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After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine
After Zionism brings together some of the world's leading thinkers on the Middle East question to dissect the century-long conflict between Zionism and the Palestinians, and to explore possible forms of a one-state solution. Time has run out for the two-state solution because of the unending and permanent Jewish colonisation of Palestinian land. Although deep mistrust exists on both sides of the conflict, growing numbers of Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Arabs are working together to forge a different, unified future. Progressive and realist ideas are at last gaining a foothold in the discourse, while those influenced by the colonial era have been discredited or abandoned. Whatever the political solution may be, Palestinian and Israeli lives are intertwined, enmeshed, irrevocably. This daring and timely collection includes essays by Omar Barghouti, Diana Buttu, Jonathan Cook, Joseph Dana, Jeremiah Haber, Jeff Halper, Ghada Karmi, Saree Makdisi, John Mearsheimer, Ilan Pappe, Sara Roy and Phil Weiss. 'Nothing will change until we are capable of imagining a radically different future. By bringing together many of the clearest and most ethical thinkers about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book gives us the intellectual tools we need to do just that. Courageous and exciting.' Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2013
25 people are currently reading
582 people want to read
About the author
Antony Loewenstein
14 books220 followersAntony Loewenstein is an independent journalist, best-selling author, filmmaker and co-founder of Declassified Australia. He's written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and many others. His books include The Palestine Laboratory, Pills, Powder and Smoke, Disaster Capitalism and My Israel Question. His documentary films include Disaster Capitalism and the Al Jazeera English films West Africa's Opioid Crisis and Under the Cover of Covid. He was based in East Jerusalem 2016-2020.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 7, 2016
I was really looking forward to reading this, since I really believe that, due to the situation on the ground, one-state solution is the only solution for Israel and Palestine.
Although deep mistrust exists on both sides of the conflict, growing numbers of Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Arabs are working together to forge a different future. Whatever the political solution may be, Palestinian and Israeli lives are intertwined, enmeshed, irrevocably.
This collection was edited by Ahmed Moor and Anthony Loewenstein. Moor is a Palestinian American who grew up in Palestine and understands the disastrous effects of the Israeli occupation. Loewenstein is a an Australian Jew who was brought up expecting to believe in Zionism and the Israeli state but by his late teens started to question its legitimacy.
They write: "We came together on this book not because we agree on everything – we don’t – but because of a shared belief that Jews and Palestinians are destined to live and work together, whatever our differences in background, ideals and daily life. We are connected by a desire to see peace with justice for our peoples".
They dedicated the book to "Palestinians and Israelis who deserve better".
Authors in this collection of essays write about several important aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like Nakba in the Israeli Zionist landscape, the bantustanization of Palestinian Territories, Israel’s liberal myths and self-determination through ethical decolonisation.
There’s a lot of good interesting writing (and deep thinking) in this book, however, one thing I found missing is wider and more concrete exploration of possible forms of a one-state solution. The problem is that the title of the book is misleading in that sense – this book is much better at examining the current state of things in Israel and the Occupied Territories than it is at exploring possible scenarios for the future.
I still highly recommend it – it’s a good starting point for thinking about possible solutions and different future for the people of Israel and Palestine.
Although deep mistrust exists on both sides of the conflict, growing numbers of Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Arabs are working together to forge a different future. Whatever the political solution may be, Palestinian and Israeli lives are intertwined, enmeshed, irrevocably.
This collection was edited by Ahmed Moor and Anthony Loewenstein. Moor is a Palestinian American who grew up in Palestine and understands the disastrous effects of the Israeli occupation. Loewenstein is a an Australian Jew who was brought up expecting to believe in Zionism and the Israeli state but by his late teens started to question its legitimacy.
They write: "We came together on this book not because we agree on everything – we don’t – but because of a shared belief that Jews and Palestinians are destined to live and work together, whatever our differences in background, ideals and daily life. We are connected by a desire to see peace with justice for our peoples".
