Zionism and its Discontents

Ran Greenstein

Description

Mainstream nationalist narratives and political movements have dominated the Israeli-Palestinian situation for too long. In this much-needed book, Ran Greenstein challenges this hegemony by focusing on four different, but at the same time connected, attempts which stood up to Zionist dominance and the settlement project before and after 1948.



Greenstein begins by addressing the role of the Palestinian Communist Party, and then the bi-nationalist movement, before moving on to the period after 1948 when Palestinian attempts to challenge their unjust conditions of marginalisation became more frequent. Finally, he confronts the radical anti-Zionist Matzpen group, which operated from the early 1960s-80s.



In addition to analyses of the shifting positions of these movements, Greenstein examines perspectives regarding a set of conceptual issues: colonialism and settlement, race/ethnicity and class, and questions of identity, rights and power, and how, such as in the case of South Africa, these relations should be seen as global.
Preface

1. The Bi-nationalist Perspective during the British Mandate, 1917–48

2. The Palestinian Communist Party, 1919–48

3. Palestinian Nationalism and the Anti-Colonial Struggle

4. Matzpen: The Anti-Zionist Left in Israel/Palestine

5. Conclusions

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Post-Colonialism
• Political Science
• América del Norte
• Israel
• Nationalism
• North America
• Colonialism
• Palestine

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783712045
• Langue: English

Extrait

Zionism and its Discontents
Zionism and its Discontents
A Century of Radical Dissent in Israel/Palestine
Ran Greenstein

