Suchergebnisse

In the spring of 2011, the two of us took over the editorship of the newly renamed, and somewhat reshaped, official journal of the Association for Israel Studies. The former Israel Studies Forum thus became Israel Studies Review. The current issue is the last that we will be editing, after 25 issues comprising over 200 articles written by almost as many different authors, some of whom were chosen by more than a dozen guest editors who produced our special issues. About two hundred colleagues wrote book reviews and review essays, and many more have served as peer reviewers of articles submitted to us for publication.

This is the first of three special, guest-edited issues of ISR that will precede the retirement of the current editors from the journal. This issue, co-edited by Nir Gazit and Yagil Levy, takes on the unusual and seemingly somewhat arcane subject of military policing in Israel—that is, in the West Bank and on the Gaza border. The subject seemed somewhat arcane when we started planning it early in 2019, but now, as this issue reaches publication, we find that military policing is closely related to current events around the world, especially in the US, sometimes even competing with the coronavirus pandemic for the headlines. See the guest editors' introduction immediately following this note for a fuller exposition before delving into the articles that follow.

The crisis of liberal democracy affecting a large number of Western countries is, unsurprisingly, also manifesting itself in Israel. Yet it is noteworthy that the extensive literature describing these processes in countries where illiberal regimes have developed and populist leaders now govern, such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and others, does not mention Israel in this unholy list. This is the case even though in Israel in recent years one cannot but notice a relentless battle against 'elites', undermining the rule of law and the justice system, taking control of independent media, weakening civil and social rights organizations, narrowing civil society, and developing signs of authoritarian rule.

As all who attended the Association for Israel Studies conference this past June at Kinneret College now know, the only thing that resulted in unbearable heat was the temperature outdoors, not tempers around the tables. The discussion of "Word Crimes," the title of the summer issue of Israel Studies, our sister publication, did not cause an irreparable split—or any split at all—in the AIS. There was a spirited and quite lengthy airing of the whole issue at the meeting of the Board of Directors on the Sunday before the conference began, at which various differing opinions were presented. But it was clear that it no longer appeared to be a make-or-break time for either the AIS or IS.

We write this in early February 2019, as the parties in the upcoming Israeli
elections (due to take place on 9 April) are still sorting themselves out
before the deadline for submission of party lists. Social media and ordinary
conversations are full of speculations, such as "will Benny and Bogie run
with Yair, and will Gabi join them?" and "will Orly, Tami, Yvet, or even
Avi fail to make the threshold?" Of course, the ultimate question is, "will
Benny topple Bibi?"

An academic journal, naturally, cannot deal with current affairs. The
research process requires time and perspective and is always lagging
behind the actual events. This is all the more applicable when it comes
to a period of accelerated changes, as has happened in recent years in the
Western world. Even those who do not subscribe to Heraclitus's notion
of panta rhei (everything flows) or his adage that "you cannot step twice
into the same river" cannot ignore the rapid, deep, and dramatic changes
that are taking place in many countries—especially in Europe, but in Asia
and the United States as well. Similar occurrences are also taking place in
Israel, the research arena in which ISR operates.

It cannot have escaped the notice of any Israel Studies Review readers—or,
indeed, of much of the world's literate population—that 2018 marked the
70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Academics
commemorated the anniversary in their usual way, with a host of conferences
in Israel, the US, and plenty of other places on innumerable topics
relating to everything Israeli.

Analyse des Prozesses, in dessen Verlauf sich die öffentliche Meinung in Jordanien von einer gewissen Offenheit gegenüber Israel zur Ablehnung der Normalisierung entwickelt hat. Obgleich sich die Hoffnungen auf eine Friedensdividende nicht erfüllten, blieben die Jordanier Israel zunächst relativ freundlich gesonnen. Eine Reihe von Ereignissen - beginnend mit der israelischen Operation "Früchte des Zorns" im Libanon 1996 bis zum missglückten Mordanschlag auf den Hamas-Führer Khaled Meshal im September 1997 - führten bei der Mehrheit der Bevölkerung zu einem Meinungsumschwung. Die "Anti-Normalisierungsbewegung" unter Führung der Berufsverbände und der Islamischen Aktionsfront scheint den Kampf um die öffentliche Meinung gewonnen zu haben. (DÜI-Hns)