Download or read book The One State Condition written by Ariella Azoulay and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-28 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the start of the occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, Israel's domination of the Palestinians has deprived an entire population of any political status or protection. But even decades on, most people speak of this rule—both in everyday political discussion and in legal and academic debates—as temporary, as a state of affairs incidental and external to the Israeli regime. In The One-State Condition, Ariella Azoulay and Adi Ophir directly challenge this belief. Looking closely at the history and contemporary formation of the ruling apparatus—the technologies and operations of the Israeli army, the General Security Services, and the legal system imposed in the Occupied Territories—Azoulay and Ophir outline the one-state condition of Israel/Palestine: the grounding principle of Israeli governance is the perpetuation of differential rule over populations of differing status. Israeli citizenship is shaped through the active denial of Palestinian citizenship and civil rights. Though many Israelis, on both political right and left, agree that the occupation constitutes a problem for Israeli democracy, few ultimately admit that Israel is no democracy or question the very structure of the Israeli regime itself. Too frequently ignored are the lasting effects of the deceptive denial of the events of 1948 and 1967, and the ways in which the resulting occupation has reinforced the sweeping militarization and recent racialization of Israeli society. Azoulay and Ophir show that acknowledgment of the one-state condition is not only a prerequisite for considering a one- or two-state solution; it is a prerequisite for advancing new ideas to move beyond the trap of this false dilemma.
Download or read book Defining Israel written by Simon Rabinovitch and published by Hebrew Union College Press. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law is the first book in any language devoted to the controversial passage of Israel's nation-state law. Israel has no constitution, and though it calls itself the Jewish state there is no agreement among Israelis on how that fact should be reflected in the government's laws or by its courts. Since the 1990s a number of civil society groups and legislators have drafted constitutions and proposed Basic Laws with constitutional standing that would clarify what it means for Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state." Are these bills liberal or chauvinist? Are they a defense of the Knesset or an attack on the independence of the courts? Is their intention democratic or anti-democratic? The fight over the nation-state law-whether to have one and what should be in it-toppled the 19th Knesset's governing coalition and, even after its passage on July 29, 2018, remains a point of contention among Israel's lawmakers and increasingly the Israeli public. Defining Israel brings together influential scholars, journalists, and politicians, observers and participants, opponents and proponents, Jews and Arabs, all debating the merits and meaning of Israel's nation-state law. Together with translations of each draft law, the final law, and other key documents, the essays and sources in Defining Israel are essential to understand the ongoing debate over what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state.
Download or read book David Ben Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy written by Nir Kedar and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy, Nir Kedar offers a poignant study of the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Kedar provides an explication of the making of Israeli democracy in terms of its institutional-legal structures and social-cultural underpinnings. David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy connects the formal structures of democracy to the fundamental principles that they were constructed to serve—human freedom and dignity.
Download or read book Israeli Democracy at the Crossroads written by Raphael Cohen-Almagor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the discussion about Israel was dominated by post-Zionist, post-Israeli opinions. Important voices that represent large sectors of Israeli society were not heard. To somewhat change this situation, some of the best scholars in their respective fields participate in this ultimate collection of essays about Israeli society, its politics and schisms. The book aims to tackle timely concerns, like Israel’s fight against terror, its relationships with the Palestinians, the mutual relationships between the civic society and the army, the status of women in society, and separation between state and religion. Particular attention is given to probing the state of human rights, minority rights, and health rights. The volume also discusses the tensions between liberalism and socialism, between state and religion, and between immigration groups, most notably resulting from the immigration from the former Soviet Union.
Download or read book Building Democracy on Sand written by Arye Carmon and published by Hoover Press. This book was released on 2019-12-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than seven decades after the founding of Israel, the momentum to establish a Jewish state has led to remarkable achievements in the nation's “hardware”: stable structures in government, the military, and the economy. At the same time, the “operating system,” the guidelines that accommodate human diversity and enable coexistence, is still riddled with weaknesses. Arye Carmon diagnoses the critical vulnerabilities at the heart of Israeli democracy and the obstacles to forming a sustainable national consciousness. The author merges touching narratives about his own life in Israel with insightful ruminations on the Jewish diaspora and the arc of Israel's history, illuminating the conflicts between Jewish identities and between democratic values and the halacha—the collective body of Jewish religious laws.There is no consensus on the characteristics that define Israel as a state that is both Jewish and democratic. Rather, the struggle between a secular and a religious Jewish identity, amid voices promoting ethnocentric nationalism, threatens to sever the ties that strengthen democracy.This cultural fragility has far-reaching implications for Israeli institutions and deepens societal rifts. Israel lacks a constitution to bind its democracy and a bill of rights to safeguard the freedoms of its citizens, enable the inclusion of diverse outlooks and beliefs, and underpin the norms of its civil society.
