Critical Issues In Israeli Society

Fashioning a working political structure in Israel that will bring together all aspects of society, from Jews to Arabs, ultra-Orthodox to assertively secular, has never been easy. However, two developments have intensified this challenge: demographic changes have sharpened the differences between the groups; and open challenges of legitimacy have undermined the previous de facto acceptance of pluralism. There has been no strong civic framework of Israeliness to replace Zionism as a shared identity that would override more parochial identities and interests. Added to these pressures are the collapse of the peace process in late 2000 and the influence of global developments on the Arab-Israel conflict and on Israeli domestic society. In this volume, twelve noted scholars of Israel present authoritative and analytic overviews of these important issues. The ability of the Israeli political system to bridge differences through a Jewish tradition of power-sharing has, in the past, managed to overcome enormous divisions, at least within the Jewish sector. Economic progress and globalization have brought Israel closer to other developed societies in many respects, while exposing Israel to pressures associated with these trends. Closer analysis of these critical issues reveals that there are also positive forces at work as the nation seeks a broader synthesis of its Jewish legacy and universal liberal values.

This book is part of a series of review volumes sponsored by the Association for Israel Studies that provides a framework for discussion of research and scholarship on all aspects of Israeli society. It brings together original review essays commenting on issues in Israeli society, culture, politics, religion, literature, and film. The authors' evaluations of recently published books go beyond critical commentary on the works themselves to include the state of scholarship and social conditions. Among the issues addressed are the conflict over water resources, the human dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, local governance, and the court system. The book provides reviews and commentary, not only on scholarly works but also on memoirs of military leaders at the time of the Yom Kippur war, Sephardi novels on the shock of immigration and on Israeli orthodox Judaism, and politically oriented cinema and literature of the 1980s and 1990s.

Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship is part of a series of review volumes sponsored by the Association for Israel Studies and published by SUNY Press that provides a framework for discussion of research and scholarship on all aspects of Israeli society. This book brings together review essays commenting on issues in Israeli culture, literature, politics, scholarship, and society. The authors identify a series of recently published books and provide critical commentary. In their examination, they go beyond the works themselves to comment on the state of scholarship and social conditions. Topics covered include Israeli writers' reactions to the Holocaust, critical analyses of the popular Israeli poet and novelist Amnon Shamosh, the linguistic relations between Yiddish and Modern Hebrew, ethnic relations, the emerging "mainstream" of Israeli culture, politics, Israeli historical revisionism, and social, psychological, and political aspects of the continuing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Original review essays that provide critical commentary on recently published books and films on Israeli society, culture, politics, and religion.

Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture is the second volume in a series devoted to imaginative and critical consideration of recent books on Israel. It is a forum allowing some of the most insightful students of Israeli affairs, both in Israel and in the United States, to examine trends in Israeli literature and in scholarship pertaining to all aspects of Israeli life. Each contributor approaches Israel from a different angle, offering anthropological, religious, political, literary, and historical perspectives. Topics attracting particular attention in this volume include the psychological reactions of Israelis who emigrate from their country and the portrayal of the emigrant in Israeli literature; human rights; the role and content of the Jewish fundamentalist movement in Israel; changing relations to the Palestinian leadership in the occupied terrorists; the emerging issue of Israel as a binational society; psychoanalytic and political motifs in contemporary Israeli fiction; and the controversial findings of Israel's newest wave of "revisionist" historians.

In recent years, the discussion about Israel was dominated by post-Zionist, post-Israeli opinions. Important voices that represent large sectors of Israeli society were not heard. To somewhat change this situation, some of the best scholars in their respective fields participate in this ultimate collection of essays about Israeli society, its politics and schisms. The book aims to tackle timely concerns, like Israel’s fight against terror, its relationships with the Palestinians, the mutual relationships between the civic society and the army, the status of women in society, and separation between state and religion. Particular attention is given to probing the state of human rights, minority rights, and health rights. The volume also discusses the tensions between liberalism and socialism, between state and religion, and between immigration groups, most notably resulting from the immigration from the former Soviet Union.

With full coverage of recent dramatic events in Israeli politics from the Rabin assassination through the May 1996 elections, this work provides an up-to-date introduction to Israeli politics and society. It seeks to convey a strong sense of everyday life in Israel, the nuances and contradictions of Israeli identity, the ethnic composition and institutional structure of Israeli society, as well as Israeli political culture and the issues that dominate the country's domestic and foreign policy.

This series of the Israeli Sociological Society, whose object is to identify and clarify the major themes that occupy social research in Israel today, gathers together the best of Israeli social science investigation that was previously scattered in a large variety of international journals. Each book in the series is introduced by integrative essays. Each volume focuses on a particular topic; the first volume seeks out the dynamics of conflict and integration in a new society; the second volume is concerned with the sociology of a unique Israeli social institution—the kibbutz. The third volume presents sociological perspectives on political life and culture in Israel. Articles by leading scholars deal with: historical development; political culture and ideology; political institutions and behavior; the social basis of politics; and social change. Volume III also includes a select bibliography. Contributors to Volume III (tentative): Karl W. Deutsch, Yonathan Shapiro, Dan Horowitz, Moshe Lissak, Daniel Elazar, Asher Arian, Charles Liebman, Erik Cohen, Yoram Peri, Ephraim Yaar, S. Smooha.