"The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man": Historical Fabrication and an Anti-Zionist Myth.

According to a frequently repeated story, during the early years of the Zionist movement a number of European Jews were sent to Palestine to investigate its suitability as a location for a Jewish state. They reported back, the story concludes, that "the bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man"--Palestine is an excellent land, but it belongs to others. While its details vary with the telling, the story's central point is often the same: already in the early years of the Zionist movement, Jews recognized that it would be unjust and immoral for them to try to claim Palestine; despite this awareness, the Zionists proceeded with their plans for Jewish statehood there; from the outset, therefore, the establishment of the state of Israel was an act of severe and willful injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]