Establishment Of Israel Research Articles

The Palestinian Diaspora: Status and Rights in Middle East and North African Countries

The Palestinian diaspora, beginning with a mass exodus following the establishment of Israel in 1948, has faced diverse and evolving challenges in Middle Eastern and North African host countries. This paper explores the historical and contemporary status of Palestinian refugees in these regions, examining the legal, social, and economic conditions they endure. While neighboring Arab states initially supported Palestinian refugees, their experiences have since been defined by prolonged refugee status and fluctuating levels of hostility. In Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and the Gulf countries, policies have fluctuated based on geopolitical interests and local dynamics. North African countries, while offering some support, also reflect the complexities of Palestinian integration. The ongoing refugee crisis underscores the need for international efforts to address the root causes and ensure the rights and welfare of Palestinian refugees.

Jewish Self-identification and Political Compromise: Evidence from the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict

This paper explores the relationship between Jewish self-identification and their attitudes to political compromise in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, grounded in social identity theory. The multifaceted dimensions of Jewish identity, such as religious, cultural, and national ones, and their impacts on political stances and peace negotiations. Through semi-structured interviews, the study reveals that Jewish collective identity significantly influences their political positions and behavior. Most respondents held that their Jewish identity shapes their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, mainly due to experiences of being persecuted and the establishment of Israel after the Holocaust, which lead them to a cautious attitude to political compromise, especially regarding security or sovereignty. Additionally, internal divisions within Jewish community (e.g., conservative to progressive) significantly influenced their attitudes to the conflict and a two-state solution. It emphasizes the important impact of recognizing and respecting Jewish identity on fostering inclusive dialogue, bridging ideological gaps, and promoting peace. It is necessary to pay attention to the crucial role of historical memory and cultural heritage in shaping political positions for effective conflict resolution strategies. This study offers insights but also exists limitations, suggesting future research, such as quantitative analysis and widening data collection to capture evolving political attitudes within the global Jewish diaspora.

The Enduring Conflict in the Middle East: Irrational Causes and Viable Solutions that might begin with the Educational Means

This Paper aims at tracing and analyzing the irrational reasons that stood behind the lasting conflict in the Middle East with a refutation of its continuation according to the theory of recognition, as well as the viable solutions that might reduce the tension in the region and end the conflict for a long run. It discussed the reasons that caused the conflict in the region to continue for more than hundred years for the benefit of the colonial states. The paper reached a point that the colonial states were behind the establishment of Israel in the region to be used as a functional state for the perpetuation of colonialism in the region, despite the existence of a Jewish homeland that had been previously announced in Birobidzhan, before the declaration of Israel in Palestine that is why seen today a rebellious state against the legitimacy and international law. The study concluded that it has become necessary to explain more precisely to the youth the cause of the suffering experienced by the peoples of the region of their various races and religions through educational curriculum at all levels of school and university. The study also concluded some proposals that may contribute to ending the unjust conflict gradually in the future.

A Brief History of Jewish Victimhood Identity

Abstract: One key obstacle in the quest for Israel-Palestine reconciliation is each nation’s firm belief that it is the victim of the other’s cruel and immoral behavior. This competitive victimhood suppresses empathy and fosters a sense of powerlessness. This study examines the historical and theological roots of Jewish victimhood identity and offers historical explanations as to why it persists even in the face of the twentieth century “Jewish emergence from powerlessness” (the establishment of Israel). Based on this analysis, practical suggestions are offered for escaping victimhood identity in order to make reconciliation possible.

Shay Hazkani. Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War.