They dedicated the book to "Palestinians and Israelis who deserve better".
Authors in this collection of essays write about several important aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like Nakba in the Israeli Zionist landscape, the bantustanization of Palestinian Territories, Israel’s liberal myths and self-determination through ethical decolonisation.
There’s a lot of good interesting writing (and deep thinking) in this book, however, one thing I found missing is wider and more concrete exploration of possible forms of a one-state solution. The problem is that the title of the book is misleading in that sense – this book is much better at examining the current state of things in Israel and the Occupied Territories than it is at exploring possible scenarios for the future.
I still highly recommend it – it’s a good starting point for thinking about possible solutions and different future for the people of Israel and Palestine.
June 3, 2025
“Under Israeli military law, Palestinians are not allowed to protest the occupation without special permits” which are “almost never given”. Israel has demolished 26,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories since 1967 (p.95). The author says, “I would argue that ‘after Zionism’ means to de-colonize Zionism.” The author said Zionism became colonial “as soon as it sought to deny the national rights and very existence of the Palestinian people, embarking on a campaign that continues to this day.” And he says, the Occupied Territories have “become a laboratory for the testing of weapons and tactics of ‘counterinsurgency’.” “It is this reality of having millions of trapped people, upon whom it can experiment with virtually any weapon – including new generation cluster bombs, flechettes and anti-personnel devices, white phosphorus and tungsten-based DIME explosives, all of which are prohibited by international law for use in densely populated areas like Gaza.” “Don’t think what happened to the people of Gaza remains with them alone. Whether through armies, security agencies or your local police, the road from Gaza leads directly to your door.”
The author believes in a one state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians live TOGETHER in a single democratic and secular state – hey, it works just fine in New Jersey which is the same size as Israel – as a result in Jersey they intentionally kill FAR less children. So actual equality for all could easily work. The author thinks “like racist South Africa, it (Israel) will eventually evolve into a democratic bi-national state whose politics will be dominated by the more numerous Palestinians.” Well that certainly explains Israel’s desire to single-mindedly finish the genocide (while pretending there isn’t one) before the centrist liberals of the world dare watch their first Gaza death video. And if you were morally repelled by former Jim Crow Apartheid in the US and its sister in South Africa, how do you ever justify Apartheid in Israel? With a two-state solution, the “Palestinian state has to be viable and truly sovereign, not merely a Bantustan.” The author says the two-state solution is now only a fantasy (because it would require Israelis to make actual sacrifices - 500,000 settlers and all those control checkpoints and guard towers would have to be removed). There is a part of Zionist culture the author believes could easily continue with a single state: “the preservation and fostering of Hebrew culture”. Christian Zionists demand the status quo to herald the “Second Coming” of Christ. Sounds like a porn title. Zionists say no to any peaceful one-state or two-state solution because of the four fears: first, peace (can’t play the victim 24/7 when there’s peace) - second, Right of Return - and third, that Palestinians could outnumber Zionists, and fourth, actual equality between humans - the horror! We have the same problem in the US where our white racists also live in fear of being outnumbered by people of color. Perhaps our racist whites could also pretend they too are personally chosen by white God in the sky and carry white supremacy flags like Zionists – oh wait – they already do! Whew…
In 1947, the Jewish minority (660,000 out of two million) was offered a 56% of the land – note this was BEFORE the creation of Israel. Simple math reveals if fairness was instead offered, the Jewish minority would have been offered a third of the land. “The Zionist ethnic state still lacks a constitution, much less a bill of rights.” “There are 101 different types of permits that govern the movement of Palestinians.” “There is a permit for travelling to a wedding in the West Bank, a different permit for escorting a patient in an ambulance and another again for simply accompanying a patient.” It’s good to be King! “The majority of young Palestinians in the West Bank have never been to Gaza or Israel. A September 2023 PEW poll found that only 35% of Israelis thought it was possible “for Israel and an independent Palestine state to coexist peacefully.”
