Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century

8. Society and Settlement in the Jewish Land of Israel: Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 8 Society and Settlement in the Jewish Land of Israel: Past, Present, and Future "Man is the mold of his fatherland's landscape," the Hebrew poet Shaul Tchernichovski observed. If we refer to Man as representing not just the individual but the nation and its social sectors, as well, then this phrase has its obverse: "the fatherland's landscape is the mold of its children." These two sides of the coin combine to reflect a process by which a collectivity constructs and develops its country according to certain value systems; simultaneously , the settlements in which members of this collectivity reside participate in the formation of those value systems. This final chapter will attempt to summarize the several components of this argument, which constituted the heart of the analysis of modem Israeli society in this essay, by assessing the outcome of vision versus practice and outcome as this dialectic was presented in the foregoing chapters. A summary table, Table 8.1, combines Table 7.2, which summarized Parts 2 and 3, with Table 2.2, and thus attempts to display territorial and cultural developments in the cores and frontiers-peripheries of Israel together with changing priorities in Zionist objectives and transitions in the preferred settlement forms. It was tempting to organize the whole study continuously along time. Such an approach, however, would have eliminated a focus on the interrelationships between society and settlements, which has been the raison d'etre of the book. Ideological and cultural aspects of this interelationship provided one of the two central foci in every chapter. The other focus, the geographical aspect, changed from part to part. Part 1 emphasized innovative settlement forms; Part 2 dealt with conventional settlement forms and their geographical settings; Part 3 was devoted entirely to geographical settings. The temporal framework that accompanied all three discussions separately is, however, a proper one for a unifying summarizing discussion. Four major phases or periods may be identified in the constant dialogue between society and space in modem Jewish Land of Israel. These four major phases in the emerging relationship between society and settlements in Israel may be defined as incu263 Table 8.1. Society and Settlement in the Modern Jewish Land of Israel PHASE PERIOD PRIORITIES TERRITORIAL VALUE TERRITORIAL VALUE PREFERRED IN ZIONIST EVOLUTION CREATION EVOLUTION CREATION SETTLEMENT GOALS IN THE CORES IN THE IN THE FRONTIERIN THE FORM CORES PERIPHERY FRONTIER 1. Incubation 1880s-1920s 1. Mode of Life Spreading the Rttral: Cooperation; Evolution of a The valley myth: Colony 2. Territory settlement N. equality; labor; primary frontier, Occupying the (moshava); 3. Population pioneering; defense. notably in the unsettled; draining kibbutz Urban: Hebrew North. the swamps; language; secular agriculture and Hebrew culture. cooperativeness. 2. Formation 1920s-1940s Until the 1930s: The valleys Autonomy in all Continued primary The mottntaitJ myth: Kibbutz; 1. Mode of Life decline spheres and levels; frontier: Boundary moshav 2. Territory as a core; organized Jewish Reinforcement determination 3. Population Tel Aviv labor (Haifa). of the through becomes the The preceding N and its joints; settlement. As of the 1930s: largest city. continues. spreading new 1. Territory arms in the North 2. Mode of Life and the South. 3. Population ' 3. Maturation 1950s-1960s The 1950s: The decline Attempts to Ut1til 1963: The desert myth: Development 1. Population in the status integrate the Diversion of the Occupying the town; 2. Territory of Haifa. preceding effort to the unsettled; making kibbutz; 3. Mode of Life within state Negev as a the desert bloom; moshav frameworks. secondary frontier. exploitation of Table 8.1. (Continued) PHASE PERIOD PRIORITIES IN ZIONIST GOALS The 1960s: 1. Territory 2. Population 3. Mode of Life TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION IN THE CORES 4. Turbulencel970s-1980s Judea a11d Samaria The rise of The 1970s: 1. Territory 2. Mode of Life 3. Population The 1980s: 1. Population 2. Territory 3. Mode of Life Social Zio11ism: 1. Mode of Life 2. Population 3. Territory Jerusalem; Tel Aviv becomes a world city. VALUE CREATION IN THE CORES Social Zionism versus territorial Zionism. State and religious centrality in Jerusalem. TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION IN THE FRONTIERPERIPHERY 1963-1967: Similar attempt in the Galilee. Evolution of a disputed primary frontier in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Additional secondary frontier in the Galilee. The North and the South turn into peripheries in the 1980s. VALUE CREATION IN THE FRONTIER Negev resources. The mountain myth implemented in Judea, Samaria, andGaza. ,,:..\·••·,:·:;·: ..·.;.;,;,;;· . ::->"::=-. ;· , :: •. :-.,: .. :--: '':."~- .:=::::;:._;;, -;:o;; ~;::: : c:-:;:':'":" . --:·. c·. : -::·-.. .,.. ... ,,.,._~----~--::::·:·:-....,.,_,..- -,· ;...-::::::H,..:C...