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Article: Scholars agree that Zionism created thriving, democratic nation in Jewish homeland.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- October 17, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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CAMBRIDGE, MASS. _ The two dozen distinguished scholars who assembled last week here for a conference celebrating the ``Centenary of Political Zionism'' disputed many things, but did agree on one thing.
It was that Zionism, which, against enormous odds, created a thriving, democratic nation in the ancestral homeland of the Jews and brought millions of Jews from all over the world to it, transformed the self-image of the Jewish people, as well as their image in the mind of the Gentile world.
As Ruth R. Wisse, director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University, summarized it: ``Israel is the greatest miracle of the 20th century. There ...