When Israel was created in 1948, “Ultra-orthodox Jews were deeply hostile to Zionism, which they viewed as an affront to Judaism.” Jimmy Carter in 2009 said “the citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals than like human beings.” Israel is committing the crime of Apartheid according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International and every Israeli human rights group. Former Prime Minister Olmert said that “going down the Apartheid road would be suicidal for Israel.” “Secular American Jews make up the bulk of the Jewish community in the United States.” The author sees “the Israel lobby helping Israel to commit national suicide.”
This was a good Israel/Palestine book but a bit confusing. Unlike the author, I would argue that Zionism is definitely Colonialism. After WWII suddenly after hundreds of years, Colonialism had become uncool – you just couldn’t morally explain/justify it, in India or anywhere. Israel was suddenly the Johnny-Come-Lately – the last colonizer (in fact the last shamelessly settler-colonial power) on the planet – an counter-productive anachronism after the German and Japanese empires had just crashed and burned. But w/ good PR you can sell anything morally questionable from continuing permanent war to totally avoiding fighting climate change. Back to Zionism as Colonialism, top Zionist David Ben Gurion in his diary on 12 July 1937 agreed Zionism was colonialism by advocating: “the compulsory transfer of the Arabs from the valleys of the projected Jewish State…. We have to stick to this conclusion the same way we grabbed the Balfour Declaration, more than that, the same way we grabbed at Zionism itself” (Ben-Gurion, Zichronot [Memoirs], Vol. 4, p. 299). On October 5th 1937, Ben-Gurion wrote in a letter to his 16-year-old son Amos: “We must expel the Arabs and take their places…. And, if we have to use force-not to dispossess the Arabs of the Negev and Transjordan, but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places- then we have force at our disposal.” Then Ben Gurion said in a 1938 speech “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self-sacrifice.” And then in his diary on July 18th, 1948 Ben-Gurion, wrote in his diary “We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.” Heck, most of these quotes are settler-colonial – which is much worse than merely colonial proving my point even more. Anyway, a good book, but Antony’s “The Palestine Laboratory” book I liked (and recommend) even more.
The author believes in a one state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians live TOGETHER in a single democratic and secular state – hey, it works just fine in New Jersey which is the same size as Israel – as a result in Jersey they intentionally kill FAR less children. So actual equality for all could easily work. The author thinks “like racist South Africa, it (Israel) will eventually evolve into a democratic bi-national state whose politics will be dominated by the more numerous Palestinians.” Well that certainly explains Israel’s desire to single-mindedly finish the genocide (while pretending there isn’t one) before the centrist liberals of the world dare watch their first Gaza death video. And if you were morally repelled by former Jim Crow Apartheid in the US and its sister in South Africa, how do you ever justify Apartheid in Israel? With a two-state solution, the “Palestinian state has to be viable and truly sovereign, not merely a Bantustan.” The author says the two-state solution is now only a fantasy (because it would require Israelis to make actual sacrifices - 500,000 settlers and all those control checkpoints and guard towers would have to be removed). There is a part of Zionist culture the author believes could easily continue with a single state: “the preservation and fostering of Hebrew culture”. Christian Zionists demand the status quo to herald the “Second Coming” of Christ. Sounds like a porn title. Zionists say no to any peaceful one-state or two-state solution because of the four fears: first, peace (can’t play the victim 24/7 when there’s peace) - second, Right of Return - and third, that Palestinians could outnumber Zionists, and fourth, actual equality between humans - the horror! We have the same problem in the US where our white racists also live in fear of being outnumbered by people of color. Perhaps our racist whites could also pretend they too are personally chosen by white God in the sky and carry white supremacy flags like Zionists – oh wait – they already do! Whew…
In 1947, the Jewish minority (660,000 out of two million) was offered a 56% of the land – note this was BEFORE the creation of Israel. Simple math reveals if fairness was instead offered, the Jewish minority would have been offered a third of the land. “The Zionist ethnic state still lacks a constitution, much less a bill of rights.” “There are 101 different types of permits that govern the movement of Palestinians.” “There is a permit for travelling to a wedding in the West Bank, a different permit for escorting a patient in an ambulance and another again for simply accompanying a patient.” It’s good to be King! “The majority of young Palestinians in the West Bank have never been to Gaza or Israel. A September 2023 PEW poll found that only 35% of Israelis thought it was possible “for Israel and an independent Palestine state to coexist peacefully.”
