Description
Book SynopsisA group of international scholars, applying insights drawn from history, folklore, political anthropology, historiography, cultural criticism and literary theory, re-examines critical issues surrounding the birth of Israel.
Table of ContentsPart I Frameworks and perspectives: reading perspectives/perspectives on reading - an introduction, Laurence J. Silberstein. Part II The transition to statehood - Jews and Arabs in conflict: the transition from Yishuv to state - social and ideological changes, Jehuda Reinharz; the origins of the Palestinian refugee problem, Benny Morris; early state policy towards the Arab population, 1948-1955, Don Peretz; one hundred years of social change - the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem, Kenneth W. Stein; initial Israeli policy guidelines towards the Arab minority, 1948-1949, Elie Rekhess; Arab historiography of the 1948 War - the quest for legitimacy, Avraham Sela. Part III Myths, symbols, values - the struggle for national identity: attitudes of the young state of Israel toward the Holocaust and its survivors - a debate over identity and values, Dina Porat; myths, symbols and rituals of the emerging state, Myron J. Aronoff; new beginning, old past - the collective memory of pioneering in Israeli culture, Yael Zerubavel; at half-mast myths, symbols, and rituals of the emerging state - a personal testimony of an "Israeli Arab", Anton Shammas. Part IV Conflicts within and conflicts wihout - diplomacy and foreign policy: Israel's global foreign policy, 1948-1956, Uri Bialer; Zionist-Arab diplomacy - patterns and ambiguities on the eve of statehood, Neil Caplan; Israel-Diaspora relations in the early years of the state, Ronald W. Zweig.
