Brecher, Frank W. “US Secretary of State George C. Marshall’s Losing Battles against President Harry S. Truman’s Palestine Policy, January-June 1948.” Middle Eastern Studies 48.2 (2012): 227-247.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/mes/2012/00000048/00000002/art00004
Rivlin, Paul. The Israeli Economy from the Foundation of the State through the 21st Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Reviews
Zakai, Orian. “Entering the Records: Difference, Suffrage and the Autobiography of the New Hebrew Woman.” Nashim 22 (2011): 136-161.
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nashim/v022/22.zakai.html
Abstract
In this paper I offer a close reading of the 1956 autobiography of the Zionist suffragist Sara Azaryahu, in an attempt to illuminate some of the tensions that complicate Zionist women’s position within the network of gender, ethnic and national power-relations produced by Zionism. Highlighting the sharp East-West dichotomies sustaining Azaryahu’s emancipatory narrative, and tracing the text’s various gestures of erasure and exclusion, I show how discourses of racial, ethnic and national difference inform and shape the Zionist feminist self. At the same time, I claim that the text produces an analogy between the exclusion of Palestinian and Mizraḥi women from Zionist feminist emancipatory projects and the self-erasure of "everything feminine" and "everything Jewish" that accompanies Azaryahu’s self-constitution both as an autobiographer and as a democratic subject. In this sense, I argue, the text contains a potential subversion of the clear-cut East-West dichotomy that, on the surface, it strives to maintain.
Zachariah Kay. The Diplomacy of Impartiality: Canada and Israel, 1958-1968. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2010.
Reviews
Waller, Howard. “Bureaucrats, Politicians, and Canada’s Middle East Policy.” H-Net Reviews (H-Judaic), January 2012.
Yoav Gelber. Nation and History: Israeli Historiography between Zionism and Post-Zionism. London and Portland, OR : Vallentine Mitchell, 2011.
Reviews
Ilan Fuchs, “Old v. New? On Historiography and Israeli History.” H-Net Reviews, January 2012.
Weitz, Yechiam. “The Founding Father and the General: David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan.” Middle Eastern Studies 47.6 (2011): 845-861.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/mes/2011/00000047/00000006/art00001
Zadoff, Noam. "’Zion’s Self-Engulfing Light’: On Gershom Scholem’s Disillusionment with Zionism." Modern Judaism 31.3 (2011): 272-284.
URL: http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/3/272.short
Abstract
On the morning of September 20, 1923, the Jewish Day of Atonement, a small ship was approaching the port town of Jaffa on the shore of Palestine. The ship, which had sailed from Alexandria, carried on its deck two young German-Jewish scholars who were to become—each in his own field—renowned personalities in the history of Jewish Studies in the 20th century. The first, the orientalist Shlomo Dov Goitein, continued sailing with the ship until its next station—the port of Haifa. The second, Gershom Scholem, who was welcomed on shore by his fiancé Escha Burchhardt, disembarked from the ship and arrived for the first time, as a Zionist, at his destination, where he stayed for the rest of his life. In his memoir Scholem describes the process of adaptation and integration in the new land as an easy one from the personal, social, and ideological point of view.1 Nonetheless, on many occasions, he expressed discontentment with the local Jewish life, complaining about the cultural and political situation in Jerusalem.2 The reasons for this discontent varied but they were mainly connected to the political developments in Palestine, to the direction that the Yishuv took, and to the dramatic events in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. This article concentrates on three important moments in the history of Zionism as well as in Scholem’s private life: first, the riots of 1929 and their aftermath; second, the realization of the destruction of European Jewry by the Yishuv in Palestine in 1943; and third, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Each of these events represents a turning point for the Jewish collective, as well as a turning point for Scholem as a private person on the way in the process of fulfilling his Zionist utopia.
Tal, David. “David Ben-Gurion’s Teleological Westernism.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 10.3 (2011): 351-364.
URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14725886.2011.608552
Abstract
Until 1948, the westernism of the Jewish society in the Land of Israel was apparent and taken for granted, as the vast majority of Zionist immigrants who came to Palestine were of European origin, and they built a western society in the Middle East, socially, politically, culturally and economically. Only after the 1948 War and the immigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the Middle East and North Africa was Israel’s westernism no longer obvious. And indeed, with the arrival of these immigrants from Muslim states, the Israeli government initiated a national-scale endeavour to acculturate the new arrivals to the norms and values of their new home. Scholars suggest various reasons for these actions of the Israeli government, but this article will pay special attention to David Ben Gurion’s westernism. Israel’s first Prime Minister attributed high importance to the maintenance of Israel’s western and modern nature, and he did so not only with the intention of acculturating the newcomers. Based on his profound fear about the ability of the Jewish state to survive in the Middle East, Ben Gurion regarded Westernism and modernism as vital to its survival.
