THE DECLINE OF THE LEFT WING IN ISRAEL: YOSSI BEILIN AND THE POLITICS OF THE PEACE PROCESS

By: Avi Shilon

(I.B.Tauris, 2019, ISBN-9781838601126, 352 pages)

Yossi Beilin was a seminal figure during the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. As deputy foreign minister in the second Rabin government, he was responsible for leading the Oslo process, which was the most important attempt to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This book is the first to tell the story of the left wing and the peace process based on the private archive of Beilin himself. The thousands of documents – shared exclusively with the author - reveal a far more complete picture of Israel's political-diplomatic history in the late 20th century, and provide new information on key events. Avi Shilon offers a critiques of the 'liberal peace-building' project and analyses the connections between the Labour party's economic policy and foreign policy since the 1970s. This book is both a political biography of Beilin and a new history which recounts the diplomatic processes and social-political changes that occurred in Israel in the past four decades.

ISRAEL UNDER NETANYAHU: DOMESTIC POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY

Contributing Editor: Robert O. Freedman

(London and New York: Routledge 2020, Paperback ISBN 978-0-367-35876-1, 310 pages)

The scholars participating in this book are leading experts from both the United States and Israel and represent a broad spectrum of viewpoints  on Israeli domestic politics and foreign policy. The case studies in the book cover  Israel’s main political parties;  highlight the special position in Israel of Israel’s  Arab, Russian and religious communities,  evaluate  Netanyahu’s stewardship of the Israeli economy and analyze his response to terrorism.. The foreign policy   case studies cover Israel’s relations with the United States, the American Jewish Community, Russia, the Palestinians, the Arab World, China, India, Europe , Iran and Turkey.   Another  highlight of the book is an assessment of Netanyahu’s leadership of the Likud Party, which answers the question as to whether Netanyahu is a pragmatist interested in a peace deal with the Palestinians or an ideologue  who wants to hold on to the West Bank as well as all of Jerusalem.

 

ARAFAT AND ABBAS: PORTRAITS OF LEADERSHIP IN A STATE POSTPONED 

By: Menachem Klein

(Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN-10, 0190087587, ISBN-13: 978-0190087586; 256 pages)

This landmark volume presents vivid and intimate portraits of Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, revealing the impact these different personalities have had on the struggle for national self-determination. Arafat and Abbas lived in Palestine as young children. Uprooted by the 1948 war, they returned in 1994 to serve as the first and second presidents of the Palestinian Authority, the establishment of which has been the Palestine Liberation Organization's greatest step towards self-determination for the Palestinian nation. Both Arafat and Abbas were shaped by earlier careers in the PLO, and each adopted their own controversial leadership methods and decision-making styles.

Drawing on primary sources in Arabic, Hebrew and English, Klein gives special attention to the lesser known Abbas: his beliefs and his disagreements with Israeli and American counterparts. The book uncovers new details about Abbas' peace talks and US foreign policy towards Palestine, and analyses the political evolution of Hamas and Abbas' succession struggle. Klein also highlights the tension between the ageing leader and his society.

Arafat and Abbas offers a comprehensive and balanced account of the Palestinian Authority's achievements and failures over its twenty- five years of existence. What emerges is a Palestinian nationalism that refuses to disappear.

 

PALESTINE TO ISRAEL: MANDATE TO STATE, 1945-1948

By: Monty Noam Penkower

(Touro University Press, 2019; Vol 1. IBSN: 9781618118745, Vol. 2 ISBN: 9781618118776, Vol. 1 357 pages, Vol. 2 469 pages)

Seventy years after the creation of the State of Israel, Palestine to Israel: Mandate to State, 1945-1948 offers the definitive narrative of the achievement of Jewish sovereignty in the beleaguered Promised Land. Professor Monty Noam Penkower explores developments in Palestine and in the Arab states, including how the Palestine quagmire became a pawn in inter-Arab feuds; British and American responses both official and public; the role of Holocaust survivors; the context of the Cold War; and the saga as it unfolded in the corridors of the United Nations. Joining extensive archival research to a lucid prose, the two volumes offer a riveting conclusion to his Palestine in Turmoil and Decision on Palestine Deferred.

 

YIDDISH IN ISRAEL - A HISTORY

By: Rachel Rojanski

(Indiana University Press, 2020, Hardback ISBN: 978-0-253-04514-0, Paperback ISBN: 978-0-253-04515-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-253-04518-8, 338 pages)

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew.

Following Yiddish in Israel from the proclamation of the State until today, Rojanski reveals that although Israeli leadership made promoting Hebrew a high priority, it did not have a definite policy on Yiddish. The language's varying fortune through the years was shaped by social and political developments, and the cultural atmosphere in Israel. Public perception of the language and its culture, the rise of identity politics, and political and financial interests all played a part. Using a wide range of archival sources, newspapers, and Yiddish literature, Rojanski follows the Israeli Yiddish scene through the history of the Yiddish press, Yiddish theater, early Israeli Yiddish literature, and high Yiddish culture. With compassion, she explores the tensions during Israel's early years between Yiddish writers and activists and Israel's leaders, most of whom were themselves Eastern European Jews balancing their love of Yiddish with their desire to promote Hebrew. Finally Rojanski follows Yiddish into the 21st century, telling the story of the revived interest in Yiddish among Israeli-born children of Holocaust survivors as they return to the language of their parents.

 

READING ISRAEL, READING AMERICA: THE POLITICS OF TRANSLATION BETWEEN JEWS

By: Omri Asscher

(Stanford University Press, 2019, Cloth ISBN: 9781503610057, Paper ISBN: 9781503610934, Digital ISBN: 9781503610941, 256 pages)

American and Israeli Jews have historically clashed over the contours of Jewish identity, and their experience of modern Jewish life has been radically different. But what happens when the encounter between American and Israeli Jewishness takes place in literary form—when Jewish American novels make aliyah, or when Israeli novels are imported for consumption by the diaspora? Reading Israel, Reading America explores the politics of translation as it shapes the understandings and misunderstandings of Israeli literature in the United States and American Jewish literature in Israel. Engaging in close readings of translations of iconic novels by the likes of Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, and Yoram Kaniuk, Asscher decodes the ideological encounter between Israeli and American Jews.   

 

SECULARIZING THE SACRED: ASPECTS OF ISRAELI VISUAL CULTURE

By: Alec Mishory

(Brill, 2019, E-Book ISBN: 978-90-04-40527-1, Hardback ISBN: 978-90-04-40526-4, 407 pages)

As historical analyses of Diaspora Jewish visual culture blossom in quantity and sophistication, this book analyzes 19th-20th-century developments in Jewish Palestine and later the State of Israel. In the course of these approximately one hundred years, Zionist Israelis developed a visual corpus and artistic lexicon of Jewish-Israeli icons as an anchor for the emerging “civil religion.” Bridging internal tensions and even paradoxes, artists dynamically adopted, responded to, and adapted significant Diaspora influences for Jewish-Israeli purposes, as well as Jewish religious themes for secular goals, all in the name of creating a new state with its own paradoxes, simultaneously styled on the Enlightenment nation-state and Jewish peoplehood.

 

THE ISRAELI PEACE MOVEMENT: ANTI-OCCUPATION ACTIVISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS SINCE THE AL-AQSA INTIFADA (I.B.TAURIS)

By: Leonie Fleischmann

(Bloomsbury, 2019, ISBN  9781838600976 [Hardback], 9781838600990 [PDF eBook], 9781838600983 [EPUB eBook], 248 pages)

The Israeli peace movement has been in decline since the 2000s. In particular, the liberal Zionist groups, who call for peace for the sake of the security and continuity of Israel, have become paralysed and almost voiceless since the second Intifada. However, despite the stagnation around the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, this book argues that other important groups have emerged that present new ways to challenge the status quo. These are radical groups that act in solidarity with the Palestinians and human rights organisations and whose aim is to reveal the realities of the occupation and hold the government to account.

Leonie Fleishmann argues that these groups have been, and remain, the agenda setters, pushing the more moderate groups to mobilise more quickly and encouraging them to take up more confrontational ideas. Using social movements theory, and based on 50 interviews and participant observation, this book sheds light on contemporary Israeli peace activism.

 

PARADIGM LOST:  FROM TWO-STATE SOLUTION TO ONE-STATE REALITY 

By: Ian Lustick

(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019, ISBN 9780812251951, 232 pages)

Why have Israelis and Palestinians failed to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict that has cost so much and lasted so long? In his new book Ian Lustick brings fifty years as an analyst of the Arab-Israeli dispute to bear on this question. He offers a radical and provocative explanation of why continued attempts to divide the land will have no more success than would negotiations to establish a one-state solution.

Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs can enjoy the democracy they deserve but only after decades of struggle amid the unintended but powerful consequences of today’s one-state reality.

 

THE HASIDIC JEWS OF MONTREAL
By: Ira Robinson and Pierre Anctil

(University of Montreal press, 2019, ISBN: ISBN 9782760640740 [paper], ISBN 9782760640764 [eBook], ISBN 9782760640757 [PDF], 208 pages, in French).

Montréal is affected by a number of religious influences that continually assert themselves in the public square, and that raise fundamental issues of coexistence, tolerance, and the meeting of beliefs. This phenomenon is particularly striking when it comes to non-Christian communities, deemed fundamentalist by outsiders, that seek to preserve their traditional values. In most cases, interested observers and the media can only observe certain practices in these communities, without being able to globally understand their beliefs and fundamental motivations. This is particularly the case for Hasidic Jews who live in the central neighborhoods of Montréal, but for whom very little reliable information circulates within the community at large.

This book presents an unprecedented portrait of Montreal’s Hasidic population and its sub-communities, while addressing the controversial issue of the education of young Hasidim and the interpersonal tensions that arise recurrently in Hasidic neighborhoods. The book is also interested in the sustained, but not very visible, economic, social, and institutional impact of Hasidic Jews on their urban environment.

 
IS THE PARTY OVER? HOW ISRAEL LOST ITS SOCIAL AGENDA
By: Laura Wharton

(Yad Levi Eshkol, 2019, ISBN: 978-965-92664-7-0)

Ideology is a real force in modern politics; it is not something ethereal and detached from reality. This book, inspired by the call fora return to examine the role that ideas play in politics—as Michael Freeden, Mark Blyth, Daniel Beland, and others have advocated— builds on this basic assumption in discussing the ideology of Israel's Labor Party.

