H.J. Buchbinder. Uganda [”A Physical, Metric, Historical Statistical Record of Uganda, Proposed by the British Government to Establish there a Jewish Realm.]

The author records here (p.5) that the report by the committee established by the Zionist Congress to examine the issues inherent in settling Uganda will take over a half year to complete. In the interim he is therefore publishing details about the climate, and history of the population of Uganda culled from various sources and travelers. Based on this information from dispassionate sources, one’s own decision may be reached, not influenced by the inflamed passions in the daily press, based in turn, on writers with very subjective agendas. When Theodor Herzl began his quest to create a homeland for the Jewish people, he sought out the Great Powers to help achieve his goal. In 1903, Herzl met with British colonial secretary Joseph Chamberlain who agreed in principle to provide for Jewish settlement a portion of British controlled East Africa. At the Sixth Zionist Congress held at Basel, August, 1903, Herzl proposed the British Uganda Program as a temporary refuge for those Jews - especially in Russia and Rumania - who were in immediate danger from the intense anti-Semitism of their home countries. Despite vigorous opposition (ironically from the Russian delegation in particular), an investigatory commission was established at the Congress to examine the territory proposed. While Herzl made it clear that this program would not affect the ultimate aim of Zionism, that is, a Jewish entity in the Land of Israel specifically, the Uganda proposal aroused a storm of disapproval at the Congress - almost leading to a split in the Zionist movement as a whole. Yet a breakaway group led by Israel Zangwill was in fact formed and called the Jewish Territorialist Organization (ITO). Ultimately the Uganda Plan was fully rejected by the Zionist movement at the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905 and the British withdrew their offer.