Is it Israel or Palestine?

checking email I find this link and essay: http://mondoweiss.net/2009/07/tema-okun.html

Tema Okun writes:
I am a Jew. I am a religious Jew. I am an anti-Zionist Jew. I realize that to make this last claim is to risk that you will stop reading, as often any claim of anti-Zionism brings with it a label of traitor, anti-Semite, self-hating Jew. I hope, however, that you will give me the benefit of the doubt, at least for the few minutes that it will take you to read what I have to say."

July 20, 2009

This is well worth reading. It is a small essay and easy to read compared with Yakov Rabkin's book "Jewish Opposition to Zionism". (yes, I am hoping to have finished this before the trip to Palestine/Israel in September) There are also many comments which are useful to read.

Other links I chased up tonight include a very solid review of Prof Rabkin's book at http://www.counterpunch.org/neumann06052006.html by Michael Neumann. in which he writes:

"Professor Yakov Rabkin offers us an unusual book. It is not history, because it does not present a narrative of Jewish opposition to Zionism, nor a systematic analysis of its causes and development. It is not polemic--though Rabkin's sympathies are clear, he presents the arguments of others far more than his own. It has too much anecdote and too many vignettes to count as philosophy; it is too philosophical to count as politics or sociology."

And there is more on the Ha'aretz site at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerGuest.jhtml?itemNo=796902 It is interesting to see a how the internet can foster discussion and exchange of ideas (not just the "comments", this is discussion.)