Zionist Research Articles

"ЖИДІВСЬКА МІЛІЦІЯ" ЛЬВОВА ЯК ТРЕТЯ СТОРОНА "ЛЬВІВСЬКИХ БОЇВ" 1-21 ЛИСТОПАДА 1918 РОКУ МІЖ УКРАЇНСЬКИМИ ВІЙСЬКАМИ І ПОЛЬСЬКИМИ ФОРМУВАННЯМИ

The article is devoted to the activities of the militia created by the Jewish community of Lviv on November 1, 1918 after the proclamation of the independent Ukrainian state in this city. The aim of the militia, initiated by supporters of the Zionist movement, was to protect the Jewish community in Lviv from possible pogroms. Particular attention is paid to the military-political situation in Lviv in November 1918 and in the Eastern European region in general, which had a decisive influence on the establishment of the Jewish militia. Emphasised is also placed on the positive attitude of the Jewish community to the armed conflict between the army of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and Polish formations who denied the right of Ukrainians to their independent nation-state and who expressed their claims to Western Ukraine. It is emphasized that de jure declaring its neutrality in this conflict, the de facto Jewish militia were forced to take a direct part in this confrontation. This Jewish militia formation controlled a very large part of Lviv's quarters, which was objectively beneficial for both participants in the Ukrainian-Polish conflict. Militioners patrolled the streets, fought crime, and ensured public order. The article describes in detail the three groups that existed at that time in the Lviv Jewish community – Zionists, Orthodox and assimilators, and the main differences in their policies. In particular, in relation to other nations that lived in the western Ukrainian region – Ukrainians and Poles. Special emphasis is placed on the positive attitude of a large part of Lviv Jews to the Ukrainian government and the negative reaction to this commitment of chauvinistic Polish politicians and soldiers, who did not hide their anti-Semitism and demanded from Jews non-alternative loyalty to Poland. It is noted that the more favorable attitude of Lviv Jews to the Ukrainian authorities was the cause of the terrible Jewish pogrom committed by Polish forces after the Ukrainian army left Lviv on November 22, 1918.

Mainstream and Radicalism in American Zionism: The Avukah Affair, 1934–1945

Mainstream and Radicalism in American Zionism:The Avukah Affair, 1934–1945 Tal Elmaliach (bio) The American Zionist student organization Avukah embarked on a profound transformation in the mid-1930s. Avukah, founded in 1925, was the main representative of the Zionist movement on American campuses. In the years that followed, it metamorphosed from being apolitical, in the sense that it did not support or affiliate with any specific Zionist party or ideology, into a radical left movement that viewed the world through the lens of Marxist analysis, while critiquing American capitalism. It also supported a socialist and binational Jewish-Arab state in Palestine. This put the movement into conflict with both the American Zionist establishment and other groups of young Zionists. At the beginning of the 1940s, the conflict grew more acute, and its adversaries demanded that Avukah disband. They refused to have any connection with it and, in 1943, the Zionist leadership established a new student organization in its place. Avukah carried on for another two years without support from the Zionist establishment, finally disintegrating in 1945. Avukah's story is not well known, and so far, no coherent account of its path to radicalism and oblivion has been written. That is not to say that its history has not been told—indeed it has, at times in great detail, in a number of works that have focused on subjects indirectly connected to it.1 But these works contradict each other. Some take no account of Avukah's radicalization, while others recount it while disagreeing about [End Page 343] its causes and its manifestations. Neither is there any consensus about how and whether its radicalization contributed to its demise. Furthermore, the case of Avukah does not fit easily into the larger historical context, either that of young Jews around the world during that same period or that of American Zionism. In fact, the study of the Zionist movement has addressed other instances in which the mainstream grappled with groups of young people who underwent left-wing radicalization (mostly, like Avukah, in the 1930s).2 But Avukah's case is different. The left-wing radicalization that took place simultaneously in Europe and in the Yishuv—the Jewish community in Palestine—consisted largely of cases of young Zionist leftists who shifted into anti-Zionist movements. For the most part, they adopted communism and idolized the Soviet Union, which led to them being condemned by mainstream Zionism. Avukah, in contrast, was firmly anti-Bolshevik, and remained Zionist throughout its existence. It thus does not fit into the common model of the leftward turn as it appears in Zionist historiography of Europe and Palestine. That begs a question: Was American Zionism different in this regard? When Avukah's story is examined in relation to the conventions of historical writing on American Zionism, it challenges the existing research. These works depict the movement in the United States as having American liberal-progressive characteristics, currently referred to as "General Zionism" in Zionist politics.3 As Rafael Medoff has written, "After all, most American Zionists were 'stam Zionists.' They were convinced of the need for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but not wedded to any particular vision of that homeland's future economic, social, or religious contours."4 [End Page 344] On the face of it, Avukah seems simply to have adopted the views of the socialist wing of American Zionism, which included established organizations such as the avowedly Marxist Poale Zion and the Hashomer Hatza'ir youth movement.5 But that view is problematic for several reasons. First, socialist Zionism did not have much influence in the United States, and during the period in question, its youth wings were riven by internal conflict and had little capacity for recruiting new members.6 It was thus unreasonable to expect that this wing could incorporate all Zionist activity on US campuses. Second, by the mid-1930s, Poale Zion had become relatively moderate in its social views, and was largely a Palestine-centered group that focused on the settlement of that country.7 Hashomer Hatza'ir was more radical, and indeed maintained relations with Avukah on that basis, but differed from it in that it explicitly sympathized with the...

