Palestine for the Third Time

by Ksawery Pruszynski, Wiesiek Powaga (Translator)

Overview

Palestine for the Third Time is a book of reportage originally published in Poland in 1933 by Ksawery Pruszyński, a young reporter working for a Polish newspaper, who went to Mandate Palestine to see for himself whether the Zionist dream of returning to Eretz Yisrael had a chance of turning into reality. Travelling widely and talking to people he happened to meet on his way—Jews, Arabs, committed dreamers and the disaffected—he was trying to explain to his readers what he was seeing. This book is a unique firsthand account of the early stages in formation of the state and nation of Israel. But it's not just a nostalgic vignette. It resonates powerfully today, linking Tony Judt, Edward Said, and Amos Oz, illuminating the hotly debated questions of modern Israel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644694794
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Series:	Jews of Poland
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	202
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Ksawery Pruszyński (1907-1950) was a Polish journalist, writer, and diplomat. He was born in Volhynia (now Ukraine) into a landowning family who settled in Kraków after the Russian Revolution. After graduating with a law degree, he started working as a journalist reporting from Gdańsk, Mandate Palestine, and the Spanish Civil War. During World War II, he fought as a soldier (Narvik and Falaise) and worked as a diplomat in London and Moscow. After the war, he joined Poland’s diplomatic corps, first at the UN and later as ambassador to the Netherlands, while still writing and publishing. He died in a car accident in Germany. He is now recognized as one of the founding fathers of the Polish school of reportage.

Wiesiek Powaga was born in Poland. He settled in London after the imposition of martial law of 1981. After graduating with a degree in philosophy at King’s College, London, he worked as a carpenter, translator, correspondent for a music magazine, and as senior editor for a UK publisher. He has translated fiction, poetry, and drama, occasionally script-writing for radio and tv.

Ksawery Pruszyński (1907-1950) was a Polish journalist, writer, and diplomat. He was born in Volhynia (now Ukraine) into a landowning family who settled in Kraków after the Russian Revolution. After graduating with a law degree, he started working as a journalist reporting from Gdańsk, Mandate Palestine, and the Spanish Civil War. During World War II, he fought as a soldier (Narvik and Falaise) and worked as a diplomat in London and Moscow. After the war, he joined Poland’s diplomatic corps, first at the UN and later as ambassador to the Netherlands, while still writing and publishing. He died in a car accident in Germany. He is now recognized as one of the founding fathers of the Polish school of reportage.
Wiesiek Powaga was born in Poland. He settled in London after the imposition of martial law of 1981. After graduating with a degree in philosophy at King’s College, London, he worked as a carpenter, translator, correspondent for a music magazine, and as senior editor for a UK publisher. He has translated fiction, poetry, and drama, occasionally script-writing for radio and tv.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword: Ksawery Pruszyński
Antony Polonsky

Introduction
Wiesiek Powaga

Foreword

1. On a Bunk Bed with the Halutzim
2. The Dust of the Road
3. The Land Without Crises
4. More Beautiful Than Paris  
5. The Jews Who Do Not Like It Here
6. The Onward March of Israel
7. Suppliers of Men and Money
8. Malaria and Millions
9. Histadrut Haovdim
10. Like Stones Thrown against a Bulwark
11. Trekking across Emek Israel
12. Sabras of Ein Harod
13. Gesher
14. Glass Towers Are not a Myth
15. From Ghetto to Kibbutz
16. The Dollar Falls Twenty Percent
17. Only Four Weeks
18. The Wailing Wall
19. Socialism
20. Collective Love
21. Kibbutz, Kolkhoz, Cloister
22. The Jewish Population Catches Up
23. In the Eyes of Young Islam
24. Arabs in the Eyes of Jews
25. Christian Jerusalem
26. Nineteen Centuries after Pilate: A Night in Gethsemane
27. The Way of the Cross
28. Resurrexit
29. So Many Different Roads: “Das Wirkliche Deutschland”
30. “A Daemonio Meridiano . . . ”
31. Roads
32. The Threat of Soviet Cannons

Afterword
Appendix: Ksawery Pruszyński’s Speeches to the UN

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Printed in English for the first time by Academic Studies Press, Palestine for the Third Time is an engaging, empathetic and often perceptive account of the Zionist project in the ancestral homeland of the Jews.” —Sheldon Kirshner, Times of Israel

“[Pruszynski’s] analysis of the role of private capital is interesting and his discussion of the three major cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa is thought-provoking. It is a book rich in content and commentary.” —Shmuel Ben-Gad, Gelman Library, George Washington University,AJL Reviews

“‘The Polish nation understands the struggle of Palestinian Jewry.’ Such was the opinion of a young Cracovian academic and journalist, who visited Mandated Palestine in 1933 and who described himself as ‘a neutral witness.’ Yet Ksawery Pruszyński was both well-informed and emotionally affected by the people with whom he talked. He took the trouble not only to hike across the country from sea to desert, but along the way to seek out individuals with differing points of view—Jews, Arabs and Christians, many enthusiastic, others disillusioned. He was conscious of the resonances between the Zionist experiment and the Fascist and Communist movements of his day, wanting to live life in a kibbutz for himself, and comparing it to a Soviet-style kolkhoz and a Christian monastery. Endowed with an open mind filled with imagination, he was a forerunner of his later compatriot, Ryszard Kapuściński, taking his readers with him on his journey not only into the recesses of the land but also into the mental worlds of its inhabitants. This short book, written in a fateful year, is prophetic. With great sureness of touch, it describes the human vibrations which would soon give rise, as its author foresaw, to the state of Israel.”  — Norman Davies, historian, author of God’s Playground 

“Pruszyński opens a [new] era of reportage […], reportage which not only describes the world but also tries to explain it.” — Ryszard Kapuściński, Lapidarium II, 1996