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The foundation of Israel began in European literature long before its political establishment in 1948, Turkish writer Peren Birsaygli Mut said.
In her new book, "Israel’in Zihin Haritasi: Siyonist Edebiyat" (Israel’s Mental Map: Zionist Literature), Mut argues that Zionism emerged as a cultural project in the early 1800s and gained strength through the works of writers in England, France, Germany, and Russia.
“This is not a political result. It is the product of a long cultural and literary effort,” Mut told Anadolu Agency during an event in Istanbul. “Zionism does not start in politics. We see it appearing in English, German, French, and Russian literature 150 to 200 years ago.”
Mut examines 30 writers and periodicals that she says helped shape a cultural framework for Jewish settlement in Palestine. “They first created a mental return to Palestine,” she explained.
“After that, they tried to make the physical return possible.” She describes how Zionist authors framed Jews as a persecuted population in need of a homeland, consistently pointing to Palestine as the only viable solution.
Her book tracks this intellectual groundwork using period newspapers, publishing houses, and early Zionist theater. Mut also explores the origins of Israel’s national anthem and the cultural myths created around Zionist migration to the region.
Mut’s work follows her previous focus on Palestinian literary resistance. She previously wrote "Zeytin Agaclarinin Arasinda" (Among Olive Trees), a collection of post-1948 Palestinian author profiles, and "Kalem ve Tufek" (The Pen and the Riffle), a study of Palestinian figures from the 1936–1939 revolt. In her latest publication, she steps into what she calls a necessary detour.
“I wanted to contribute to the field of Palestinian literature in Türkiye. But I felt the need to also study Zionist literature. Because the state of Israel was not formed just by political means,” she said.
Mut believes literature helped normalize a return to Palestine as early as the 1800s. “They wrote many books asking, ‘Where will these oppressed Jews go?’ They created a belief that they must go to Palestine,” she said. “From the beginning of the 1800s, they began a major literary effort.”
Her book also looks at the role of Zionist poets and playwrights who helped create public support for settlement in Palestine. She links this cultural strategy to the idea of forming a national consciousness before any physical infrastructure existed.
A recent academic article by Sachin Peddada, published in the "Review of Radical Political Economics", supports this view with a broader historical analysis. Peddada argues that Zionism did not emerge naturally from Jewish communities but developed as a tool of Western imperialism.
“The political ideology of Zionism did not exist prior to its invention by the imperial powers of the Global North,” Peddada writes. He describes how Britain and France used Zionist settlement plans to gain strategic control of Palestine, especially through the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate.
According to the article, colonial powers used Zionist migration to advance their own geopolitical interests, while presenting the project as humanitarian. “The Zionist project has consistently served as a tool for Western imperialist objectives,” Peddada states.
He traces early proposals to figures like Napoleon, who first suggested relocating Jewish Europeans to Palestine as a solution to what was then called “the Jewish question.” Later, British Evangelicals and colonial officials framed Palestine as a land to be developed and controlled with settler support.
Peddada links the growth of the Israeli economy in the 20th century to large-scale financial support from the United States, Germany, and other Global North countries. At the same time, Palestinians suffered de-development. “The success of the Israeli state was contingent upon the suppression of the Palestinian state. One could not exist without the other,” he writes.
While Mut approaches the subject through literature, and Peddada through economics and history, both argue that Zionism emerged through a deliberate and strategic process. They claim it did not simply grow out of religious longing or nationalist sentiment but was built and supported through cultural production and global political interests.
In her book talk, Mut said she wanted to map out the intellectual preparation that enabled the creation of Israel. “There are dozens of Zionist writers and poets. Dozens of books. In this latest work, I tried to identify that mental map,” she said.
She plans to continue working on Palestinian literature but says studying Zionist literature helped her understand the full picture. “To know what Palestinians are resisting, we must know what they are resisting against,” she said.
Mut said she will expand this research in future publications by focusing on post-1948 Zionist literature. “I covered the history of Zionist literature up to 1948. I will continue by exploring the modern phase in another book,” she added.
Both Mut’s book and Peddada’s study argue that what is often framed as a national or religious movement actually developed through cultural construction and colonial planning. They suggest that the creation of Israel was not only shaped by diplomatic or military events but also by literary narratives and geopolitical interests.
Understanding the origins of Zionism is essential for challenging dominant narratives that frame criticism of Israeli policies as antisemitic. Separating Jewish religious identity from the political ideology of Zionism allows for a clearer view of the current debates, including growing opposition within Israel to the war on Gaza.
Historical examples show that religion has been used to justify imperial expansion, from the colonization of the Americas to the exploitation of Africa. This misuse not only fuels injustice but also harms those who sincerely practice the faith, including many who identify as Jewish and oppose the occupation.
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