Esber, Rosemarie M. Under the Cover of War. The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. Alexandria, Va. : Arabicus Books & Media, 2008.
Reviews:
Bonine, Michael E., Abbas Amanat, and Michael Ezekiel Gasper, eds. Is There a Middle East? The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011.
344 pp.
6 illustrations, 30 maps, 1 figure.
ISBN: 9780804775267
Cloth $80
ISBN: 9780804775274
Paper $24.95
URL: http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=17148
Abstract
Is the idea of the "Middle East" simply a geopolitical construct conceived by the West to serve particular strategic and economic interests—or can we identify geographical, historical, cultural, and political patterns to indicate some sort of internal coherence to this label? While the term has achieved common usage, no one studying the region has yet addressed whether this conceptualization has real meaning—and then articulated what and where the Middle East is, or is not.
This volume fills the void, offering a diverse set of voices—from political and cultural historians, to social scientists, geographers, and political economists—to debate the possible manifestations and meanings of the Middle East. At a time when geopolitical forces, social currents, and environmental concerns have brought attention to the region, this volume examines the very definition and geographic and cultural boundaries of the Middle East in an unprecedented way.
Rochelson, Meri-Jane. A Jew in the Public Arena. The Career of Israel Zangwill. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008.
Reviews:
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/israel_studies/toc/is.16.3.html
Table of Contents
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"Palestine’s Best": The Jewish Agency’s Press Relations, 1946-1947
pp. 1-27
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"Resistance Through Rituals"—Urban Subcultures of Israeli Youth from the Late 1950s to the 1980s
pp. 28-50
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The National-Religious Community and the Media: A Love-Hate Relationship
pp. 51-72
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"Drowning in the Marsh": Israeli Orthodox Theatrical Representations of the Singles Scene
pp. 73-96
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Immigrant and Veteran Teachers of the 1948 Generation: As Socialization Agents of the New State
pp. 97-122
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Productivization, Economics and the Transformation of Israeli Education, 1948-1965
pp. 123-148
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Operation Magic Carpet: Constructing the Myth of the Magical Immigration of Yemenite Jews to Israel
pp. 149-173
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The Intervention of the Israeli High Court of Justice in Government Decisions: An Empirical, Quantitative Perspective
pp. 174-190
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Contributors
pp. 191-192
Cohen, Amnon. Studies on Ottoman Palestine. Variorum Collected Studies Series 983. Aldershot and Burlington, Vt. Ashgate, 2011.
URL: Click Here
Abstract
The studies brought together here are based on Amnon Cohen’s many years of research in the archives of the Shari’a courts in Jerusalem, as well as archives in Ankara and Istanbul, London and Paris, complemented and enhanced by travellers’ reports, diplomatic correspondence, and Arab chronicles of the Middle East. Cohen highlights major developments in the economic, demographic and social fields, stretching over four centuries of Ottoman rule in Palestine, from the zenith of military achievements in Europe up to the demise of the empire and conquest of Palestine by the British army in the first World War. These studies are histories of the whole country, stretching from the Mediterranean coasts to the highlands of Jerusalem and beyond, to the Jordan valley. They cover the vicissitudes of both the urban setting and rural hinterland, with special attention equally paid to the diversified nature of the Palestinian population comprised of Jews, Christians and Muslims – and their respective holy places.
Contents:
Introduction; Part 1 Palestine – Local and International Dimensions: Ottoman involvement in Europe: its relevance for 16th century Palestine; Some conventional concepts of Ottoman administration in the light of a more detailed study: the case of 18th century Palestine; Ottoman rule and the re-emergence of the coast of Palestine; Napoleon and Jezzar: a local perspective. Part 2 Jerusalem – Urban and Economic Developments: The walls of Jerusalem; L’oeuvre de Soliman le Magnifique à Jérusalem: les murailles, la citadelle et leurs moyens de défense; Local trade, international trade and government involvement in Jerusalem during the early Ottoman period; Le rouge et le noir – Jerusalem style; Gold and silver crafting in Ottoman Jerusalem; the role played by the guild; 1516–1917: Haram-i serif – the Temple Mount under Ottoman rule. Part 3 Jerusalem’s Hinterland: Al-Nabi Musa – an Ottoman festival (mawsim) resurrected?; A coffeehouse in 19th century Jerusalem: a precursor of modernization. Part 4 Jews and Jewish Matters: New evidence on demographic change: the Jewish community in 16th century Jerusalem; Communal legal entities in a Muslim setting – theory and practice: the Jewish community in 16th-century Jerusalem; Ottoman sources for the history of the Ottoman Jews: how important?; Ritual murder accusations against the Jews during the days of Suleiman the Magnificent; A tale of two women: facets of Jewish life in 19th-century Jerusalem as seen through the Muslim court records; The Jews under Islam c.1500 – today. Part 5 Christians and Christianity: On the realities of the millet system: Jerusalem in the 16th century; The Ottoman approach to Christians and Christianity in 16th-century Jerusalem; The expulsion of the Franciscans from Mount Zion: old documents and new interpretations; The receding of the Christian presence in the Holy Land: a 19th-century sijill in the light of the 16th-century tahrirs; Index.
