Zionism is not Racism

The Apartheid Smear says that Zionism is a form of racism. It isn’t. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, calling for the restoration of sovereign Jewish life in the land of Israel after 2000 years of exile and persecution. The persecution of Jews was a constant of European life culminating in the Holocaust. • Mainstream Zionists always believed that a non-Jewish minority would live alongside the Jewish people. Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948 promised the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel ‘full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.’

• Mainstream Zionists have always believed that a non-Jewish minority would live alongside the Jewish people. Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948 promised the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel ‘full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.’

• The right of the Jewish people to create a national home in Palestine was recognised by the British in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, and then approved by the League of Nations (the forerunner of the United Nations) in 1922. In 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved the partition of Mandate Palestine into ‘Independent Arab and Jewish States.’ • In 1948 the Jewish community declared the establishment of Israel in line with this UN resolution. Five Arab armies immediately invaded. The Palestinian refugee problem was born of war, not by design. Reaching a just and agreed resolution of the refugee question is rightly central to the peace process.

• In 1948 the Jewish community declared the establishment of Israel in line with this UN resolution. Five Arab armies immediately invaded. The Palestinian refugee problem was born of war, not by design. Reaching a just and agreed resolution of the refugee question is rightly central to the peace process.

Originally published by BICOM here