In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

27 4 Truth from Eretz Yisrael (1891)  - Ahad ha-Am (Asher Ginzberg, 1856–1927) published “Truth from Eretz Yisrael” as a series of articles in the Hebrew daily newspaper Ha-Melitz (St. Petersburg) in 1891. His first important publication, the article “This Is Not the Way,” had appeared only two years earlier in the same newspaper and established him as a severe critic of the prevailing mode of settlement during the first decade of Zionist (or proto-Zionist) activity. In his view, the “Return to Zion” that began in 1882 was premature, disorganized, and inadequately conceived. Despite his previous criticism, Ahad ha-Am professed, in a letter sent soon after arriving in Jaffa, that “I live in the hope that . . . I will find an answer to all my doubts.” In fact, 1891 was considered a moment of renewed hopes for settlement of Palestine; the Ottoman Empire had relaxed its entry restrictions just as new pressures in Russia had created masses of potential new immigrants, and a wave of newcomers had already begun. But given Ahad ha-Am’s predictions, and the perhaps inevitable chaos accompanying any sudden mass movement of people, his hopes of finding matters to his liking were doomed to disappointment. “I know full well,” Ahad ha-Am admitted in passing, “that my words here will infuriate many against me.” They certainly did. Ha-Melitz printed numerous attacks on his article, some from close associates in the movement. The controversy did abate after Source: Abridged from Alan Dowty, “Much Ado about Little: Ahad ha-Am’s ‘Truth from Eretz Yisrael,’ Zionism, and the Arabs,” Israel Studies 5, no. 2 (2000): 161–78. Used with permission from Indiana University Press. Dowty translated the text and added notes and a lengthy introduction , parts of which are reproduced here. a while, only to be stoked again by a similar series of articles following Ahad ha-Am’s second trip to “the colonies” in 1893. The result of the first article, however, was to isolate Ahad ha-Am within the movement at a time when he was emerging as, potentially, its natural leader; the cost of “Truth” may have been the loss of any chance to implement his own ideas from a pinnacle of power. Ahad ha-Am’s own solution to the problems he outlined in “Truth from Eretz Yisrael” was to turn to Jews in Western nations to provide the leadership, organizational skills, and wherewithal lacking in eastern European Jewry. The immediate impact of this proposal was slight; within a few years the idea was realized, with a vengeance, in the emergence of Theodor Herzl and the founding of the Zionist Organization. Needless to say this was not what Ahad ha-Am had in mind, and by this time he had formulated his conception of a “spiritual center” for qualified immigrants after extensive preparation, as an alternative to political Zionism in the Herzlian mode. The publication of “Truth from Eretz Yisrael” was thus an important landmark in the evolution of Ahad ha-Am’s simultaneous position both as Zionism’s most prominent ideologue and its most important internal critic. Most references to the article today, however, do not relate either to its importance to Zionist ideology or to Ahad ha-Am’s own thinking and career. Its most frequently quoted passages are those dealing with the Arab issue. In large part, this is because it stands as the first, and for some time as the only, serious commentary with at least a glimmer of recognition that relations with the Arab population would be one of Zionism’s most severe tests. Ahad ha-Am’s warning in 1891 appears as evidence that, while Zionists of the First Aliyah may not have focused on the issue, they were at least aware of it. On the other hand, the article’s stern condemnation of the settler’s mistreatment of Arabs is often cited as confirmation and admonition by anti-Zionist writers and publicists. In view of its landmark status on both sides, it is indeed startling to discover that, apart from a few incidental references, only two paragraphs in “Truth from Eretz Yisrael” actually address the issue of relations with the non-Jewish population there. The truth about “Truth” is that the Arab issue was not a major concern nor was it a major focus of those who attacked the article. In his response to his critics, Ahad ha-Am does not mention the Arabs. Nor did he again mention the...

Share