In the period 1965-77, Mapai and its successor, the Labor Party, maintained a clear ideological line on social matters, despite growing conflict within the party's apparatus and clashing policy demands. Contrary to various claims questioning the party's primary motives and ideological consistency, an evaluation of its social policy reveals that the party maintained clear goals and pursued them vigorously, in the face of massive demographic changes and unrelenting security pressures that drained the country's resources and demanded attention be directed elsewhere. As the party disintegrated from an organizational standpoint, it lost its ability to realize its own aims. Moreover, due to the growing tendency to focus on security and foreign affairs, and in part because social policies were pursued so persistently and over such a long period of time, the electorate lost interest in them. Thus, ironically, the period in which social policy was most developed prepared the way for its later curtailment—or, to paraphrase, socialism contained the seeds of its own destruction.

 
ZIONISM’S MARITIME REVOLUTION: THE YISHUV’S HOLD ON THE LAND OF ISRAEL’S SEA AND SHORES, 1917-1948
by: Kobi Cohen-Hattab

(Co-published by The Hebrew University Magnes Press and De Gruyter, 2019, ISBN-978-3-11-062963-7, 335 pages ) 

Research on Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel in the modern era has long neglected the sea and its shores. This book explores the Yishuv’s hold on the Mediterranean and other bodies of water during the British Mandate in Palestine and the Zionist “maritime revolution,” a shift from a focus on

land-based development to an embrace of the sea as a source of security, economic growth, clandestine immigration (HaApala), and national pride. The transformation is tracked in four spheres — ports, seamanship, fishery, and education — and viewed within the context of the Jewish/Arab conflict, internal Yishuv politics, and the Second World War. Archives, memoirs, press, and secondary sources all help illuminate the Zionist Movement’s road to maritime sovereignty. By the State of Israel’s founding in 1948, the Yishuv had a flourishing nautical presence: a national shipping company, control over the country’s three active ports, maritime athletics, fish farming, and a nautical training school.

 

HOLOCAUST MEMORIES: A SURVEY OF HOLOCAUST MEMOIRS, HISTORIES, NOVELS AND FILMS
By: Claudia Moscovici

(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, ISBN: 978-0-7618-7092-0 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-7618-7093-7 [eBook], 250 pages)

Nearly eighty years have passed since the Holocaust. There have been hundreds of memoirs, histories and novels written about it, yet many fear that this important event may fall into oblivion. As Holocaust survivors pass away, their legacy of suffering, tenacity and courage could be forgotten. It is up to each generation to commemorate the victims, preserve their life stories and hopefully help prevent such catastrophes. These were my main motivations in writing this book, Holocaust Memories, which includes reviews of memoirs, histories, biographies, novels and films about the Holocaust.  It was difficult to choose among the multitude of books on the subject that deserve our attention. I made my selections based partly on the works that are considered to be the most important on the subject; partly on wishing to offer some historical background about the Holocaust in different countries and regions that were occupied by or allied themselves with Nazi Germany, and partly on my personal preferences, interests and knowledge. The Nazis targeted European Jews as their main victims, so my book focuses primarily on them. At the same time, since the Nazis also targeted other groups they considered dangerous and inferior, I also review books about the sufferings of the Gypsies, the Poles and other groups that fell victim to the Nazi regimes. In the last part, I review books that discuss other genocides and crimes against humanity, including the Stalinist mass purges, the Cambodian massacres by the Pol Pot regime and the Rwandan genocide. I want to emphasize that history can, indeed, repeat itself, even if in different forms and contexts. Just as the Jews of Europe were not the only targets of genocide, Fascist regimes were not its only perpetrators.

 

SPOILERS AND COPING WITH SPOILERS:  ISRAELI-ARAB NEGOTIATIONS SPOILERS
Edited by Galia Golan and Gilead Sher

(Indiana University Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-0-253-04240-8)

The volume deals with various types of non-violent spoiling and spoilers in the Israeli-Arab conflict.  Contributions by authors from varied disciplines and experience examine spoiling inside the negotiating room itself, and the possibility of leaders as spoilers - whether intentionally or unintentionally, based on case studies of two Israeli leaders; diaspora spoilers – in the American Jewish diaspora; and the spoiling potential of the media as tested in an empirical study of Israeli media at various times during the Oslo peace process.  Further, the perhaps paradoxical role of the Israeli court system is addressed as the courts themselves, become agents of spoiling, even as they are called upon to cope with or prevent settler spoiling.  Finally, potential spoiler activity is examined through a social-psychological study of settler reactions in a test case of a peace agreement-dictated evacuation of settlements.  From this, policy conclusions may be drawn for dealing with the major spoiling potential – that of the settlers - in the case of a final peace agreement.  The unique features of the volume are not only the concentration on non-violent spoilers but also a comparative study of efforts to cope with spoilers and spoilers, providing a theoretical as well as empirical analysis for dealing with this phenomenon.

 

OVERCOMING INTRACTABLE CONFLICTS:  NEW APPROACHES TO CONSTRUCTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS
Edited by: Miriam F. Elman, Catherine Gerard, Galia Golan, and Louis Kriesberg

(Rowman & Littlefield International, 2019, Hardback IBSN: 9781786610720, Paperback ISBN: 9781786610737, eBook ISBN: 9781786610744, 272 pages)

Despite considerable progress in research and practice in the constructive transformation of intractable conflicts beginning in the 1970s, many destructive conflicts have recently erupted.  New circumstances have emerged that have resulted in regressions.  The contributions in this book examine many of the new challenging obstructions, but also many new opportunities for ways to transform intractable conflicts.  The book brings together analyses from many regions of the world and regarding different scales of conflicts.   The diversity in authors provides a wide range of theoretical approaches to explaining how intractable conflicts can be transformed.  The following factors are examined: systemic changes and changes in context, new actors, changing dynamics of actors and possible intervenors, new strategies and tactics.

 
ENCOUNTERS: HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN SPACE
Edited by: Dafna Hirsch

(The Jerusalem Van Leer Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, 2019, IBSN 7989650208660, 491 pages [in Hebrew])

Can the anthropological perspective shed new light on Zionist and Palestinian history, and particularly  on the reciprocal relationship between the two societies? What can a historical perspective contribute to the anthropology of Israeli and Palestinian societies and the practices of memory and history-telling that they espouse?

Encounters: History and Anthropology of the Israeli-Palestinian Space adopts a critical approach that emerges from the encounter between history, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. In contrast to "history from above," which has characterized much of the historiography of Israel and Palestine, the articles offer a view "from below" of various social spaces, including the seashore, a cooperative restaurant in Tel Aviv, the Lydda Ghetto, the Lakhish regional settlement project, house building in Deir Al-Assad, fish mongering at the Jaffa port, and urban history tours in Haifa. The volume also examines social practices of memory, including the forgetting of pre-1948 Palestinian urbanity, the representation of neighboring Arab villages in several Hashomer Hatza'ir kibbutzim , and history-telling by Bedouin women. Through a close investigation of these settings, the authors address wider questions in the study of local histories, societies and cultures, including the consolidation of the class and ethnic structure in Israel; the political economy of the military government; the social and cultural consequences of globalization and privatization; and the consolidation of historical narratives and models of knowledge. Our shared point of departure rejects "methodological nationalism" in favor of a shared space and entangled histories, in which processes of separation, distinction and "Othering" take place within a realty of contiguity, social relations and mutual shaping. The volume is the result of a research group of scholars at early stages of their academic career, which met under the auspices of the Jerusalem Van Leer Institute in 2011-2012.

 

RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN NON-SECULAR MIDDLE EASTERN AND NORTH AFRICAN STATES
By: Mark Tessler

(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, ISBN [eBook]: 978-3-030-19843-5, ISBN [Hardcover]: 978-3-030-19842-8)

This book describes and compares the circumstances and lived experiences of religious minorities in Tunisia, Morocco, and Israel in the 1970s, countries where the identity and mission of the state are strongly and explicitly tied to the religion of the majority. The politics and identity of Jews in Tunisia and Morocco and Arabs in Israel are, therefore, shaped to a substantial degree by their status as religious minorities in non-secular states. This collection, based on in-depth fieldwork carried out during an important moment in the history of each community, and of the region, considers the nature and implications of each group’s response to its circumstances.  It focuses on both the community and individual levels of analysis and draws, in part, on original public opinion surveys. It also compares the three communities in order to offer generalizable insights about ways the identity, political culture, and institutional character of a minority group are shaped by the broader political environment in which it resides. 

 
THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT: CONTESTED HISTORIES, 2ND EDITION
By: Neil Caplan

(Wiley-Blackwell, 2019, ISBN: 978-1-119-52387-1, 384 pages)

The Israel-Palestine Conflict introduces the historical basis of the dispute and explores the clash of narratives between the main protagonists, highlighting both the tangible issues and intangible factors that have blocked a peaceful resolution. Author Neil Caplan helps readers understand the complexities of the conflict and why the histories of Palestine and Israel are so fiercely contested. Now in its second edition, this book includes new discussions addressing recent debates over two-state versus one-state solutions, the growing polarization in public discourse outside of the Middle East and the regrettable trend of merging scholarship with advocacy. This clear and accessible volume offers a non-polemical approach to current academic discussions and political debates and identifies eleven core arguments that the author considers unwinnable. It encourages readers to go beyond simply assigning blame for missed opportunities and explores the major historiographical debates arising from the dispute. Already a standard text for courses on the history and politics of the Middle East, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories is an indispensable resource for students, scholars, and interested general readers.

 
TRANSFORMING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: FROM MUTUAL NEGATION TO RECONCILIATION
By: Herbert C. Kelman
Edited by: Philip Mattar & Neil Caplan

(Routledge, 2018, ISBN: 9781138047969, Hardback, 248 pages)

This book is a collection of essential essays on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by eminent social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman. For over forty years Kelman conducted interactive problem-solving workshops at Harvard University and elsewhere, engaging more than one hundred Israeli, Arab and Palestinian political activists, journalists and intellectuals in constructive dialogue. Spanning the years 1978 to 2017, the essays gathered here are still relevant today, and attest to the author’s broad empathy for Palestinians and Israelis and his passionate pursuit of a resolution of their conflict based on consistent principles that satisfy the essential psychological needs and minimum political interests of both. The selected essays are not only insightful academic papers, but also serve as snapshots-in-time of the ebb and flow of conflict and peace efforts as well as guideposts for future would-be negotiators and facilitators.

This volume will be of much interest to students of Middle Eastern politics, peace and conflict studies, and international relations, and will help would-be negotiators and mediators in practice. 

