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You are welcome. As far as I know, and based on mainstream scholarship, Zionists did not per se "collaborate" with the Nazis, but tried to negotiate remedies that would save Jewish lives and property, and help with the goal of populating Palestine. Most scholars blame them for being naive, rather than having a great affinity for the Nazis....On Arab self- determination, the position of the Zionists is that there was never a distinct Palestinian people, that most of the Arabs populating Palestine had themselves emigrated sometime after the middle of the 19th century, and that there are two dozen homelands for the Arabs, and only one for the Jews. The Zionists began by buying land, and got along fairly well with there neighbors. There was even consideration of a bi- national state among some Zionists. However, Arab nationalism poisoned relations between Jews and their Arab neighbors, and many Palestinian Arabs supported the Nazis. When the State of Israel was declared, the Arab media passed the word that there would be a general slaughter of Jews, and that local Arabs should get out of the way. It is true that in the conflict some Jews, mainly from the Irgun, drove out Arabs, but most scholars agree that the bulk of them left expecting it to be temporary, in panic at the impending attack. In any event, Arab citizens of Israel have full voting rights, although it is true that there is so much mistrust that they cannot serve in the Army....On the question of Zionism being racism, it is an inaccurate characterization of a movement that has brought Jews from around the world, including black Jews from Ethiopia and brown Jews from India, into its fold. What is true is that it is a kind of ethnic nationalism, trying to create a homeland for an historic people. Ethnic nationalism has come into disfavor, but there is an argument to be made that the Jews, having nearly been wiped-out during the Holocaust, deserve some consideration..... |