Shay Hazkani’s Dear Palestine is an innovative, compellingly written, and deeply researched contribution to the history of the 1948 Palestine war, the establishment of Israel, and the effacement of Palestine. Important histories of these events have previously focused on the question of Israel’s culpability in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem and specifically the issues of who in the Israeli leadership ordered expulsions and whether they were planned prior to the May invasion by Arab armies. Israeli historian Benny Morris paved the way of archival research into these controversies with his 1987 The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem and revised his initial conclusions in later works. Nur Masalha, Ilan Pappe, and Efraim Karsh have since produced responses—Karsh defending Israel, and Masalha and Pappe indicting it. Hazkani indeed adds to our knowledge of these historical debates. His focus, however, differs from that of these other scholars. He argues that the war and the events of its immediate aftermath were meaning-making and identity-making enterprises for both Arabs and Jews. Through mobilization for the war and its conduct, elites and soldiers constituted and contested collective identities, including Arab, Jew, Muslim, Palestinian, Israeli, Mizrachi, and Ashkenazi. His project is not so much to establish what identities prevailed during this time as to recover how individuals and institutions—especially war- and state-making institutions—produced and debated collective identities. He eschews the nationalist binaries of Arab and Jew as primary analytical categories and instead examines how collective identities were discursively generated. Hazkani consequently brings to the history of 1948 elements of relational history exemplified by Zachary Lockman’s Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948 (1996) and Abigail Jacobson’s From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem between Ottoman and British Rule (2011).

Germany’s Never-Ending Guilt Trip

Nazi Germany and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the future government of Israel and the official representative of the Zionist Organization (ZO), entered a contractual transactional relationship from 1933 to 1939. In 1952 the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the State of Israel, on behalf of all Jews, signed an agreement that paved the way for Germany’s unconditional support for Israel. No suggestion is being made here that Nazi Germany and the FRG are the same; the FRG assumed responsibilities for the crimes of the Holocaust. However, both contractual transactional relationships between both countries from 1933 to the present have initiated policies and programs that contributed significantly to the deterioration of German Jewish living conditions in Germany, the transfer of thousands of German Jewish citizens and their assets out of Germany to colonize Palestine, the establishment of Israel in historic Palestine, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, the allocation of a significant portion of German reparation money for the benefit of Israel instead of the victims of the Holocaust, the strengthening of the Israeli economy and industrial base, and providing Israel with German military technology and equipment to wage wars in the region. In this article, I will examine and analyze the special, often secret, relationship between Germany and the Zionist mechanization to colonize Palestine, the establishment of Israel in 1948, and the arming of the state with modern weapon platforms that can carry and deliver nuclear weapons. This secret relationship is in clear violation of German law, made possible by creating a universal guilt feeling among Germans for the crime of the Holocaust, and associated with a deliberate lack of public debate and accountability.

Between Crises and Fragile Stability: Türkiye-Israel Affairs

Since the establishment of Israel, the Turkish-Israeli relations have been marked by continuous periods of swings – from crises to cooperation and back. This article aims to shed light on the turbulent bilateral ties by focusing on the role of the current Justice and Development Party (JDP) rule in Türkiye. In doing so, it firstly provides a background on the two countries’ relations, covering the period between their foundational years and 2002. Secondly, it explores a series of significant crises against which the Turkish-Israeli relations reached an all-time low starting with the Operation Cast Lead in 2008. Given the recent developments unfolding in Türkiye’s domestic sphere and its close geography, this work lastly assesses the impact of the Abraham Accords in 2020 on bilateral relations and speculates about the future trajectories.

The ideology of establishing Israeli museums during (1930-1983)

The study aimed to identify the ideology of establishing Israeli museums during (1930-1983), by analyzing the goals of building museums in a period of time starting from their development in the “kibbutz” collective settlements until the approval of the Museums Law in 1983. The study concluded that there is a diversity in the Israeli ideology in building museums, represented by the competitiveness of the diverse Jewish culture in Israel, and its role in documenting the Jewish Holocaust, which attracted the public’s sympathy about the experience of the persecution of the Jew, while the kibbutz museums focused on the Holocaust from another perspective by depicting the experience of The ghetto fighters in their confrontation with the Nazis, which confirms the lack of unification of the vision from the Holocaust museums, whether the experience of persecution or resistance, while there was an ideology in the development of museums represented in documenting the historical narrative and linking modern Israel with the ancient history of the Jews. Finally, the museums focused on documenting the experience of the military force that had a role in establishing Israel after they killed the Palestinians and expelled them from their land in 1948. It became clear that the Israeli museums were random targets until the Knesset passed the Museums Law in 1983 to organize and define the objectives of the museum in Israel.
 Originality/Value: This study investigates the ideology behind the Israeli museum establishment from 1930 to 1983. It reveals diverse motivations, particularly in representing Jewish culture and documenting the Holocaust. The study also uncovers contrasting narratives within Holocaust museums and highlights the role of museums in documenting historical narratives and the military's role in Israel's establishment. The enactment of the Museums Law in 1983 marked a significant step in regulating and defining the objectives of Israeli museums.

