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The False Comparison of Zionism and Colonialism

(JNS) Jordana Schiff - A 2019 article in the McGill Daily defines Zionism as "a modern political movement advocating for the colonial establishment of a Jewish state." It is demeaning to accuse Zionists of establishing "control over an indigenous people" because Jews themselves are indigenous to the Land of Israel. The Jewish people's ancestral homeland has always been Israel, and ample historical evidence exists to prove such claims. There was no Jewish "conquest" of Palestine. Jews have resided in the land for thousands of years, and when many began returning in the 19th century at a time when many Arabs also arrived, the Jews legally purchased property from landlords. Following the overwhelming Arab rejection of the UN Partition Plan in November 1947, the Arabs started their nationalist war against the Jews, with five surrounding Arab armies invading the nascent state. Zionism is strikingly different from colonization in another crucial respect: The motivation of Zionism was (and is) to develop the land and create a thriving society for all of its people, not to control the area and exploit its resources on behalf of a foreign power. The writer is president of the Israel on Campus club at McGill University in Montreal.
2021-04-14 00:00:00
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