VICTIMHOOD DISCOURSE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAEL
Edited By: Ilan Peleg

(Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield), 2019, ISBN 978-1-4985-5350-6, hardback, 215 pages)

This interdisciplinary collection of articles deal comprehensively with different aspects of collective victimhood in contemporary Israel, but also with the wider implications of this important concept for many other societies, including the Palestinian one.  The nine highly diverse, scholarly chapters included in this volume offer analysis of the politics of victimhood (viewing it as increasingly dominant in contemporary Israel), assess victimhood as a focal point in Jewish history, traces the evolution of Zionist thought as it relates to a sense of Zionist victimhood, study the possibility of the political transformation of victimhood by focusing on several Israel prime ministers (Barak, Netanyahu, Peres, Rabin, Shamir, Sharon), dwell on important events that have contributed to the evolvement of the sense of victimhood in Israel and beyond,  examine victimhood within the Palestinian national movement, and offer creative ways of moving beyond national victimhood and toward better future for people of the Middle East and others.

While focusing on Israel, the volume is highly conceptual, theoretical and comparative in nature.  It emphasizes the universality of victimhood and particularly its prevalence in modern nationalist movements.   While the book sums up the state of the field in regard to collective victimhood, it invites the readers to engage in examining the far-reaching implications of this important concept for politics in general.

This set of articles—written by Ruth Amir, Yael Aronoff, Moshe Berent, Maya Kahanoff, Irit Keynan, Yechiel Klar, Itamar Lurie, Shafiq Masalha, Daniel Navon, Ilan Peleg, and Ido Zelkovitz—is likely to generate interest among scholars in many disciplines and be of interest for students on all levels.  It could be used in courses dealing with Israel, the Middle East and Jewish Studies, but also in comparative politics and international relations.

 
ARAB-PALESTINIAN SOCIETY IN THE ISRAELI POLITICAL SYSTEM: INTEGRATION VERSUS SEGREGATION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
By: Rami Zeedan

(Lexington Books, 2019, ISBN 978-1498553148, 166 pages)

The Arab-Palestinian community, which constitutes 20 percent of Israel’s population, is an ethnic minority living mainly in ethnically homogeneous cities and villages. Arab-Palestinian Society in the Israeli Political System offers a comprehensive, detailed examination of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel within the Green Line in the twenty-first century. Rami Zeedan analyzes political trends, leadership, and the effects on Arab-Palestinian identity in Israel of recent changes, especially the 2015 legislative elections. The author also sheds light on the crisis and identifies the sources and relations to the local political structure in Arab localities in Israel. The book discusses the implications of the integration of an ethnic minority in an ethnic state and on the definition of Israel as “Jewish and Democratic.”

 

OVERLOOKING THE BORDER: NARRATIVES OF DIVIDED JERUSALEM
By: Dana Hercbergs

(Wayne State University Press - Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology, Detroit, 2018, 336 pages)

Also available as an audio book.

Overlooking the Border examines the social and geographic significance of borders for Jerusalem residents’ sense of self, place, and community, and for representations of the city both locally and abroad. Anchoring this work is the border that separated Jerusalem between Jordan and Israel in 1948–1967, a lesser-known but significant period for cultural representations of the city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the book juxtaposes Israeli and Palestinian personal narratives about the past with contemporary museum exhibits, street plaques, tourism, and real estate projects that are reshaping the city since the decline of the peace process and the second intifada.

The book begins with the historically Arab neighborhoods of West Jerusalem, whose streets are a battleground for competing historical narratives about the Israeli-Arab War of 1948. It goes on to explore the connections and tensions between Mizrahi Jews and Palestinians living across the border from one another in Musrara, a neighborhood straddling West and East Jerusalem. The author rounds out the monograph with a semiotic analysis of contemporary tourism and architectural ventures that are entrenching ethno-national separation in the post-Oslo period. What emerges is a portrayal of Jerusalem both as a local place with unique rhythms and topography and as a setting for national imaginaries and agendas with their attendant political and social tensions.

 

THE SMILE OF THE HUMAN BOMB: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON SUICIDE TERRORISM
By: Gideon Aran

(Cornell University Press, 2018, ISBN13: 9781501724756, ISBN10: 1501724754, 376 pages)

In 2017, nearly six thousand people were killed in suicide attacks across the world.

In The Smile of the Human Bomb, Gideon Aran dissects the moral logic of the suicide terrorism that led to those deaths. The book is based on an extended study of the Palestinian terrorism in Israel conducted during the second Intifada in Jerusalem. It is a firsthand examination of the bomb site at the moment of the explosion, during the first few minutes after the explosion, and in the last moments before the explosion. Aran uncovers the suicide bomber’s final preparations before embarking on the suicide mission: the border crossing, the journey toward the designated target, penetration into the site, and the behavior of both sides within it. The book sheds light on the truth of the human bomb.

Aran’s gritty and often disturbing account is built on a foundation of participant observation with squads of pious Jewish volunteers who gather the scorched fragments of the dead after terrorist attacks; newly revealed documents, including interrogation protocols; interviews with Palestinian armed resistance members and retired Israeli counterterrorism agents; observations of failed suicide terrorists in jail; and conversations with the acquaintances of human bombs.

The Smile of the Human Bomb provides new insights on the Middle East conflict, Israeli culture, Jewish contemporary religiosity, Palestinian resistance, political violence, radicalism, victimhood, ritual, and death and unveils a suicide terrorism scene far different from what is conventionally pictured. By departing from the traditional political, military, economic, and theological analyses of suicide terrorism, Aran presents an intriguing and novel view of the this horrific enigmatic phenomenon.  In the end, Aran discovers, the suicide terrorist is an unremarkable figure, and the circumstances of his or her recruitment and operation are prosaic and often accidental. The smiling human bomb is neither larger than life nor a monster, but an actor on a human scale. And suicide terrorism is a drama in which clichés and chance events play their role.

 

PROSTITUTION, PORNOGRAPHY AND TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN: ISRAEL'S BLOOD MONEY
Edited by: Esther Hertzog and Erella Shadmi

(Routledge, 2019, ISBN: 9781138364585 [Hardback], 9780429431289 [eBook], 212 pages)

The book examines the sex industry in Israel, using feminist concepts to elaborate on the power of prostitution to shape a world in which women are objects for fulfilling men's desires. This collection examines prostitution, trafficking in women and pornography from divergent disciplinary angles, highlighting the interconnectedness of these three aspects of the sex trade. Showing these practices to be embedded in a capitalist and patriarchal oppressive context that is accommodated by State institutions, this volume rejects the arguments that unlike trafficking in women, it is possible to choose prostitution and that feminist pornography is possible. 

The unique contribution of the book is reflected through three main angles:

1. It is a wide-ranging collection of essays about prostitution and pornography authored by prominent radical Israeli feminists. It offers the most comprehensive outlook that exists so far about the feminist struggle against prostitution in Israel. The essays contained in the book offer divergent perspectives of the triple facet phenomena of the sex industry in Israel. The case studies on which many of the essays are based provide down-to-earth revealing accounts of the trade sex in Israel.

2. The anthology is the first comprehensive document of State mechanisms which preserve the prostitution as an institution in Israel. Politically structured, these mechanisms serve the State to supervise women's sexuality and the connections between sex and capital. They turned Israel into one of the main target countries of the trade in women from ex-Russia. The role of the courts and the parliament in determining the status of the pornography in Israel is originally illuminated through a legal analysis and a description of the feminist organizations' success in passing a law against porn on TV channels.

3. Differing from most publications on the sex trade, this collection signals the diversion of the discourse about prostitution from the woman in prostitution to the client. The conscience dissociation of the client, entrenched in the culture of consuming prostitution, enables the de-humanization of the prostitute. Hence, it is argued that if the normative client's conscience will be breached by cultural images against choosing to consume prostitution, the client will not be comfortable with his choices. This approach entails legal, cultural and psychological implications.  

  

HOW YOUNG HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS REBUILT THEIR LIVES, FRANCE, THE UNITED STATES, AND ISRAEL 
By: Françoise S. Ouzan

(Indiana University Press, 2018, series: Studies in Antisemitism; paperback, hardback (ISBN: 978-0-253-03313-0), ebook)

Drawing on testimonies, memoirs, and personal interviews of Holocaust survivors, Françoise S. Ouzan reveals how the experience of Nazi persecution impacted their personal reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reintegration into a free society. She sheds light on the life trajectories of various groups of Jews, including displaced persons, partisan fighters, hidden children, and refugees from Nazism. Ouzan shows that personal success is not only a unifying factor among these survivors but is part of an ethos that unified ideas of homeland, social justice, togetherness, and individual aspirations in the redemptive experience. Exploring how Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives after World War II, Ouzan tells the story of how they coped with adversity and psychic trauma to contribute to the culture and society of their country of residence.

 

TZIPI LIVNI – A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY
By: Ilan Ben Ami

(Steimatzky, 2019, in Hebrew, 374 pages)

Much has been written in recent years about the reasons for the poor representation of women in Israeli politics and about the obstacles on their way to high political positions. None of these seem to apply to former Mossad agent Tzipi Livni, who entered the political system only when she was in her late 30's. Widely considered as the most powerful woman in Israeli politics since Golda Meir, Tzipi Livni has served in eight different government positions and was the first woman to serve as Vice Prime Minister. She was a member of the security cabinet during three major military operations and over two different periods, was in charge of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Within a relatively short period after joining the political system, she became a realistic candidate for the office of Israel's Prime Minister, proving that a woman can definitely reach the highest political positions and deal with the most 'masculine' issues.

Ideologically speaking, Livni's way is also a unique one. Born to a right wing, revisionist family, at a very early stage in her career, she gave up on the idea of Greater Israel. She later became one of Israel's leading voices in support of the Two-State Solution as the only way "to ensure Israel's security and identity as a Jewish and democratic state", as she puts it.

So, what are the reasons for Livni's meteoric political rise and success? What made the daughter of the Irgun's chief operations officer – a member of Beitar youth movement and a prominent member of the Likud Party – to leave her political home and join a party whose ideology is completely opposite to her upbringing? To what degree is she still led by Ze'ev Jabotinsky's ideology? How difficult was it for Livni, as a woman, to make her way in the male-dominant world of Israeli politics? Did she bring any new (feminine) agenda to the Israeli political system? Were the moderate positions she expressed during the military operations she was part of affected by the fact that she is a woman? It is with these and other questions that this book deals with.      

 

PUBLISHED! VOLUME 31 (JUNE 2019)

IYUNIM: MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN ISRAEL AND MODERN JEWISH SOCIETY (HEBREW)      

Editors: Avi Bareli, Ofer Shiff  / Assistant Editor: Orna Miller  / Editorial Board: Avi Bareli, Avner Ben-Amos, Kimmy Caplan, Danny Gutwein, Menachem Hofnung, Paula Kabalo, Nissim Leon, Kobi Peled, Shalom Ratzabi, Ilana Rosen, Ofer Shiff.

Iyunim is a multidisciplinary research journal which holds two series: the semi-annual series and the thematic series, and contains articles in various fields that specialize in modern world Jewish society and Israeli society and state.
The articles address these issues from a variety of disciplines from all fields of humanities and social sciences.

