Zionism shaken but not yet stirred

Here's is an interesting article by Shlomo Sand, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University, that shakes the very foundations of Zionism.

Thanks to fellow Syrian blogger Abu Kareem (Levantine Dreamhouse) for drawing attention to it. The article appeared in the English edition of Le Monde diplomatique in September this year.

Zionist nationalist myth of enforced exile

Israel deliberately forgets its history

An Israeli historian suggests the diaspora was the consequence, not of the expulsion of the Hebrews from Palestine, but of proselytising across north Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East

By Schlomo Sand

Every Israeli knows that he or she is the direct and exclusive descendant of a Jewish people which has existed since it received the Torah (1) in Sinai. According to this myth, the Jews escaped from Egypt and settled in the Promised Land, where they built the glorious kingdom of David and Solomon, which subsequently split into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. They experienced two exiles: after the destruction of the first temple, in the 6th century BC, and of the second temple, in 70 AD.

Two thousand years of wandering brought the Jews to Yemen, Morocco, Spain, Germany, Poland and deep into Russia. But.. Read more >>