‘Bi-Nationalist Zionist Vision Might Have Prevailed But for Arab Pogroms’

by Philip Weiss on September 11, 2008 · 6 comments

Ralph Seliger of Meretz-USA writes to me:

Saif [Ammous] is an ignoramus. And so are you if you think that his is a serious analogy of Christians coming to the US to make it a more Christian country. It is already "Christian" in its majority and its cultural ethos.

The Jews did not come to Palestine as conquerors but as refugees seeking a home. I know that the Arabs thought of them as a threat, but if their response had been peaceful rather than the pogroms of 1920, '21, '29, and the rebellion of '36-'39, and if they had not made the British close the doors of Palestine in 1939 – just when the Jews were especially desperate for refuge – maybe "my" ideological Zionist forebears (who were bi-nationalists) might have prevailed in the Yishuv to forge a better, common future for both peoples.

Related posts:

  1. Jack Ross Takes on Ralph Seliger’s Claim Re Binationalist Zionists
  2. Bias at Work: ‘Times’ Fronts Wrenching Foto of Dragged White Colonist While Israeli and English Press Focus on ‘Pogroms’ Against Palestinians
  3. Just Imagine If the Northern Press Hadn’t Covered the Civil Rights Struggle…
  4. Borat’s Coded Message: Pogroms Could Happen Here
  5. Progressive Zionist Eschews ‘Mixed’ Groups Because of Their Insensitivity to Anti-Semitism (And Still, Palestine Burns)

{ 6 comments }

1 americangoy September 11, 2008 at 7:38 pm

"The Jews did not come to Palestine as conquerors but as refugees seeking a home. "

That they had to ethnically cleanse for themselves.

See – Deir Yassin and other outrages.

2 Eva Smagacz September 12, 2008 at 3:47 am

I am morally judged not for my intentions but for my actions. All world judges Israel not for its intentions but for its actions (USA excluded). Benevolent intentions ring hollow if you are robbed and humiliated by brutal occupier.

3 Y. Ben-David September 12, 2008 at 6:34 am

Americangoy-
For Arab outrages long before Deir Yassin, read about Arab massacres of Jews in Jerusalem and Jaffa 1920-1921, massacre of NON-ZIONIST Jews in Safed and Hevron in 1929, Arab massacres of Jews 1936-1939. Seems like the Arabs cornered the market on atrocities during that period. But of course, you have to distort and rewrite history for the Palestinians. That is why they are losing.

4 stevieb September 12, 2008 at 11:07 am

The jews absolutely came to conquer. You should no better, Phil Weiss.

Israeli archives reveal quite clearly that to be the case….

5 stevieb September 12, 2008 at 11:11 am

"But of course, you have to distort and rewrite history for the Palestinians. That is why they are losing."

LOL. You may be 'winning' in Palestine, but it is jews who are losing big-time.

Jews have been rewriting the history of the conflict since it began which is well documented and one of the reasons why jews are losing the moral argument – which will eventually lose them all of Palestine too if it doesn't change…

6 stevieb September 12, 2008 at 11:14 am

corr. "you should KNOW better.."

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post: Israel’s Defiance of International Law on Its Border Violations Has Empowered Nasrallah

Next post: Want to Join the Jewish Genius Club? Rule 1: Be Jewish