Table Of ContentCritical Essays on Israeli Society,
Politics, and Culture
A PUBLICATION FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR ISRAEL STUDIES
SUNY Series in Israeli Studies
Russell Stone. editor
on
Critical Essays
Israeli Society,
Politics, and Culture
Books on Israel Volume II
Editors
Ian S. Lustick
and
Barry Rubin
State University of New York Press
Published by
State University of New York Press. Albany
© 1991 State University of New York
"Ideological Politics or the Politics of Demography: The Aftermath of the Six
Day-Way" Copyright ©1989 by Gershon Shafir.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.
For information. address State University of
New York Press. State University Plaza.
Albany. N.Y. 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Critical essays on Israeli society. politics. and culture / editors.
Ian S. Lustlck and Bany Rubin.
p. cm. - (Books on Israel; v. 2) (SUNY series In Israeli
studies)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7914-0646-6 (cloth). - ISBN 0-7914-0647-4 (paper)
1. Israel-Book reviews. I. Lustick. Ian. 1949- . II. Rubin.
Bany M. III. Series. IV. Series: SUNY series in Israeli studies.
DSI02.95B66 1988 vol. 2
956.94 s-dc20
[016.956941 90-10055
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
vii Preface
History and Politics
3 Revisionism and the Reconstruction of
Israeli History
Steven Heydemann
27 Ambiguities of a 'Binational' Israel
Myron J. Aronoff
41 Ideological Politics or the Politics of
Demography: The Aftermath of the
Six-Day-War
Gershon Shafir
63 Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Political
Action
Stewart Reiser
75 Testing for Democracy in Israel
Uri Ben-Eliezer
Society, Culture, and Religion
93 Between the Promised Land and the
Land ofP romise: Israeli Emigration and
Israeli Identity
Tamar Katriel
109 National Neurosis in Israeli Literature:
A. B. Yehoshua
Aliza Shenhar
129 Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel
Kevin Avruch
145 E.>..ploring Answers to Zionism's Decay:
Two Israeli Authors Rediscover Happiness
Eve Jacobson
Foreign Relations
167 Human Rtghts in Israel's Territories:
Politics and Law in Interaction
Ilan Peleg
185 American Public Opinion toward
Israel and the Palestinians
Asher Arian
193 Palestinian Leadership on the West Bank
Elie Rekhess
201 About the Contributors
205 About the Editors
Preface
We are pleased to present twelve critical essays by
American and Israeli scholars, reviewing recent work in a
variety of disciplines concerning modem Israel. Although
structuring their contributions as evaluations of new books
(in Hebrew and in English) the authors present their own
perspectives on the issues in question, as well as overviews
of developments in their fields of specialization-which
include political science, sociology, anthropology, litera
ture, and history. Taken together, these items constitute a
survey of the current state ofIsrael studies, a presentation
of the main questions being investigated, and a resource
guide to further reading.
A particularly fecund area is that of research on Israel's
history and politics. Steven Heydemann assesses contro
versial, "revisionist" works on Israel's history which chal
lenge traditional interpretations on the causes and nature
of the 1948 war, raising questions on the origin and
meaning of the Arab-Israel conflict. He notes that this
viii Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture
debate is heavily influenced by contemporary political
arguments and distinguishes between polemical and more
temperate approaches. Even the latter often take events out
of context and promote a dichotomy of heroes and villains.
Still, he concludes, these works have altered Israel's histo
riography.
Myron Aronoff deals skeptically with the concept of
binationalism as applied to Israel. The issue is the extent to
which the large Arab minority in the country (and the
additional numbers of Palestinians living in the West Bank
and Gaza) create an impetus toward revising Israel's defini
tion as a Jewish state. While discussing the real transfor
mations occurring in Israel. Aronoff concludes that the
different meanings attributed to the term "binationalism"
undermine its usefulness.
Gershon Shafir views works on key turning points in
Israel's history. These writings lament and protest the loss
of an Israeli "sense of realism," a trait said to be responsible
for past successes. They reconsider early Zionist approaches
to the Arabs, reactions to Israel's massive victory in the
1967 war, and the effects of the Likud bloc's 1977 triumph.
'When contemplating how to use the fruits of the Six Day
War," he concludes. however. "it seemed in 1967 that Israel
had more freedom of choice than it actually did."
Elie Rekhess discusses the struggle between Israel.
Jordan. and the PLO to shape West Bank politics since the
1967 war. It is important. he notes. to consider the socio
economic changes as well as the political developments
since. in the long-run. the former provided the basis for the
latter. The role of the Communist party. the student move
ment. and the Palestinian press in East Jerusalem were es
pecially important. A critical area for future research will be
the links between the events of the earlier years and the
outbreak of the uprising in December 1987.
Stewart Reiser views the force of law and the appeal of
lawlessness in Israeli politics. Struggles based on passion
ately held ideology tempt groups to reject the framework of
