No end of conflict: rethinking Israel–Palestine

Abstract

Yossi Alpher's work comes at an interesting juncture in Israeli statecraft and international relations, with, inter alia, the election of US President Donald Trump, the Iranian nuclear deal under increased scrutiny, the region still engulfed in the turmoil of destabilizing conflict, and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria potentially approaching the beginning of its ultimate demise. Alpher, to be sure, has drawn on a wealth of experience garnered from his time in Israeli military intelligence, as well as the Mossad, and succeeds in leading readers through stand-alone chapters, focusing, with some authority, on matters such as occupation, the Jewish diaspora, anti-Semitism and regional and international diplomacy. In a chapter entitled ‘the emerging social-political-demographic challenge to Israeli internal cohesion’, Alpher correctly notes that the premiership of Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006, provided ‘the only instance of large-scale dismantling of West Bank and Gaza settlements recorded thus far’ (p. 28). Indeed, this may have been Sharon's Nixon and China moment. Sharon, in that specific context and at that time, was arguably the only politician with the collateral to pull off such a move. Moreover, Alpher succinctly explains how and why David Ben-Gurion consented to the military exemption and status quo agreements with the religious parties of Israel some 70 years ago. This matter, and especially the consequential mass exemption from military service for the ultra-orthodox communities, continues to threaten Israeli social cohesion.