Over A Century of "Settlement"

New book out:

Ideology and Settlement by Zvi Shilony.



It's self-description:

Return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel after almost 2,000 years of Dispersion is one of the history's greatest miracles. It inspires people of the goodwill with the joy of hope and fills the hearts of deniers with resentment, hatred, and fear. While inspiring a great range of emotions, the Return - like any genuine miracle, - can actually be studied as it manifests itself through everyday secular, chaotic, active work of flash-n-blood people.

Since 1901 the Jewish National Fund was the organ of the World Zionist Organization for the purchase of lands in Mandate Palestine and settling it with Jewish people.

While working towards this goal, the JNF had to design and decide:

* the overall land and settlement policy,
* where to purchase lands,
* what types of farming and economy to enhance,
* which types of settlements to develop,
* which socio-economic sectors of the Jewish people to assist,
* how to develop national geographic and economic systems,
* how to secure widest possible borders for the anticipated Jewish autonomy,
* how to create a Jewish demographic majority in Palestine.

This book presents the first deep and detailed research conducted on the subject.

The original Hebrew edition is reviewed here.

Those durn "settlements'. Seem to have been the essence and the vitality of Zionism.