ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the issue of collective identity and separates it into its component factors, seeking its roots and analyzing its main trends, indicating therein one of the central problems of Zionism. A 1939 Royal Institute of International Affairs report determined that "special historical circumstances caused the Jewish people to assume, at an exceptionally early date, some of the characteristics which have since been associated most closely with the modern concept of a 'nation'" and that these characteristics were preserved over the generations through an attachment to religion. The contribution of the liberal component to the Zionist movement and to the formation of the Israeli collectivity is summed up in two important and interconnected contributions: the introduction of universalistic and humanistic dimensions to the components of the Zionist collectivity and influence upon the determination of the international orientation and cultural model to be adopted by the collectivity.
