July2 - Zionism
Zionism is a movement, founded by Theodore Herzl in the 19th century, which aimed to give the persecuted Jews of the world a homeland in the country where their ancestors had lived 2,000 years ago. It was sold as "a land without people for a people without land". A beautiful, heroic tale of a people, making the desert bloom, freeing themselves from the stench of the Ghettos, attaining freedom and self-determination.
The Balfour Declaration promised a "homeland", but for those, who were willing to face the issue, it was expected from the beginning, that attaining a homeland would mean to get a Jewish State with full sovereignty and power in Jewish hands and for Jews alone. From the beginning there was a very close understanding of the fact that the return of the Jews to Israel would entail the disenfranchisement and expulsion of the Arabs. In 1948 700,000 Palestinians were expelled, and they and their descendents, 1.6 Million strong now, still live in refugee camps under occupation with no hope for a solution.
My admiration for Israel, fueled by my feelings of guilt about the persecution of Jews by Germany under Hitler, went through months and years of despair in the face of the inhumanity shown to the Palestinians by Jewish concentration camp victims who should know better. The more I heard and learned, the more I saw the connection with Nazi Germany which also wanted its own land for German Christians only, for the Aryan race, for their own ethnic group which they considered superior to other races and groups. 6 Million Jews were killed in Concentration Camps. Ilan Pappe says that the suppressed Palestinians in the occupied territories are not killed outright, but "incrementally" by the policies of the Israeli State.
The Balfour Declaration promised a "homeland", but for those, who were willing to face the issue, it was expected from the beginning, that attaining a homeland would mean to get a Jewish State with full sovereignty and power in Jewish hands and for Jews alone. From the beginning there was a very close understanding of the fact that the return of the Jews to Israel would entail the disenfranchisement and expulsion of the Arabs. In 1948 700,000 Palestinians were expelled, and they and their descendents, 1.6 Million strong now, still live in refugee camps under occupation with no hope for a solution.
My admiration for Israel, fueled by my feelings of guilt about the persecution of Jews by Germany under Hitler, went through months and years of despair in the face of the inhumanity shown to the Palestinians by Jewish concentration camp victims who should know better. The more I heard and learned, the more I saw the connection with Nazi Germany which also wanted its own land for German Christians only, for the Aryan race, for their own ethnic group which they considered superior to other races and groups. 6 Million Jews were killed in Concentration Camps. Ilan Pappe says that the suppressed Palestinians in the occupied territories are not killed outright, but "incrementally" by the policies of the Israeli State.
Listen to an interview of Historian Ilan Pappe , an Israeli, who calls himself an anti-Zionist.
Two books by Ilan Pappe |