How a Citizen Becomes an Alien: Three Cases of American Jews and Citizenship Lost, Regained, and Lost Again

In the second half of the twentieth century, three Jewish men were stripped of their American citizenship after spending significant time in Palestine/Israel and engaging in statutorily defined “expatriating acts.” Integral to the doctrine of liberal citizenship, in fact, were illiberal mechanisms of individual and categorical exclusion from citizenship intended to protect the sovereignty of the nation-state. These mechanisms gained particular expression in state agents’ deliberations about the citizenship status of Jews, especially after the establishment of Israel. The emergence of dual citizenship as a legal possibility—the result of a 1967 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the expatriation of one of the men considered here—reveals the shifting ambitions of American state power, while also exposing the enduring ways in which U.S. government entities, from Congress to administrative agencies to the courts, justified the state's power to transform citizens into aliens.

The Palestine Labor League: the history of a Palestinian labor union

This article explores the history of the Palestine Labor League (PLL) during the first years after Israel's establishment (1948-1953). Unlike most research, which views the PLL as an insignificant appendage to the major Zionist labor union, the Histadrut, this article wishes to investigate the PLL as a Palestinian organization operating within the corporatist industrial relations system of Israel’s early days. The article shows that PLL activists identified their position as a link between the Histadrut and the Palestinian population and used it to gain personal and collective achievements. The article therefore argues that the Israeli corporatist model, which was set to maintain social order and strengthen Zionist hegemony, unwittingly provided Palestinians with agency which was utilized by them to resist Israel's settler-colonial policies.

Colonial Settlement in West Bank and Means to Resist It

The settlement project is considered as the cornerstone of the Zionist Movement. It is one of the pillars of Israel's establishment of its entity after 1948 and 1967, following which Israel managed to control every part of the occupied lands. This study aims to understand the Zionist ideology, policies and goals, demonstrate the Palestinian and international positions on settlements, and recognize how serious those positions are. The researcher uses the descriptive and historic approaches, and addresses two main topics: The Settlement Projects, its concepts and practices, and the international position on the settlement project and means to resist it. The study also concludes that the Israeli occupation was based on two essentials cornerstones: Immigration and Settlements. After the Jewish immigration was reduced, the settlements became the most important element of the Jewish creed. Settlements are the heart of the Israeli existence; thus, the occupation believes that its presence is bound by the continuation of establishing settlements.

Colonial Settlement in West Bank and Means to resist it

Abstract
 The settlement project is considered as the cornerstone of the Zionist Movement. It is one of the pillars of Israel's establishment of its entity after 1948 and 1967, following which Israel managed to control every part of the occupied lands. This study aims to understand the Zionist ideology, policies and goals, demonstrate the Palestinian and international positions on settlements, and recognize how serious those positions are. The researcher uses the descriptive and historic approaches, and addresses two main topics: The Settlement Projects, its concepts and practices, and the international position on the settlement project and means to resist it. The study also concludes that the Israeli occupation was based on two essentials cornerstones: Immigration and Settlements. After the Jewish immigration was reduced, the settlements became the most important element of the Jewish creed. Settlements are the heart of the Israeli existence; thus, the occupation believes that its presence is bound by the continuation of establishing settlements.

