Anouar Majid publishes column on Theodor Herzl

Anouar Majid, Ph.D., 91AV associate provost for global initiatives and director of the Center for Global Humanities, contributed a column on March 2, 2012 to the online publication Tabsir: Insight on Islam and the Middle East titled "Looking for an Arab Herzl."

Majid writes: "Theodor Herzl may strike Arabs and Muslims as an odd choice to invoke in these heady days of freedom and hope.  He is, after all the leading figure of modern Zionism and the architect of the State of Israel. He is also blamed for uprooting Palestinians from their native land and condemning them to a tragic fate."

He explains that "Herzl’s call for restoring Jews to their historic homeland in Palestine was not a call for the return to a purer Jewish faith.  It was an attempt to provide justice to a long persecuted people. It was a project that was aimed at benefiting all oppressed minorities. His plan depended on establishing a modern nation, with first-rate education and health systems and the right to employment for all citizens, regardless of their faith or ethnicity, including criminals who have paid for their crimes."

Majid is the author of five critically acclaimed books on Islam and the West, including Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice, and a novel, Si Yussef, which has been the focus of much scholarly and critical interest.

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