Pluto Press www.plutobooks.com
First published 2014 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Ran Greenstein 2014
The right of Ran Greenstein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents Preface  
1 .
The Bi-nationalist Perspective During the British Mandate, 1917–48
2 .
The Palestinian Communist Party, 1919–48
3 .
Palestinian Nationalism and the Anti-Colonial Struggle
4 .
Matzpen: The Anti-Zionist Left in Israel/Palestine
5 .
Conclusions   Notes Index
Preface
This book examines Zionism through the lenses used by critical political movements, who have sought to challenge its conceptual bases as well as confront its practices on the ground. These include the bi-nationalist movement of the British Mandate period; the Palestinian Communist Party of the same period; the Palestinian national movement in its various permutations, beginning with the Mandate period and continuing to the present; and the Matzpen group of the 1960s to 1980s. Zionist activists and scholars may find it strange to see their movement reflected through the eyes of its critics and opponents. This is an essential operation, however, to avoid the usual writing of history from the perspective of victors, and to provide a counter-view that examines political alternatives as they unfolded in their own time.
Inevitably, we tend to look at historical developments in retrospect, knowing their outcomes. I tried to avoid this approach by looking forward, from the temporal perspective of the actors discussed in the book, and not from the vantage point of the present. None of these actors managed to achieve their primary political goals, but they all made valuable contributions – by way of analysis and practice – which should serve us today in charting a new course of action. Hence, the importance of their stories. In their different ways they provide essential starting points for a critique of the present. I hope this will be of interest not only to scholars but also to activists who seek to learn the lessons of the past in order to shape their struggles in the present and achieve greater success in the future.
These stories focus on the evolution of intellectual positions and political perspectives. I have paid less attention to organizational issues. The goal here is to allow the reader to appreciate the broad alternative points of view developed by different forces, rather than trace the development of a party apparatus or the mechanism of a movement’s resource mobilization. Above all, it is a history of ideas which shaped reality, albeit not always in an obvious or predictable manner.
As far as possible original sources were used and secondary analyses were relied on to a lesser extent. The aim here has been to reflect on radical ideas and political alternatives from the perspectives of actors directly involved in their formulation, instead of evaluating them from a remote scholarly vantage point. I make no secret of my own views, especially in the concluding chapter, and cannot claim political neutrality, but have strived to present an account that is accurate, accessible and, above all, engaging with historical and contemporary concerns.
Why study these movements specifically? The choice was made with a view to identifying comprehensive responses to the rise of the Zionist settlement project, which remains the crucial actor shaping the history of Israel/Palestine for the last century. With the exception of the bi-nationalist movement, all the others offered alternatives that attacked Zionism from the outside and sought to replace its policies and principles with a completely different orientation, rather than suggest internal correctives. Even bi-nationalism involved a radical rejection of the notion of a Jewish state, which increasingly became the goal unifying all other Zionist movements, and still is the crucial common denominator of Zionism today. Examples set by these radical currents serve as a form of ‘subjugated knowledges’ that have experienced a degree of ‘insurrection’ in the last two decades. This book aims to assist this process further.
In this respect, I wish to join the wave of studies that challenge the central assumptions of mainstream Zionism from within Israeli society as well as from outside its boundaries. Academics such as Baruch Kimmerling, Ariella Azoulay, As’ad Ghanem, Nur Masalha, Oren Yiftachel, Shlomo Swirski, Ilan Pappe, Honaida Ghanim, Dimitry Shumsky, Yehouda Shenhav, Shlomo Sand, Adi Ophir and others have contributed to this work. Many of them identify their perspective as post-Zionist rather than anti-Zionist, but to some extent at least they follow in the footsteps of the pioneering Matzpen approach (discussed in chapter 4 ), without necessarily being aware of their debt to it. Critical questions about the structures of domination of Israeli state and society, the relations between Zionism and colonialism, and the role of Israeli policies in entrenching imperial control in the Middle East, which were considered radical heresy when raised in the 1960s, are being raised openly in respectable public and academic forums. The answers may differ but the willingness to raise difficult questions is a testimony to the spread of dissent beyond the margins.
Although I do not discuss this directly, my geographical/intellectual location in South Africa had an impact on some of the book’s contents. This is not meant to be a comparative book, but here and there some reflections of a more comparative nature entered the discussion. This is particularly the case in chapter 3 , where I set up the South African liberation movement as a benchmark (or ‘ideal type’) against which to examine Palestinian nationalism, and to a limited extent in chapters 4 and 5 as well. The task of a full-fledged study of the issue is best left for another project, though. The South African dimensions mentioned here are meant simply to illustrate historical possibilities in Israel/Palestine, not to offer extended discussion in their own right.
Finally, what can the activist/scholar expect from this book? Two things in particular: (1) a concise but thorough review of the ideas and historical records of the movements in question, written from a sympathetic perspective that identifies the ‘best case’ that can be made for each of them. I do not always agree with the positions developed by these movements but always strive to present them in a way that would make sense to a reader located remotely in space and time. And, (2) an analysis that places these movements in their historical and theoretical contexts, while examining their relevance for their times and ours. The answers they offered are not always suitable for us today (and some answers may not have been suitable for them either), but the questions they raised are still relevant as ever. Above all, my goal is to enable readers to look at contemporary political and cultural issues with the benefit of historical depth. I hope this task has been achieved.
1
The Bi-nationalist Perspective During the British Mandate, 1917–48
From its early days in the late nineteenth century, the modern Jewish settlement of Palestine faced criticism from within its own ranks as well as from outsiders. Alongside the resistance of indigenous Arabs (initially ‘mute’ but becoming increasingly vocal over time), 1 it experienced dissent from various Jewish constituencies. Three critical trends were particularly important: religious rejection of secular nationalism; left-wing opposition which elevated universal socialist principles above nationalist aims; and, liberal-humanist critique of the quest for a Jewish state in Palestine, and its associated exclusionary practices, as the ultimate goal of the settlement project.
Even before the formal establishment of the Zionist movement in 1897, these trends had become evident. While the religious rejection of Zionism could be seen as an internal critique, concerned with the implications of nationalism for the traditional definition and practice of Judaism, 2 the other two trends directed attention to relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Although many things have changed since the early days of settlement, the main themes of the critique which were raised initially more than 120 years ago have remained valid to this day.
The liberal-humanist critique – on which this chapter focuses – is associated with the Russian Jewish thinker Asher Ginsberg, better known by his pen name Ahad Ha’am (‘one of the people’). In a landmark article, written after his first visit to the new settlements in 1891, titled Truth from the Land of Israel [Eretz Israel] , he sharply criticised the nascent settlement project for the unhealthy relations it established between Jewish farmers and Arab workers. He went on to debunk some of the myths involving notions such as ‘land wi