When Israel was created in 1948, “Ultra-orthodox Jews were deeply hostile to Zionism, which they viewed as an affront to Judaism.” Jimmy Carter in 2009 said “the citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals than like human beings.” Israel is committing the crime of Apartheid according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International and every Israeli human rights group. Former Prime Minister Olmert said that “going down the Apartheid road would be suicidal for Israel.” “Secular American Jews make up the bulk of the Jewish community in the United States.” The author sees “the Israel lobby helping Israel to commit national suicide.”
This was a good Israel/Palestine book but a bit confusing. Unlike the author, I would argue that Zionism is definitely Colonialism. After WWII suddenly after hundreds of years, Colonialism had become uncool – you just couldn’t morally explain/justify it, in India or anywhere. Israel was suddenly the Johnny-Come-Lately – the last colonizer (in fact the last shamelessly settler-colonial power) on the planet – an counter-productive anachronism after the German and Japanese empires had just crashed and burned. But w/ good PR you can sell anything morally questionable from continuing permanent war to totally avoiding fighting climate change. Back to Zionism as Colonialism, top Zionist David Ben Gurion in his diary on 12 July 1937 agreed Zionism was colonialism by advocating: “the compulsory transfer of the Arabs from the valleys of the projected Jewish State…. We have to stick to this conclusion the same way we grabbed the Balfour Declaration, more than that, the same way we grabbed at Zionism itself” (Ben-Gurion, Zichronot [Memoirs], Vol. 4, p. 299). On October 5th 1937, Ben-Gurion wrote in a letter to his 16-year-old son Amos: “We must expel the Arabs and take their places…. And, if we have to use force-not to dispossess the Arabs of the Negev and Transjordan, but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places- then we have force at our disposal.” Then Ben Gurion said in a 1938 speech “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self-sacrifice.” And then in his diary on July 18th, 1948 Ben-Gurion, wrote in his diary “We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.” Heck, most of these quotes are settler-colonial – which is much worse than merely colonial proving my point even more. Anyway, a good book, but Antony’s “The Palestine Laboratory” book I liked (and recommend) even more.
September 17, 2020
Very few of the essays in this volume do, in fact, address the one state solution. Those that try to, do so in very unsatisfactory ways. The book is a huge disappointment. This is primarily because the editors have selected an inappropriate subtitle to describe the book.
did-not-finish
February 5, 2025I may return to this one. But being published over a decade ago, so much has changed on the ground that a revised edition would be preferable. I stopped at about 50% in, and there is only a little discussion on what one state for Palestine-Israel would look like: it mostly discusses what is happening a decade ago. The title is a bit misleading in that sense.
March 22, 2025
Reading this during the Netanyahu government's genocidal Gaza campaign definitely added a sense of urgency to reading this collection of essays curated by Ahmad Moor and Antony Loewenstein. It did however, make me question if the collection's central premise of a multinational, One State solution, was in fact feasible.
The original collection was published in 2012, and apart from a new foreword, the new edition appears to be pretty much the same as the original. This was disappointing, given that so much has changed in Palestine and Israel in the past decade. It would have been illuminating to have featured the contributors' reflections on their essays in light of current events.
That said, the essays themselves are fantastic. The viability of a One State solution is examined and argued for persuasively throughout, but it was also great to read what individual contributors focused on. Too often, both sides of the conflict are viewed as monolithic entities, but the essayists fluently articulated the historical differences and tensions within Zionism as an ideology, different visions of Palestinian liberation, and how best to change the unjust status quo. That said, I do think the unifying left wing perspectives of the essayists meant that they all considered the One State more viable due to the fact that they're less likely to be nationalist, traditionally religious, and exclusionary, and projected this viewpoint onto the wider Palestinian and Israeli populations without accounting for the influence of religion and nationalism on Palestinian and Israeli society.
