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Behind the Creation of Israel
(Mosaic) Michael Mandelbaum - As Martin Kramer notes in his superb essay, "Who Saved Israel in 1947?," the UN resolution recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state came about because it had the endorsement not only of American President Harry Truman, but also of Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union. Measured by the breadth of international support for its creation, Israel has as much legitimacy as any state has ever had. Zionism's trajectory was also the product of major forces that have shaped the world of the 21st century. The French Revolution of 1789 introduced the idea that sovereignty properly resides not in the monarch, as had been the rule almost everywhere for centuries, but rather in the people. The movement to endow distinctive peoples - nations - with their own states gained momentum in Europe over the course of the 19th century. After World War I, American President Woodrow Wilson, who a year earlier had approved the Balfour Declaration, persuaded the other victorious powers to accept the proposition that, initially in Europe, the nation-state should become the universal form of political organization. In practice, a nation is a group of people who are willing and able to establish and defend their own state. To be sure, the Jews have had to fight harder and longer for their state than have many other nations. The heroic figures are the millions of people who sacrificed in blood to secure a Jewish state. While Zionism has commanded widespread international support, without the efforts of the people who put their lives on the line, that support would have meant nothing. Great enterprises like Zionism are the work of many hands - and the Zionist enterprise owes its success, ultimately, to the commitment and resolve of all the world's Zionists. The writer is professor emeritus of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.