An imaginary territory: The problematic of space in Zionist discourse

Abstract

In the writings of the first Zionists ? that is, those who appeared during the second half of the 19th century ? there is a particularly striking characteristic: the conceptual or even abstract vision of the space necessary for the bringing together of the Jewish people. By a conceptual vision of space, I mean the privileged connection between space, a priori geographic, and a linguistic discourse. This dis? course, clearly the Zionist ideology itself, is that logical progression of ideas based on certain premises (anti-Semitism and its appar? ent permanence in the Diaspora) leading to the conclusion that the Jewish people require a geographic homeland. The diversity of view? points within the Zionist movement, since its inception, as to the character of this home? land ? cultural or state-regulated, secular or religious, socialist or capitalist, etc. ? must not conceal the fact that Zionism, in all its forms, calls for, above all, a geographic concentration (partial or total is of little importance) of that which is spatially dispersed. Yet it is precisely on the geographic plane, in these same Zionist writings, that the desired space is presented as being, to a certain extent, unspecified. To a certain extent only, because obviously the specific notion of Eretz-Israel (The Land of Israel) is present throughout in one form or another. But, specifically, what it is necessary to emphasize is this new, revolutionary fact