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Two decades ago, the idea that a "radical right" could capture and drive Israeli politics seemed highly improbable. While it was a boisterous faction and received heavy media coverage, it constituted a fringe element. Yet by 2009, Israel's radical right had not only entrenched itself in mainstream Israeli politics, it was dictating policy in a wide range of areas. The government has essentially caved to the settlers on the West Bank, and restrictions on non-Jews in Israel have increased in the past few years. Members of the radical right have assumed prominent positions in Israel's elite security forces. The possibility of a two state solution seems more remote than ever, and the emergence o...
This book is an exploration of the history and ideology of Revisionist Zionism--the stream of Zionism represented by the ruling Likud Party in Israel--from its inception in the 1920s under Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky through its modification under Herut Party leader Menahem Begin to the present. The main features of Revisionist Zionism under Jabotinsky are discussed, with each of the four Likud Party leaders receiving two to three chapters covering his early life, early career and rise to party leadership and his legacy for the party and the state. An overview is given of the 1940s underground careers of Menahem Begin as leader of the paramilitary organization Irgun Zvai Leumi, and Yitzhak Shamir as leader of the Lohemei Herut Israel. In conclusion the author examines common characteristics that the five leaders share and how the party may evolve in the future.
This is a dispassionate examination of the viability of a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the politics of Israel, Palestine and the United States. It includes instructive case studies from South Africa in Namibia and the Irish claim to Northern Ireland. The results of Israeli elections from 2001 to 2013 are analyzed (with the conclusion that the Likud will be in any government coalition for at least the midterm future, giving it a veto over policy). A chapter examining the history and ideology of the secular right over the last 90 years follows. There are three chapters of case studies: the Likud withdrawal from the Sinai in 1979-1982 and from Gaza in 2005, the withdrawal of South Africa from Namibia in 1988-1989, and the dropping of Ireland's constitutional claim to Northern Ireland in 1998 under a Fianna Fail government--the same party that wrote the constitution in 1937. A chapter examines Palestinian politics since the mandatory era and another, the American-Israeli alliance and American politics. A concluding chapter draws lessons from the case studies and the analysis.
This book argues that the nature of counterproliferation strengthens the effect of cultural factors in policy choices, and illustrates this by focusing on US and Israeli policy toward the Iranian nuclear program. The United States and Israel have been the two states most active in opposing Iran’s nuclear ambitions; however, the respective strategies of each of these states have changed repeatedly. This book explores how competing cultural schools of thought on grand strategy within each state inform and shape the key policy decisions in their attempts to prevent a nuclear Iran. Drawing on numerous interviews conducted with former high-level officials in each country as well as published me...
What can anthropology and political science learn from each other? The authors argue that collaboration, particularly in the area of concepts and methodologies, is tremendously beneficial for both disciplines, though they also deal with some troubling aspects of the relationship. Focusing on the influence of anthropology on political science, the book examines the basic assumptions the practitioners of each discipline make about the nature of social and political reality, compares some of the key concepts each field employs, and provides an extensive review of the basic methods of research that "bridge" both disciplines: ethnography and case study. Through ethnography (participant observatio...
PART I - The Camp David Process -- First Steps, Harsh Truths -- "A Secluded Northern Castle" -- Back to Square One -- Longing for Hizballah -- Forcing the Leaders' Hand -- A Conceivable Endgame? -- The Promise of an American Steamroller -- Inauspicious Beginnings -- Clinton: "We Have Exhausted the Beauty of this Place" -- A Gamechanger (or so it looked..) -- O Jerusalem (and its lies...) -- Saeb Erakat: "Arafat is Interested in a Crisis" -- Albright's Intermezzo; Clinton's Last Push -- Our Faintest Hour -- Arafat: "Barak Has Gone Beyond my Partner Rabin" -- Making Most of Success -- Moments of Grace on Precipice Edge -- PART II - A Savage War for Peace -- "With Our Blood and Soul We'll redee...
From 1949 to 2000, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Barak conducted Israel's successful (and unsuccessful) talks with its Arab neighbors, from the armistice negotiations to Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy, to Camp David I and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and finally to the Oslo peace process. The four successful generals who became politicians are covered in four separate biographies, which discuss the early life and military career of each subject and his subsequent political career. Two other military politicians--Yigal Allon and Ezer Weizman--are covered within these four biographies. An overview of the phenomenon of military politicians in Israel is given and an appendix compares it with similar experiences in South Africa and the United States.
Jehuda Reinharz, born in Haifa in 1944, spent his childhood in Israel and his adolescence in Germany, and moved with his family to the United States when he was seventeen. These three diverse geographies and the experiences they engendered shaped his formative years and the future of a prolific scholar who devoted his life to the study of the central role of leadership as Jews faced the challenges of emancipation and integration in Germany, the rise of modern antisemitism, the formation of Zionist youth culture and politics, and the transformation of Jewish politics in Palestine and the State of Israel. In this volume, eminent scholars in their respective fields extend the lines of Reinharz'...
For twenty-six years, Iran has waged an international terrorist war while the intelligence services of the West, led by Mossad and the CIA, have waged a relentless, mostly clandestine counter-jihad in return. Though Iran has become a quietly looming threat, little has been revealed about this intelligence-based war. Now, Ronen Bergman, Israel’s leading reporter and analyst of intelligence affairs, has written a full account of this secret war. He connected the dots of the long history of Iranian backed terrorist attacks, and revealed for the first time many classified operations against the Iranian terrorist network, including details about collaborations between Israel’s Mossad and the ...
In a world torn by political strife, mediation and conflict resolution offer hope for global stability. This timely book examines the peace processes in Northern Ireland, where a peace negotiation has been enacted, and the Middle East, a region still in need of peace. Beginning with a review of the literature and theory relevant to peace and conflict studies, the text offers clear, nuanced explanations of the Northern Ireland process, including how it was saved, and the Oslo peace process of the Middle East. Lessons are drawn from both situations, offering guidance for mediators, activists, and leaders dealing with ongoing ethnic or national conflicts.