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The essays in this volume, by leading scholars from within and outside Israel, shed new light on the Israeli historians' controversy of the creation of the State of Israel, the 1948 War and its aftermath, Israel's attitude towards Holocaust survivors, the "melting pot" absorption policy and similar subjects. The attack on Zionist historiography, which initially came from what is dubbed the "post-Zionist" radical left, has recently broadened to include a critique from the right. These essays cover diverse aspects of the critique, exploring its historiographical, political, sociological and educational ramifications.
Volume XXIII of the distinguished annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry explores the role of sports in modern Jewish history. The centrality of sports in modern life--in popular and even in high culture, in economic life, in the media, in international and national politics, and in forging ethnic identities--can hardly be exaggerated, but in the field of Jewish studies this subject has been somewhat neglected, at least until recently. Students of American Jewish history, for example, often emphasize the role of sports in the Americanization of the immigrants, while students of Jewish nationalism pay closer attention to its appeal for the regeneration of the Jewish nation, as well as the creat...
Independence and Politics delves deeply into the political landscape of Israel during the years 1947–1949. Weaving together a wealth of original sources and emphasizing domestic politics, Meir Chazan offers a comprehensive analysis of the critical factors that contributed to the establishment and early governance of the State of Israel. Chazan explores the formation of governing institutions in the transition from a voluntary society to typical patterns of statehood. He investigates the shocks that led to these institutions' formation and the critical decision to declare statehood. Additionally, he provides a detailed account of the election campaign for the Constituent Assembly, which was the forerunner of the First Knesset, and the struggle to attain the United States' de facto and de jure recognition of Israel. Insightful and informative, Independence and Politics provides a fresh perspective on the establishment of the State of Israel. Chazan's analysis and expert commentary offer an unparalleled understanding of the challenges faced by the fledgling state and the decisions that shaped its future.
Why does Hamas refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel? What makes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so intractable? Reflecting both Israeli and Palestinian points of view, this volume addresses the two powerful, bitterly contested, competing historical narratives that underpin the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Argues that the foundation of Israel was a trauma that destabilized the kibbutz’s conceptual grounding State of Shock decodes one of the most iconic images of Zionism and Israel: the kibbutz. Lior Libman offers original theoretical and historiographical insights into the imagery and the history of the kibbutz, and, through them, of Hebrew literature and Israeli culture more broadly. Arguing that the establishment of the State of Israel was a rupture that destabilized the kibbutz’s deepest conceptual ground and shifted its history, the book uncovers the seemingly surprising Hasidic resonances in the identity of the kibbutz and its self-perception as fulfilling the metaphysical in the phys...
After half a century of occupation and tremendous costs of the conflict, Israel is still struggling with the idea of a Palestinian state in what is often perceived as the Biblical Eretz Israel. Mapping Zionism, enemy images, peace and war policies, as well as democracy within the Jewish State, the present study offers original insights into Israel’s role in this conflict. By analyzing Israeli history, politics and security-oriented political culture as it has been evolving from 1948 on, this book reveals the ideological and political structures of a Zionist-oriented state and society. In doing so, it uncovers the abyss between the Zionist vision of Eretz Israel on the one hand and the aspiration to achieve normalization, peace and security on the other. In view of this conflict-laden bi-national reality, the Palestinian question is identified as the Achilles‘ heel of Jewish statehood in the Land of Israel. Thus, Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine provides a fresh, innovative, critical and yet accessible perspective on one of the most controversial issues in contemporary history.
Preface: "The Birds Left Early"--"A Million Superfluous Jews" -- and More -- "The Dream of a Jewish State" -- "The Wailing Wall in Évian" and Kristallnacht -- Funeral March at St. James's Palace: "They Betrayed Czechoslovakia, Why Should They Not Betray Us as Well?" -- A Bridge Over the White Paper? -- The Forgotten Congress (Geneva, August 16-25, 1939) -- Will War Break Out? -- "So early, no one has seen death yet" -- Epilogue
Others cover the French, US and Prussian (later German) navies, which move from relative weakness towards a position from which they challenged Britain's supremacy."
Fascinating revisionist history of Jewish life in Tel Aviv in the Mandate era
This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Israel, accounting for changes, developments and contemporary debates. The different chapters offer both a historical background and an updated analysis of politics, economy, society and culture. Across five sections, a multidisciplinary group of experts, including sociologists, political scientists, historians and social scientists, engage in a wide variety of topics through different perspectives and insights. The book opens with a historical section outlining the formation of Israel and Jewish nationalism. The second section examines contemporary institutions in Israel, their developments and the contemporary challenges they ...