Can Zionism Claim Indigenous Rights?
By Itzhak Beery
I've engaged with indigenous peoples in many countries since 1995, some of whom have initiated me into their traditions. Sharing their wisdom with students worldwide, I was stunned by some who claim that Jews aren't indigenous and are labeled as white European impostors and colonialists.
The surprise attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th led me to reexamine my beliefs and self-perception. Confused and feeling betrayed, especially by my peers in spiritual, academic, and progressive circles who doubted Israel's legitimacy, equating its defense against Hamas with colonial cruelty, I pondered. How could they condemn Israel yet support indigenous self-determination elsewhere? The vilification of the term "Zionist" also prompted me to delve deeper into the movement's origins and spirit, which I'm happy to share with you.
Let me start by saying that, for many generations, my family lived as typical Eastern European Jews in what became Poland and Belarus. My Great-grandfather, from my mother's side, was a respected Kabbalistic Rabbi and healer. Most likely, Jews settled there in the 15th and 17th centuries from Italy and the Ottoman Empire after long migrations driven by anti-Semitism and displacement. DNA analysis shows they came from the land of Israel many centuries ago, but the empires that conquered it did not permit them to settle there, or anywhere, permanently. Nobody in the Levant (Middle East) or Europe wanted them. Nearly all saw Jews of the Christian world as inhuman monsters who killed Jesus.
In their teens, my parents and their siblings joined Hashomer Hatzair -The Young Guards, a Zionist secular, socialist youth movement established in 1913. That proved to be a lifesaving decision. Unlike the rest of our family, they were spared the death camps and the gas chambers during the Nazi regime's “Final Solution” when they moved to Israel in 1936. They settled in Kibbutz Beit Alpha, which was established in 1922 on the slopes of Mount Gilboa and named after a Jewish village from before the 6th Century by the same name. Not too far from Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. Our childhood was filled with remnants of our ancient times. We collected Roman coins, broken pottery ceramic shards, tools, and flint arrowheads that washed down from the mountain after the heavy rains. We regularly hiked to our ancient Beit Alpha synagogue, overlooking the valley caves and deep grains or water storage quarries. Our Kibbutz was a secular socialist, communist farming community. They vowed to re-cultivate and celebrate the ancestry land and live according to nature’s cycles in peace with the local Arabs neighboring, and they did! I had many Arab friends and studied some Arabic.
The Spirit of Zion
Understanding Zionism requires knowing what Zion means. "Zion" appears more than 150 times in the Bible and is recited by millions around the world for millennials. It’s where Jesus, a Jew, lived among his (my) people. It carries significant historical meanings for the ancient Hebrews. "Tzion" in Hebrew denotes a specially marked place like an important road's milestone. It also means Jerusalem, a high place of great significance appointed by God. In ancient times, God's seat was considered to be high up on mountaintops like Mount Sinai—a holy and sacred place.
The importance of mountains is something I learned repeatedly as I traveled around the world and met with indigenous shamans. Most, if not all, ancient cultures like the Inca, Kichwa, and Native Americans hold mountain tops sacred. This is where the Apus–the spirit of the Gods–or mountain lives. Tzion is where Jews universally prayed in its eastern direction–the Rising Sun, always, for millennials, regardless of where we were forced to settle during the diaspora.
Zionism meets all Indigenous criteria.
The World Bank declares: “Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced.” Whether you have read the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, or the Jewish Torah, you will learn the story of the Children of Israel who lived in the land of Israel and who were displaced by powerful empires from that land.”
According to Amnesty International, Indigenous Peoples can be identified according to certain characteristics:
-They self-identify as people from the particular place in question.
-There is a historical link with those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived.
-They have a strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources.
-They have distinct social, economic, or political systems.
-They have a distinct language, culture, and beliefs.
-They maintain and develop their ancestral environments.
I hope you can agree with me that Zionism embodies all those criteria associated with indigeneity and, therefore, should be protected under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, where land ownership rights are recognized under international law.
