A Just Zionism: On the Morality of the Jewish StateThe legitimacy of the Zionist project--establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine--has been questioned since its inception. In recent years, the voices challenging the legitimacy of the State of Israel have become even louder. Chaim Gans examines these doubts and presents an in-depth, evenhanded philosophical analysis of the justice of Zionism. Today, alongside a violent Middle East where many refuse to accept Israel's existence, there are two academically respectable arguments for the injustice of Zionism. One claim is that the very return of the Jews to Palestine was unjust. The second argument is that Zionism is an exclusivist ethnocultural nationalism out of step with current visions of multicultural nationhood. While many therefore claim that Zionism is in principle an unjust political philosophy, Gans seeks out a more nuanced ground to explain why Zionism, despite its manifest flaws, could in principle be just. Its flaws stem from the current situation, where exigencies have distorted its implementation, and from historical forces that have ended up favoring an extreme form of Jewish hegemony. For Gans, the justice of Zionism and of Israel are not black-and-white propositions. Rather, they are projects in need of repair, which can be achieved by reconceptualizing the Jews' relationship with the Palestinian population and by adhering to a significantly more limited version of Jewish hegemony. Ultimately, A Just Zionism offers a concrete, historically and geographically rooted investigation of the limits of contemporary nationalism in one of the world's most fraught cases. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Chapter 1 Zionism as an Ethnocultural Nationalism | 9 |
Chapter 2 The Jews Return to the Historical Homeland | 25 |
SelfDetermination and Hegemony | 53 |
Chapter 4 Dividing Up the Historical Homeland | 81 |
Chapter 5 Jewish Hegemony in Immigration and Other Domains | 111 |
Conclusion | 145 |
149 | |
157 | |
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Common terms and phrases
A. B. Yehoshua According Ahad Ha’am anti-Semitism areas argued aspiration Basel Program borders chapter citizens of Israel citizenship civic nationalism claim considerations constitute culture currently demographic diaspora enjoy self-determination establishment ethnic ethnocultural groups ethnocultural nationalism example fact framework Gavison global goals granted Hebrew hegemony Herzl historical rights argument immigrate to Israel individuals injustice interest in adhering invoked Israeli Jewish hegemony Jewish majority Jewish return Jewish self-determination Jewish settlements Jews Jordan River justice justified Kleiner’s Knesset Land of Israel Law of Return liberal living mass return means moral nation-state national groups national self-determination nationalist nationality-based priorities necessarily non-Jews original Palestine Palestinian refugees partition plan people’s interest persecution policies political population position principle priorities in immigration racist reasons recognition regard reject return of Palestinian return to Palestine right to national right to self-determination Ruth Gavison Shimoni specific substatist territorial sovereignty tion Uganda Plan University Press Yakobson Zionism Zionist ideology Zionist movement