The Truth About Zionism

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Zionism, Imperialist Tyranny or Reasonable Settlement by Jonathan Harris. Zionism is the term used to describe those who believe that the

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Jewish people possess a special right to claim specifically Israel as their national homeland. Although there have been plans proposed to create

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Jewish states in other parts of the world, such as Theodor Herzl's Uganda proposal, such plans have been temporary and, on successful measures, meant to be means to an end.

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That end being the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Modern Zionists base their claim to Israel on four major premises.

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1. The Jewish people settled and developed Israel, before the time of major Jewish immigration. Even though there were still many

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Jews who traced their lineage back to ancient times living in Palestine, Palestine was an arid third world part of the planet for all intents and purposes.

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In 1867, on a trip to Palestine, Mark Twain observed, A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds, a silent mournful expense.

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It wasn't until Jewish immigration that the economic situation started to turn around. Sheriff Hussein noted that the resources of the country are still virgin soil and will be developed by the

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Jewish immigrants. The native Palestinians left this depressed area, but the non -native Jews fled to it.

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2. The international community recognized the Jewish claim to Israel. The United Nations is responsible for partitioning of Palestine as a

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Jewish state. The originator of international support was Great Britain, which in 1917 released the Balfour Declaration, recognizing the historical connections of the

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Jewish people with Palestine. 3. Jewish land gains resulted from defensive wars, whether it's the

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War of 1948, the Six -Day War, or the War of Attrition, etc. Israel has always been provoked into a defensive position, which simultaneously resulted in expanded borders, even though the international community has convinced

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Israel to give up much of its holding for peace. 4.

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Abraham's seed was promised to Israel by God. To take religion out of the equation would be a catastrophic mistake when referring to Arab -Israeli relations.

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The Jewish nation is the oldest surviving people group to possess a historically verifiable claim to inhabiting

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Palestine, and it was Jehovah who gave them their claim. 5.

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Zionism's roots date back to mid -late 1800s. A German sociologist, Moses Hess, wrote

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Rome and Jerusalem in 1862, advocating Jewish socialism in the land of Israel.

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6. Leon Pinkster authored Auto -Emancipation in 1882 as a statement regarding the persecution of Jews in Russia. Pinkster's solution to both the

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Tsarist and international persecution was the Jewish state in Palestine. His book prompted an activist movement that started in Russia and spread.

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Zionist groups started forming, and the first Aliyah took place. The first international Zionist congress, prompted by Theodor Herschel's book

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Der Judenstaat, 1896, took place in 1897. During the conference, the goals of Zionism were established throughout the rest of history, up to official formation of Israel.

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Persecutions in mainly European nations sent Jewish settlers to Palestine, joining their kindred natives and re -establishing themselves.

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It may surprise some that the first intellectual Arabs were welcoming to Zionist goals. During the first Arab congress, held in Paris in June 1913, the president of the congress,

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Abdul Hamid Yahari, stated that all of us, both Muslims and Christians, have the best of feelings towards the

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Jews, and we regard them as Syrians who were forced to leave the country at one time, but whose hearts always beat together with ours.

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Yahari went on to highlight the benefits of Jewish immigration to Palestine. Therefore, it can be stated that there were, in fact,

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Arab Zionists. Zionism inspired settlement, development, and democracy in the Middle East, contrary to the popular belief that Zionists were not concerned with driving the

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Syrians, i .e. Palestinians, out. Chaim Wiseman's commissions to Palestine and Syria in 1918 and 1921, and all subsequent efforts, were designed to foster a mutual understanding between the

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Arabs and Jews. Unfortunately, though the efforts seemed successful at first, Arab nations quickly opposed the plan.