About the Author
Professor Amnon Cohen holds the Eliahu Elath Chair for the History of the Muslim Peoples at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was the recipient of the Israel Prize in 2007.
Owen, Roger. “British and French Military Intelligence in Syria and Palestine, 1914-1918: Myths and Reality.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 38.1 (2011): 1-6.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cbjm/2011/00000038/00000001/art00001
E-ISSN: 1527-201x Print ISSN: 1084-9513
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Israel and International Humanitarian Law: Between the Neo-Realism of State Security and the "Soft Power" of Legal Acceptability
pp. 1-23
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The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict
pp. 24-54
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Having It Both Ways: The Question of Legal Regimes in Gaza and the West Bank
pp. 55-80
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Kibbutz: Survival At Risk
pp. 81-108
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The Transformation of the Kibbutzim
Raymond Russell
Robert Hanneman
Shlomo Getz
pp. 109-126
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Discontent from Within: Hidden Dissent Against Communal Upbringing in Kibbutz Children’s Literature of the 1940s & 1950s
pp. 127-150
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Ethics and Responsibility: The Feminization of the New Israeli Documentary
pp. 151-164
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Out of the Frame: The Struggle for Academic Freedom in Israel (review)
pp. 165-183
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Being Indian, Being Israeli: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in the Jewish Homeland (review)
pp. 184-186
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Contributors
pp. 187-189
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Errata
pp. 190-191
Shanes, Joshua. “Ahron Marcus: Portrait of a Zionist Hasid.” Jewish Social Studies 16.3 (2010): 116-160.
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jewish_social_studies/summary/v016/16.3.shanes.html
Summary
Ahron Marcus (1843-1916), a committed Hasid and an active player in the early Zionist movement until his withdrawal in late 1900, developed a form of Jewish identity and politics that combined his Hasidic piety with deep adoration for Theodor Herzl and political Zionism, precisely at the moment that Orthodoxy was closing its ranks against the Zionist movement. This article gathers a wide range of sources on Marcus, particularly his Zionist-supported newspaper and nearly two dozen surviving letters between Marcus and Herzl, to establish the history and development of this Zionist and to consider its implications for the history of Zionism and political Orthodoxy. I argue that Marcus’s attempt to link political Zionism with Hasidic Orthodoxy both theologically and politically—by uniting the Zionist Organization with major Hasidic leaders while remaining within traditional society—was an intriguing exploration of Jewish identity beyond the existing typologies of eastern European Jewry.
Vogt, Stefan. “Robert Weltsch and the Paradoxes of Anti-Nationalist Nationalism.” Jewish Social Studies 16.3 (2010): 85-115.
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jewish_social_studies/summary/v016/16.3.vogt.html
Summary
This article analyzes the specific version of Zionism developed in Central Europe by examining the life and work of Robert Weltsch. Born in Prague in 1891, Weltsch was the editor of the official journal of the German Zionist federation, the Jüdische Rundschau, from 1919 until 1938. I trace the impact of German nationalist ideology and politics on Weltsch’s thinking, arguing that he developed an ambivalent concept of Jewish nationalism that cannot be identified as either ethnic or civic. Weltsch criticized liberal ideology and affirmed völkisch ideas of national community while rejecting national chauvinism and embracing universal humanity. Weltsch’s Zionism was an attempt to fulfill the cultural aspirations of völkisch nationalism and yet to avoid its political consequences. His ideas remained an unsolved contradiction and, though supported by many German Zionists, were thus not able to shape the politics of the Zionist movement and the political reality in Palestine.
Gudrun Krämer
History of Palestine. From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel
Translated by Graham Harman & Gudrun Krämer
It is impossible to understand Palestine today without a careful reading of its distant and recent past. But until now there has been no single volume in English that tells the history of the events–from the Ottoman Empire to the mid-twentieth century–that shaped modern Palestine. The first book of its kind, A History of Palestine offers a richly detailed interpretation of this critical region’s evolution.
To read the entire book description or a sample chapter, please visit: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8638.html
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Israel Affairs: Volume 17 Issue 2 is now available online at informaworldTM.
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Golani, Motti. The End of the British Mandate for Palestine, 1948: The Diary of Sir Henry Gurney. Basingstoke, UK and New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Reviews:
Miller, Rory. Middle Eastern Studies 47,1 (2011): 211-213.
Online Israel Studies Bulletin Board 