“A thought-provoking, readable, and important” critical study
of the Zionist colonization of Palestine and the establishment of the
State of Israel (Publishers Weekly).
What is a homeland,
and when does it become a national territory? Why have so many people
been willing to die for them throughout the twentieth century? What
is the essence of the Promised Land? Following the acclaimed and
controversial Invention of the Jewish People, Shlomo Sand
examines the mysterious sacred land that has become the site of the
longest running national struggle of the 20th century.
The Invention of
the Land of Israel deconstructs the age-old legends surrounding
the Holy Land and the prejudices that continue to suffocate it.
Sand’s account dissects the concept of ‘historical right’ and
tracks the invention of the modern geopolitical concept of the ‘Land
of Israel’ by nineteenth century Evangelical Protestants and Jewish
Zionists. This invention, he argues, not only facilitated the
colonization of the Middle East and the establishment of the State of
Israel; it is also what is threatening the existence of the Jewish
state today.