Translating global indigeneity into the Bedouin vernacular

ABSTRACT This article explores how global indigeneity emerged among the Bedouin in the Israeli Negev Desert. This population - part of the Palestinian Arab minority and holders of Israeli citizenship - has been subjected to various attempts at settlement and, since the establishment of Israel, has experienced dispossession through denial of recognition of land title. Yet the appropriation of indigeneity remains quite recent, and has brought with it new complications and frictions as an identity consecrated in international law. This transnational socio-legal study traces how global indigeneity has been remade in the Bedouin vernacular. Working with Sally Merry's heuristic framework concerning how rights-based identities travel and translate, this study demonstrates how identities do not simply fit a preexisting reality but must be ‘translated' and ‘tried on’ in ways that demand new kinds of knowledge production and performances.

The Theological Legitimacy Problem of Israel's Establishment: An Investiga-tion in the Context of the 1967 Six-Day War

Devletlerin kendi kuruluşlarına teolojik nedenler bulmaları özellikle modernlik öncesi dönemde yaygın bir durumdur. Ancak modern dönemlerde de dinsel temelli politik iktidarlar devletin kuruluşu ile teolojik temeller ve amaçlar arasında bir ilişki kurarlar. Teolojik nedenler arasında önemli dayanak noktalarından biri Mesih beklentisi ve inancıdır. Bu bağlamda Yahudi inancında Mesih beklentisi inancı ve Tanrı eliyle vaat edilen topraklarda bir Yahudi devletin kurulması önemli bir idealdir. Teodor Herzl’in 1897’de Bazzel konferansıyla başlattığı siyasal Siyonizm, özü itibariyle laik, ırkçı, seküler bir harekettir. İsrail Devleti Tanrı eliyle kurulmadığı için Yahudiler arasında derin tartışmalara sebep olmuştur.Bu makalede İsrail’in bir devlet olarak kuruluşunun teo-politik meşruiyet sorunu açıklığa kavuşturulmaya çalışılmıştır. 1948 yılında laik ve seküler iddialarla kurulan İsrail, kurulduğu günden bu yana kuruluşunu teolojik olarak meşrulaştırmak istemiştir. 1967 yılında gerçekleşen Altı Gün Savaşları Siyonistler tarafından İsrail’in kuruluşunun teolojik tasdiki olarak yorumlanmıştır. 1950’li yıllarda İsrail Hükümetinin Başbakanı David Ben-Gurion’un bu yorumda politik aktör anlamında öncü rolü oynadığı görülmektedir. Kitabı Mukaddes anlatıları, Ben Gurion’un gündelik teo-politik retoriğine yapı, araç ve söylem olarak hizmet etmiştir. Ulusalcı Dinî Parti/Hareket 1967’den beri işgal edilen topraklardaki yerleşim politikasını, kendilerinin ne politik duruşunu ne de inançlarını paylaşan diğer İsrailli Yahudilere büyük oranda benimsetebilmeyi başardığı görülmektedir. Onlara göre bu zafer dünyadaki çoğu Yahudi’nin İsrail’e aidiyet hissini pekiştirmiş, İsrail