Contents: Uri Cohen: Shneior Lifson and the Founding of the Open University, 1970-1976 / Oded Heilbronner: Moral Panic and the Consumption of Pornographic Literature in Israel in the 1960s / Danny Gutwein: The Chizbatron and the Transformation of the Palmach’s Pioneering Ethos, 1948-1950 / Yogev Elbaz: A Calculated Risk: Israel’s Intervention in Jordan’s Civil War, September 1970 / Nadav Fraenkel: The Etzion Bloc Settlements and the Yishuv’s Institutions in the War of Independence / Ada Gebel: Yitzhak Breuer and the Question of Sovereignty in the Land of Israel / Dotan Goren: The Hughes Land Affair in Transjordan / Liora Bing-Heidecker: Choreo-trauma: The Poetics of Loss in the Dance Works of Judith Arnon and of Rami Beer / Or Aleksandrowicz: The Façade of Building: Exposed Building Envelope Technologies in Modern Israeli Architecture / Michael Gluzman: David Grossman’s Writing of Bereavement.

The issue is available in the academic libraries, bookstores, and the distributor: 'Sifrut Achshav' 03-9229175

http://www.bgu.ac.il/iyunim  /  omiller@bgu.ac.il  /  08-6596940

Iyunim: Multidisciplinary Studies in Israeli and Modern Jewish Society will now be a full online journal, in addition to the hard copies. Each new issue will be uploaded to the site without delay. Issue 31, published in June 2019, is already available on the website:http://www.bgu.ac.il/iyunim.

 

SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF ISRAELI HISTORY 36 (2):  A RISING TIDE? MIXED FAMILIES IN ISRAEL
Guest Editor: Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fjih20/36/2?nav=tocList

 
TEACHING THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Edited by: Rachel Harris

(Wayne State University Press, 2019, IBSN 9780814346761 [Printed Paper Cased]; ISBN: 9780814346778 [Paperback]; ISBN: 9780814346785 [eBook], 468 pages)

The Arab-Israeli conflict has become a touchstone of international politics and a flash point on college campuses. And yet, how do faculty teach such a contentious topic in class? Taught not only in international relations, peace and conflict resolution, politics and history, and Israel and Middle Eastern studies courses but also in literature, sociology, urban planning, law, cinema, fine art, and business—the subject guarantees wide interest among students. Faculty are challenged to deal with the subject’s complexity and the sensitive dynamics it creates. The result is anxiety as they approach the task and a need for guidance. Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict edited by Rachel S. Harris is the first book designed to meet this need.

Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict brings together thirty-nine essays from experienced educators who reflect on the challenges of engaging students in college classrooms. Divided into seven sections, these personal essays cover a broad range of institutional and geographical settings, as well as a wide number of academic disciplines. Some of the topics include using graphic novels and memoirs to wrestle with the complexities of Israel/Palestine, the perils of misreading in the creative writing classroom as border crossing, teaching competing narratives through film, using food to teach the Arab-Israeli conflict, and teaching the subject in the community college classroom. Each essay includes suggestions for class activities, resources, and approaches to effective teaching. Whether planning a new course or searching for new teaching ideas, this collection is an indispensable compendium for anyone teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 

THE MAKING OF MODERN JEWISH IDENTITY: IDEOLOGICAL CHANGE AND RELIGIOUS CONVERSION
By: Motti Inbari

(Routledge, 2019, ISBN 9780367135959 [Hardcover], 172 pages) 

This volume explores the processes that led several modern Jewish leaders – rabbis, politicians, and intellectuals – to make radical changes to their ideology regarding Zionism, Socialism, and Orthodoxy. Comparing their ideological change to acts of conversion, the study examines the philosophical, sociological, and psychological path of the leaders’ transformation. The individuals examined are novelist Arthur Koestler, who transformed from a devout Communist to an anti-Communist crusader following the atrocities of the Stalin regime; Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine, who moved from the New Left to neoconservative, disillusioned by US liberal politics; Yissachar Shlomo Teichtel, who transformed from an ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist Hungarian rabbi to messianic Religious-Zionist due to the events of the Holocaust; Ruth Ben-David, who converted to Judaism after the Second World War in France because of her sympathy with Zionism, eventually becoming a radical anti-Israeli advocate; Haim Herman Cohn, Israeli Supreme Court justice, who grew up as a non-Zionist Orthodox Jew in Germany, later renouncing his belief in God due to the events of the Holocaust; and Avraham (Avrum) Burg, prominent centrist Israeli politician who served as the Speaker of the Knesset and head of the Jewish Agency, who later became a post-Zionist. Comparing aspects of modern politics to religion, the book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas including modern Jewish studies, sociology of religion, and political science.

 

MUSLIMS, JEWS AND JERUSALEM: AMBIVALENCE, DIALOGUE OR ARMAGEDDON
By: Moshe Ma'oz

(Hakibutz Hameuhad, Tel Aviv ,2019, in Hebrew, 278 pages)

The book discusses the ambivalent relations between Muslims and Jews since the 7th century in various countries, notably the Middle East, since the end of the 19th century. It highlights the issues of  East Jerusalem---Al-Quds Al-Sharif and the Temple Mount--Al-Haram-Al-Sharif in the Muslim-Jewish dispute, and the mutual radicalization of both sides since June 1967; which at the worst case scenario, can lead to a Muslim--Jewish Armageddon. 

FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY: MIGRANT LIVES AT ISRAEL’S MARGINS
By Sarah S. Willen

(University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming 2019, ISBN 9780812251340, 344 pages)

In Fighting for Dignity, Sarah S. Willen explores what happened when the Israeli government launched an aggressive deportation campaign targeting newly arrived migrants from countries as varied as Ghana and the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, and Ukraine. Although the campaign was billed as a solution to high unemployment, it had another goal as well: to promote an exclusionary vision of Israel as a Jewish state in which non-Jews have no place. The deportation campaign quickly devastated Tel Aviv's migrant communities and set the stage for even more aggressive antimigrant and antirefugee policies in the years to come. Fighting for Dignity traces the roots of this deportation campaign in Israeli history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and shows how policies that illegalize and criminalize migrants wreak havoc in their lives, endanger their health, and curtail the human capacity to flourish. Children born to migrant parents are especially vulnerable to developmental and psychosocial risks. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic engagement in homes and in churches, medical offices, advocacy organizations, and public spaces, Willen shows how migrants struggle to craft meaningful, flourishing lives despite the exclusions and vulnerabilities they endure. To complement their perspectives, she introduces Israeli activists who reject their government's exclusionary agenda and strive to build bridges across difference, repair violations of migrants' dignity, and resist policies that violate their own moral convictions. Willen's vivid and unflinching ethnography challenges us to reconsider our understandings of global migration, human rights, the Middle East— and even dignity itself.

 

DESERT IN THE PROMISED LAND 
By: Yael Zerubavel

(Stanford University Press, 2019, ISBN: 9781503606234 [Cloth], ISBN: 9781503607590 [Paper], ISBN: 9781503607606 [Digital], 368 pages)

At once an ecological phenomenon and a cultural construction, the desert has varied associations in Zionist and Israeli culture. Yael Zerubavel tells the story of the desert from the early twentieth century to the present, shedding light on romantic-mythical associations, settlement and security concerns, environmental sympathies, and the commodifying tourist gaze. Drawing on literary narratives, educational texts, newspaper articles, tourist materials, films, popular songs, posters, photographs, and cartoons, Zerubavel reveals the complexities and contradictions that mark Israeli society’s semiotics of space in relation to the Middle East, and the central role of the “besieged island” trope in Israeli culture and politics.

 
SHAPING A NATION: THE CULTURAL ORIGINS OF ZIONISM 1882-1948
By: Yitzhak Conforti

(Jerusalem, Israel: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 2019, in Hebrew. ISBN 978-965-217-427-7, 276 pages)

The central argument of Shaping a Nation is that Zionism must be understood not only from the political point of view, but also from a cultural perspective. To understand the growth of this movement and its success in establishing a modern nation-state, we must examine the way in which movement activists and leaders understood the reality of their lives, their past and their future. Zionism was formed as part of Jewish history and culture – it did not “invent a nation,” as some modernist researchers propose. On the other hand, the religious longing for Zion alone cannot explain the growth of modern Jewish nationalism. This book demonstrates that the set of values, myths and beliefs of Zionism were drawn from pre-modern Jewish culture. This culture often dictated the political agenda of Zionism, and the book examines its influence on the formation of the nation. Israeli society today is still occupied with the basic questions that engaged Zionism at its inception. What is the appropriate relationship between Zionism and the Jewish past? What is the ideal balance between the good of the Jewish people, and the Land of Israel? What is the proper character of Zionism: western or eastern, ethnic or civic? And what is the utopian vision of the future of the Jewish state? This book focuses on these questions and offers a fresh perspective on these issues. 

 

INTERNET DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: THE CASE OF ISRAEL
By: Carmit Wiesslitz

(Lexington Books, 2019, ISBN: 978-1-4985-3979-1 [eBook], ISBN: 978-1-4985-3978-4 [Hardback], 182 pages)

This book examines to what extent the democratic potential ascribed to the Internet is realized in practice, and how civil society organizations exploit the unique features of the Internet to attain their goals. This is the story of the organization members’ outlooks and impressions of digital platforms’ role as tools for social change; a story that debunks a common myth about the Internet and collective action. In a time when social media are credited with immense power in generating social change, this book serves as an important reminder that reality for activists and social change organizations is more complicated. Thus, the book sheds light on the back stage of social change organizations’ operations as they struggle to gain visibility in the infinite sea of civil groups competing for attention in the online public sphere. While many studies focus on the performative dimension of collective action (such as protests), this book highlights the challenges of these organizations’ mundane routines. Using a unique analytical perspective based on a structural-organizational approach, and a longitudinal study that utilizes a decade worth of data related to the specific case of Israel and its highly conflicted and turbulent society, the book makes a significant contribution to study of new media and to theories of Internet, democracy, and social change.

 

THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW®
By: Dov Waxman

(Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-0-19-062533-7, 288 Pages)

No conflict in the world has lasted as long, generated as many news headlines, or incited as much controversy as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet, despite, or perhaps because of, the degree of international attention it receives, the conflict is still widely misunderstood. While Israelis and Palestinians and their respective supporters trade accusations, many outside observers remain confused by the conflict’s complexity and perplexed by the passion it arouses. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers an even-handed and judicious guide to the world’s most intractable dispute. Covering the conflict from its nineteenth-century origins to the latest developments of the twenty-first century, this book explains the key events, examines the core issues, and presents the competing claims and narratives of both sides.

