Zionism and the State of Israel: A Moral Inquiry [Hardcover]

Zionism and the State of Israel is essential reading for any student of the modern Middle East, especially those interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Zionism. Dr. Prior's careful, relentless expose is a turning point in the writing of the history of the modern Middle East, in which the establishment of the State of Israel is a pivotal, decisive event. It is not only a thorough, perceptive analyses of the history of Zionism, culminating in the establishment of the State of Israel, but also an examination of the consequences of this accomplishment on the people of Israel/Palestine, which includes the deliberate and ongoing political, legal and economic disenfranchisement of the people of Palestine. Dr. Prior's bold analysis breaks new ground in Western historiography. He avoids the condescension and patronizing favoritism towards Israel which accompanies most Western historiography on the State of Israel. Consequently, his conclusions are controversial and provocative. The Rev. Dr. Michael Prior is Principal Lecturer at St. Mary's University College, University of Surrey. He is an ordained Roman Catholic priest and a member of the order Vincentian Congregation (C.M.). Among his numerous books and essays are studies in the New Testament and his landmark study of land traditions in the Bible, The Bible and Colonialism: A Moral Critique. In this work, Dr. Prior introduced "moral critique of the Bible," a ground breaking form of biblical analysis which produced startling and long overdue insights. In Zionism and the State of Israel: a Moral Inquiry, Dr. Prior pursues his interest in moral critique, focusing on the history and moral impact Zionism. "The widespread Western support for the Zionist enterprise is particularly striking from a moral perspective. Whereas elsewhere the perpetrators of colonial plunder are objects of opprobrium, the Zionist conquest is widely judged to be a just and appropriate accomplishment..." (p.160.) Zionism and the State of Israel consists of five sections: The Achievement of Zionism, An Assessment of Zionism, The Biblical Justification of Zionism, The Mythological Justification of Zionism and Critique of Zionism. It is carefully footnoted and includes a comprehensive bibliography. After an overview of the history of Zionism and the State of Israel, Prior probes deeply into the history of the formative years of Zionism, tracing the roots of Zionism to the mid 1800's. This is particularly effective in exposing the various, tangled and sometimes conflicting agendas of early proponents of Zionism. These include not only Theodor Herzl, but his 19th century predecessors in envisioning a Zionist agenda, Moses Hess, Judah Alkalai and Leon Pisker. Prior's argumentation is effective in showing that Zionism, like other ideologies produced in Europe in the1900's was never a pure liberation movement, was certainly neither benign nor benevolent toward the indigenous peoples of Palestine, but rather included elements of racism, colonialism and nationalism. He examines the contrast between religious and secular Zionism and the development of Messianic Zionism in the wake of the 1967 war. He offers an insightful treatment, not only of fundamentalist Protestant Christian Zionism, but of the attitudes toward Zionism of mainstream Western Christianity as well. His discussion of the biblical dimensions of Zionism, the Zionist enterprise and the founding of the State of Israel is an important component of his overall argument, which leads the reader to the troubling realization that the biblical narrative is a fundamental tool in legitimating the dispossession of a people from their land and the continued oppression of a people. Prior's examination of the foundational mythology of the State of Israel is illuminating, not only in understanding the history of Israel, but also in understanding the psychology of all nationalist ideologies and nation states. Identifying the concept of foundational mythology is an important contribution to understanding the dynamics of national self-consciousness. Dr. Prior's treatment of the history of Zionism represents a significant breakthrough in Western historiography. His analysis is not only illuminating and thorough, it is also courageous. He notes that raising the issues he does is like entering an academic "no-fly zone." The almost complete silence among Western historians about the moral impact of the establishment of the State of Israel on the peoples of Israel and its neighbors is inexplicable, unless it is seen as a moral failure of the first magnitude, or that one's own personal ideology favors such deliberate ignorance. Dr. Prior's book demonstrates that Zionism's moral decay is not tangential, but rather at the heart of Zionism and that therefore, the avoidance of it can be accomplished only by blindness of a willful sort. The book is thus, not only a moral indictment of Zionism, but of historiography on Zionism and biblical scholarship as well. Yet, to call Dr. Prior's conclusions "controversial," as the book's publishers do in the book jacket, suggests that Dr. Prior is somehow out of step. Indeed, he is out of step with contemporary historiography, which, like contemporary biblical scholarship, all but ignores moral considerations. Indeed, Dr. Prior's scholarship is out of step as cutting edge scholarship in any field is. But this commends to us a re-examination of mainstream historiography and biblical scholarship, which itself is out of step with current norms of moral decency. He notes, "By modern standards of international law and human rights, the land narratives from Exodus to Joshua mandate "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." (p.165) Zionism and the State of Israel, however, is itself, not beyond critique. Occasionally, Dr. Prior seems to eschew persuasion in favor of simple assertion. Further, one might suggest that Zionism cannot be understood without understanding the context of Western Christian persecution of Jews in which it germinated. Finally, Christian moral considerations must always be undertaken with the conviction that moral depravity is neither unique nor isolated, but indeed a universal element in human history. No nationalist ideology or ethnic chauvinism is immune to the critique Dr. Prior applies to Zionism. Be this as it may, Dr. Prior succeeds in redefining the terms of the discussion of modern Middle East history.Consideration of moral questions can no longer be ignored.