halkının iyimserliğini ve umudu yeniden canlandırmış ve bu durum ilahi ve mucizevi bir müdahale, Siyonist girişimin onaylanma nişanesi olarak görülmüştür. Bundan böyle ne dindar Yahudiler ne de dindar olmayan laik-seküler Yahudiler “ilk peygamberlerin toprağına” bu dönüşün onaylanma nişanesini görmezlikten gelebilirdi.1967 Altı Gün Savaşları’nın meydana getirdiği büyük değişiklikler, gerek Yahudilerin devletinin bir Yahudi devletine dönüştüğünü gören din adamları, gerekse geleneksel olarak devletin laik tanımına bağlanmış bulunan din adamı olmayanlar üzerinde derin dinsel-siyasal yankılar yapmıştır. Bunun sonucu da Yahudi devleti ile Yahudi toprağı ikiliğinin ortadan kalkması olmuştur. Altı Gün Savaşları’ndan önceki durum ile sonraki durum arasındaki değişim de bunun en açık kanıtı sayılmıştır. Artık İsrail Devleti Yahudiler için bir ihsan değil, esasında Tanrı’nın Yahudi olmayan uluslardan intikamı olarak görülmeye başlanmıştır. Özünde modernitenin teolojik-politik bir projesi olarak görülebilecek bu durum, teo-politik aktörlerin politik ihtiraslarını teoloji kılıfıyla kamufle edip, amaçları için geniş Yahudi kitlelerinin desteğini almayı hedeflemekten başka bir anlama gelmemektedir.1967’deki Altı Gün Savaşlarıyla birlikte siyasal Siyonizm dinî bir hüviyete bürünmeye ve İsrail Devleti bazı Ortodoks Yahudiler hariç Yahudi toplumunda genel kabul görmeye başlamıştır. Zira özü itibariyle Tanrı’nın eliyle kurulması gerekirken Yahudiler tarafından kurulmuş olan ve bundan dolayı dinî meşruiyet taşımayan İsrail Devleti, Arap-İsrail savaşlarında başarılı olmuş, bundan çıkarılan neticeyle Tanrı’nın İsrail Devletine onayı olduğu düşünülerek yaygın destek ve onay kazanmıştır. Bu, Tanrı’nın maksadı olarak kabul edilmiş, ‘Tanrı desteklemeseydi biz Arapları yenemezdik’ düşüncesi hâkim olmuştur.1967 Altı Gün Savaşları’nın sonuçları, aradıkları meşruiyeti önemli oranda vermiştir. Ancak bütün Yahudiler aynı fikirde değildir. 1967 Altı Gün Savaşları’nı Siyonist perspektiften “ilahi bir mucize ve İsrail’in kuruluşunun teolojik tasdiki olarak” gören teo-politik anlamının yanı sıra aynı olayı anti-Siyonist perpektiften “şeytani bir plan” olarak görenler de vardır. Bu görüşte olanlara göre Altı Gün Savaşları, İsrail’i tuzağa düşürmek için itinayla hazırlanmış şeytani bir plandır. Bu anlayışa göre yapılması gereken Yahudiliğin gereklerini yerine getirerek sabırla beklemektir. İlahi tasdik Siyonist amaçlar için gerçekleştirilen savaşlarla olmaz. Bu anlayışa göre yapılması gereken Yahudiliğin gereklerini yerine getirerek sabırla beklemektir. İsrail’in kuruluşunun teolojik tartışmaları bitmiş değildir. Bir yandan geleneksel Yahudiliğin Mesih beklentisi, diğer yandan Siyonistler tarafından Mesih’in teo-politik amaçlarla araçsallaştırıldığı bir durum söz konudur.

