The Hidden History of Zionism

This study presents a forceful challenge to the conventional understanding of Zionism and the state of Israel: the notion that it is "a land without a people for a peoplle without a land", the myth of Israeli democracy and the perception of the Zionists as the moral representatives of hte victims of hte Holocaust. Schoenman documents the series of massares enacted under the banner of Zionism to drive out the Palestinians. The author concludes by articulating his own formula for a just society in the future - a democratic and secular Palestine where rights flow from citizenship rather than ethnic or religious identity. Ralph Schenman was Executive Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation during which time he conducted negotiations with numerous heads of state to secure the release of political prisoners. He has also directed many campaigning groups such as the Committee of 100, the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran and the Committee in Defence of the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples.