Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Nineteenth-century Europe turned the political status of its Jewish communities into the "Jewish Question," as both Christianity and rising forms of nationalism viewed Jews as the ultimate other. With the onset of Zionism, this "question" migrated to Palestine and intensified under British colonial rule and in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Zionism's attempt to solve the "Jewish Question" created what came to be known as the "Arab Question," which concerned the presence and rights of the Arab population in Palestine. For the most part, however, Jewish settlers denied or dismissed the question they created, to the detriment of both Arabs and Jews in Palestine and elsewhere. This book brings together leading scholars to consider how these two questions are entangled historically and in the present day. It offers critical analyses of Arab engagements with the question of Jewish rights alongside Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish considerations of Palestinian identity and political rights. Together, the essays show that the Arab and Jewish questions, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which they have become subsumed, belong to the same thorny history. Despite their major differences, the historical Jewish and Arab questions are about the political rights of oppressed groups and their inclusion within exclusionary political communities--a question that continues to foment tensions in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Shedding new light on the intricate relationships among Orientalism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, colonialism, and the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book reveals the inseparability of Arab and Jewish struggles for self-determination and political equality. Contributors include Gil Anidjar, Brian Klug, Amal Ghazal, Ella Shohat, Hakem Al-Rustom, Hillel Cohen, Yuval Evri, Derek Penslar, Jacqueline Rose, Moshe Behar, Maram Masarwi, and the editors, Bashir Bashir and Leila Farsakh.

'Extremely convincing' - Electronic Intifada For decades we have spoken of the 'Israel-Palestine conflict', but what if our understanding of the issue has been wrong all along? This book explores how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement's project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence.  Jeff Halper argues that the only way out of a colonial situation is decolonization: the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination and control and their replacement by a single democratic state, in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews forge a new civil society and a shared political community. To show how this can be done, Halper uses the 10-point program of the One Democratic State Campaign as a guide for thinking through the process of decolonization to its post-colonial conclusion. Halper's unflinching reframing will empower activists fighting for the rights of the Palestinians and democracy for all.

What has become of Israel's peace movement? In the early 1980s, it was a major political force, bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets; but since then, its importance has declined amid spiraling violence. Now, and especially since the second Intifada of 2000-5, the "doves" of theIsrael/Palestine conflict struggle to be heard over its "hawks", and the days of mass mobilization are over.Doves Among Hawks charts the successes and failures of a beleaguered peace movement, from its formation after the Six-Day War to the current security-obsessed climate, where Israel's "doves" seem to be fighting a lost and outdated battle. Samy Cohen's history of a peace process that once took on theIsraeli settler movements exposes how that cause has been derailed and demoralized by suicide attacks.But the peace movement isn't dead--it has simply transformed. From human rights monitors to lobbies of the bereaved, Cohen reveals a multitude of smaller, grassroots organizations that have emerged with unexpected energy. These lawyers, doctors, army reservists, former diplomats and senior securitypersonnel are the unsung heroes of his story.

This open access book discusses the impact of protracted peace processes on identities in conflict. It is concerned with how lingering peace processes affect, in the long-term, patterns of othering in protracted conflicts, and how this relates with enduring violence. Taking Israel and Palestine as a case study, the book traces different representations of success and failure of the protracted peace process, as well as its associated policies, narratives, norms and practices, to analyze its impact on identity and its contribution to the maintenance and/or transformation of the cultural component of violence. On the one hand, drawing from an interdisciplinary approach comprising International Relations (IR), History and Social Psychology, this book proposes an analytical framework for assessing the specificities of the construction of identities in protracted conflicts. It identifies dehumanization and practices of reconciliation in ongoing conflicts - what is called peace-less reconciliation - as the main elements influencing processes of othering and violence in this kind of conflicts. On the other hand, the book offers an empirical historical analysis on how the protracted peace process has impacted identity building and representations made of the 'other' in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the end of the 19th century to the present day.

"In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in Middle Eastern affairs. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a constant theme on television and in newspapers. The images of heavily armed soldiers facing young Palestinian children hurling stones -- like Goliath facing David -- have evoked dismay and consternation. Throughout the world, anger has been expressed at the Jewish nation. Yet there is considerable misunderstanding about the origins and ideology of the Zionist movement and the transformation of these ideas into historical events. This volume seeks to provide a concise and comprehensive guide to the development of Zionism from its inception in the nineteenth century and the history of the Jewish state until the present day."

Peace in the Middle East has been a focus for politicians and activists for many years, but deadly conflicts still ravage this region. At the center of this struggle is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has deep historical roots. These roots are presented through objective main text filled with annotated quotes from historians and people who have been affected by this conflict. Featuring sidebars and images from both the past and present, this comprehensive look at a region in constant conflict gives young people a stronger sense of how current events connect to what they've learned in history classes.

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From 1949-1967, the West Bank was the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many Israelis hoped to conquer it and widen their narrow borders, while many Arabs hoped that it would serve as the core of a future Palestinian state. In The Limits of the Land, Avshalom Rubin presents a sophisticated new portrait of the Arab-Israeli struggle that goes beyond partisan narratives of the past. Drawing on new evidence from a wide variety of sources, many of them only recently declassified, Rubin argues that Israel's leaders indeed wanted to conquer the West Bank, but not at any cost. By 1967, they had abandoned hope of widening their borders and adopted an alternative strategy based on nuclear deterrence. In 1967, however, Israel's new strategy failed to prevent war, convincing its leaders that they needed to keep the territory they conquered. The result was a diplomatic stalemate that endures today.

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The book reexamines the entire history of the conflict from its onset at the end of World War I through today. Part I begins with a reconsideration of Zionism and then examines the origins and early years of the Arab-Israeli state conflict. One chapter is devoted to the question of what accounts for the nearly unconditional US support of Israel throughout the entire conflict. Part II focuses on war and peace in the Arab-Israeli state conflict from 1948 through today, arguing that all the major wars—in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973—could and should have been avoided. This section also includes an examination of the Cold War and its impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Part III covers the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from 1917 through today, and examines the prospects for a two-state or other settlement of the conflict.

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This open access book examines security and protection within Israel and Palestine, analyzing national and international security strategies that apply to the protection of civilians. The author examines the principles, practices and the perception of protection. Focusing on protection strategies and practices in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book reveals some of the myths and enigmas of national and international protection of civilians. The book moves beyond the current lack of protection strategies to discuss more effective human security focused on prioritizing protection of civilians, use of alternative tools such as community policing and inclusive protection.

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Chicago is home to one of the largest, most politically active Palestinian immigrant communities in the United States. For decades, secular nationalism held sway as the dominant political ideology, but since the 1990s its structures have weakened and Islamic institutions have gained strength. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interview data, Palestinian Chicago charts the origins of these changes and the multiple effects they have had on identity across religious, political, class, gender, and generational lines. The perspectives that emerge through this rich ethnography challenge prevailing understandings of secularity and religion, offering critical insight into current debates about immigration and national belonging.

A high-level insider's history of the efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from 2000 Camp David Talks to the present, that explains why successive attempts have all failed.The clash between Israel and Palestine has been one of the most emotionally engaging causes of modern times. Prophets without Honor tells the story of the grueling attempts to solve the conflict and examines the reasons for its resilience. Shlomo Ben-Ami, who participated at a high level in the July2000 Camp David peace talks that almost led to a historic deal, uses his insider experience to illuminate the specific factors that impede a solution to the conflict. He finds that the occupation's traits of permanence, Israel's insatiable quest for Lebensraum, and a hopelessly fragmented anddisoriented Palestinian national movement are to blame.Ben-Ami challenges the funereal historiography that emerged in the wake of the Camp David process, when - for the first time ever - Israelis and Palestinians engaged in the Sisyphean task of breaking the taboos surrounding the conflict. The Clinton Peace Parameters that emerged out of this processeventually became the litmus test of every serious peace proposal in the future. But ill-conceived perceptions of the other party, all-or-nothing theological fanaticism, and a lack of bold and enlightened leadership have made these attempts at peace-making a defining failure of the two-stateconcept. Ben-Ami scrutinizes the ominous alternatives to the two-state solution, such as the binational state, a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank, and Donald Trump's Deal of the Century. He also examines the merits of a Jordanian-Palestinian solution. In discussing Palestine from acomparative perspective, he underlines its singularity while also shedding light on the dilemmas that stand at the center of any peace enterprise. Ultimately, his account is the most non-partisan, comprehensive, and balanced written by an insider representing one of the parties.

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The quest for an inclusive and independent state has been at the center of the Palestinian national struggle for a very long time. This book critically reexamines this quest by exploring the meaning of Palestinian statehood and the challenges that face alternative models to it today. Rethinking Statehood in Palestine gives prominence to a young set of diverse Palestinian scholars, both men and women, to show how notions of citizenship, sovereignty, and nationhood are being currently rethought within the broader context of decolonization. Bringing forth critical and multifacetted engagements with what Palestinian self-determination entails within a larger regional context, this groundbreaking book sets the terms of debate for the future of Palestine beyond partition.

Like all Israeli youth, Atalya is expected to become a soldier. Unlike most, she questions the practices of her country’s military, and becomes determined to challenge this rite of passage. Despite her family’s political disagreements and personal concerns, she refuses military duty and is imprisoned for her dissent. Her courage moves those around her to reconsider their own political positions and power to effect change. OBJECTOR follows Atalya to prison and beyond, offering a unique window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of a young woman who seeks truth and takes a stand for justice.