actors in the region suggest that the Somaliland move is not a sudden breakthrough but part of a long-considered plan. The most concrete example of this is the dominance of the UAE's DP World over the port of Berbera. DP World holds a 51% stake and operates the port. Even more striking is the approximately three-kilometer military runway and base constructed within the port area. This clearly shows that Somaliland is being positioned not only as a commercial but also as a military foothold.

Ethiopia holds a key and contradictory role in this equation. When Ethiopia, one of the continent's most populous countries, attempted to solve its vital need for sea access by making a deal with Somaliland for the port of Berbera in early 2025, it reignited long-standing tensions in the region. Although peace was signed between Somalia and Ethiopia through Turkey's mediation, being solely dependent on the port of Djibouti with a population exceeding 100 million is problematic for Addis Ababa in every respect. It is precisely this gap that Israel seeks to exploit, trying to draw Ethiopia to its side with port access and economic promises.

However, a serious contradiction lies here: Ethiopia, a state that has historically struggled with separatist movements on its own soil, supporting a recognition that violates the African Union's founding principle of 'the inviolability of borders,' could bring unpredictable dangers in domestic politics.

When the port and military infrastructure prepared by the UAE and Ethiopia's potential support come together, the Somaliland project could transcend being a simple recognition and become part of a much broader and destabilizing regional plan.

Ethiopia moving in concert on the Somaliland issue for the sake of port access and economic promises offered by Israel not only risks inspiring separatist movements within its own country tomorrow but also poses a major threat to the entire Horn of Africa.

The People of Gaza, Sustaining Resistance with "Life"

The line stretching from the Harar Council to today's Somaliland move shows how Africa has repeatedly been turned into a stage for "population displacement politics."

The apartheid state, established by colonizing the millennial lands of Palestine through occupation and massacres in the name of Jews unwanted in Europe, now proposes expelling the people of Gaza, whom it is subjecting to genocide, to the very same region once proposed for Jews.

The idea of the "promised land," central to Israel's founding narrative, carries an equally existential and inviolable reality for Palestinians.

For the people of Gaza, these lands are not just a geography they inhabit; they are the very essence of memory, identity, faith, and resistance. Just as the Zionist movement never accepted anywhere outside Palestine as a permanent homeland, Palestinians will never adopt a survival strategy centered on abandoning their homeland.

Israel cannot break this honorable resistance. Because the people of Gaza, who refuse to leave the lands of which they are the rightful owners and who continue to bring new generations into the world even amidst genocide, are sustaining this resistance not only with words but with "life" itself.

The original of this article was published on FokusPlus.*