ltlee1 <ltlee1@hotmail.com> wrote:

[…]
"It is a young country. Many Jews see that as a weakness. The more
insecure they feel, the tighter they cling to the myth of an ancient
mandate. But Israel's best hope is to acknowledge that its nationhood
is invented, and modernise even more. It must, Sand argues, reform
itself so the state belongs to all its citizens, whether Jew or Arab.

He admits that sounds utopian under current circumstances. But the alternative means Israel gambling its future on the consolidation of a
mythic "people" in their "ancestral homeland". That is
20th-century-style ethnic nationalism. Many such projects have ended
in tragedy.

It has turned out pretty good as medium term strategy.
Very long term perspectives may be quite another story.
Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted (almost) two centuries [A].

I bet UK treated HK lease as a face saving legal fiction.
It has turned out otherwise.

[A] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Jerusalem

--
A. Filip
| If built in great numbers, motels will be used for nothing but
| illegal purposes. (J. Edgar Hoover)

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