 
HEBREW FASCISM IN PALESTINE, 1922 – 1942
By Dan Tamïr

(London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018, ISBN 978-3-319-73678-5, xii + 201 pages)

The current discussion in Israel about rising fascist movements and organisations gained momentum during the past decade. Historically, since the early 1930s, the term 'fascist' was regularly used by Labour Zionists in order to defame their right-wing opponents, the 'Revisionists'; the latter group, for its part, tended to reject such accusations. Up to this point, however, little comprehensive research has been carried out for examining the possible existence of a genuine Hebrew fascism in Palestine according to a global comparative model of generic fascism. This book is an attempt to do so, examining the first wave of fascism in Palestine, from the early 1920s to the early 1940s. It argues that the social and political circles created by activists and intellectuals such as Itamar Ben Avi, Abba Ahimeir, Wolfgang von Weisl and Joshua Yevin indeed formed the basis for a genuine fascist movement. Telling the story of a yet relatively hidden part of the roots of the Israeli right wing may not only shed light on the past, but also provide us with a historical perspective when measuring contemporary political movements and events.

 
REMAKING HOLOCAUST MEMORY, A PIONEERING ANALYSIS OF THIRD-GENERATION HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARIES IN ISRAEL
By: Liat Steir-Livny

(Syracuse University Press, 2019, IBSN: 9780815636502 (Paper), IBSN: 9780815636328 [Hardcover], ISBN: 9780815654780 [eBook], 376 pages)

Since the late 1990s in Israel, third-generation Holocaust survivors have become the new custodians of cultural memory, and the documentary films they produce play a major role in shaping a societal consensus of commemoration.  Remaking Holocaust Memory, a pioneering analysis of third-generation Holocaust documentaries in Israel, investigates films that have been screened in Israel, Europe, and the United States, appeared in numerous international film festivals, and won international awards, but have yet to receive significant academic attention. The book shows how the “absolute truths” that appeared in the majority of second-generation films are deconstructed and disputed in the newer films, which do not dismiss their “cinematic parents’ ” approach but rather rethink fixed notions, extend the debates, and pose questions where previously there had been exclamation marks. 

 

MENACHEM BEGIN AND THE ISRAEL-EGYPT PEACE PROCESS:  BETWEEN IDEOLOGY AND POLITICAL REALISM
By: Gerald M. Steinberg and Ziv Rubinovitz

(Indiana University Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-0-253-03952-1, 280 pages)

Focusing on the character and personality of Menachem Begin, Gerald Steinberg and Ziv Rubinovitz offer a new look into the peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt in the 1970s. Begin's role as a peace negotiator has often been marginalized, but this sympathetic and critical portrait restores him to the center of the diplomatic process. Beginning with the events of 1967, Steinberg and Rubinovitz look at Begin's statements on foreign policy, including relations with Egypt, and his role as Prime Minister and chief signer of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. While Begin did not leave personal memoirs or diaries of the peace process, Steinberg and Rubinovitz have tapped into newly released Israeli archives and information housed at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and the Begin Heritage Center. The analysis illuminates the complexities that Menachem Begin faced in navigating between ideology and political realism in the negotiations towards a peace treaty that remains a unique diplomatic achievement.

 
MY STRUGGLE FOR PEACE: THE DIARY OF MOSHE SHARETT, 1953-1956
By: Neil Caplan and Yaakov Sharett (Eds.)
(Indiana University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0-253-04325-2, 3 vols. 1950 pages)

This remarkable political document offers insights into the complex workings of the young Israeli political system, set against the backdrop of the disintegration of the country’s fragile armistice with the Arab states. Replete with the diarist’s candid comments on Israel’s first generation leaders and world statesmen of the day, the diary also tells the dramatic human story of a political career cut short—the removal of an unusually sensitive, dedicated, and talented public servant. My Struggle for Peace is, above all, an intimate record of the decline of Moshe Sharett’s moderate approach and the rise of more "activist-militant" trends in Israeli society, culminating in the Suez/Sinai war of 1956. The diary challenges the popular narrative that Israel’s confrontation with its neighbors was unavoidable by offering daily evidence of Sharett’s statesmanship, moderation, diplomacy, and concern for Israel’s place in international affairs.

This long-awaited 3-volume English abridgement of Sharett’s Yoman Ishi [Personal diary] (Ma’ariv, 1978) maintains the integrity, flavor, and impact of the 8-volume Hebrew original and includes additional documentary material that was not accessible at the time.

 

INCLUSION THROUGH EXCLUSION: HOW YOUNG IMMIGRANT ISRAELIS IN THE NATIONALIST YISRA'EL BEITENU PARTY READ ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP
By: Anja Schmidt-Kleinert

(Bielefeld: transcript, in English, ISBN print: 978-3-8376-4559-0/ ISBN pdf open access: 978-3-8394-4559-4, 218 pages)

How do young people from immigrant families become engaged in politics? Anja Schmidt-Kleinert examines the case of young Israelis who are actively engaged with the nationalist Yisra'el Beitenu party, led by the Israeli minister of defence, Avigdor Lieberman. She explores how the activists present Israeli citizenship in a way that is exclusionary to non-Jewish citizens and analyses their strategy to actively construct a sense of belonging to Israeli society or, more precisely, to the Jewish collective by (re-)producing the ethno-nationalist discourse.

 

NIETZSCHE AND JEWISH POLITICAL THEOLOGY
By: David Ohana

(London, The United Kingdom: Routledge, 2019. In English, ISBN-13: 978-1138360105 ISBN-10: 1138360104, 304 pages)

Nietzsche and Jewish Political Theology is the first book to explore the impact of Friedrich Nietzsche’s work on the formation of Jewish political theology during the first half of the twentieth century. It maps the many ways in which early Jewish thinkers grappled with Nietzsche’s powerful ideas about politics, morality, and religion in the process of forging a new and modern Jewish culture. The book explores the stories of some of the most important Jewish thinkers who utilized Nietzsche’s writings in crafting the intellectual foundations of Jewish modern political theology. These figures’ political convictions ranged from orthodox conservatism to pacifist anarchism, and their attitude towards Nietzsche’s ideas varied from enthusiastic embrace to ambivalence and outright rejection. By bringing these diverse figures together, the book makes a convincing argument about Nietzsche’s importance for key figures of early Zionism and modern Jewish political thought.

 

THE INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF MODERNITY
By: David Ohana

(London, The United Kingdom: Routledge, 2019. In English, ISBN-13: 978-0815363125 ISBN-10: 0815363125, 239 pages)

The Intellectual Origins of Modernity explores the long and winding road of modernity from Rousseau to Foucault and its roots, which are not to be found in a desire for enlightenment or in the idea of progress but in the Promethean passion of Western humankind. Modernity is the Promethean passion, the passion of humans to be their own master, to use their insight to make a world different from the one that they found, and to liberate themselves from their immemorial chains. This passion created the political ideologies of the nineteenth century and made its imprint on the totalitarian regimes that arose in their wake in the twentieth.

 

BIRTHPANGS OF THE HOMELAND
By: David Ohana

(Ramat Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2019. In Hebrew, ISBN 978-965-226-533-3, 266 pages)

Birthpangs of the Homeland discusses the various interpretations of the concept of the nation in its land in the discourse of Hebrew and Israeli identity. The homeland is the original, primordial foundation of our lives, and it is the object of our deepest feelings, our hopes, fears, consolations. It is the source of life, but it sometimes leads one into a dark hole. The questions it poses are the fundamental questions of the great religions: the lust for life and the mystery of what is after, sacrifice and purification, self-denial and consolidation, where we come from, where we are going. The homeland transforms “I” into “us”, experience into memory, a territory into a land, and both into a nation. It is not surprising if modern nationalism, which made a transposition of many of the concepts of religion, sees the homeland as the cradle, the very beginning of the national collective.

 

THE CHAINS OF THE MESSIAH
By: David Ohana

(Jerusalem, Israel: Carmel Publishing House in assistance of The Ben-Gurion University, 2019. In Hebrew, ISBN 978-965-540-874-4, 238 pages)

The Chains of the Messiah is an intellectual voyage through the constantly changing profile of the Israeli society. By examining the different options that were raised through the decades for the identity of the Israeli society, the book sketches a mosaic of the different identities in Israel: The Levantine identity, the Mediterranean option, a state of all its citizens, and others. The chapters of this book reflect a life-long dialogue with historians, thinkers, and authors: Gershom Scholem, Jacob Talmon, Yehoshusha Arieli, Amos Oz, Jacqueline Kahanoff, Dahlia Ravikovitch, Boaz Evron, Yirmiyahu Yovel, David Grossman and others.

  

THE “LOST” GENERATION: YOUNG ARTISTS IN 1980S ISRAELI ART
By: Yael Guilat 

(The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism Press, 2019, ISBN 124600100097, in Hebrew, 352 pages)

This book draws a multifaceted portrait of a young generation of artists whose doings in the 1980s set a change in the Israeli art scene into motion. These children of the 1950s were second-generation survivors of the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel, and mass Jewish immigration from European and Arab countries and their distinctive tracks of reception and discrimination. Among Palestinians, they are the first generation after the Nakba. Their generational narratives took shape in the shadow of events that were experienced through their formative stages as collective traumas. This generation is not the hero of the book. It’s the opposite, an antihero in the Israeli art scene. Its story is the story of the watershed that Israel’s society and culture traversed. It is a generation that was forced to deconstruct myths, shatter paradigms, and learn to walk all by itself; a generation whose women young artists operated in an aggressive male arena that compelled both of them, male and female creators (and curators), to dismiss the gender discourse, the feminist discourse and, more generally, the very mention of women as women-artists; a generation accused of “reactionism” in comparison with the modernistic 1970s generation and of lack of sophistication relative to the post-conceptualism of the 1990s generation. It may have been in the wake of all these “failures” that this generation managed to produce a story of passion and exuberance, both of which foreign to the Israeli cultural and artistic canon that had preceded it. 

 
ARABS AND JEWS IN OTTOMAN PALESTINE: TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
By: Alan Dowty

(Indiana University Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-0-253-03865-4)

When did the Arab-Israeli conflict begin? Some discussions focus on the 1967 war, some go back to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and others look to the beginning of the British Mandate in 1922. Alan Dowty, however, traces the earliest roots of the conflict to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, arguing that this historical approach highlights constant clashes between religious and ethnic groups in Palestine. He demonstrates that existing Arab residents viewed new Jewish settlers as European and shares evidence of overwhelming hostility to foreigners from European lands. He shows that Jewish settlers had tremendous incentive to minimize all obstacles to settlement, including the inconvenient hostility of the existing population. Dowty's thorough research reveals how events that occurred over 125 years ago shaped the implacable conflict that dominates the Middle East today.

