------------------------------------------------------------------------
* G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANKA SERVICES
For all your Goa-based media needs - Newspapers and Electronic Media
Newspaper Adverts, Press Releases, Press Conferences
www.ankaservices.com
kam...@ankaservices.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controversial Bestseller Shakes the Foundation of the Israeli State, by
Joshua Holland
(excerpt)
As Israeli journalist Tom Segev summarized, in a review of the book in *
Ha'aretz*:
There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also
never happened -- hence there was no return. Zand rejects most of the
stories of national-identity formation in the Bible, including the exodus
from Egypt and, most satisfactorily, the horrors of the conquest under
Joshua.
But this begs the question: if the ancient people of Judea weren't expelled
en masse, then how did it come to pass that Jewish people are scattered
across the world? According to Zand, who offers detailed histories of
several groups within what is conventionally known as the Jewish Diaspora,
some were Jews who emigrated of their own volition, and many more were later
converts to Judaism. Contrary to popular belief, Zand argues that Judaism
was an evangelical religion that actively sought out new adherents during
its formative period.
This narrative has huge significance in terms of Israel's national identity.
If Judaism is a religion, rather than "a people" descended from a dispersed
nation, then it brings into question the central justification for the state
of Israel remaining a "Jewish state."
http://www.alternet.org/audits/122810/controversial_bestseller_shakes_the_foundation_of_the_israeli_state/
__________________________
venantius j pinto
