Among Theodor Herzl’s friends was the Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, who like Herzl was a product of the cosmopolitan culture of the Hapsburg empire, but did not share in his Zionism. Zweig was a highly successful author of short fiction, essays, and biography in his own day, but he is best remembered now for The World of Yesterday, a memoir which depicts that cosmopolitan culture at its height. John P. Rossi reflects on the book and its author:

World War I ended that golden age for Zweig. It destroyed the Austrian empire and left his beloved Vienna a backwater city. The war and its vast destruction of human life depressed him. Despite a brief return to prosperity in the 1920s, he grew pessimistic about the future, especially as he saw the slow emergence of a new vicious form of hatred of the Jews, not the anti-Semitism of Vienna’s pre-war mayor, Karl Lueger, the Vienna where Lueger said “I determine who is a Jew” and Jews flourished. Something else was afoot.

Zweig’s belief in the power of culture was tested by the war, and he found himself out of sympathy with much of post-war culture, which turned its back on tradition. He described the new culture as a “mixture of impatience and fanaticism.”

The book’s subtitle is “Memoirs of a European,” and I’m reminded of the comment that, before World War I, there were many people who were Europeans. After the war, there were only Germans and Frenchmen and Czechs; the only Europeans were Jews.

Considering the current state of Israel-Arab relations, Ghaith al-Omari writes

First and foremost, no ceasefire will be possible without the release of Israeli hostages and commitments to disarm Hamas and remove it from power. The final say on these matters rests with Hamas commanders on the ground in Gaza, who have been largely impervious to foreign pressure so far. At minimum, however, the United States should insist that Qatari and Egyptian mediators push Hamas’s external leadership to accept these conditions publicly, which could increase pressure on the group’s Gaza leadership.

Washington should also demand a clear, public position from key Arab states regarding disarmament. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed this position in a June letter to Saudi Arabia and France, giving Arab states Palestinian cover for endorsing it themselves.

Some Arab states have already indicated a willingness to play a significant role, but they will have little incentive to commit resources and personnel to Gaza unless Israel (1) provides guarantees that it will not occupy the Strip indefinitely, and (2) removes its veto on a PA role in Gaza’s future, even if only symbolic at first. Arab officials are also seeking assurances that any role they play in Gaza will be in the context of a wider effort to reach a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Washington must remain mindful that current conditions between Israel and the Palestinians are not remotely conducive to . . . implementing a two-state solution.