The Hidden History of Zionism [Paperback]

Ralph Schoenman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1989

This study presents a forceful challenge to the conventional understanding of Zionism and the state of Israel: the notion that it is "a land without a people for a peoplle without a land", the myth of Israeli democracy and the perception of the Zionists as the moral representatives of hte victims of hte Holocaust. Schoenman documents the series of massares enacted under the banner of Zionism to drive out the Palestinians. The author concludes by articulating his own formula for a just society in the future - a democratic and secular Palestine where rights flow from citizenship rather than ethnic or religious identity. Ralph Schenman was Executive Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation during which time he conducted negotiations with numerous heads of state to secure the release of political prisoners. He has also directed many campaigning groups such as the Committee of 100, the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran and the Committee in Defence of the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press; 1st edition (March 31, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929675010
• ISBN-13: 978-0929675015
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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73 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Hidden History of Zionism, November 25, 2001

By 

nadya hajj (Charlotessville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden History of Zionism (Hardcover)

In The Hidden History of Zionism, Ralph Schoenman identifies four overriding myths that have shaped the consciousness of most people in our society about Zionism. In order to dispel these four prevailing myths, Schoenman examines evidence from various sources to crystallize his own claims and conclusions.
To begin, Schoenman discounts the myth of a vacant and desolate land by examining dialogues between Zionist officials and statements made by leaders. Through these documents Schoenman discovers that Zionist leaders were fully aware of the indigenous population occupying the land and as a result sought to annihilate their existence. For example, Aaron D. Gordon, a prominent Labor Zionist theorist and founder of the Young Workers and Workers of the Zion repeatedly declared that the Palestinians, whom supposedly did not exist from the Zionist perspective, should be forced off the land and prohibited form cultivating it. (Schoenman 17) Indeed, the Zionist settlers attempted to destroy the thriving peasant communities through the "conquest of labor" or "Kiddush avodah". Zionist settlers prohibited Arabs from attaining jobs thereby destroying their livelihood and forcing them to migrate to other areas for jobs or else to live in abject poverty. Ben Gurion ordered that Jewish settlers should "Drive them (the Arabs) out!" (Schoenman 33) Entire villages such as Deir Yesin, Dueima, and Gaza were terrorized and emptied. The Absentee policy took advantage of the vacant Arab lands and re-appropriated them to new Jewish settlers. This policy furthered Zionist claims of a "land without people" because terrified Arabs had left their home. Schoenman concludes that the Zionist maintained this myth in order to seek international approval of establishing the state of Israel while at the same time denying the existence and legitimacy of the Arab Palestinian peoples.
Next, Schoenman attempted to dispel the idea of an "Israeli democracy" that is unique to the Middle Eastern region. In fact, Schoenman finds that Israel's discriminatory practices towards Arabs in the workplace and inhumane treatment of Arab prisoners in the jails around the country are evidence to the fact that Israel does not adhere to the democratic principles of equality before the law despite racial and religious origin. Schoenman identifies official statements and personal case studies to support his argument. First, he points to the "conquest of labor" practices that prohibit Arabs from being hired for most jobs. Indeed, in 1974 the Israeli Minister of Agriculture called the employment of Arabs a "cancer" to society. Schoenman also elucidates the human rights violations committed by Israelis by exhaustively retracing and retelling the personal accounts of many Arab prisoners in Israel. The torturous conditions of Israel prisons are solidified in the "Kutler Report" published in the Ha'aretz journal. That article described prison life as "hell on earth" and identified prisons such as Kfar Yonah, Shattah, and Sarafand as evidence. The overwhelming support Ralph Schoenman unearths in his investigation of "Israeli democracy" reveal that Israel is thoroughly "undemocratic" with respect to the treatment of the Arab minority.
The third myth of the fragile state of Israel security is quickly discounted once Schoenman reveals the personal diaries of Israeli top officials. The general myth that Israel is constantly threatened and attacked by Arab nations and neighbors is quickly shattered when one realizes that Israel has the largest and most powerful army in the region. Also, the state of Israel does not act on the defensive, rather it has expansionist and imperialist forces governing its foreign policy. Schoenman identifies the "Personal Diary of Moshe Sharett" as a primary source to support his claim. For example, Schoenman points to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon as an example of Israeli aggression. He also cites Oded Yinon's article as further support to his claim of Israeli aggression. Oded Yinon, an individual formerly attached to the Foreign Ministry, reflects the high level thinking of the Israeli military establishment in his article "A Strategy for Israeli in the 1980's". In the article Yinon exposes Israel's imperialist plans by pointing to the fragile Arab regimes that are waiting to be pulverized. Though Israeli officials attempt to maintain that Arab nations are the aggressors in the region, Schoenman's discussion of Moshe Sharett's personal diary and Oded Yinon's article expose Israel's true intentions of expansion.
Finally, The Hidden History of Zionism dispels the myth of Zionists acting as the "legatee for Holocaust victims". Schoenman examination of Herzl, Jabotinsky, and the Zionist Federation's dealings with the Nazi party and anti- Semitic organizations reveal that Zionist in fact collaborated and supported the practices of such groups in order to increase immigration into Palestine. Zionism hopeless of combating anti-Semitism paradoxically regarded the anti-Semites themselves as allies because of the shared desire remove Jews from countries in which they lived. Zionist leaders such as Herzl came to regard the anti-Semites as reliable sponsors and protectors for the need for Jewish homeland. For example, Schoenman discovered that Theodor Herzl approached Count Von Plehve of Russia, the author of some horrible pogroms, and stated that "Help me to reach the land (Palestine) sooner and the revolt (against Czarist rule) will end." (Schoenman 47) Also, Jabotinsky, the famous Labor Zionist leader believed that hatred for Jews should be sustained in order to spur further immigration to the land of Israel. Moreover, the Zionist Federation of Germany sent a memorandum of support to the Nazi party on June 21, 1933 that the rebirth of national life in Germany should be followed by example for Jews. Jewish nationalist circles sought the support of the Nazis in maintaining Zionist fervor for a homeland. Schoenman's evidence sheds light on the horrifying accounts of Zionist leaders collaborating with Nazis and anti-Semites that sought to destroy their people. Though Zionists claim to be the saviors of Holocaust victims, the evidence presented in The Hidden History of Zionism reveals that Zionists sought to perpetuate anti-Semitic violence to further the need for a Jewish homeland that could offers Jews a much needed sanctum.

