Gaza And The End of the Zionist Dream

The End of the Free and Democratic Jewish State?

The war in Gaza will put an end to the Zionist dream of a free and democratic Jewish state. The State of Israel has always been an imperfect realization of that dream, but the war will definitely end it. I write this in sorrow because I am and have always been a supporter of Israel, but we must face reality. I hope that the State of Israel will continue to survive and prosper, but it cannot do so as a purely Jewish state.

Why must the Zionist dream end here? To answer that question, we need to understand the contradiction at the heart of Zionism and indeed of all nationalism.

Zionism - the Jewish Nationalist Dream

The Birth of Jewish Nationalism

Zionism was born in a political world in which nationalist demands underlay many of the political issues of the time. The First World War was triggered by a Serbian nationalist, and nationalism underlay the creation of countries like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia from the remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The national aspirations of people in many parts of the world led to the collapse of the British and French colonial empires after WWII. 

European Jews took the nationalist idea and applied it to themselves. They said, “We, too, are a people, and we too have a right to a country of our own,” and they founded the Zionist movement. The Zionists were young and enthusiastic. They were political leftists and envisioned a socialist society in the new country that they were building. The collective farms (kibbutzim) that they founded were expressions of their vision. They also felt themselves to be renewing themselves and the Jewish people.  A song sung by the early settlers says, "We came to the Land to build and to be built."

The Contradiction at the Heart of Nationalism

The Zionists, like all other nationalists, ignored the contradiction at the heart of nationalism. Nationalism says that a national state is the political expression of a single “people” who share a common language, cultural heritage and biological ancestry. For example, a nationalist would say that France is the political expression of the French people. In reality, France is not the simple and natural expression of a culturally unified people. French culture was imposed on a diverse population. The French language started out as the language of the area around Paris, and at the time of the French Revolution, the language was spoken by less than 10% of the people of France. The French national school system, along with military conscription spread the language to all parts of France. All modern countries have similar histories. Their national cultures have been imposed on diverse populations. So, the idea that a national state is the natural expression of a culturally unified people is false.

The Blind Spot in Nationalism

Nationalists, including Zionists, are blind to this reality, and that blindness has led to harsh and brutal conflicts everywhere. The United Kingdom was created by suppressing the independence of the Welsh and the Scots. The recent Basque struggle for independence from Spain produced a long and bloody civil war. Today, Indian Hindus attack Indian Muslims. The Burmese massacre the Rohingya, and the Muslims of Northern Sudan massacre the Christian and Animist peoples of Southern Sudan. Tribal conflicts are endemic in many parts of Africa. Mexico oppresses the indigenous people in the southern part of the country. The United States was created by the extermination of most of the native peoples of its territory. The creation of the State of Israel has inevitably involved repeated conflicts with the Palestinians. 

A Bi-National State

The war in Gaza is a culmination of those conflicts, but it cannot resolve them. Some people still talk of a two-state resolution of the conflicts, but the time when that solution was possible is long past because today, nearly half a million Israeli Jews live in the West Bank. Some Israelis would like the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank to move to other countries, but no country has offered to take the Palestinians in. They have nowhere to go. Nevertheless, it is pretty clear that the State of Israel would like to annex Gaza and the West Bank.

If Israel annexes Gaza and the West Bank, it will acquire approximately 4.5 million new Palestinian citizens in addition to the 2.5 million Palestinians who already live in Israel proper. The total Jewish population of Israel is about 7.6 million. Thus, if Israel annexes the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians will constitute almost half of the country's population, and Israel will inevitably become a bi-national state like Belgium. It will be impossible to maintain the purely Jewish character of the State of Israel except through an unsustainable and morally unacceptable level of suppression of the Palestinians. ,

If for some reason, Israel does not annex the West Bank and Gaza, the conflict with the Palestinians will continue, and Israel's democracy will continue to be eroded. Israel's oppressive rule in the West Bank and the continuing horror in Gaza are incompatible with a democratic society and contrary to basic Jewish values.  

So, the Zionist dream of a free, democratic and Jewish state ends here.