we had talked about the origins of zionism, which I insisted, thinking of Herzl, were secular. Actually around 1840 or so there were three exponents, two of them rabbi's, for whom the Biblical context was important. A third, Moses Hess, had been a collaborator of Marx who diverged into jewish nationalism. The "people without a land, land without a people" zionist slogan originated with Lord Shaftesbury around the same time. It does appear that the early settlements were dominated by secularists, mostly from Russia, including left-wing political refugees.
we think about imperialism tyrannizing over subject peoples. In the case of Palestine, both Arabs and zionists were casting about for imperial masters. They were auditioning to be clients so they could have client states, in the face of the odious local tyranny of Ottoman/Arab administration. Herzl tried everybody (Germany, Turkey, Russia) and finally got some support from the Brits.
people talk about the Palestinian refusal to disavow any desire to eliminate the jewish state altogether. Benny says that utter transfer of the indigenous non-jewish population was inculcated in the birth of the zionist idea. the difficulties of this were well recognized, so that at the same time the public line was peddled that Arabs would be welcome and prosper in a jewish state. Meanwhile the zionists were buying all the land they could and dispossessing Arab tenant farmers in the process. The spread of settlements on the West Bank before and after Oslo is notorious. Why doesn't anybody demand Israel disavow any ambitions to annex the West Bank?
To be sure, well before the Holocaust the Jews had very good reasons to contemplate a flight from Europe (pogroms, the Dreyfuss affair), and to be tough on the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine, whose ancestors had oppressed their own (excepting a 'golden age' of comity from 850 to 1250 a.d.). In a nutshell, they fought dirty, like anyone else who is obliged to be deadly serious. Righteous victims indeed.
Fun fact -- among the first important Palestine nationalist formations were "Muslim Christian Associations." Among other reasons, Morris says Christians took this opportunity to solidarize with their more numerous, and often unfriendly, Muslim bretheren.
mbs