Israel - Victim of their own victimisation?

In reading about PTSD and the effects of conflict I chanced across an interesting paper (which typically I can't lay my hands on). This paper spoke of the effects of war in socialising those engaged in, surrounded by, or being victims of atrocities. Those affected by it, in some way, become dehumanised and, ironically, behave in the same way as those with whom they contended or (in the case of victims) were abused by.

I first came across this on a first-hand basis when talking to a veteran of the Far East conflict who spoke of the difficulty he found in trying to live 'normally' after the war because the "boundaries has all been moved or even removed."

Watching the final episode of 'The promise' and seeing Israelis move from house to house in the Arab village (9th April 1948) I was stunned by the parallels between that place and many other places where those doing the shooting were Nazis. I saw no difference between this and see none even still in the goings on of today's Israel.

The comment that the army weren't present in the settlements to keep the peace, merely to protect the Jews and that killing, beatings and abuse would draw no attention other than perhaps support for the acts brought me back to the ghettos and the acts within them.

The labelling of the arabs and the dehumanising and parallels with the Jews of 1938 onwards displayed the same dehumanising, gratuitous, senseless, and repeated, acts of atrocity and violence of the 1930's and beyond. The abuse of those who are rendered powerless, homeless and voiceless (other than through the mortars and 'terrorist acts of some' is no different at all from the Nazis.

And so I ask myself, are the Jewish perhaps a dehumanised victim of that which the Jews suffered during the shoah? Is Israel, the nation state, so far from God because it is a nation that has lost its soul to bitterness and wickedness as a response to its modern past?

The terrorist acts that saw many die in the early stages of modern israel's history (including of course the King David Hotel in 1946) were done by the same people who saw power in the government of Israel. Were they terrorists or 'freedom fighters'? Are those who have lost their homeland of Palestine terrorists or freedom fighters now in exactly the same way?

Questions, questions and more questions!

Lies, misrepresentations and deliberate spinning of the truth make this an even more difficult subject as each layer is peeled away. Could this explain how, and why, the nation state is so far from the God who promised the land they occupy and His commandments and a relationship with Him?

Israel dehumanised victims or inhuman territorialists?

You tell me!

Pax

Zionism - What is it?

In order to have a sensible dialogue we need to make sure that we all have the same understanding of the terms used. So let's make sure we are all meaning the same things when we use the same words.

From the many mails I have received, I have come to the baseline definition that Zionism is:

+ 'The belief in a Jewish homeland for THE Jewish people, in the geographic location that is Israel',

+ 'The possession the the human right of self determination, for the Jewish people' and

+ Concerned with the nation state of Israel, a modern secular nation where Judaism is to be found, but where nation and religious belief are separate.

+ It is about the return of the territory to the people who once occupied it as a God-given right.

I was also told that the label 'antisemitism' * applies to:

+ Those who oppose Jewish human rights,

+ Those who oppose the existance of a homeland for the Jewish people, and

+ Those who support and/or spread hate about Israel

(* Apparently this is the European Union's definition of antisemitism.)

I am taking myself off to watch 'The Promise' (and visit the gadget Show Live) and as I do, I wonder if there are any additions, modifications or subtractions that need to be made to the elements above to ensure that we have an agreed datum from which to work.

As it stands, I don't think I'm a zionist and I'm definitely not antisemitic (unless being critical of the nation's behaviour is to be considered antisemitic).

Thank you for those who have offered their views on zionism and antisemitism, the elements of which have been reduced to the lowest common denominator here.

So, are the definitions right?

If not, tell me where and why and we can move on.

Pax

ps. Thought I'd posted this before I left for Gadget Show (excellent) - apologies.