Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel

by Adam Shatz (Editor)

Contrary to the claims of the American Jewish establishment and the Israel lobby, Jews do not speak with one voice about the Middle East. Since the early twentieth century some of the fiercest and most eloquent critiques of Israel and Zionism have been made by Jewish thinkers. They have hailed from political and intellectual traditions—Zionism (Hannah Arendt), anti-Zionism (Maxim Rodinson), anarchism (Noam Chomsky), and Marxism (I. F. Stone). Unconditional supporters of the state of Israel have denounced them as heretics. Yet in the midst of the violence engulfing Palestine and Israel, their warnings about the Zionist project, with its vision of an ethnically pure Jewish state, have never seemed more prescient. These prophets outcast speak out as individuals in a wilderness, proposing solutions to the question of Palestine that range from a two-state solution to socialist internationalism. What links them is an understanding that Israeli policies have been a disaster not only for Palestinians, but for Jews as well. As Jews, they express a recognition of the tragic thread that connects the Palestinian catastrophe to the Holocaust, the destruction of European Jewry that made Israel possible, and that led many Jews to view Zionism as their only salvation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle East

348 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2004

About the author

Adam Shatz is the US editor of The London Review of Books and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is also the host of the podcast “Myself with Others,” produced by the pianist Richard Sears. Adam has been a visiting professor at Bard College and New York University and a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars. Raised in Massachusetts, he studied history at Columbia University and has lived in New York City since 1990.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF ‘DISSIDENT’ WRITINGS ABOUT ISRAEL

Editor Adam Shatz wrote in the opening essay of this 2004 collection, “a question on the minds of many secular, progressive Jews… [concerns] Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s vision of a Greater Israel, super-armed bunker state, governed by right-wing ideologues and ruling an archipelago of Palestinian ghettos surrounded by a barbed wire ‘security’ fence… to raise this question is not to call for throwing the Jews of Israel into the sea, or… back to Europe. The question today is not whether Jews will remain in Israel-Palestine, but where (within the 1967 borders or in a Greater Israel) and on what terms (in an increasingly theocratic state in which Palestinians remain second class citizens, or in a democracy based Arab-Jewish equality?)…” (Pg. x-xi)

He continues, “I am an American Jew, not an Israeli. Some readers are probably grumbling, ‘Who are you to judge Israel? You don’t live there.’ Point taken. But I find it … curious that Israel’s supporters welcome and solidarity of American Jews who don’t live there either… The fact is, as a Jew and as an American, you are involved in the debate over Israel-Palestine whether you like it or not.” (Pg. xiii) He adds, “There is no denying that Israel once provided a refuge for Hitler’s victims… Leaving aside the question as to why this sanctuary should come at the expense of the Palestinians, who played no role in the Holocaust, it is by no means clear that the existence of a Jewish ethno-state in the Middle East makes Jews safer today, or whether it actually exposes them to greater dangers.” (Pg. xvii)

He goes on, “The writers in [this book] do not speak with one voice. They form a polyphonic ensemble of Zionists, anti-Zionists, and non-Zionists, as well as anarchists, liberals and Marxists… What they do share is a commitment to genuine, peaceful coexistence between the Arabs and Jews of Israel-Palestine.” (Pg. xvii-xviii)

The book begins with a number of ‘historical’ documents; e.g., Sigmund Freud’s 26 February 1930 letter to the Palestine Foundation Fund: “I certainly sympathize with [Zionism’s] goals… and am delighted with our settlements’ prosperity. But, on the other hand, I do not think that Palestine could ever become a Jewish state, nor that the Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be prepared to have their holy places under Jewish control. It would have seemed more sensible to me to establish a Jewish homeland on a less historically burdened land. But I know that such a rational viewpoint would never have gained the enthusiasm of the masses and the financial support of the wealthy. I concede with sorrow that the unrealistic fanaticism of our people is in part to be blamed for the awakening of Arab distrust.” (Pg. 54)

Or Martin Buber’s 1948 essay: “Fifty years ago when I joined the Zionist movement for the rebirth of Israel, my heart was whole. Today it is torn. The war being waged for a political structure risks becoming a war of national survival at any moment. Thus against my will I participate in it with my own being, and my heart trembles like any other Israeli. I cannot, however, even be joyful in anticipating victory, for I fear lest the significance of Jewish victory be the downfall of Zionism.” (Pg. 59)

Or Einstein’s 1930 letter to the editor of a Palestinian newspaper: “I am convinced that the devotion of the Jewish people to Palestine will benefit all the inhabitants of the country, not only materially, but also culturally and nationally. I believe that … the vast expanse of territory now occupied by the Arabs stands only to gain from Jewish sympathy. I should welcome the creation of an opportunity for absolutely free and frank discussion of these possibilities, for I believe that the two great Semitic peoples… may have a great future in common, and … they should support each other’s national and cultural endeavors, and should seek the possibility of sympathetic co-operation.” (Pg. 62)

Hannah Arendt wrote in 1950, “As things stand today, the Israeli state is not only a Jewish island in an Arab sea and not only a Weternized and industrialized outpost in the desert of a stagnant economy: it is also a producer of commodities for which no demand exists in the immediate neighborhood. Doubtless this situation will change some time in the future, but nobody knows how close or how distant this future may be.” (Pg. 97)