Jews maintained a unique spoken and written language, used unique currencies, practiced agriculturally oriented religious practices tied to the cycles and seasons of the Land of Israel, and maintained symbols native to the land. Thousands of years of literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible, the books of the Old and New Testaments, and other ancient Greek and Egyptian sources, all bear witness to this connection. Most apparent is that, for thousands of years, the Children of Israel were called Jewish because of their roots in Judea, a geographic designation maintained in maps ancient and modern.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem.
The roots of the Zionist movement can be traced back to the brutal forced dispersion and displacement of the Jewish people following two major exiles – the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE, which took them to the “Fertile Crescent” (The destruction of the first temple) - what we now call Iraq, and the Roman exile in 70 CE, leading to their presence in what we now call Italy (The destruction of the 2nd temple). These two traumatic–national Soul loss events followed the Jews' failed rebellions against the two most powerful empires of their time. They resulted in the widespread displacement of Jewish refugee populations. Against their will, forced to build communities in various parts of the world, primarily in the Mediterranean area, the Arab world, and Europe.
However, the callings to return to the ancestral homeland and reunite with those Jews who remained never faded from Jewish consciousness, yearnings, and daily prayers.
Additionally, there were other painful events like the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal and many Pogroms in the Arabic lands and Europe. This desire can be likened to invisible cords stretching from each Jew's heart, connecting to the heart of Israel – Jerusalem – along with the numerous sacred sites, mountains, rivers, and lakes mentioned in the Bible, our historical time, and in stories and legends. As the Psalms say, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill" (Psalms 137:5). Zionism represents an intense longing to reclaim what many Jews perceive as their safe ancestral homeland.
What about the Arab-Palestinians?
There is no question that the Arabs who define themselves as Palestinians should live in dignity and peace and have a state of their own. Today’s current Arabs were settled in Israel after the Islamic invasion and conquest of the Middle East in the 7th Century AC. They have put down roots in our land. We should honor that. Originally, they were mostly poor farmers–"Phalach," who were imported from other countries to work the lands of the absent wealthy landowners–“Efendies” from Syria and Lebanon and pay them taxes. They did not legally own the land. In 1917, the number of Arab-speaking people in Israel was less than 600,000. By 1948, it was 1.2 million. The grand majority of the Palestinians now living in Israel, West Bank, and Gaza are themselves the descendants of people moved there by imperial forces, mostly by the Ottomans.
Jews did not steal Israel's land.
Jews legally purchased land ownership and properties across Ottoman-Palestine from the wealthy Arab landowners (Feudal) to expand the collective territorial ownership of the new Israel in 1880. Jews from all over the world contributed a few pennies weekly to this goal, buying back our land. It is estimated that this campaign bought 30% of the land. Arabs continue selling land to Israelis to this day.
The propaganda that Israel and the Zionist movement are all White Eastern European of Holocaust survival is False. In 1948, 47% of the population of Israel was European; the rest were from the Arab diaspora. In addition to the Jews who never left Israel and those who were forced to convert to Islam and practice some Jewish in hiding, Yamani Jews walked the desert to the promised land at the end of the 18th Century, Iraqi and European Jews in the 19th Century, and settled in Israel.
So, what is the way forward?
A mutual respect for both people is a must. Both the Jews and Arab Palestinians have self-perceived victimhood; both must choose to define themselves as a survivalist, taking responsibility and action to ensure a prosperous future for the next generations. A two-state solution can only be a reality when the Arabs acknowledge Israel's right to exist in their sacred homeland. Israel proved to be a reliable partner with the 1.2 million Israeli Muslim, Christian, Bedouin, Druze, Circassian, Sumerian, Bahai, and other religions, who live in its land in peace, with full democracy and representation, and social integration (of course, no society is perfect).
