The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

Simon Dubnow’s Autonomism and Pinkser’s Anti-emancipation are very significant documents in the history of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict as they address how the Jewish acquisition of national consciousness and independent territorialism could lead to their independence. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is one of the most significant conflicts in modern history as it stretches out to more than a century. A lot of lives were affected by the Jewish nation and the Arabic state.

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Pinker, the author of the auto-emancipation, believed that the problem that the Jewish community was facing could only be solved if the Jews attained equal rights. Simon Dubnow was a Jewish historian and activist whose contribution to the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be underestimated. These sources are significant in the history of Israel and Palestine as their evaluation can shed light on how the Jewish people suffered due to a lack of independent territorialism and stable government.

Simon Dubnow and Leon Pinkser are both historians and activists who advocate for the Jewish culture's well-being. Simon Dubnow is the pioneer of the autonomist ideology. He uses this ideology to advocate for the political and civil rights of the Jews. Leon Pinsker conforms to the Zionism ideology. He argues that for the Jews to enjoy the benefits of national respect, they need to define a nation of their own. The Jewish community needed to define a way to ensure that the to ensure that they earned national respect, and thus, the Autonomism and the Zionism ideologies were thought as perfect paths for leading the Jews to their desired freedom and will.

Simon Dubnow Autonomism

The Jewish Autonomism is an ideology that is proved to have emerged from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century. Simon Dubnow is one of the first proponents of the autonomism ideology (Dubnow, Simon, 1936). He was an activist and a historian who was born at Belarus in 1860. This ideology stated that the Jews' survivorship was dependent on the cultural and spiritual strength, in ensuring the development of the "spiritual nationhood" and the Jewish diaspora's viability.

Autonomists usually emphasized on the significance of the Yiddish cultural practices. The Jewish people uniquely viewed themselves as the only people who survived the tragedy of land loss. Unlike the Zionism, Autonomism, which envisioned the Jews' nationhood at a particular point in their future, presently recognized the Jewish nationhood reality ("Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Institutes / Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook XIV/2015" xx). The Zionism advocated for the creation of a new Jewish state. He sought the autonomy and the sovereignty of the Jewish people, for he believed it was the right path to Jewish nationalism. He authored an article known as Autonomism, where he expressed his views on why the Jewish needed independence.

Autonomism is an individual right that ought to be enjoyed by all citizens of a nation. “During the period of isolation, the Jews enjoyed in great measure the right of national autonomy, although in outmoded forms, but they lacked civic and political rights,” (Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle, and Anglo-Jewry, pg.418). According to Simon Dubnow, the Jewish community enjoyed significant autonomy but lacked political and civic rights during the "period of isolation." During the "period of assimilation, some Jews started involving themselves in civil and political issues, but most were alienated from the chosen national inheritance. “The autonomism ideology was based on Dubnow's historical understanding. Simon Dubnow explains three progressive stages that aid in the evolution of a nation.

The chief axiom of Jewish autonomy may thus be formulated as follows: Jews in every country who take an active part in civic and political life enjoy all rights given to the citizens,” (Dubnow, A Short History of the Jewish People, pg.418). Dubnow urged the Jews to become active in political and civil issues to ensure that those in leadership positions did not exploit them. He also saw this as a potential way of enabling the Jewish people to attain their independence. These are the cultural-historic-spiritual, the tribal, and the territorial-political step.

Leon Pinsker's “Autoemancipation”

The “Autoemancipation" was written by Leon Pinsker, who was a Jewish activist and doctor. This article is believed to be one of the founding documents of today's Zionism. This article evaluates the role played by the Germany language in the development of Jewish culture and nationalism. After a thorough study of Judaism and the Jews, he published an article called Auto-emancipation. In this article, he urged the Jewish community to strive for national consciousness and attain their independence. He also urges the Jewish people to strive for independent territorialism.

Pinsker says that the belief in the intervention of supernatural power to bring about the resurrection of the political state and the speculation about the bearing of a divine punishment had caused the Jews to abandon the pursuit of national unity, independence, and liberty. "National self-respect! Where can we find it! It is precisely the great misfortune of our race that we do not constitute a nation but are merely Jews" (Auto-Emancipation, Leon Pinsker). He says that the Jewish community has never enjoyed the federal self-respect benefits because they do not have a nation. He refers to the Jews as a flock of sheep scattered all over the universe with no shepherd to bring them together or protect them (Auto-Emancipation, Leon Pinsker).

Pinsker writes that the establishment of the Jewish community needed the support of other governments as well. He thus urges the Jews to approach the process with a lot of perseverance and caution. “In order to obtain the latter and to ensure the perpetual existence of refuge, the molders of our national regeneration must proceed with caution and perseverance (Auto-Emancipation, Leon Pinsker).” He also acknowledges that the Jewish nation is a despised one. Therefore, the only possible solution was for the Jews to concentrate on creating a new Jewish nationality. Moreover, Pinsker urges the Jews that they should not persuade themselves that enlightenment and humanity could cure their malady.

He says that one of the national renaissance's greatest enemies is the lack of national self-confidence and self-respect. "That we may not be compelled to wander from one exile to another, we must have an extensive, productive land of refuge, a center which is our own" (Auto-Emancipation, Leon Pinsker). He says that the Jews had been wandering from one exile to another, and thus, there was the need for the definition of the good, productive land from where they could effectively carry out their activities. “We must use all the resources which human intellect and human experience have devised, instead of leaving our national regeneration to blind chance" (Auto-Emancipation, Leon Pinsker). Pinsker acknowledges that the nation's regeneration could take a long time, and thus, it required the Jewish to put relentless efforts in its creation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both Leon Pinsker and Simon Dunbow advocated for the Jews' well-being even though they did so in varied ways. Simon Dubnow advocates that the autonomism ideology could change the Jewish beliefs on political and civic issues. He is also against the Zionism ideology, which stated the Jews needed to find a new place to attain their national respect. Leon Pinsker also advocated for the rights of the Jewish community. However, unlike Dunbow, he believes in the Zionism ideology. He believes that Jews could only attain national respect by being detached from the main state, continually regenerating to form their nation. He also believed that the belief in divine power intervention had made the Jewish abandon political and civil practices.

Works Cited

"Auto-Emancipation" (Leon Pinsker)." Jewish Virtual Library,
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/quot-auto-emancipation-quot-leon-pinsker

Cesarani, David. The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991. Cambridge UP, 1994.

Dubnow, Simon. A Short History of the Jewish People. 1936.

Pinsker, Lev S. Auto-Emancipation: By Leo Pinsker ; Transl. by D. S. Blondheim. 1916.