Reformulations of Zionist Ideology Since the Establishment of the State of Israel

This chapter focuses on the post-independence or "residual" ideology of Zionism as an issue internal to the Jewish ethnic entity. The term "ideology" here refers to an actionoriented set of ideas relating to a given social reality. In its pre-independence stage, the common denominator of all Zionist ideologies was the proposition that a fundamental defect inhered in the Jewish situation-national homelessness. The solution proffered was the return of Jews to Zion and the restoration of Zion to the Jews. Variants of preindependence Zionist ideology revolved only around secondary questions such as the precise definition of the defect; which Jews and how many of them were to return to Zion; and in what sense and in what ways Zion was to be restored to the Jews. In the post-independence stage, residual Zionist ideology necessarily calls for an evaluation of the relative significance of Israel, and diasporic Jewries, for the Jews as a collective entity in the world.