The more violence and terror Arabs undertake, the more resolve Jews have to counter it and protect themselves and their land. A cycle of bloody loss, and destruction when the future could be bright. That is why those who support Hamas/Iran's terroristic approach essentially support violence and destruction under the false name of peace, indigenous, and human rights.
The surprise attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th led me to reexamine my beliefs and self-perception. Confused and feeling betrayed, especially by my peers in spiritual, academic, and progressive circles who doubted Israel's legitimacy, equating its defense against Hamas with colonial cruelty, I pondered. How could they condemn Israel yet support indigenous self-determination elsewhere? The vilification of the term "Zionist" also prompted me to delve deeper into the movement's origins and spirit, which I'm happy to share with you.
Let me start by saying that, for many generations, my family lived as typical Eastern European Jews in what became Poland and Belarus. My Great-grandfather, from my mother's side, was a respected Kabbalistic Rabbi and healer. Most likely, Jews settled there in the 15th and 17th centuries from Italy and the Ottoman Empire after long migrations driven by anti-Semitism and displacement. DNA analysis shows they came from the land of Israel many centuries ago, but the empires that conquered it did not permit them to settle there, or anywhere, permanently. Nobody in the Levant (Middle East) or Europe wanted them. Nearly all saw Jews of the Christian world as inhuman monsters who killed Jesus.
In their teens, my parents and their siblings joined Hashomer Hatzair -The Young Guards, a Zionist secular, socialist youth movement established in 1913. That proved to be a lifesaving decision. Unlike the rest of our family, they were spared the death camps and the gas chambers during the Nazi regime's “Final Solution” when they moved to Israel in 1936. They settled in Kibbutz Beit Alpha, which was established in 1922 on the slopes of Mount Gilboa and named after a Jewish village from before the 6th Century by the same name. Not too far from Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. Our childhood was filled with remnants of our ancient times. We collected Roman coins, broken pottery ceramic shards, tools, and flint arrowheads that washed down from the mountain after the heavy rains. We regularly hiked to our ancient Beit Alpha synagogue, overlooking the valley caves and deep grains or water storage quarries. Our Kibbutz was a secular socialist, communist farming community. They vowed to re-cultivate and celebrate the ancestry land and live according to nature’s cycles in peace with the local Arabs neighboring, and they did! I had many Arab friends and studied some Arabic.
The Spirit of Zion
Understanding Zionism requires knowing what Zion means. "Zion" appears more than 150 times in the Bible and is recited by millions around the world for millennials. It’s where Jesus, a Jew, lived among his (my) people. It carries significant historical meanings for the ancient Hebrews. "Tzion" in Hebrew denotes a specially marked place like an important road's milestone. It also means Jerusalem, a high place of great significance appointed by God. In ancient times, God's seat was considered to be high up on mountaintops like Mount Sinai—a holy and sacred place.
The importance of mountains is something I learned repeatedly as I traveled around the world and met with indigenous shamans. Most, if not all, ancient cultures like the Inca, Kichwa, and Native Americans hold mountain tops sacred. This is where the Apus–the spirit of the Gods–or mountain lives. Tzion is where Jews universally prayed in its eastern direction–the Rising Sun, always, for millennials, regardless of where we were forced to settle during the diaspora.
Zionism meets all Indigenous criteria.
The World Bank declares: “Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced.” Whether you have read the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, or the Jewish Torah, you will learn the story of the Children of Israel who lived in the land of Israel and who were displaced by powerful empires from that land.”
According to Amnesty International, Indigenous Peoples can be identified according to certain characteristics:
-They self-identify as people from the particular place in question.
-There is a historical link with those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived.
-They have a strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources.
-They have distinct social, economic, or political systems.
-They have a distinct language, culture, and beliefs.
-They maintain and develop their ancestral environments.
I hope you can agree with me that Zionism embodies all those criteria associated with indigeneity and, therefore, should be protected under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, where land ownership rights are recognized under international law.
