"Zionism is the Jewish will to live honorably in our times"
"....in August 1897, Theodor Herzl stepped out on the platform of the
Municipal Casino in Basel, Switzerland, to launch the First Zionist
Congress and the Zionist movement whose centenary is being marked this
year. A year earlier, Herzl had published his Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish
State"), in which he argued that anti-Semitism in the Diaspora could be
eradicated only with the eradication of the Diaspora itself. (Hillel
Halkin, "After Zionism: reflections on Israel and the Diaspora",
06-01-1997-Commentary Mag)
And some of those who saw the "Jewish State" as a safe refuge for Jews
were also prepared to give up part of it in order to establish a state,
though some consider all of it as integral to the re-establishment of the
Jewish National homeland. There is still a tension between those who feel
that not an inch should be relinquished.
Dr. Anita Shapira writes:
"In the evolution of a national liberation movement, there comes a
juncture; a transition from the realm of dreams, ideals, propaganda, and
sermonizing to the arena of political action..." (Anita Shapira, 1996, NY
University Press, "Essential Papers on Zionism")
"By the end of the Mandate in 1948, the Jewish population in Palestine
had burgeoned to 650,000 out of a total of 1,300,000 inhabitants. The
geographical pattern of Jewish population dispersion made it possible to
conceive setting up two separate states in the western parts of
Palestine--one Jewish, the other Arab." (Shapira)
Continued:
: http://pnews.org/ArT/ZioN/DerJuden.shtml