Download or read book The Founding of Israeli Democracy 1948 1967 written by Peter Y. Medding and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1990-03-29 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Israel is the only new state among the twenty-one countries in the world today that have maintained democracy without interruption since the end of the Second World War. Israel's case is all the more notable because its democracy was established under extremely adverse conditions: massive immigration; severe social dislocation; the introduction of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, and national differences; rapid economic growth; a permanent security threat that led to five major wars in thirty-five years; and a population that, in the main, had little or no experience of a democratic order. In this insightful study of Israel's founding period from 1948 to 1967, Peter Medding addresses this puzzle, providing a lucid account of the political and historical conditions that gave rise to this distinctive period, as well as the changes which brought it to an end. The result is an eminently readable account of the state-building process and of the role played by David Ben-Gurion and other politicians in moving from consensus politics to a majoritarian-like democracy. Medding's analysis is further enriched by his comparisons of the development of Israeli democracy with that of other countries.
Download or read book The Last Days in Israel written by Abraham Diskin and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the challenges and circumstances Israel has faced during the 1990s and addresses both the public's and leadership's singular goal of "peace and security".
Download or read book Israel written by Clive Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-25 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often regarded as the only true manifestation of political pluralism in the contemporary Middle East, the state of Israel has dominated the history and politics of the region for over fifty years. Yet despite its position as a regional superpower, Israel continues to struggle with the whole issue of its own identity, the complexities of which have exposed deep clefts throughout Israeli society that threaten to undermine the collective ideal of a viable Jewish polity in the Middle East. The authors explore the complex challenges facing Israel, and the extent to which its present state structures and institutions can adapt and accommodate themselves to the diversity of security threats that it now faces. This book will be of interest to those who wish to understand the dynamics that have shaped and continue to shape the state of Israel, and the extent to which these have influenced its search for security in the modern Middle East.
Download or read book Israel s Higher Law written by Steven V. Mazie and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Israel's Higher Law, Steven V. Mazie sheds new light on the relationship between liberalism and religion through a detailed assessment of the Jewish state. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Israeli citizens, this compelling work scrutinizes the ways in which Israelis conceptualize and debate their polity's religion-state arrangement.
Download or read book The Only Democracy in the Middle East written by Yadin Yinon and published by Bear Mountain Press. This book was released on 2020-08-14 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Only Democracy in the Middle East is a compelling narrative non-fiction that offers a glimpse into Israel’s backstage, behind the tinseled tourism hype and worn Zionist clichés. Centered on the life of a former IDF staff captain and Israeli electoral candidate named Shaul Elkeslasi, the book is a scathing exposé that documents his confrontation with the grim realities of Israeli political deception and abuse. In punishing detail it exposes the inner workings of a state very different from the enlightened republic Israel is thought to be—a ruthless rogue regime whose bloody machinations with the Jewish people since Zionism’s inception have been kept airtight thanks to the axiomatic claim that Israel is a democracy. In the utopia envisioned by Israeli Deep State, every citizen would be born with the knowledge that Israel’s designation as a democracy is euphemistic. However the idiosyncrasies of human nature such as they are, there will always be Israelis who believe what they are taught and entertain the offensive notion that every private citizen has the right to run for office; that government was created to serve the people; that freedom of speech is an elementary right; that freedom of religion is mandated by the rule of law. That law and rights and freedoms exist. As stride confidently into the public square, they have no idea that they’re trespassing on the private property of a mafia compound. And by the time they know, it’s too late—even to warn someone else. The present chronicle has one purpose: to expose the anarchy and moral decadence that define Israeli government today, so that the next time an Israeli citizen chooses to exercise the fundamental liberties guaranteed in a democracy, he won’t find himself in the grave with a bullet in his head.
Download or read book The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel written by Dahlia Scheindlin and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2023-09-18 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A narrative chronicle of Israeli democracy that defines historic phases and follows thematic challenges to democracy, including: competition between religion and the rule of law; the statist society and chaotic minoritocracy; modern illiberal populism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The comprehensive portrait exposes endemic flaws of democracy in Israel, but also shows that Israel has considerable capacity – and responsibility – to fulfill the promise of democracy.