Jews maintained a unique spoken and written language, used unique currencies, practiced agriculturally oriented religious practices tied to the cycles and seasons of the Land of Israel, and maintained symbols native to the land. Thousands of years of literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible, the books of the Old and New Testaments, and other ancient Greek and Egyptian sources, all bear witness to this connection. Most apparent is that, for thousands of years, the Children of Israel were called Jewish because of their roots in Judea, a geographic designation maintained in maps ancient and modern.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem.
The roots of the Zionist movement can be traced back to the brutal forced dispersion and displacement of the Jewish people following two major exiles – the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE, which took them to the “Fertile Crescent” (The destruction of the first temple) - what we now call Iraq, and the Roman exile in 70 CE, leading to their presence in what we now call Italy (The destruction of the 2nd temple). These two traumatic–national Soul loss events followed the Jews' failed rebellions against the two most powerful empires of their time. They resulted in the widespread displacement of Jewish refugee populations. Against their will, forced to build communities in various parts of the world, primarily in the Mediterranean area, the Arab world, and Europe.
However, the callings to return to the ancestral homeland and reunite with those Jews who remained never faded from Jewish consciousness, yearnings, and daily prayers.
Additionally, there were other painful events like the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal and many Pogroms in the Arabic lands and Europe. This desire can be likened to invisible cords stretching from each Jew's heart, connecting to the heart of Israel – Jerusalem – along with the numerous sacred sites, mountains, rivers, and lakes mentioned in the Bible, our historical time, and in stories and legends. As the Psalms say, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill" (Psalms 137:5). Zionism represents an intense longing to reclaim what many Jews perceive as their safe ancestral homeland.
What about the Arab-Palestinians?
There is no question that the Arabs who define themselves as Palestinians should live in dignity and peace and have a state of their own. Today’s current Arabs were settled in Israel after the Islamic invasion and conquest of the Middle East in the 7th Century AC. They have put down roots in our land. We should honor that. Originally, they were mostly poor farmers–"Phalach," who were imported from other countries to work the lands of the absent wealthy landowners–“Efendies” from Syria and Lebanon and pay them taxes. They did not legally own the land. In 1917, the number of Arab-speaking people in Israel was less than 600,000. By 1948, it was 1.2 million. The grand majority of the Palestinians now living in Israel, West Bank, and Gaza are themselves the descendants of people moved there by imperial forces, mostly by the Ottomans.
Jews did not steal Israel's land.
Jews legally purchased land ownership and properties across Ottoman-Palestine from the wealthy Arab landowners (Feudal) to expand the collective territorial ownership of the new Israel in 1880. Jews from all over the world contributed a few pennies weekly to this goal, buying back our land. It is estimated that this campaign bought 30% of the land. Arabs continue selling land to Israelis to this day.
The propaganda that Israel and the Zionist movement are all White Eastern European of Holocaust survival is False. In 1948, 47% of the population of Israel was European; the rest were from the Arab diaspora. In addition to the Jews who never left Israel and those who were forced to convert to Islam and practice some Jewish in hiding, Yamani Jews walked the desert to the promised land at the end of the 18th Century, Iraqi and European Jews in the 19th Century, and settled in Israel.
So, what is the way forward?
A mutual respect for both people is a must. Both the Jews and Arab Palestinians have self-perceived victimhood; both must choose to define themselves as a survivalist, taking responsibility and action to ensure a prosperous future for the next generations. A two-state solution can only be a reality when the Arabs acknowledge Israel's right to exist in their sacred homeland. Israel proved to be a reliable partner with the 1.2 million Israeli Muslim, Christian, Bedouin, Druze, Circassian, Sumerian, Bahai, and other religions, who live in its land in peace, with full democracy and representation, and social integration (of course, no society is perfect).
The more violence and terror Arabs undertake, the more resolve Jews have to counter it and protect themselves and their land. A cycle of bloody loss, and destruction when the future could be bright. That is why those who support Hamas/Iran's terroristic approach essentially support violence and destruction under the false name of peace, indigenous, and human rights.