The Returns of Zionism: Myths Politics and Scholarship in Israel
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About this book
In this original and wide-ranging study Gabriel Piterberg examines theideology and literature behind the colonization of Palestine from the latenineteenth century to the present. Exploring Zionisms origins in Central-EasternEuropean nationalism and settler movements he shows how its texts can beplaced within a wider discourse of western colonization. Revisiting the work ofTheodor Herzl and Gershom Scholem Anita Shapira and David Ben-Gurion andbringing to light the writings of lesser-known scholars and thinkersinfluential in the formation of the Zionist myth Piterberg breaks openprevailing views of Zionism demonstrating that it was in fact unexceptional expressing a consciousness and imagination typical of colonial settlermovements. Shaped by European ideological currents and the realities ofcolonial life Zionism constructed its own story as a unique and impregnableone in the process excluding the voices of an indigenous peoplethePalestinian Arabs.