 

THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE READER
By: Alan Dowty

(Polity, 2019, ISBN: 9781509527342, 304 pages)

Introduction to any complex international conflict is enriched when the voices of the adversaries are heard. The Israel/Palestine Reader is an innovative collection, focused on the human dimension of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian confrontation. Its vivid and illuminating readings present the voices of the diverse parties through personal testimonies and analyses. Key leaders, literary figures, prominent analysts, and simply close observers of different phases of this protracted conflict are all represented—in their own words. 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 firsthand narratives brought together in this Reader bring the conflict to life as seen by those closest to it. Though structured to complement Alan Dowty’s introductory text Israel/ Palestine (4th edition, Polity 2017), this Reader also stands on its own as a survey of “voices” in the conflict. Each of the ten chapters is framed by an editorial introduction that sets the pieces in context. By juxtaposing contrasting view-points both between and within the opposed parties, these pieces underline the drama of the conflict, while final judgment is left to the reader. This lively volume will add color and texture to any study of Arab–Israeli issues or of the Middle East generally.

 

ORIENTALISM, ZIONISM AND ACADEMIC PRACTICE: MIDDLE EAST AND ISLAM STUDIES IN ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES
By: Eyal Clyne

(Routledge 2019, ISBN 9781138578654 hardcover 9780367246587, 268 pages)

Orientalism, Zionism and Academic Practice explores the field of Israeli Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) sociologically and politically, as a window onto the relationship between Orientalism, Zionism and academia. The book draws special attention to neoliberal discourse and praxis in everyday higher education, the interests of scholars, and the political form that commercialisation takes in specific disciplinary and geopolitical conditions by deconstructing structural and historical presuppositions and effective ideologies that overdetermine this junction of academia, orientalism and Zionism. The multi-layered study draws on various scholarly traditions and offers new evidence for, and insights in, historical and cultural-discursive discussions. It highlights paradigmatic gaps in reading Saidian orientalism, re-evaluates the origins and evolution of the local field, contributes to the study of everyday academic culture in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), and unveils the presupposed and the unsaid of the general and the specific field, exploring the intersection of an orientalist expertise, in a settler-colonial society, and everyday academic capitalism. The expertise of this sociological and discursive study make it an invaluable resource for academics and students interested in Israel and Middle East studies, Higher Education and the Sociology of Academia.

 

ISRAEL'S LONG WAR WITH HEZBOLLAH: MILITARY INNOVATION AND ADAPTATION UNDER FIRE
By: Raphael D. Marcus

(Georgetown University Press, 2018. ISBN: 9781626166110. 320 pages)

The new book Israel's Long War with Hezbollah is the first complete military history of the decades-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict and an analysis of military innovation and adaptation. Raphael D. Marcus examines the conflict since the formation of Hezbollah during Israel's occupation of Lebanon in the early 1980s. He critically evaluates events including Israel's long counterguerrilla campaign throughout the 1990s, the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, the 2006 summer war, and concludes with an assessment of current tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon related to the Syrian civil war. The book is based on unique fieldwork in Israel and Lebanon, extensive research into Hebrew and Arabic primary sources, and dozens of interviews conducted with Israeli defense officials, high-ranking military officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), United Nations personnel, a Hezbollah official, and Western diplomats. As an expert on organizational learning, Marcus analyzes ongoing processes of strategic and operational innovation and adaptation by both the IDF and Hezbollah throughout the long guerrilla conflict. His conclusions illuminate the dynamics of the ongoing conflict and illustrate the complexity of military adaptation under fire.

 

CHINA AND ISRAEL : CHINESE, JEWS; BEIJING, JERUSALEM (1890-2018)
By; Aron Shai

(Academic Studies Press, 2019, ISBN13 9781618118967, 270 Pages)

In the fascinating story of Israel-China relations, unique history and culture intertwine with complex diplomacy and global business ventures—some of which have reached impressive success. China and Israel is a living collage that addresses these issues from a point of view that combines the professional and the personal. This book paints a broad picture of China-Israel relations from an historical and political perspective and from the Jewish and Israeli angle. To tell this story, Shai relies on rare documents, archival materials and interviews with individuals who were active in forming the relationship between these two states. He profiles Morris Cohen who, according to some, served as Sun Yat-sen’s personal advisor; gynecologist Dr. Ya’akov Rosenfeld, who rose to the rank of general in the Chinese Red Army and ended his career as a family physician in Tel Aviv; and international business magnate Shaul Eisenberg, otherwise known as “the king of China,” who executed the first Sino-Israeli military contacts. Shai also covers the attempts of major Israeli companies and business people to enter China, and describes the opportunities and risks involved when China purchases companies that are part of Israel’s national infrastructure.

 

TRIADIC COERCION: ISRAEL’S TARGETING OF STATES THAT HOST NONSTATE ACTORS
By: Wendy Pearlman and Boaz Atzili 

(Columbia University Press, 2019, IBSN: 9780231171854, 384 pages)

In the post–Cold War era, states increasingly find themselves in conflicts with nonstate actors. Finding it difficult to fight these opponents directly, many governments instead target states that harbor or aid nonstate actors, using threats and punishment to coerce host states into stopping those groups. Wendy Pearlman and Boaz Atzili investigate this strategy, which they term triadic coercion. They explain why states pursue triadic coercion, evaluate the conditions under which it succeeds, and demonstrate their arguments across seventy years of Israeli history. This rich analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict, supplemented with insights from India and Turkey, yields surprising findings. Traditional discussions of interstate conflict assume that the greater a state’s power compared to its opponent, the more successful its coercion. Turning that logic on its head, Pearlman and Atzili show that this strategy can be more effective against a strong host state than a weak one because host regimes need internal cohesion and institutional capacity to move against nonstate actors. If triadic coercion is thus likely to fail against weak regimes, why do states nevertheless employ it against them? Pearlman and Atzili’s investigation of Israeli decision-making points to the role of strategic culture. A state’s system of beliefs, values, and institutionalized practices can encourage coercion as a necessary response, even when that policy is prone to backfire.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE JEZREEL VALLEY- MARJ IBN ‘AMAR IN THE LATE OTTOMAN PERIOD
By: Emir Galilee and Ruth Kark

(Israel Academic Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-1-885881-70-0, 223 pages, Hebrew/English)  

This volume examines the transformations regarding land, nomadism, and settlement in the Jezreel Valley—Marj Ibn ‘Amar. This change came about as the result of long-term processes that took place in the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, and Palestine from the mid-19th century onward. Geographical and historical developments in the Jezreel Valley occurred following changes in Ottoman land laws in the period leading up to World War I. The study draws on research carried out over many years, based on documents, maps, and sketches, some of which appear for the first time in English. It looks at the situation of the Bedouins, Muslim and Christian effendis, fellahin and tenant farmers, Christian missionaries, the early German Templer attempts to settle in the Valley, and plans for Jewish settlement that preceded the extensive Jewish settlement in the early 20th century.

 
THE RELIGIONIZATION OF ISRAELI SOCIETY
By: Yoav Peled and Horit Herman Peled

(Routledge 2019, ISBN: 9781138954793, 238 Pages)

During Israel's military operation in Gaza in the summer of 2014 the commanding officer of the Givati infantry brigade, Colonel Ofer Vinter, called upon his troops to fight "the terrorists who defame the God of Israel." This unprecedented call for religious war by a senior IDF commander caused an uproar, but it was just one symptom of a profound process of religionization, or de-secularization, that Israeli society has been going through since the turn of the twenty-first century. This book analyzes and explains, for the first time, the reasons for the religionization of Israeli society, a process known in Hebrew as hadata. Jewish religion, inseparable from Jewish nationality, was embedded in Zionism from its inception in the nineteenth century, but was subdued to a certain extent in favor of the national aspect in the interest of building a modern nation-state. Hadata has its origins in the 1967 war, has been accelerating since 2000, and is manifested in a number of key social fields: the military, the educational system, the media of mass communications, the teshuvah movement, the movement for Jewish renewal, and religious feminism. A major chapter of the book is devoted to the religionization of the visual fine arts field, a topic that has been largely neglected by previous researchers. Through careful examination of religionization, this book sheds light on a major development in Israeli society, which will additionally inform our understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As such, it is a key resource for students and scholars of Israel Studies, and those interested in the relations between religion, culture, politics and nationalism, secularization and new social movements.

 

TENURE-TRACK POSITION IN THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL & POLICY STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY 

The School of Social and Policy Studies ]SSPS] at Tel Aviv University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position to commence on October 1 2020. Applications are open in all fields of Sociology and Anthropology.

SSPS resides within the Faculty of Social Sciences. It is composed of four departments: Communication, Labor Studies, Sociology and Anthropology and Public Policy. It combines research and teaching in a wide range of fields concerned with social sciences. It has a strong commitment to multidisciplinary research and teaching, and provides opportunities for interactions with many departments and research units on and off campus. It has a rich tradition of high-level, internationally recognized research and teaching.

The position offered is at the rank of Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, contingent on budgetary approval. The candidate must have a PhD degree or expect to be awarded a doctoral degree by May 2020, in Sociology, Socio- Cultural Anthropology, or related fields, with excellent proven research and publication record.

The position includes full-time teaching at introductory level courses (classes at Tel Aviv University are taught in Hebrew), supervision of MA and PhD students, and pursuing high- quality research based on grants received from competitive local and international foundations.

Please submit:

1. A letter describing current and future research plans as well as teaching interests.

2. A CV and list of Publications.

3. Samples of publications (books and articles).

4. Teaching evaluations (if applicable).

5. Three letters of recommendation, addressed to Prof. Hadas Mandel, Chair, Dept. of 
Sociology and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University. The letters should be sent by the 
recommenders directly to jobtausoc@post.tau.ac.il no later than December 1st, 2019.

6. Completed applications (items 1-4 by candidates, item 5 by recommenders) should be submitted by email only (pdf files), to jobtausoc@post.tau.ac.il no later than December 1st, 2019. 


 

FACULTY POSITION AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

The Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern University invites applications for a faculty position in the field of Israel Studies, to begin September 1, 2020. The appointment will be at the rank of tenure-track assistant professor or tenured associate or full professor in accordance with the candidate’s qualifications.

The search committee will consider applicants whose work focuses on modern Israel (including late Ottoman or mandatory Palestine) from disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, including but not limited to History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Art History, Communication Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Religious Studies. Final departmental affiliations will depend upon the expertise and qualifications of the candidate.

Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or its equivalent in their field by the time of appointment, and will be expected to teach a varied range of undergraduate and graduate courses. Northwestern's base teaching load is four courses spread between three academic quarters.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and article or chapter length writing sample at https://www.jewish-studies.northwestern.edu/people/faculty-search/.  Applicants at the level of assistant professor must also provide contact information for three academic references, who will be prompted to submit letters of recommendation once the application is submitted; applicants at the rank of associate or full professor may be asked to provide letters of recommendation at a later stage of the selection process.

Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2019. Questions about the position may be directed to David Shyovitz, Director of the Crown Family Center, at davidshy@northwestern.edu; logistical questions about the application process should be directed to Nancy Gelman, Center Administrator, at jewish-studies@northwestern.edu.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.

  

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA:  TENURE FACULTY POSITION

The Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida invites applicants for a tenure accruing faculty position at the assistant or associate professor level in the field of Israel Studies to begin August 16, 2020. The position is open to Israel specialists in any discipline in the social sciences and the humanities. Ph.D. required by start date. A successful candidate must have an active research agenda; teaching must integrate the study of Israel into the needs of the Center and the relevant departmental tenure home; service requirements include a commitment to developing the Jewish Studies major and related certificate programs. The successful candidate will also help promote Israel studies within the community and further develop the Center’s links with Israel.

The University of Florida is ranked among the top ten public universities in the US. The University has excellent research facilities, and the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica is considered one of the top Judaica research collections in the US. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is currently undergoing a significant expansion of faculty. All new hires are expected to enhance the national visibility of the academic units in which they are housed.

The Center is committed to creating an environment that affirms diversity across a variety of dimensions, including ethnicity/race, gender identity and expression. We particularly welcome applicants who can contribute to such an environment through their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and professional service. The university and greater Gainesville communities enjoy a diversity of cultural events, restaurants, year-round outdoor recreational activity, and social opportunities.

For full consideration, applications must be submitted through Careers at UF at http://apply.interfolio.com/57981 and must include: a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a statement about ongoing research and teaching directions, a writing sample, and three confidential letters of recommendation. The review of applicants begins on September 20, 2019, for an August 16, 2020 appointment, and the position will remain open until filled.

All candidates for employment are subject to a pre-employment screening which includes a review of criminal records, reference checks, and verification of education.

The selected candidate will be required to provide an official transcript to the hiring department upon hire. A transcript will not be considered “official” if a designation of “Issued to Student” is visible. Degrees earned from an educational institution outside of the United States require evaluation by a professional credentialing service provider approved by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), which can be found at http://www.naces.org/.

The University of Florida is an equal opportunity institution dedicated to building a broadly diverse and inclusive faculty and staff. The selection process will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Florida’s Government in the Sunshine and Public Records Laws. If an accommodation due to disability is needed to apply for this position, please call (352) 392-2477 or the Florida Relay System at (800) 955-8771 (TDD).

Advertised Salary: The salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience, and includes a full benefits package.

Minimum Requirements: A Ph.D. is required

 

TENURE-TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

History, Society, and Culture of Modern Israel

Emory University
Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies

The Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies (MESAS) and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies (TIJS) at Emory University, Atlanta, GA invite applications for the position of tenure-track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor in the area of History, Society, and Culture of Modern Israel, to begin Fall 2020. Applicants must have Ph.D. in hand by August 1, 2020 and should have excellent relevant language skills. Disciplinary focus is open, and the chronological parameters of the position are defined broadly to encompass both the pre- and post-1948 eras. Applicants should be able to teach survey courses in both Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Studies as well as more specialized courses in their area of expertise. The successful applicant will demonstrate an excellent record in scholarship and an ability to teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students. The candidate will be expected to participate actively in the life of both the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, and to take the lead in organizing an annual series of public scholarship events (lectures, seminars, occasional conferences) on topics related to modern Israel, for which support will be provided.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, two sample course syllabi, a writing sample, and a statement in which the candidate reflects upon his or her experience and vision regarding the teaching and mentorship of students from diverse backgrounds. Candidates should request three recommenders to submit letters on their behalf. All application materials should be submitted via Interfolio: apply.interfolio.com/65682

We will start reviewing applications October 11, 2019 and continue until the position is filled. Applications received up to 30 days after review begins will be given full consideration.

Emory University is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

 

ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ISRAEL STUDIES AND JEWISH STUDIES

The Pennsylvania State University Jewish Studies Program invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Israel Studies and Jewish Studies. Research focus and teaching interests are open, but applicants should have expertise in Israel Studies, Israel-Diaspora relations, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Middle East studies. The successful candidate will teach undergraduate courses at all levels in the history and cultures of Israel, in global Jewish communities, and (preferably) in American Jewish history, and they will also be able to teach broad survey courses in Jewish history and the foundation Jewish studies course. Applicants should be able to enhance the interdisciplinary strengths of the Jewish Studies Program, demonstrate an active research agenda, and contribute immediately to the undergraduate missions of the Jewish Studies Program and the College of the Liberal Arts; competitive candidates will have at least three years of undergraduate teaching experience. In addition, we expect the candidate to contribute to a developing Jewish Studies graduate program and an emerging Middle East Studies Program. The appointment will be held in the Jewish Studies Program, but we also welcome candidates who could be cross-appointed in a disciplinary field. The position will begin preferably in August 2020. Normal teaching load is 2-2. Ph.D. in a relevant field of study is required at the time of appointment. Candidates should submit a curriculum vitae, a letter of application, a one-page description of current and future research, and one to three articles and/or book chapters. Additionally, please arrange to have three letters of reference sent to Keshia Kennelley (mailto:kak43@psu.edu). Application review will begin September 15, 2019, but dossiers will be accepted until the position is filled. Questions may be directed to Ms. Kennelley for forwarding to the appropriate faculty member.

Apply online at https://apptrkr.com/1468302

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS: For more about safety at Penn State, and to review the Annual Security Report which contains information about crime statistics and other safety and security matters, please go to http://www.police.psu.edu/clery/, which will also provide you with detail on how to request a hard copy of the Annual Security Report.

Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

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SCHUSTERMAN CENTER FOR ISRAEL STUDIES | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY FELLOWSHIP: THE SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR ISRAEL STUDIES 

June 10–21, 2020 at Brandeis and June 22–July 1, 2020 in Israel

Apply now for this competitive fellowship. Created to address the need for serious and nuanced study of Israel in the academy, the Summer Institute for Israel Studies is a rigorous program that equips faculty members to develop and teach courses about modern Israel in any discipline. Stipend of up to $2,500, plus group travel, accommodations and most meals provided. 

·         ENGAGE with world-class faculty from Israel and the U.S. in a two-week multidisciplinary Brandeis seminar.

·         MEET with leading personalities in public life, the academy and the arts on a 10-day Israel study tour.

·         EXPLORE the complexity of Israeli society, politics and culture.

·         DEVELOP or revise a syllabus to teach at your home institution.

·         JOIN a network of over 335 alumni — teaching at over 200 institutions — supported by a wealth of pedagogical resources and ongoing professional development.

Faculty teaching outside of Israel are eligible for the program. 

Apply online by January 31, 2020. Learn more at www.brandeis.edu/israel-center/siis/index.html. 

If this opportunity is not a fit for you, we invite you to nominate a colleague and to share the fellowship information with faculty members who might benefit from the program.

 

DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN ISRAEL STUDIES AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

Full and partial fellowships supporting doctoral students whose research focuses on Israel. Candidates must be accepted into Brandeis University graduate school programs of Anthropology, History, Literature, Middle East Studies, Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Politics or Sociology. Competitive living stipend with generous health care benefits. Renewable for up to five years. Deadlines vary by department. Learn more at www.brandeis.edu/israel-center/resources/grants-fellowships/graduate-students.html.

 

RESEARCH AWARD FOR M.A. THESES IN HOLOCAUST STUDIES

The Dvora and Michael Goldhirsh Foundation at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism is offering a NIS 4,000 research award for M.A. theses in Holocaust Studies. The award will be granted for M.A. theses in the Humanities and Social Sciences that were submitted for review not earlier than January 2018.

Eligible theses must be related to one of the following research spheres:

• Central events and issues during the Holocaust;
• Reflections of the Holocaust in the socio-intellectual life of Israel and the Jewish diaspora;
• Holocaust memory and commemoration in Israel and around the world.

Submissions must include the following documents:

• Two hard copies of the M.A. thesis, as well as a PDF file, sent by email to bgi@bgu.ac.il

• Approval of submission by the relevant university department
• Two letters of recommendation written by researchers\lecturers who advised the candidate
• Recommendations should be sent separately and directly to the committee administrator at the address below

The award and certificates of appreciation will be granted in a ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, BGU Sede-Boqer Campus, with the attendance of the Goldhirsh family.

Theses must be submitted by Friday, January 31, 2020 to Ms. Hagar Swissa, Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Sede-Boqer Campus, 8499000.

Tel: 08-6596936; bgi@bgu.ac.il

 

THE MORRIS AND BESSIE EMANUEL PHD SCHOLARSHIP IN MODERN JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE

Summary of award

A fully-funded PhD studentship in The Weidenfeld Institute/Centre for German- Jewish Studies, University of Sussex in the field of Jewish and Israel studies.

Overview

We are pleased to offer funding for a three-year ‘Morris and Bessie Emanuel’ PhD. This is for an outstanding doctoral candidate wishing to pursue a research project in the field of Jewish and Israel studies. Highly motivated current and prospective graduates with an outstanding academic record and a strong interest in the relevant topics are encouraged to apply.

The Centre for German-Jewish Studies at the University of Sussex is one of the few research institutions devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the history and culture of Jews in German-speaking lands since the Enlightenment. Building on the Centre’s success over the past 25 years, we are in the process of developing an exciting new institute, which will expand our focus significantly. The vision of the Sussex Weidenfeld Institute is to become a leading intellectual hub for the interdisciplinary study and public discussion of the Jewish experience and how it relates to the key challenges of our time.

The successful PhD candidate will be joining a vibrant PhD community at the Institute and the School of History, Art History and Philosophy. The Institute’s graduate students are expected to participate in the research activities of the institute including lectures, international conferences and other events.

Deadline

15.12.2019

Amount

The scholarship covers UK/EU or international fees and provides a stipend that matches that provided for UK doctoral students by the UK Research Council.

Eligibility

The recipient of this scholarship will be enrolled in the doctoral programme in the School of History, Art History and Philosophy at the University of Sussex. All applications should be submitted through the Sussex University postgraduate website. Please indicate on your application that you wish to be considered for the ‘The Morris and Bessie Emanuel PhD scholarship.’ Further information on application procedures can be found at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/applying/2016entry

How to apply

Applicants must apply online for a PhD at Sussex. With your application please include:

– Research proposal (2500 words)
– CV
– Statement of purpose (500 words)
– Copy of MA diploma
– Two letters of recommendation

Contact us

For an informal discussion to find out more about the scholarships, please contact Gideon Reuveni via email at g.reuveni@sussex.ac.uk.

