A History of Modern Israel (review)

In his introduction, Colin Shindler establishes in summary fashion his own framework and perspective on the history he will trace in this book. His description of “a sense of excitement in Israel at what has been achieved through its rebellion against the designated place of the Jews in history” (p. 8) squarely places this work both in its acceptance of a generalization about the past based largely on European history and in its seeming identification with the enthusiasm being described. The author goes on to state that the intention of his book is “to explain the raison d’etre for a state of the Jews and to elucidate the history of Israel using the yardstick of ideological debates and internal polemics. This book traces this remarkable odyssey and seeks to illuminate the rationale for the path taken” (p. 9).

Shindler structures his history around a series of themes in chapters that trace the chronological development of Israeli history but do so by interpreting each period through a lens which allows him to move backward and forward in explaining what he sees as central to developments of the era. Thus, the book begins with a chapter on “Zionism and Security,” followed by the chapters “The Hebrew Republic” and “New Immigrants and First Elections,” and ends with “An Unlikely Grandfather.” In each chapter, the author seeks to elucidate the centrality of particular conflicts, primarily at the level of elites and ideology. This approach has the advantage of providing the reader with a broader conceptualization of ideological developments but the decided disadvantage of often tracing ideas or discussions within a narrow historical context based on necessarily selective evidence.

The early chapters of the book relate the early history of Zionism and the Yishuv, as well as the beginnings of statehood. However, these chapters do not discuss the recent, more critical research, which has reexamined these developments with a view to understanding the impact that interactions with the Palestinian Arab community and, after 1948, with the leadership of Arab states, had on this formative period of Israeli history, including its ideology and conceptualization of security. Similarly, the reader would have little understanding from the discussion here of the debates about the consequences of the decision to delay the writing of a constitution. In these and other instances, the author fails to distinguish clearly between his reporting of debates and his acceptance of their formulations. Because political/ideological discussions are placed neither in the broader context of national development nor in a critical analytical framework, a reader not yet familiar with this history would have difficulty identifying the views of this author as they relate to the works of the many others in this field.

Later chapters, particularly those dealing with the period after the 1977 emergence of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, are informative in detailing the evolution of ideological positions as well as policies with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In particular, this discussion is effective in conveying an understanding perspective on the evolution and internal developments within the parties on the Right that came to power at this time. For the reader seeking an understanding of the impasse reached in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Shindler offers a narrative tracing some of the contradictions that became visible in the process of efforts to implement the Oslo Agreements of 1993 and 1995. However, here, as earlier in the book, he largely fails to make the reader aware of alternative interpretations. Furthermore, his reliance on references to the He-brew language press, along with the absence of apparent access to sources in the Arabic press, necessarily colors the interpretation given to developments.

The title of this book promises far more than it delivers. This is unfortunate because what the book does offer is a readable account that conveys a sympathetic understanding of Israeli leadership and the way the latter has conceptualized key elements of state building and defense over time. This is...