“We Are A People — One People.”

The war in Gaza has divided global opinion; the rights & wrongs of the actions of Hamas and Israel are coming under intense debate & scrutiny, raising further questions on the worth & value of the freedoms and lives of both Israeli’s and Palestinians not just during, but also after the conflict ends.

Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, toward the end of the Ottoman Empire’s control over Palestine. Image from +972 magazine.

‘At Basle, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. If not in 5 years, certainly in 50, everyone will know it.’

Theordore Herzl, speaking after the First Zionist Congress held in Basle, Switzerland, August, 1897.

Might over right…

Theodore Herzl believed the Jewish Question could only be solved through political discussion by the civilised nations of the world. He said that while ‘might precedes right’ the question of Jewish security and future would not be resolved. And yet, once a Jewish future was established, the Jews themselves undermined their own desire for security by maintaining that which Herzl had identified as the stumbling block to Jewish advancement. ‘Might’ for Israel today, ‘still precedes right.’