The dated context aside, this was a great read, and I'd still recommend it to those interested in achieving a just solution for peace and ending the Occupation and Apartheid status quo.
The original collection was published in 2012, and apart from a new foreword, the new edition appears to be pretty much the same as the original. This was disappointing, given that so much has changed in Palestine and Israel in the past decade. It would have been illuminating to have featured the contributors' reflections on their essays in light of current events.
That said, the essays themselves are fantastic. The viability of a One State solution is examined and argued for persuasively throughout, but it was also great to read what individual contributors focused on. Too often, both sides of the conflict are viewed as monolithic entities, but the essayists fluently articulated the historical differences and tensions within Zionism as an ideology, different visions of Palestinian liberation, and how best to change the unjust status quo. That said, I do think the unifying left wing perspectives of the essayists meant that they all considered the One State more viable due to the fact that they're less likely to be nationalist, traditionally religious, and exclusionary, and projected this viewpoint onto the wider Palestinian and Israeli populations without accounting for the influence of religion and nationalism on Palestinian and Israeli society.
The dated context aside, this was a great read, and I'd still recommend it to those interested in achieving a just solution for peace and ending the Occupation and Apartheid status quo.
April 27, 2024
An urgently needed analysis of the past towards a just solution of tomorrow.
Great mix of opinions disecting demographics, geopolitics, pubic relations and propaganda. I think some of the later essays, principaly on the feasibility of a one-state solution, could have happened earliar. But all the essays were valuable even if some did not explore the subtitle of the book.
My favorite piece was on the Jewish Disaspora and it's power in both contributing and deminishing the Zionist project [The Future of Palestine: Rightenous Jews and the New Africaners by John J. Mearsheimer]. Controversially Jeremiah Haber argued for a postive "Zionism After Israel".
Since it's first printing in 2013 the fact's on the ground have continued to sour. Israel has pushed past the outright South-African style Apartheid towards a normalisation of ethnic-cleansing of the arab population. And in turn worldwide popular opinion towards Israel as a "democractic" state has seemingly hit it's limit.
The inherent contradictions of Israel outlined in the book remain. While it is due for an update, post 2023/24 Gaza bombardment, it is still a must read for understanding the situation and working towards a democratic solution.
Great mix of opinions disecting demographics, geopolitics, pubic relations and propaganda. I think some of the later essays, principaly on the feasibility of a one-state solution, could have happened earliar. But all the essays were valuable even if some did not explore the subtitle of the book.
My favorite piece was on the Jewish Disaspora and it's power in both contributing and deminishing the Zionist project [The Future of Palestine: Rightenous Jews and the New Africaners by John J. Mearsheimer]. Controversially Jeremiah Haber argued for a postive "Zionism After Israel".
Since it's first printing in 2013 the fact's on the ground have continued to sour. Israel has pushed past the outright South-African style Apartheid towards a normalisation of ethnic-cleansing of the arab population. And in turn worldwide popular opinion towards Israel as a "democractic" state has seemingly hit it's limit.
The inherent contradictions of Israel outlined in the book remain. While it is due for an update, post 2023/24 Gaza bombardment, it is still a must read for understanding the situation and working towards a democratic solution.
July 18, 2024
This was super interesting and informative but although it’s been updated and reissued I did find it quite out of date in many sections purely because it was initially published more than a decade ago. This is no reflection on the quality of the information it just wasn’t as contemporary as I thought it might be.
October 20, 2024
Some interesting essays and some......sadly, conditions have changed, so some of what they wrote about are difficult to imagine in todays environment. Most distressing is that at least one of the essays predicted the current situation....remember, a writer of reviews I am not.
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