Some Israeli History from "The Nation" Archives Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit "The Nation" Archives online offer some very interesting historical documents on Palestine and the founding of Israel. One piece in particular is worth study, especially by those born after World War Two. It's mostly about the jewish aspirations in regards to Palestine in the '20s, but it explicitly addresses the fact that -- hey, lookie here -- there are people already there, and spends time early on discussing integrating with them and knowing that, for Jewish immigration to the region to work, zionism "in laying the foundations of its old-new home ... must not tolerate even a suspicion of faith in those vicious imperialist principles which have been the source of half its woes." The author is... Chaim Weizmann! http://www.thenation.com/docPrint.mhtml?i=archive&s=19240312weizmann And here's an interesting piece from Balfour: http://www.thenation.com/docPrint.mhtml?i=archive&s=19171129kallen "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." (well, they've honored the second clause of that pledge...) The article sets the founders of Zionism back in a context that one sometimes forgets, that of the intensely long and brutal European history of anti-Semitism -- which reminds modern readers of the importance of that second clause. Now, if only they'd look to that first, and to the huge numbers of warnings their founders gave them on the topic of needing to respect and integrate with the locals... Peter Bell ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmid-04.24.02-18:36:07-13401