zionism

[joanna bujes]

At 03:15 PM 07/12/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>The point is that the creation of Israel in its particular state form is no
>more a reflection of Zionism than any nation-state in a particular form is
>the inevitable reflection of the broad nationalism of its people.  So the
>crimes of the state are thereby attributed to the cultural DNA of the people
>who are its members, a pretty dangerous measure that goes beyond collective
>guilt to finding a people inherently criminal in its inherent nationalist
>intentions.

The justification for the creation AND EXPANSION of the state of Israel is 
given only by a certain stripe of zionist--with the support of the US . In 
this sense I don't see how it's possible to separate political zionism from 
the state of Israel. Zionism is not an ethnic category it is an ideology 
with a set number of followers.  No DNA is at issue here (except from the 
point of view of the zionist--which is why some have referred to the state 
of Israel as Hitler's last wish.)

Let's also be careful about the flavor of Israeli nationalism: it is not 
originally based on the Jewish posession of  land it is based on the jewish 
claim to a certain land...given by the Bible to those that have a certain 
blood running through their veins.

There are many kinds of "nationalisms": there is the nationalism, say, of 
an occupied people fighting for its right to self determination and then 
there is the nationalism of those countries who are claiming the right to 
oppress others. Israeli nationalism is actually the latter disguising 
itself as the former. For more details, please read the history. The idea 
of Israeli colonizers bringing enlightenment to arab cockroaches is 
explicit in the writings of many of the founding fathers of Israel.

Joanna Bujes