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›1948‹ is a key concept in Israeli identity discourse. A signifier of the violent clashes that took place at the end of the British Mandate in Palestine (between the fall of 1947 and the spring of 1949), it encompasses both the foundation of a democratic Jewish nation-state and the destruction of numerous Palestinian communities during the Israeli ›War of Independence‹ and thereafter. The Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe, could not be overlooked by Israel's ›generation of 1948‹ and those that succeeded it: it was present in the deserted fields and houses now occupied by Israelis, in the names of the streams, hills and roads Israelis now visited during military drills or school field trips, and in the frequent encounters with Arab ›infiltrators‹ who sought to return to their abandoned homes and lands.1 The mass expulsion and the killings of Arab civilians by Jewish forces were regularly discussed and debated by Israeli politicians, intellectuals, journalists and artists in the ensuing decades.2 Yet with few exceptions, Israeli historians and politicians have seemingly effortlessly merged these atrocities with a commonly accepted ›narrative‹ by, for example, attributing them to rogue, marginal, right-wing militias; depicting cases of expulsion as sporadic and spontaneous events; or justifying them as ad hoc measures taken against the initiators of the violence during the war.

"1948" is a key concept in Israeli identity discourse. A signifier of the violent clashes that took place at the end of the British Mandate in Palestine (between the fall of 1947 and the spring of 1949), it encompasses both the foundation of a democratic Jewish nation-state and the destruction of numerous Palestinian communities during the Israeli "War of Independence" and thereafter. The Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe, could not be overlooked by Israel's "generation of 1948" and those that succeeded it: it was present in the deserted fields and houses now occupied by Israelis, in the names of the streams, hills and roads Israelis now visited during military drills or school field trips, and in the frequent encounters with Arab ›infiltrators‹ who sought to return to their abandoned homes and lands. The mass expulsion and the killings of Arab civilians by Jewish forces were regularly discussed and debated by Israeli politicians, intellectuals, journalists and artists in the ensuing decades. Yet with few exceptions, Israeli historians and politicians have seemingly effortlessly merged these atrocities with a commonly accepted ›narrative‹ by, for example, attributing them to rogue, marginal, right-wing militias; depicting cases of expulsion as sporadic and spontaneous events; or justifying them as ad hoc measures taken against the initiators of the violence during the war.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have undergone profound changes in the past seven decades. They have become common on all battlefields and are used by many sides including terrorist and non-state organizations. This paper theorizes that the next step in UAV development will likely parallel the development in war planes during World War I. That means, specialized UAVs will be designed for air-to-air combat in both the interceptor and defender role. This will likely be combined for best effect with the concept of swarming. The ethical and legal issues relating to this hypothetical new form of UAVs are discussed, as well as the imperatives driving this development. (S+F/Pll)

The diversity of transnational interrelations within the peace movement has been commonly overlooked in studies on the anti-war struggle in the interwar years. Consequently, these studies have often provided an over-simplified view of the formation of anti-war ideologies, worldviews, and objectives. Contrary to this tendency, this article examines Albert Einstein's engagement with the peace movement in a way that emphasizes its transnational facets. Associating Einstein's worldview with ideas that were prevalent in transnational organizations in the decade preceding the second world war, it explains the scientist's propensity to endorse seemingly incompatible ideas as inherent to the nature of these organizations. Focusing on his relationships with two apparently contradictory organizations – the War Resisters' International and The New Commonwealth Society – I argue that Einstein's views reflect a set of principles that were held by many supporters of both organizations. Mainly, these principles constituted a revision of nineteenth-century liberal thought which sought to marginalize the impact of nationalist sentiments, redefine the social responsibilities of the state, and restrict its sovereignty. Thus, shifting the emphasis to the transnational aspects of the peace movement would not only make sense of Einstein's 'confused' politics, but also shed new light on interwar pacifism, its objectives, popularity, and enduring influence.

Prison cells constituted a unique sphere in post-World War I German films. Unlike most of the modern city spheres, it was a realm in which the private and the public often merged, and in which reality and fantasy incessantly intertwined. This article analyses the ways in which filmmakers of the Weimar Republic envisaged the experience within the prison, focusing on its frequent association with fantasies and hallucinations. Through the analysis of often-neglected films from the period, I argue that this portrayal of the prison enabled Weimar filmmakers to engage in public criticism against the conservative, inefficient and prejudiced institutions of law and order in Germany. Since German laws forbade direct defamation of these institutions, filmmakers such as Joe May, Wilhelm Dietherle and Georg C. Klaren employed the symbolism of the prisoner's fantasy to propagate the urgent need for thorough reform. Thus this article suggests that Weimar cinema, contrary to common notions, was not dominated by either escapism or extremist, anti-liberal worldviews. Instead, the prison films examined in this article are in fact structured as a warning against the decline of liberal bourgeois society in the German urban centres of the late 1920s.