Zionism and the state of Israel : a moral inquiry

290 Pages·1999·10.126 MB·English

by  Prior, Michael P

Zionism and the State of Israel
Zionism and the State of Israel
A moral inquiry
Michael Prior
London and New York
First published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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© 1999 Michael Prior C.M.
The right of Michael Prior to be identified as the Author of this
Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Prior, Michael (Michael P.)
Zionism and the State of Israel: a moral inquiry/Michael Prior.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Zionism—History. 2. Zionism—Moral and ethical aspects.
3. Israel—History. 4. Christian Zionism. I. Title.
DS149.P74 1999 99–10921
320.54′095694–dc21 CIP
ISBN 0-203-98021-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-20462-3 (Print Edition)
Cats
Maurice Harmon
The cats patrol the fields
the tips of their arched tails
flick to and fro, their claws
flex and unflex, every step indicative of power,
they march along the walls,
or stalk in single file
between the trees, sometimes
they pace upon the roofs
to get a better view,
sometimes they gather in groups
to share the latest news.
The birds are terrified.
They have their lives to live,
they know the cats can kill,
they know they want control,
but still they scratch the earth,
still perch and sing in trees,
still make their nests in walls,
still teach their young to fly,
as their ancestors did.
As far as they’re concerned cats should live somewhere else.
Clashes occur. Bird flocks
attack, harass, disrupt.
The cats retaliate.
The birds they catch they put
in cages out of sight.
No one quite knows why cats have such a hate for birds.
Some say that they themselves were once controlled by dogs,
had fruitful fields to sow
until the dogs appeared.
That may explain why cats
make life so hard for birds.
Contents
Preface v iii
PART I The achievement of Zionism 1
1 From Zionism to the establishment of the State of Israel 2
The early phase of Zionism (1896–1917) 2
The second phase of Zionism (1917–48) 11
The third phase of Zionism (the State of Israel 1948–67) 25
The fourth phase of Zionism (1967–93) 28
The fifth phase of Zionism (1993–) 36
Conclusion 44
PART II An assessment of Zionism 46
2 From Zion to Zionism 47
Zion and the Bible 47
The land in other Jewish traditions 50
Antecedents of Herzl’s vision and plan 56
Conclusion 61
3 Zionism: from the secular to the sacred 63
The integration of Zionism with religion: from Orthodox to 65
Political Messianism
The integration of Zionism with religion: from the universalism 69
of Reform Judaism to Jewish nationalism
The State of Israel and far-right Zionism 76
Conclusion 95
4 Zionism and the Churches 98
The historical context of Church involvement 98
vi
The Catholic Church, Zionism and the State of Israel 1 00
The Protestant Churches, Zionism and the State of Israel 1 07
Zionism and the Jewish-Christian dialogue 1 18
Conclusion 1 26
5 Zionism within Christian theology 1 29
Mainstream Christian Zionism 1 29
‘Evangelical Christians’ and Zionism 1 31
Critique of fundamentalist Evangelical Christian Zionism 1 39
Christian critics of Zionism 1 42
Conclusion 1 48
PART III The biblical justification for Zionism 1 50
6 The Bible and the Land 1 51
The land traditions of the Bible 1 52
The land in modern biblical scholarship 1 61
Conclusion 1 72
PART IV The mythological justification for Zionism 1 76
7 The foundational myths of the State of Israel 1 77
Zionist colonialism 1 78
Attitudes to the indigenous population 1 80
The myth of ‘no expulsions’ 1 94
The myth of ‘self-defence’ 1 96
The myth of ‘purity of arms’ 1 98
Adjudicating between conflicting rights 2 00
The myth of ubiquitous and perennial diaspora longing 2 01
The myth of the ‘right to return’ 2 07
The Shoah as legitimiser of the State of Israel 2 08
Conclusion 2 09
PART V Critique of Zionism 2 11
8 Jewish critique of Zionism 2 12
Religious critique 2 14
vii
The moral critique of Ahad Ha’am 2 16
The bi-national critique of Zionism 2 18
The universalist critique of Zionism 2 21
The 1967 War—for the Land and the Lord 2 24
The Israeli peace movement 2 25
Other secular and religious dissent 2 27
Conclusion 2 37
9 Conclusion 2 39
Epilogue 2 50
Bibliography 2 52
Index 2 68
Preface
This study of the Zionist conquest and settlement in Palestine pays particular
attention to biblical, theological and moral considerations. The theme of ‘laland’
was neglected in Western biblical scholarship prior to the State of Israel’s
conquest of the Occupied Territories in 1967, and subsequent biblical research
was stimulated by that event. However, as Walter Brueggemann has noted in his
Foreword to W.Eugene March’s study, while the scholastic community has
provided ‘rich and suggestive studies on the “land theme” in the Bible they
characteristically stop before they get to the hard part, contemporary issues of
land in the Holy Land’ (March 1994: vii). I am confident that readers will acquit
me of that charge.
The subject-matter demands that the discussion engage with several