Download or read book Haifa Republic A Democratic Future for Israel written by Omri Boehm and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2021-08-17 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative argument for a new way of seeing Israel, Zionism, and the two-state solution. Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel is an urgent wake-up call. The philosopher Omri Boehm argues that it is long past time to recognize that there will not be a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. After fifty years, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank constitutes annexation in all but name, even as the legitimate claims of the Arab population, soon to be a national majority, remain unaddressed. Meanwhile, daily life goes on under conditions rightly likened to apartheid. For liberals in Israel and America to continue to place their hopes in a two-state solution is a form of willful and culpable blindness, especially now that Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have begun to speak of ethnic cleansing. A catastrophe is in the making. But Haifa Republic also offers grounds for hope. Catastrophe can be averted, Boehm contends, by reconfiguring Israel as a single binational state in which Palestinians and Jews both possess human rights and equal citizenship. The original Zionists—Theodor Herzl, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and, early in his career, David Ben-Gurion—all advocated such a federation, and as prime minister, Menachem Begin successfully submitted a kindred plan to the Knesset. A binational federation offers a last chance for the two peoples who call Palestine home to live in peace and mutual respect and to have a truly democratic future in common.
Download or read book The State of Israel s Democracy written by Frederick Lee Greene and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The State of Israel written by Joseph E. David and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Challenge of Ethnic Democracy written by Yoav Peled and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethnic democracy is a form of democratic ethnic conflict regulation in deeply divided societies. In The Challenge of Ethnic Democracy, Yoav Peled argues that ethnic democracy is constituted by the combination of two contradictory constitutional principles: liberal democracy and ethno-nationalism, and that its stability depends on the existence of a third, mediating constitutional principle of whatever kind. This central argument is supported by an analysis of the history of three ethnic democracies; Northern Ireland under Unionist rule, where ethnic democracy was stable for almost 50 years (1921-1969), then collapsed; The Second Polish republic (1918-1939), where ethnic democracy was written into the constitution but was never actualised; and Israel within its pre-1967 borders, where ethnic democracy was stable for 35 years (1966-2000) but may now be eroding. This book examines the different trajectories of the case studies, demonstrating that Poland lacked a third, mediating constitutional principle, while Israel and Northern Ireland did have such a principle – civic republicanism in Israel, and populism in Northern Ireland. The collapse of ethnic democracy in Northern Ireland resulted from the weakening of populism, that depended on British monetary subsidies for its implementation, whilst the erosion of ethnic democracy in Israel resulted from the decline of civic republicanism since the onset of economic liberalization in 1985. Dealing with ethnic democracy in a comparative framework, this book will appeal to students, scholars and researchers of Sociology, Political Science and Middle East Studies.
Download or read book The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism written by Mazen Masri and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does Israel's definition as a 'Jewish and democratic' state mean? How does it affect constitutional law? How does it play out in the daily life of the people living in Israel? This book provides a unique and detailed examination of the consequences of the 'Jewish and democratic' definition. It explores how the definition affects the internal ordering of the state, the operation of the law, and the ways it is used to justify, protect and regenerate certain features of Israeli constitutional law. It also considers the relationship between law and settler-colonialism, and how this relationship manifests itself in the constitutional order. The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism offers a novel perspective on the Jewish and democratic definition rooted in constitutional theory and informed by a socio-legal approach. Relying on a wide range of court cases and statutes as well as secondary sources, the book shows how the definition is deeply embedded in the constitutional structure, and operates, as a matter of law, in a manner that concentrates political power in the hands of the Jewish citizens and excludes the Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel from the political process. Mazen Masri's study is a timely intervention in an increasingly important question, and is essential reading for those who want to understand Israel's character, its relationship with the constitutional order, and its impact on society.
Download or read book Understanding Israel written by Joel Peters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The State of Israel is an unlikely powerhouse in a troubled region. Since 1948, Israel has retained its status as a democratic state without interruption. An investor-friendly environment and skilled workforce have led to a thriving economy, whilst the Israel Defense Forces are one of the most powerful armed forces in the world. Yet Israel is also blighted by a plethora of foreign, domestic and security challenges, some of which threaten the very fabric of the state. The cost of living continues to soar; political corruption appears endemic and the conflict with the Palestinians divides domestic opinion and sours Israeli foreign relations. Thus, contemporary Israel remains perplexing, resisting any straightforward categorizations or generalizations. This book provides a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary analysis of the external and internal threats, opportunities and issues facing contemporary Israel. The book comprises sixteen chapters written by recognized authorities in the field of Israeli Studies. Together, the chapters offer a detailed overview of Israel while separately they provide stand-alone coverage of specific topics under discussion. Part I examines the Israeli Political System, such as the Knesset, political parties and extra-parliamentary politics; Part II addresses issues in Israeli society, including the Israeli economy, the divides between Jews and Arabs, religious and secular Israelis and the struggle for gender equality; and Part III focuses on security, geopolitical and foreign policy challenges, looking at relations between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, Israeli foreign policy, borders and settlements and regional security threats. By filling an important gap in the study of contemporary Israel, this book is of interest to multiple audiences, most notably students and scholars of Israeli politics, the Middle East and comparative politics.