Questions regarding the submission or status of your application can be directed to Paige Thompson at Paige.Thompson@sussex.ac.uk.

 

FULBRIGHT POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS TO ISRAEL IN 2020-2021

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program seeks applicants for several prestigious postdoctoral fellowships in Israel during the 2020-2021 academic year. These opportunities are open to researchers in all academic disciplines and support projects for up to 20 months. Awardees will receive $95,000 ($47,500 per academic year for two years).

Opportunities include:

• All Disciplines Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Haifa
  
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Weizmann Institute for Science
  
• Fulbright-Israel Institute Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Modern Israel Studies
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

To be eligible, candidates must have received their Ph.D. degrees no earlier than August 2015. Current Ph.D. candidates who expect to complete their degrees before fall 2020 are welcome to apply. Candidates who have already begun postdoctoral work in Israel are ineligible.

For detailed application guidelines and review criteria, please visit our website. Applicants are encouraged to contact middleeastnorthafrica@iie.org with their questions.

Please feel free to share this message to any outstanding graduate students you have worked with, or to recommend someone via our online referral system.

Middle East & North Africa Team
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
Institute of International Education
1400 K Street NW, Suite 700 • Washington, DC 20005
middleeastnorthafrica@iie.org
IIE • The Power of International Education

 

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR GRANTS TO ISRAEL IN 2020-21

The 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program competition is now open! A complete list of opportunities can be found in our Catalog of Awards. Awards to Israel include:

Postdoctoral Fellowships: open to researchers in all academic disciplines; supports grants of 1-2 academic years (up to 20 months). Candidates must have received their PhD (or other terminal degree) no earlier than August 2015. Please share this message with outstanding graduate students or recommend someone via our online referral system.

• All Disciplines Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Haifa
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Weizmann Institute for Science
  
• Fulbright-Israel Institute Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Modern Israel Studies
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
   

Senior Scholar Fellowships: open to senior faculty members, professionals, and accomplished artists or writers in all fields; supports grants of four months. Assistant professor or higher academic rank (or equivalent professional standing) is required. Proposed activities may include research, lecturing, or a combination of both.

• All Disciplines Senior Scholar Fellowship
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship at Ben Gurion University
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship at Hebrew University
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship at Tel Aviv University
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship at University of Haifa
   

Middle East and North Africa Regional Research Program: designed for research that is comparative in scope or based on data collected in several countries; supports grants of 3-9 months (Flex option also available). Projects must be conducted in 2-3 MENA countries. Eligible hosts include: Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories (West Bank), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Applicants are encouraged to attend our “Spotlight on Israel” webinar April 25th, which details the range of awards available to teach and conduct research in Israel in 2020-21. The session will be co-hosted by Kaitlin Jewett, Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Outreach Officer, and Noa Turgeman, United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF) Program Officer. Please register here.

For eligibility factors, detailed application guidelines and review criteria, please visit our website. Applicants are also encouraged to contact Kaitlin Jewett at middleeastnorthafrica@iie.org with any questions related to awards in the MENA region. 

 

FULBRIGHT POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

The United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF) plans to award eight fellowships to American postdoctoral scholars who seek to pursue research at Israeli institutions of higher education. The grants, which will commence during the 2019-20 academic year, are open to researchers in all academic disciplines and support programs of work in Israel for up to 20 months (two academic years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021).

A letter of invitation from an accredited Israeli institution of higher education is required at the time of application. For the complete list of such institutions, click here. Each candidate should try to arrange his/her institutional affiliations in Israel independently, including development of the program of work for the proposed visit through contacts with possible host institutions. 

According to USIEF policy, Fulbright postdoctoral fellows must hold official postdoctoral fellow status at their host institutions in Israel, including access to campus resources. Additionally, host institutions will be asked to provide Fulbright postdoctoral fellows a grant no smaller than their own standard institutional postdoctoral award, a description of which should be included in the letter of invitation submitted with the Fulbright application.

Please contact Noa Turgeman  at USIEF at NoaT@fulbright.org.il with any questions related to the financial contribution required by host institutions, or for assistance with identifying suitable host institutions or contacts. If you anticipate delays in obtaining the letter of invitation by the August 1 deadline, please contact CIES at middleeastnorthafrica@iie.org for additional guidance. 

USIEF is deeply grateful to the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education for the special budgetary allocation which has made it possible to expand this program, while increasing each award to $70,000.

Additional general information on the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program may be found on the website of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). Interested candidates can find country information on Israel on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website or the Ministry of Tourism’s website. 

 

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies at Concordia University is a multi-disciplinary research centre that brings together students, faculty and researchers who are dedicated to the study of Israel in all its facets.

In an effort to promote faculty-based projects, stimulate research and teaching, and contribute to the study of the state of Israel, locally, nationally and internationally, the Institute is offering financial support in the form of grants and scholarships in the following categories:

Visiting Researcher:

The Institute welcomes applications for short-term or sabbatical Visiting Researcher positions. Research stipends are available.

Post-doctoral fellowships:

Applicants with a completed PhD can apply for a post-doctoral fellowship.

The deadline to apply for these grants vary.  For details please visit: http://www.concordia.ca/azrieli

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF SEXUALITY IN ISRAEL AND THE WORLD:

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON THE SEX INDUSTRY (MARCH, 16-17, 2020) ZEFAT ACADEMIC COLLEGE

Guest Speakers: Dr. Judith Reisman (US) and Ms. Gunilla Ekberg (Sweden)

The huge sex industry in modern times entails far reaching implications in the economic, political, gender, cultural, moral, educational, and in other contexts. The conference will elaborate on them. The conference main approach is that the meaning of prostitution, trafficking in women, pornography and other similar social phenomena is the commodification of human beings and the preservation of gender hierarchy in society.

Exploring the sex industry necessitates a profound examination of its power to break through geographic, cultural and age barriers and of its background: the globally increasing immigration that generates the international market of prostitution through the exploitation of female immigrants' vulnerability and the supply of male immigrants' demand for paid sex; The Capitalistic economy and the growing consumerism, that enable and encourage the commodification of sexuality; The liberal discourse that provides social legitimization to the 'traditional' and the photographed prostitution; The technology that breaks through time, culture and state barriers, generating endless space for the industrial photographed prostitution; the expansion of the sex industry beyond age and gender boundaries.

The role of the state in the existence of the sex industry is associated with practices of legislation and law enforcement and with preventive and rehabilitation strategies. The way governments are handling the growing and strengthening sex industry in the world reflects social, philosophical, economic and cultural values of the society and the state.

The conference will deal with these issues and others from divergent perspectives. Researchers from the spheres of social science, law, social work, education, health studies, media and art, are invited to propose topics for discussions in the conference, following the above description.

Please send until December 2, 2019, to conf.march2020@zefat.ac.co, a title, an abstract (250- 300 words) and a short bio (50-70 words), with institutional affiliation, research and teaching topics.

Organizing committee: Prof. Esther Hertzog, Prof. Yaffa Moskovich, Dr. Tal Meler, Dr. Etti Boehm- Tabib, Dr. Niveen Hassan-Abbas

Proposals can be sent to Dr. Esther Hertzog (bental4@gmail.com) or to Dr. Tal Meler (talmeler12@gmail.com)

 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS OF HEBREW

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEBREW LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE

YORK UNIVERSITY, Toronto, Canada

June 22-24, 2020 

Call for Presentations 

Dear colleagues,

I’m pleased to announce that the 2020 NAPH Conference on Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture will be held at York University in Toronto on June 22-24, 2020. 

Colleagues who are interested in organizing thematic panels, a seminar, or a colloquium and/or in presenting an individual paper or conducting a workshop are now invited to submit their proposals to the Conference Committee through the portal found in the Call for Presentations linked to below.

The deadline for submitting proposals for organized panels or individual papers is December 15, 2019.

For a description of the conference and submission instructions in English, click HERE or visit our website https://naphhebrew.org and navigate to “International Conference” tab and to “2020 Conference York” page. For a description and instructions in Hebrew click HERE. 

We look forward to receiving your submission!

Karen Grumberg

Conference Coordinator

keren@austin.utexas.edu

 

ISRAEL STUDIES REVIEW - CALL FOR ARTICLES: SPECIAL ISSUE

Israel: A Case Study

The Jewish State through the Prism of the Social Sciences and the Humanities

The process of nation and state building in Israel could be viewed as unique because of its pace and intensity, as well as other factors that are evident in much that is related to immigration, forging cultural coherence, establishment of institutions, and the like. However, the extreme characteristics of Israel’s development and the number and type of challenges it faced and is still facing, also make it a valuable test case for a theoretical or comparative discussion. It requires a clear view of social, cultural, and political aspects of nation and state building and therefore can corroborate, refute, or challenge assumptions, patterns of analysis, conceptions and terminologies in theories or models used in the humanities or the social sciences.      

The Israel Studies Review invites scholars to submit abstracts of articles (no longer than 300 words) that deal with Israel as a case study for theoretical research and address topics such as social stratification, religion and state, nationhood and democracy, homeland and diaspora, army and society, war and peace, social groups and multiculturalism, law and politics, and leadership.

Submissions should be addressed to Tal Elmaliach, co-editor of the special issue (with Avi Bareli), at telmaliac@staff.haifa.ac.il, by October 31, 2019. Authors will be notified if they will be invited to submit full papers by Feb. 1, 2020, and they will have five months to submit full papers.  They will be sent out for peer review and the ISR reserves the right to reject papers based on peer review or to request revision and resubmission.  Papers will be published in the Fall 2021 issue of the ISR.

For further information contact Tal Elmaliach at the email above.

 

THE ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL - 2019
Dear Colleague,

Following the political developments, The Elections in Israel – 2019 book will cover both April and September elections, and the events in-between. We are thus especially interested in articles that will cover the two elections from a comprehensive (democratic, political, legal, social or historical) perspective, or compare between them. We will however be happy to consider any other relevant focus or topic as well.

We hope to publish again simultaneously volumes in English and in Hebrew as soon as is feasible after the elections.

We invite scholars who study Israeli politics and society to submit articles. These may be written in either English or Hebrew, and the author will be responsible for translation. Articles will be reviewed in the usual manner of refereed journals in order to maintain the highest academic standards. If you wish to discuss your proposal before you submit the article, feel free to contact us.

The planned book will be similar to previous ones in The Elections in Israel series. Use the conventions that appear in the 2013 and 2015 volumes regarding style, footnoting, references, spelling, tables and figures. Deadline for submission of articles is March 31, 2020.

Michal Shamir
The School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6139001
m3600@tauex.tau.ac.il 

Gideon Rahat
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Democracy Institute
Jerusalem 9104602
msgrah@mail.huji.ac.il

Please check back later for future events.