“* The well-known Marxist Beer Borochov was not free from biology. Zionist socialism shared the same conceptual mechanisms, and it too padded them with universalist rhetoric, though of a different sort. As we heard in the third chapter, Borochov regarded the Palestinian fellaheen as an integral part of the Jewish race, a population that could easily be welded into the steel structure of socialist Zionism. So did his disciples and the future founders of the State of Israel, Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, until the Arab uprising of 1929. Initially, Borochov contended that, since the locals were as much descendants of the ancient people of Judea as were all the world's Jews, they should be taken back into the body of the nation while becoming acculturated in a secular manner. The Zionist left would never have considered admitting into the warm bosom of the Jewish people Muslim peasants of a different biological origin, but after the 1929 pogroms, these Muslim peasants became complete strangers with astonishing speed.”
Quote by Shlomo Sand
Work
This book delves into the historical and cultural factors that have contributed to the formation of the Jewish identity, examining the evolution of Jewish traditions and beliefs over time. more
Author
Shlomo Sand (born September 10, 1946) is an Israeli historian and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. He is best known for his controversial books The Invention of the Jewish People (2008) and The Invention of the Land of Israel (2012), which challenge traditional Jewish national narratives. Born in Linz, Austria, to Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, Sand moved to Israel in 1948. He studied history at Tel Aviv University and earned his PhD from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His research focuses on nationalism, historiography, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sand's works have sparked intense debate, with critics accusing him of anti-Zionism, while supporters praise his revisionist approach. He argues that Jewish national identity is a modern construct and calls for rethinking Israel's Jewish character. more
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