Simha Flapan wrote in 1987, “the support of the Israeli peace camp for Palestinian self-determination, mutual recognition, and coexistence is not enough… present Israeli policy is doomed to reproduce over and over again the cycle of violence… The collective revenge of an army for the murder of one of its citizens is no more righteous or admirable than the individual revenge of a desperate youth for the murder of one of his people. It is only propaganda and distorted vision that labels one ‘terrorism’ and the other ‘national defense.’” (Pg. 143)

Gabriel Piterberg states, “Zionist ideology defined this land as ‘empty.’ … Of course, since the land was not literally empty, its recovery required the establishment of the equivalent of a colonial hierarchy---sanctioned by Biblical authority---of its historic custodians over such intruders as might remain after the return. Jewish settlers were to be accorded exclusive privileges deriving from the Pentateuch, and Palestinian Arabs treated as part of the natural environment.” (Pg. 147)

Uri Avnery wrote in 1968, “I want to deal with Arab nationalist. I want to tell them: The last fifty years have shown that neither you nor we can achieve our national aspirations as long as we fight each other. Our two great national movements can neutralize each other, or they can be combined n one great regional movement of liberation and progress. This is what the Semitic idea means—an idea combining the two nationalisms, an ideal with which nationalists on both sides can identify.” (Pg. 216)

Noam Chomsky wrote in 1975, “Under the U.S.-Israeli program of de facto annexation, the demographic problem could no longer be swept under the rug, since the ‘Jewish state’ would soon have a population of Arabs approaching 50 percent. The Gaza Strip alone would double the Arab population of Israel, and Israeli officials have repeatedly insisted that this region will remain part of Israel under any peace settlement…” (Pg. 227)

Sara Roy wrote in 2003, “what does it mean to preserve the Jewish character of the State of Israel? Does it mean preserving a Jewish demographic majority through any means and continued Jewish domination of the Palestinian people and their land?... What sort of meaning do we as Jews derive from the debasement and humiliation of Palestinians? What is at the center of our moral and ethical discourse? What is the source of our redemption? Has the process or creating and rebuilding ended for us?” (Pg. 352-353)

Brian Klug asserted, “‘the people of Israel’ in the modern political sense of that phrase, is not synonymous with ‘the people of Israel’ of which the Torah speaks. Many Jewish Israelis feel no affiliation whatever to Judaism and even repudiate it totally… they do not seem themselves as part of ‘the Jewish people.’… the People of the Book. Moreover… approximately one-fifth of the total population---are not Jewish… if Israel were my country, I would not consider it my patriotic duty to support it right or wrong. If I thought its policies were foolish or shameful… I would not hesitate to speak out, even in a time of crisis---all the more in a time of crisis because this is part of a conscientious citizen.” (Pg. 383-384)

This book will appeal to those seeking ‘alternative’ viewpoints on Israel and Zionism.

[E.T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book by famous Jews, historians, intellectuals criticising Israel and even the concept of Zionism. Lets get straight to the main issues:-
A) Was it right to create Israel by partitioning Palestine ?
As i have said earlier , i am not sure. I remain unconvinced.
B) “Right to Return” for displaced Palestinians.
For the first time, a couple of articles in this book acknowledge that an equal no of Jews were displaced from Arab countries. Albiet also propose loony conspiracy theories as reason for it. Also disregard the reasonable (wrt the situation) offers on the table put by Israel.
C) Colonisation of Palestine by Jews - I wonder if Muslim asylum-seekers to Europe and Australia/NZ are doing the same ? When there are so many Muslim-majority countries to seek refuge which are also culturally compatible.
I dont sound nice, right ? Just do the appropriate substitutions and check your colonisation argument again.
D) Unitary state
I have often advised Western intellectuals to study trajectory of India’s partition from 1857. And read Dr Ambedkar’s “Partition”. And also on the lack of secularism, liberalism and religious intolerance that make minorities miserable in ALL Muslim-majority countries. At best you are a second-class citizen !
Repeat- i think RECOGNITION OF ISRAEL is key. Even in India, i did not favour deporting (illegal) immigrants who have settled for years irrespective of religion/race. It is most inhumane.
And it should be followed by a full-fledged Palestinian state - two-state solution with security and peace for both countries.
Not too different from the usual Leftist criticisms, but worth reading nonetheless. Also, as an article mentioned - there has never been an equivalent book by Palestinians/Arab intellectuals. So not all value-systems and cultures are equal. I fully respect your right to follow your own culture, not respect your (or even mine) culture itself. Am a dissident myself.

[Eva Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An archive that has been arduously erased from jewish collective memory.

From Sara Joy: I have concluded that one way to pay tribute to those we loved who struggled, resisted and died is to hold on to their vision and their fierce outrage at the destruction of the ordinary life of their people. It is this outrage we need to keep alive in our daily life and apply it to all situations, whether they involve Jews or nonJews. It is this outrage we must use to fuel our actions and vision whenever we see any signs of the disruptions of common life: the hysteria of a mother grieving for the teenager who has been shot; a family stunned in front of a vandalized or demolished home; a family separated, displaced; arbitrary and unjust laws that demand the dosing or opening of shops and schools; humiliation of a people whose culture is alien and deemed inferior; a people left homeless without citizenship; a people living under military rule. Because of our experience, we recognize these evils as obstacles to peace. At those moments of recognition, we remember the past, feel the outrage that inspired the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and allow it to guide us in present struggles. For me, these words define the true meaning of Judaism and the lessons my parents sought to impart.


May we reclaim our history and forge a different reality.

[didi · Rating 4 out of 5]

a range of views that should be looked back at on for their clarity then nd now is useful. many of the issues spoken about have only been exacerbated since nd some of the essays are almost prescient.