One thing I want to clear up. Professor Cargill made it sound like Zionism started with Yehuda Halevi (whose name can mean Jew of my heart which is kind of funny), and with Spaniards in the 12th century. That is not the way I have ever heard it. Those events had little effect on the greater Jewish population and their movement to Jerusalem. Not until the late 1800s do we really see Zionism taking root. I think Cargill could have done a better job explaining Zionism, what it is, how it varies, and different people involved in it. We have Herzl who wrote and "founded modern Zionism" like everyone always says. But Zionism existed long before Herzl. Zionism is really a much more Eastern European idea, created by Jewish who were bearing the real hardships of anti-semitism at the time. It was created for Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukranian Jews. Herzl was a westerner by all accounts, born in Vienna, barely self identified as a Jew, journalist in Paris, didn't speak Yiddish-Western. As Chaim Weizman, the future first president of Israel, wrote about Herzl was really more of a glue, of a leader of Zionism that westernized and legitimized it, but he was by no means the founder. In many ways he moved Zionism away from it's roots, with the Uganda plan. It essentially took the 'Zion' out of Zionism. And it was greatly opposed and eventually rejected the Zionist congress. But all this was really happening in Europe and not in Israel. Israeli history sort of take places in two places during this time period-Israel and Europe. We have what is happening on the ground in Israel- Ottomans, British, settlements, Arab riots- and then we have what was happening in Europe with Zionism and anti-semitism- Herzl, Ha'am, Kishniev, etc.
The distinctions involved in the word Palestinian is also very interesting. I think it was Gold Meir who said something like 'Who are the Palestinians? We, the Jews, were the Palestinians.' The development of a Palestinian nation is very interesting. Obviously today they are a legitimate and undeniable group of people, but their origins is more complicated. Palestinians were separate from he Jordanians before 1948, and from what I know, if you happened to be from either side of The Jordan river, it would determine your nationality when in reality, those two groups of people were extremely similar. I don't know.
Excited for the last class. But I really enjoyed it and wish I could take it again. Maybe a near eastern studies minor or something....Who knows? I got lots to work on. Until next post. I'm planning on a nice large blog for my last post since I'll be done with all my papers.
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