Work

“Going Down to the Sea”: David Ben-Gurion’s Maritime Turn and Jewish Migrations to Mandatory Palestine, 1933-1948

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: This article analyzes the original essay “Going Down to the Sea” by David Ben-Gurion, written in 1937. The article studies the historical context of Ben-Gurion’s maritime proclamation and discusses the Zionist Organization’s increasing interest in the sea as a place of power and influence. It demonstrates how a Jewish conquest of the sea influenced the Jewish national movement in general and Labor Zionism in specific. Moreover, it also shows how Zionists propagated a legitimate and national claim to the land and sea of Palestine and counterbalanced Arab and British narratives which questioned free Jewish immigration to the country. Thus, the article examines the Jewish maritime turn which gained influence after the publication of Ben-Gurion’s essay and affected the discourses on Jewish migration to Mandatory Palestine.

Source: Revista crítica de ciências sociais/Revista crítica de ciências sociais

DOI: 10.4000/rccs.12215

Author: Björn Siegel

Institutions: Institute for the History of the German Jews, Centro de Estudos Sociais, University of Coimbra

Language: Portuguese

Topic: Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W3203663777

FWCI:

Cites: 26

Cited by: 1

Related to: 10