disciplines. The modern proliferation of academic disciplines has ensured that
few deal with any subject in a way which respects its complexity, with the result
that each element functions in isolation from the others and reflects only a
portion of the fuller picture. Moreover, the specialization of scholarship
intimidates outsiders, and even the most versatile scholars scarcely ever move
beyond the limits of their own discipline. There is a tendency to escape into
specialization, and evade the responsibility of engagement with the wider world,
with the excuse that even critical moral questions must be left to the specialists.
Every relevant discipline which deals with the question of the land of Canaan
—Palestine—Israel falls victim to the affliction of specialization. Biblical
scholars, in their concentration on questions of historical and literary criticism,
pay virtually no attention to the ethical dimensions of the discussion. In general
terms, scholars of human rights eschew any reference to the God-question, while
acknowledging perfunctorily the link between God and the land, and historians
and political scientists frequently discuss the issue purely in terms of political
power and interests. What results is a series of truncated discourses, each
peddling its own grasp of wisdom, with none respecting the complexity of the
total question.
This study includes discussion of the Bible and modern biblical hermeneutics,
post-biblical Jewish and Christian cultures, the history and development of
Zionism, the international law of war and of occupation, and human rights. If the
task of dealing competently with virtually every aspect of the problem is so
ix
formidable as to intimidate even the most versatile and gifted academic, the
concerned individual nevertheless is left with the moral imperative of deciding
on the matter. While a committee of competent and versatile scholars is likely to
do better than one person, it does not have a unified conscience. Responsibility
for moral judgement and action rests with the individual and cannot be exercised
vicariously. Moral responsibility may not be shifted even to others more gifted,
learned, and morally upright than oneself.
Paradoxically, theological and biblical reflection frequently evade moral
considerations, and in the specific case of Palestine academic discussion of them
is not welcomed. The novel perspective of this study is the moral question which
arises on consideration of the impact which the Zionist conquest and settlement
have had on the indigenous population of Palestine. The scope of the study is
wide. I begin with the founder of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl who outlined
his programme for a state for Jews (Der Judenstaat) in 1896, tracing the history
of the movement down to the present (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 considers the
antecedents to Herzl’s utopian vision. Chapter 3 illustrates how the secular
programme of political Zionism initially was rejected out of hand by virtually all
strata of religious Judaism. It tracks the different stages of its acceptance in those
quarters, to the consequence that today the most vibrant supporters of Jewish
conquest come from the ranks of the religious establishment whose leaders
initially regarded Zionism as sinful and heretical. Chapters 4 and 5 consider the
attitudes of the Christian Churches and theologians to Zionism and the State of
Israel. Some reflect a particular Zionist reading of Jewish History and a certain
naïveté with respect to the intentions and achievements of the Zionist enterprise.
Chapter 6 attends to how the biblical narrative of the promise of the land of
Canaan to Abraham and his posterity, and realised in the account of the conquest
of Joshua, has been used to justify the Zionist enterprise. It subjects the traditions
of the Bible, which is customarily viewed as a yardstick of moral excellence and
as ‘the soul of Theology’, to an ethical evaluation which derives from general
ethical principles and criteria of human decency, such as are enshrined in
conventions of human rights and international law. Such an enterprise is not only
legitimate, but necessary. When people are dispossessed, dispersed and
humiliated, not only with alleged divine support, but at the alleged express
command of God, one’s moral self recoils in horror. Any association of God with
the destruction of people must be subjected to an ethical analysis.
Biblical studies and theology should concern themselves with the real
conditions of people’s lives, and not satisfy themselves with comfortable
survival in an academic or ecclesial ghetto. This book examines the use of the
Bible as a legitimisation for the implementation of the ideological, political
programme of Zionism and its consequences. The recognition of the suffering
caused by the Zionist enterprise requires one to re-examine the biblical,
theological and moral dimensions of the question. This study addresses aspects
of biblical hermeneutics, and informs a wider public on issues which have
implications for human well-being as well as for allegiance to God. While such a