What If

by Yoav Avni Published in Issue #10 Translated from Hebrew by Margalit Rodgers

(Excerpt from a Novel)

Israel

Historic background: In 1903, an offer was made by British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain to Theodore Herzl’s Zionist group – a Jewish state on 5,000 square miles of the Mau Plateau in what is today Kenya and Uganda. 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. The idea was brought to the Zionist Congress at its sixth meeting in 1903 in Basel and there, a fierce debate ensued. In the end, the offer was rejected and in 1948 the state of Israel was established in its current position. But, what if….? What if the Zionist Congress had accepted the offer and Israel was born in East Africa I instead of the Middle East?

Trunk or cannon?

There! Something lumbered slowly across the border, and Kfir hesitated –

Elephant or tank?

It was hard to make out. The sun withdrew into dusk over the savannah, and in its peacock-colored light it seemed to Kfir that even the Shields of David changed their color every few minutes. The fluttering blue dimmed into purple, flared into red, and filled with orange.

He strained his eyes and again scanned the horizon that glistened from the long August rains. His best friend wasn’t much help. “Don’t mobilize the whole sector for no good reason,” he said.

Six till ten, the easiest guard shift of all, their last, and Ari insisted on breaking all the rules this time too – he didn’t even...

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