تفسير إقامة "إسرائيل" كدولة حسب نظرية دوائر البركة لبيت المقدس

Bayt al-Maqdis has witnessed the birth of three Abrahamic religions. The city is also unique for long being the place in which members of these religions have lived together as neighbours. However, it has always been a targeted territory in which Western powers desired power and domination over the region. The Crusaders’ period (1098-1187) and the ongoing Israeli occupation are dark pages in the history of the city and region. This is especially with respect to the establishment of the Zionist Israeli state in the Middle East, which has led to several, economic, cultural, and political conflicts affecting the region to this day. With reference to this uniqueness of Bayt al-Maqdis, this paper aims to interpret the occupation of Bayt al-Maqdis and the establishment of Israel as a state in the heart of the Muslim East, along with its multi-dimensional consequences, according to the Barakah Circle Theory of Islamicjerusalem introduced by Abd al-Fattah Muhammad El-Awaisi.

The Juggler (1953) in Galilee: Hollywood's Progressives and the Establishment of Israel

The history of Hollywood’s on-screen relationship with the State of Israel is often thought to have begun with Otto Preminger’s Exodus, an epic account of Jewish bravery in late-1940s Palestine released in 1960. This article takes an in-depth look at an earlier American movie about Israel, Edward Dmytryk’s The Juggler, released in 1953. The Juggler was Hollywood’s first film set and shot on location in modern Israel. Written by Michael Blankfort and produced by Stanley Kramer, The Juggler tells the story of a German-Jewish variety entertainer who has lost his family in the Holocaust and is struggling to settle in Israel in the aftermath of its war of independence in 1948. The film starred Kirk Douglas, who thanks to his work on The Juggler became one of Israel’s biggest supporters in Hollywood. The article uses Israeli and American archival evidence to explore why and how the film version of The Juggler differs markedly from the novel on which it was based. It shows that The Juggler represented a particular phase in Hollywood’s relationship with Israel, one in which a group of political progressives sought to use film as a way of introducing Americans to a Zionism that was left of centre and grounded in the life of the kibbutz. The article examines how those progressive ideals were diluted from script to screen as commercial imperatives took precedence over political ideals. At the same time, the article demonstrates how The Juggler inadvertently ‘documented’ a living symbol of the Nakba, the ‘disaster’ of the Palestinian Arabs during the 1948 war.

The Privatisation of a National Project : The settlements along the trans-Israel Highway since 1977

The settlements along the Trans-Israel Highway illustrate the privatisation of the national settlement enterprise. To understand this process, this dissertation focuses on the settlement production mechanism, which consists of the reciprocal interests of the government and various private groups to develop and domesticate the border area between the State of Israel and the occupied West-Bank - the Green-Line. Centring on the spatial privileges the state granted to diverse spatial agents, this dissertation examines the manner in which different favoured groups were given the power to colonise, plan, develop and market space as a means to enhance the state’s power over it. Investigating the gradual transformation of this production mechanism, this dissertation explores the increasing privatisation of the local economy and culture, as well as how this was manifested in the built environment. Examining the modifications in the architectural and urban products this mechanism produced, this dissertation analyses the materialisation of the privatised national settlement project and how it transformed together with the changing political and economic interests.

Constructing “Private” Historical Justice in State-Building

AbstractWealthy philanthropic individuals operating within private law have been largely absent from the historical justice narrative of states in transition and, consequently, from normative discussion regarding the justification of their actions under the auspices of the market. This Article seeks to fill this void by examining the “private” historical justice of Jewish state-building prior to the establishment of Israel. Specifically, it focuses on the legal history of Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s settlement project during the Ottoman and Mandate periods and investigates the project’s normative implications. The Baron was a fundamental actor in the design of the Palestinian/Israeli space, as he supported existing Jewish settlements and established new ones. He also built several public institutions that continue to exist to date. I argue that the Baron’s settlement project needs to be addressed from a multidimensional aspect with regard to different groups that were affected by it. On the one hand, his settlement project was just towards the Jewish settlement because it provided a shelter for Jewish immigrants who fled Europe, and it realized the Jews’ right of self-determination. On the other hand, his project resulted in the coercive displacement of an underprivileged local Arab population called the fellaheen and unjustly infringed on their territorial rights.

Social inclusion and legal exclusion in a Jewish or democratic state: intermarriage in the Zionist movement and the early State of Israel

ABSTRACT Zionists grappled with the implications of intermarriage from as early as the beginning of their movement, though the tensions surrounding intermarriage, religion, and the Jewish nation were amplified with the establishment of Israel in 1948. While many Zionists advocated for the social inclusion of non-Jewish spouses (and their children) in the nation, Zionist support for religious control of personal status law allowed for de facto legal exclusion of these same non-Jews. Early Zionist and Israeli policies therefore exercised ‘functional ambiguity’ regarding intermarried families in national life. By celebrating the inclusion of non-Jewish family members—and particularly non-Jewish wives—Zionists underscored a secular Jewish identity and the ostensibly democratic nature of the Jewish state. Yet by allowing for their legal exclusion through religious law, and by highlighting a limited criteria for national inclusion, they maintained the Jewish nature of the state and the prevention of a civic, ‘Israeli’ national identity shared with Palestinian citizens.

