Zionism and the Arabs

How have American Zionists maintained the delicate balance between their Americanism and their Zionism? How did they, as Americans, support the principle of democracy and at the same time, as Jews, support the creation of a Jewish homeland despite the pre-1948 Arab majority in Palestine? Looking at America-Holy Land relations during the years prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, Medoff explores this crucial question of American Jewish identity. Using original, previously unpublished archival material, this study presents an engaging account of a dilemma that is still very much an issue in today's political climate.

"Medoff tells, with great skill, the fascinating story of a dilemma troubling American Jews for half a century: namely, how to balance their commitment to a national homeland in Palestine, where the Arabs constituted a vast majority of the population, with their desire to gain acceptance in a country where democratic values were deeply ingrained in the political culture....Although the claims of this book are modest, its implications are explosive. Medoff seeks only to establish that, despite their own precarious position as relatively recent Americans, troubled by conflict between two identities, very few American Zionist leaders were prepared to make major concessions on Zionism in order to demonstrate their loyalty to "Americanism." But his depiction of the underlying conflict between Jewish and democratic loyalties has great immediacy for contemporary Israel."-The Jerusalem Post Magazine, "Rafael Medoff has made a signal contribution to the history of America-Holy Land relations by examining American Jewish attitudes towards the Palestine conflict and Palestinian Arabs through the prism of American Jewry's own struggle to be integrated into society without relinquishing their religious and ethnic identities. Medoff's work of history has important contemporary ramifications in light of the continued prominence of the Israeli-Arab conflict in our own day."-Jeffrey S. Gurock The Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History Yeshiva University, .,."Medoff examines an important aspect of the history of American Zionism and also make a fine contribution to Ziounist historiography."-SHOFAR: the Interdisciplinary Journl of Jewish Studies, ?Medoff tells, with great skill, the fascinating story of a dilemma troubling American Jews for half a century: namely, how to balance their commitment to a national homeland in Palestine, where the Arabs constituted a vast majority of the population, with their desire to gain acceptance in a country where democratic values were deeply ingrained in the political culture....Although the claims of this book are modest, its implications are explosive. Medoff seeks only to establish that, despite their own precarious position as relatively recent Americans, troubled by conflict between two identities, very few American Zionist leaders were prepared to make major concessions on Zionism in order to demonstrate their loyalty to "Americanism." But his depiction of the underlying conflict between Jewish and democratic loyalties has great immediacy for contemporary Israel.?-The Jerusalem Post Magazine, ?...Medoff examines an important aspect of the history of American Zionism and also make a fine contribution to Ziounist historiography.?-SHOFAR: the Interdisciplinary Journl of Jewish Studies

DR. RAFAEL MEDOFF is Visiting Scholar in the Jewish Studies Program at the State University of New York, Purchase College. He has also taught at Ohio State University and elsewhere, and his articles on American Jewry, Zionism, and related subjects have appeared in numerous scholarly journals.