ציונות שוויונית וליברליזם פוליטי: על הזכות להגדרה עצמית של לאומים פזורים

Two important objections are still raised by post- and anti-Zionists against the Zionist project. The "statehood objection" observes that there are many nations, but there is only room for a smaller number of political units on earth. Hence, Jews in the end of the nineteenth century may have no right to self-determination. The "nationality objection"denies that during Zionism’s early years Judaism was a nationality. In response to these objections I demonstrate that the principle of fair equality of opportunity, which underlies Rawlsian political liberalism,supports a theory of global justice according to which: (1) members of a scattered nation who live in different liberal states might be entitled to establish a state (or sub-state unit) in which they would be the national majority; (2) members of scattered non-national minorities—religious and ethnic minorities—may be entitled to a state where they constitute the majority; and lastly, (3) in cases where members of a scattered non-national group are all t hings considered justified in pursuing a state of their own, they may be justified in reviving a societal culture and national identity. If these propositions are true, as I demonstrate, the statehood and the nationality objections to Zionism fail.