The Privatisation of a National Project

In Israel, the development of new settlements is a leading national project. This began in the turn of the 20th century as national Zionist organisations established new frontier settlements in Palestine, in the efforts to secure the territory needed for a future state and to encourage a spiritual national renaissance. With its establishment in 1948, the young state of Israel took over the process, continuing the pre-state settlement endeavours of securing spatial control while endorsing a new unified national identity. Accordingly, the state promoted, directed, and executed the construction of a series of rural and industrial settlements that corresponded with the national geopolitical agenda and the hegemonic socialisation policy. Consequently, the architectural and urban features of these settlements were parallel to the ruling political, economic and social values and were thus characterised by reproduced homogeneous and economical residential environments. During the 1970s, the monolithic state-led development began to transform with the growing privatisation of the Israeli economy. These transformations reached a point of no return with the election of the first liberal and anti-socialist government in 1977; eventually turning into a national consensus. At the same time, the state did not abandon its geopolitical agenda and the attempts of securing spatial control through settlement. Nevertheless, it began dismantling its monopoly over the establishment of new localities, granting selected group spatial privileges and thus turning them into spatial agents that develop the frontier on its behalf. Initially, the privatisation of the national settlement project began with ex-urban and suburban communities, serving favoured societal groups. Eventually, with the growing involvement of private capital, it turned into a large-scale corporate-led development venture, dictated by financial interests while fulfilling geopolitical objectives. Privatisation, neoliberalism and market-economy are usually used as an antithesis to state involvement, regulation and nationalism. Conversely, this dissertation illustrates that the privatisation of the national territorial project was a statedirected effort intended to align the geopolitical agenda with the prevailing neoliberal order; using the market-economy as a means to enhance the state’s control over space. This dissertation focuses on the border area with the occupied Palestinian West-Bank, the Green-Line. Scarcely populated in the first three decades after the establishment of Israel, this area witnessed an ever-growing state-directed development effort following the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Developed by an increasing private involvement, this area constitutes a unique case study on the relationship between geopolitics and market economy; marked by the construction of the first privately developed national infrastructure project in the early 2000s – the Trans-Israel Highway. To understand the privatisation of this national project since 1977, this dissertation proposes focusing on the settlement mechanism. This comprises the reciprocal interests of the state and various private groups to develop and domesticate the frontier area of the Green-Line. Centring on the spatial privileges the state granted diverse spatial agents, this dissertation examines how different favoured groups were given the power to colonise, plan, develop and market space in return for enhancing the state’s power over it. Investigating how this settlement mechanism transformed over the years, including a variety of spatial agents and diverse spatial privileges, this research explores the increasing privatisation of the local economy and culture, as well as the manner in which it was manifested in the built environment. Examining the modifications in the architectural and urban products this mechanism produced, this research analyses the materialisation of the privatised national settlement project and how it transformed together with the changing political and economic interests. Focusing on the area along the Green-Line, this dissertation starts with examining the Community Settlements of the late 1970s and then moves to the Suburban Settlements of the 1980s. Examining both phenomena, the dissertation explains how their ex-urban and suburban qualities corresponded with the granted spatial privileges, forming a geopolitical tool intended to domesticate the Green-Line. Subsequently, the dissertation concentrates on the mass suburbanisation of the 1990s and the financialisation of the 2000s. Examining both stages, this dissertation illustrates how the state asked to domesticate the frontier by turning it into a real estate market; directing investment while securing the developers’ profitability and rentability concerns. Observing these four stages, this dissertation examines the gradual privatisation of the settlement mechanism. Analysing the different settlement phenomena, this research explains how the transforming individual and corporate interests were manifested in the built environment. Eventually, enabling the continuation of the national geopolitical agenda by tying it to the rationale of the market; replacing the former monolithic state-led development by uniform and reproduced corporate-led projects.