The Question of Zion

I recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand why and how the Zionist project went wrong. 'The Question of Zion' is not anti-Zionist, as someone claims, it is an act of courage by a scholar who isn't shy to deconstruct the myths that underpin political discourse in Israel. Jewish readers with an open-mind will appreciate Jacqueline Rose's effort. All readers will gain a better understanding of the history and ideological premises of Zionism.

Don't let the negative reviews of this worthy volume misdirect you. Jacqueline Rose has been singled out for the usual smears and vilifcation by the American Jewish Committee because she has crossed the line of politically correct "polite" discourse about the Israeli state, and labeled it a humanitarian catastrophe. What her critics forget is that Zionism is not synonymous with Judaic people, and that ongoing Israeli crimes and apartheid are disastrous for the image and security of Judaic persons worldwide. Hence, it is pro-Judaic to be radically anti-Zionist and Rose makes the case by showing that wanton destruction of Palestinian society is part of the essential founding pathology of Zionism. There is some badly needed, original and empowering thinking in these pages - don't be frightened away from encountering it.

Why some people have given this book such a low rating is clearly understood. The author does go against many popular beliefs held by the jewish people especially the fanatics, however she touches on many points in jewish culture that most jews try to forget or even dismiss as it does not fit into their way of thinking. The book its self is written very well, and all her "assumptions" and easily verified by doing a bit of research.Rose has not exaggerated anything and she portrays a clear picture of what the current state of Israel is at the moment, for people reading this book and finding it offensive they have to answer one question and that is; am i a radical or a moderate jew. The answer most coming would be radical. I think this book is a first step for us jews to come out of the past, stop blaming something that happend 50 years ago and get on with our lives, we have to stop hiding behind an event that most people will forget ever happend in the near future, and we must emerge from this.

The book is a very good and factual examination of Zionism and thats why the other two reviewers gave it only one star. The book shows that although Zionism may have started with good intentions it has turned into an illegal land-grab of the likes the world has never seen before. Jews wanting a place to call home is okay. Kicking Arab women and children to the street and giving their homes to Jewish famlies is not the way to do it. Reading the book and realizing how the media convieniantly fails to report the Zionist atrocities may make you an activists for truth in occupied Palestine.

The two readers' reports below are, sadly, a distressingly good example of the phenomenon that this book bravely represents. They strike me as an almost wilful misunderstanding of Rose's subtle argument about Zionism and its anti-European origins, as distinct from Zionism's current uses and defenses in today's volatile political scene. Rose tackles the history of Zionism, that is, and asks what it has sanctioned and made possible as a mythology and movement; she doesn't characterize or in the least pathologize a whole body of diverse people so much as examine what their collective beliefs arose in response to. Maybe it's futile to suggest this, given the impassioned rhetoric on both sides, but readers intent on getting an accurate picture of this book might best study its description and thoughtful blurbs, including by many Jewish intellectuals. In doing so they hopefully will appreciate that it is possible to be Jewish yet critical of Zionism's misuses, just as it is possible to respect and advocate for the rights of Palestinians without subscribing to all that is done in their cause. Above all, one hopes that readers will perceive the intelligence and the humanity that inform this most necessary book.