60 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth exposed, May 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hidden History of Zionism (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book which outlines the creation of Israel at the expense of the native population, the wars, the occupation and it's treatment of the Palestinian population, which includes toruture, home destruction, and murder. And unlike what a previous writer said, Ralph Schoenman is a Marxist, but NOT a Stalinist. Even though this book is old, it will help explain WHY the first Intifada started, WHY the Arab community distrusts Israel, WHY Palestinians must have their own independent state. This is the book that Pro-Israeli individuals don't want you to read, which explains the negative reviews which don't back up any of their claims with facts, just a wave of the hand. If you want to find out the truth about Israel, not fairy tale stories about Zionist morality, then read this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening and powerful, January 12, 2009

By 

Z. Cipris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hidden History of Zionism (Paperback)

This is an excellent book, concise, well-written, closely-argued, and strongly critical of the catastrophic Zionist project. Ralph Schoenman -- like Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Alfred Lilienthal, Maxime Rodinson, the Neturei Karta group, and so many others -- is an anti-Zionist Jew. No, he is not an anti-Semite and he does not hate himself, he is simply a person of conscience.

It is one of the stunning ironies of modern times that Israel, a highly aggressive state armed to the teeth by the US, is seen by so many Americans as a country justifiably defending itself against terror. Thanks to the US mainstream media, and the work of zealous Zionist commissars, most Americans simply do not yet know that the Israeli state has for decades been stealing Palestinian land, cramming its people into ghettoes and bantustans, tormenting and killing them by the thousands, and lying about its actions.

As these atrocities continue -- the current bloody onslaught against Gaza's civilians is only their most recent chapter -- American people are likely to awaken at last to the true nature of what has been going on, and to compel US policymakers to stop writing blank checks to Israel. Ralph Schoenman's book is a small but powerful contribution to that much overdue awakening.

For more background on Zionism, see books by Jewish historians Avi Shlaim and Ilan Pappé (both bitterly hated by Zionists), and Ghada Karmi's "Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine." The title of Dr Karmi's book refers to a report by two European rabbis who went to Palestine in 1897 to see whether the land was indeed empty and suitable for the creation of a new state. Seeing that the land was already populated, they cabled back: "The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man." If only their hint had been taken, so much needless tragedy would have been averted.

For a brief and remarkably honest statement of Zionist aims, see "The Iron Wall," a 1923 essay by Vladimir Zev Zhabotinsky, a person honored to this day as one of Israel's founding heroes. The entire essay is available on the internet and can be easily found.