Books on Israel, Volume I

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright Page

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Table of Contents

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pp. v-

PREFACE

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pp. vii-

The Association for Israel Studies was founded in 1985 by a group of scholars from many disciplines who believed that an organizational framework for the exchange of ideas about all aspects of Israeli society was needed. At its annual meeting in June 1986 the Association for Israel Studies approved the regular publication of collections of review essays dealing with recent scholarship on Israel. The decision was based, in part, on the ...

Views on Israel's Current National Agenda

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pp. 1-8

Uncertainties and problems in Israel's social, political, economic life have been constant social features since the state was fom1ed, along with the continuing necessity of maintaining defense and security, and an effective foreign policy. After the Six Day War in 1967, the policy burden was increased by the capture of additional territories, some now annexed, some returned to Egyptian control, and major areas still administered as occupied ...

THE VOICE OF A SOCIOLOGIST;THE TASK OF AN HISTORIAN;THE LIMITS OF A PARADIGM

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pp. 9-16

For most of those who have studied the evolution of the State of Israel, the very fact of its existence has been considered problematic enough to be considered worthy of extended explanation. Accordingly, an enormous amount of the scholarly activity focusing on Israel's development has emphasized the question of origins: What explains the appearance of a state dominated by Jews in the twentieth century Middle East? The ...

Yitzhak Tabenkinand Berl Katznelson

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pp. 17-22

The generation of the Second Aliya to Palestine, from 1904 to 1914, is generally credited with founding the institutional base upon which the state of Israel was erected. Berl Katznelson and his cousin, Yitzhak Tabenkin, were two outstanding leaders of that time who joined in creating the labor party and the industrial union, the Histadrut, that rose to power in the community in the 1930s; the differences over which the two men split at the ...

Zionism in Context

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pp. 23-30

At first glance this would appear to be yet another book dealing with the history of the Zionist movement. I say "at first glance" because in essence before us it is a new exposition, fascinating and instructive, of the work and achievements of Zionism, from the closing of the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 to the Helsingsfors Conference of Russian Zionists in 1906. The book is revealing not only in its utilization of new sources, ...

DISCONTINUITIES OF ELITE RECRUITMENT IN ISRAELI SOCIETY

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pp. 31-36

Summarizing the main thesis of this interesting book, the author states that "the dominant party (Mapai in all its transmutations - B.K.) lost control of the government only after the revolutionary generation transferred leadership to the native born Israelis, the post-revolutionary generation. The latter were soundly defeated in the election and fell from power" (p. 128). In order to better understand this small but incisive book, one must remember that this is Jonathan Shapiro's third book dealing with the crystallization and ...

Political Discourse in Israeli Literature

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pp. 37-46

Although the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948 was a central event in the national life of the Jewish people, the state's existence has not been taken for granted, particularly by its own citizens. The significance of a Jewish state continues to puzzle Israelis, who presumably know it best. Since the state's founding there is more uncertainty about the significance of Jewish political sovereignty and more diversity about its meaning. ...

Ethnic Factors in Israeli Life

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pp. 47-54

Until recently, one rarely heard the word "ethnicity," though the usage, "ethnic groups," was familiar. Recently, the word "ethnicity" has come to cover much of the same ground that was formerly designated as "race relations," "immigrant absorption," "prejudice," and "acculturation." Implicit in this term is a concern with group divisions which stress a set of socially relevant physical and cultural characteristics. As the terms for ...

Israeli Foreign Policy

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pp. 55-62

For Israel, of course, the water's edge--Dr nearest border--is always very close indeed. In its American version, the phrase implies both a congenital isolationism in our political culture and the ideal of having a Chinese wall separating foreign policy and domestic politics. Israel's political culture permits neither characteristic. The question of foreign policy strategy ha, always been at the heart of Israeli ...

The Study of Israel's National Security

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pp. 63-82

What the founding father of Zionism wanted was a political entity which would not only be as Jewish as England is English, Germany German, and France French, but also more advanced in its technological and social achievements than the most advanced western democracies. His was a late nineteenth century libertarian vision with no specific Jewish coloring. The idea was to solve the ...

Scholarship on Jewish-Arab Relations:Fifty Years Ago and Today

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pp. 83-90

Both books discussed here refute the platitude that the early Zionists leaders paid little attention to or were only peripherally concerned with Arab-Jewish relations once the Yishuv had established roots in British mandated Palestine. True, during the pre-World War I era Zionist leaders, including Theodore Herzl himself, devoted scant attention to Palestine's indigenous population. As Amos Elon points out in his colorful biography ...

Arab Writing on Israel:From Catastrophology to Normalcy

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pp. 91-106

Speaking very generally, Arab writings on the subject of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict may be said to fall under three broad headings: Catastrophology, or the literature of the disaster; demonology, or the anti-Semitic outburst; and nonnalcy, or the power- political stance whereby Israel is treated in the context of inter-Arab, regional and international relations. These three stances correspond roughly to the first ...

Religion and Politics in Israel

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pp. 107-111

Any way we turn, we seem to be flooded by indications of a resurgence or revival in the role of religion in Israeli public and private life. These indications range from the most public (e.g. use of religious symbols in political discourse) to the most private (e.g. individual return to religiosity). Judging by media reports, it has seemed in recent years and months that religious groups have come to dominate Israeli politics, and that the most important lobbies in Israel are made up of either the religious zealots who have settled on the ...