Michael Prior is a Catholic priest and a serious biblical scholar but the value of this book transcends creed and academic interests. His history of the Zionist movement is well written and authoritative and little known today, even in academic circles. He goes on to expose the dubious nature of Bible-based "religious" justification for the actions of the State of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians which it pursues. The "Shoah" excuse for Israeli Zionist abuse of the Palestinans, a people who after all had nothing to do with "the Holocaust", is documented and criticized. Zealous supporters of Israel will not like this book but they will find it hard to refute. It is a shame that the relatively high price of the book will diminish its availability. I'd like to put in the hands of every American Catholic Bishop, many of whom are ignorant of the matters discussed here.

One of the most cutting of Prior's insights about Catholic ignorance (among others - this is not a "Catholic" book) regarding Israel and Zionism is his exposure of the fatuous Catholic participation in a famous 1986 Catholic-Jewish dialogue in which a supposedly "expert" Catholic clerical particpant adopted entirely the ridiculous and fraudulent theories of Joan Peters, author of a book on the subject which has been recognized as an embarrassment even by Israeli Zionists. This is unfortunately not a rare occurence. Peters' claims, among other things, that Palestinian presence in the Holy Land is largely of recent provenance, draw by the jobs created by the Zionists and denies any Israeli expulsion of Palestinian Arabs as well as other such propaganda.

Prior's personal history is of interest. He admits to being a naive believer in the "spunky little Israel" idea and the usual "making-the-desert-bloom" beliefs promoted by the post-war Zionists until his experiences as a scholar and resident in Israel awakened him to the realities. This epiphany is not unusual in people who spend time in the area. Many United Nations peacekeepers, aid workers, religious folk (inluding even some Chritstian fundamentalists) and others have followed the same path. Their experiences have not had much impact on western political leaders however.

The late Father Michael Prior CM wrote extensively on Scripture at both the popular and scholarly level but he came to see the Bible as part of the problem of the world's ills rather than as part of their solution. "This book should carry a health warning!" was his frequent comment. His solidarity with the Palestinians led him to feel increasingly uncomfortable with those parts of the Old Testament that seemed to provide precedent and so to justify their expulsion and oppression. Convinced of the active or passive collusion of much western biblical scholarship in the oppression of the Palestinian people, he developed this thesis first in his 'The Bible and Colonialism. A Moral Critique' (Sheffield University Press, 1997). In that book he discussed-the relationship between biblical hermeneutics and the appropriation of the land traditions of the Bible so as to justify colonialism in Latin America, South Africa and, of course, Palestine.

He went on to produce this magisterial historical and ethical critique of Zionism, 'Zionism and the State of Israel: A Moral Inquiry.' This represented a partial shift in the focus of his scholarly interest away from the Bible towards the study of political ideology and modern history. However the appeal to biblical authority and precedent meant that his critique of Zionist ideologues constantly returned to the discussion to biblical themes.

The first part of the book traces the development of Zion from its secular origins in the 1890's as an anti-religious movement to the sacred 'Zionism' endorsed today by Jewish and Christian religious right-wingers. The book goes on to examine the responses to Zionism by Christians of various stripes both before and after 1948 and 1967 and to critique the biblical justification for Zionism. Proceeding from a position of extreme scepticism towards the historicity of parts of the Old Testament the book goes on to deplore the failure of biblical scholars to include the perspectives of the human rights discourse in their discussion of the biblical and tradition.

The main section of the book seeks to demonstrate that the expulsion of the Palestinians, far from being a consequence of the Nazi Holocaust or of the fortunes of war in 1948, had been planned by the founding fathers of Zionism from the beginning. The last section of the book addresses the myth that anti-Zionism is based upon anti-Semitism of anti-Judaism as it traces the history of Jewish anti-Zionism, both secular and religious.

Despite his passion for political argument and political theology Professor Michael Prior was not a politician. As with his discussion of questions of biblical hermeneutics, he offered no practical solutions to the problems that he raised. His considerable strengths lay in the areas of historical and textual criticism and in the ability to engage in an ethical critique of injustice. When challenged he would argue that his task was to identify the problem and he was happy to leave it to others to propose the answers. By temperament he was suited for the role of prophet rather than of reconciler or political fixer. Nevertheless his prophetic inspiration was one that derived directly from Old Testament prophets and from the one who preached good news to the poor in the synagogue of Nazareth.

Anyone wishing to read a thoughtful and provocative book with a prophetic edge will not find the price of this work too much of a deterrent!