30th Sep 2002
NPR Series on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
I just caught the first of what is to be a seven-part series on NPR’s Morning Edition about the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The first installment focuses largely on Theodor Herzl, the secular journalist and playwrite who founded the Zionist movement in the 1890s that led to the modern Jewish state more than 50 years later. NPR refers to Herzl as Vienese, and while he did live in that city as an adult, the Hungarophile in me can’t resist pointing out that he was actually born in Budapest
The piece ends with a powerful quote from Najib Azouri’s 1905 book called “The Awakening of the Arab Nation,” a response to Herzl’s 1896 pamphlet “The Jewish State.” Azouri predicted: “These movements are destined to fight each other continually until one of them wins.” Well, he’s been right for about 100 years. If the Palestinians do get their own state, as now seems inevitable, will this continue to be true?
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