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As the fiftieth anniversary of Israeli statehood approaches, along with the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the World Zionist Organization, the question of what is meant by a "Jewish" state is particularly timely. Alan Dowty takes on that question in a book that is admirable for its clarity and its comprehensive interpretation of the historical roots and contemporary functioning of Israel.Israeli nationhood, democracy, and politics did not unfold in a social or political vacuum, but developed from power-sharing practices in pre-state Jewish communities in Palestine and in Eastern Europe. Dowty elucidates the broad cluster of cultural, historical, and ideological tenets which came to comprise Israel's contemporary political system. He demonstrates that such tenets were not arbitrary but in fact developed logically from Jewish political habits and the circumstances of time. Dowty illustrates how these traditions are balanced with those of ideology and modernization, and he provides an integrated, sophisticated analysis of the Israeli nation's formation and present state.Dowty also proposes thoughtful answers to puzzles regarding the strengths and weaknesses of Israeli democracy in responding to the challenges of communal divisions, religious contention, the country's non-Jewish minority, and accommodation with the Palestinians. The Jewish State will be invaluable for anyone looking for that one book that gives an intelligent overview of both Israel today and of its origins

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984

From Mark Twain to Theodor Herzl, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Golda Meir, Anwar Sadat, Ezer Weizman, Ehud Barak, Marwan Barghouti, Mahmoud Abbas, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Kerry, and dozens of others, the first-hand narratives brought together in this Reader bring the conflict to life as seen by those closest to it

This article examines modern European intervention in the Middle East and the subsequent changes that shaped a new environment in the region as a whole and in Ottoman Palestine in particular. What were these changes and how did they intertwine with the creation, by the end of the century, of a substantial Western cultural and political presence in the Palestinian provinces of the Ottoman Empire? How did this presence, in turn, help to move the idea of a Jewish return to Palestine from the realm of fantasy to reality? This article examines how, in the framework of 'productivization' and European penetration, ideas of settlement of land—proto-Zionism—developed not just among Christian Restorationists but also within the Jewish community.

In what ways does intensified violence change attitudes in protracted conflicts? When does it harden attitudes and when does it moderate them? This question is tested for the post-1967 period in Israeli–Palestinian relations, with emphasis on the two intifadaperiods (1987–93 and 2000 to the present). A clear distinction emerges between 'expressive' issues, those with a short-term focus and a high emotive content, and the 'primary' issues in the conflict. Violence produced a hardening of positions on expressive issues in both intifadaperiods, as would be predicted in escalation theories. On primary issues, however, violence engendered moderation in the search for an overall solution, in line with 'ripeness' theory, when the two major conditions of 'ripeness' — perceptions of a mutually hurting stalemate and a 'way out' — were met. Thus the first intifadaaccelerated moderating trends on primary issues, while in the second intifada,where perception of a 'way out' was much weaker, attitudes on basic issues did not moderate until a basic structural change occurred in late 2004.