Remember to be Jewish: Religious Populism in Israel

AbstractThe paper explores the relation between religion and populism in Israel. Jewish identity has been an important marker of citizenship and belonging in Israel since its inception. The founders of the Zionist movement and the dominant elites of early statehood remained dependent upon Jewish religion to demarcate national boundaries and legitimate territorial claims. With the establishment of the state, Jewish identity helped create and legitimate a segmented citizenship regime that secured privilege for Jews. Gradually, and especially in the past two decades, Jewishness became more contested, demarcating not only Jews from non-Jews but also “authentic” Jews from allegedly “cosmopolitan elites,” thus becoming part of populist politics, central to Israeli politics. The complex relation between religion and populism in Israel is demonstrated by the development of two populist parties; an “inclusive” one (Shas) and an “exclusionary” one (Likud). The study of the two parties shows the role of religious identities, tropes, and symbols in boundary-making and political strategies. In Israel, religion functions both as the positive content of the political community (the ethnos––the Jewish people—is conflated with the demos) and the demands for inclusion; and as the marker of a threat (non-Jewish citizens, asylum seekers, and allegedly disloyal secular elites).

Symbolic Goods in Israeli Posters

"This article deals with symbolic goods in posters in Israel from the period before the establishment of the state to the present day. The poster and the symbolic goods that appear in it, serve as an agent of ideological companies. In this study, I will examine the nature of the relationship between the symbolic goods and the Zionist-Israeli ideology, by comparing the symbolic goods represented in them over time and space. The questions the research asks are: What are the contribution and importance of symbolic goods as an ideological tool in Israeli posters? Has the world of symbolic goods that served Zionist ideology origin or been borrowed from other ideologies? The methodology is Qualitative research by: study case, Visual – genealogical. The conclusions of the study indicate the importance of the symbolic goods in the foundation of the State of Israel by posters and other media. The symbolic goods that characterize the posters in Israel, consist in part of content related to Jewish tradition and religion (Bible stories and myths) and its other part is influenced by the symbolic goods appropriated from ideologies around the globe. Keywords: Symbolic Goods, Posters, Marketing, Ideology, Zionist Movement, Israel. "

British Policy in Palestine: Interests versus Reality (1917-1922)

The period between the publication of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and League of Nations mandates official assignment to Great Britain in 1922 was not lengthy, but highly eventful. All this time England was maneuvring between the Jewish and the Arab national movements, which also gradually formed their own demands and objectives. The problem was, pursuing British interests was possible through maneuvring only, as support of just one local force was not quite strategically advantageous. Britains official commitment to the Balfour Declaration remained at the core of its policy, however it could not completely ignore the demands of the Arab polutaion of Palestine. Although there were quite a number of British administrators and imperial politicians, who were sympathetic towards the Zionist cause and thus were ready to meet their requests to a certain extent, adherence to the British Middle East interests remained crucial to them. The idea of a Jewish national home (not a state, though) in Palestine did not come into contradiction with the general policy of Great Britain in the Middle East: it was rather its integral part. At the same time implementing the Zionist project had to be in line with it: any relatively radical (from the British administrators point of view) proposals were rejected or postponed indefinitely. Towards the Arabs of Palestine Great Britain was conducting mainly declarative policy without any serious consideration of their problems and grievances, although trying to appease their demands to a certain extent. Even the Arab riots of 1920 and 1921 did not cause a serious change in the British political course in Palestine, although they did contribute to the emergence of Churchills White Paper in 1922, declaring certain concessions to the Arab national movement, which never accepted the document. At the same time British policy in general was neither pro-Zionist, nor pro-Arab: England was pursuing its long-term strategic goals in the Middle East, skillfully utilizing Zionist and Arab national movements to achieve them.

Debating the “Jewish Question” in Tunisia

In Tunisia, the end of World War I and the return of Muslims and European settlers from the front brought attacks against local Jews who had been exempt from conscription under French colonial rule. French commentators spoke of a “Jewish question” fueled by Muslim fanaticism and Jewish profiteering, obscuring their own divisive attitudes and policies. Colonial archives and the popular press, however, reveal that this was far from a monolithic sectarian concern. Jews responded to violence with a variety of transnational political visions. I explore how some Jews reaffirmed their loyalty to France, while others highlighted colonial hypocrisies. Others turned to solutions such as US protection or the Zionist movement. This Tunisian story, with its unique colonial arrangement and legal ambiguities, foregrounds an oft-overlooked North African perspective on the global questions of identity, nationalisms, and minority politics at the end of World War I.

Haderech lekaf-tet b'November: Parashat UNSCOP vereshit meoravuto shel ha'um basichsuch ha'Aravi-Israeli (The road to partition: UNSCOP and the beginning of United Nations involvement in the Israel-Arab conflict)

Haderech lekaf-tet b'November: Parashat UNSCOP vereshit meoravuto shel ha'um basichsuch ha'Aravi-Israeli (The road to partition: UNSCOP and the beginning of United Nations involvement in the Israel-Arab conflict)

Review of Uri Bialer, <em>Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone</em>

Review of Uri Bialer, Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone Daniel C. Kurtzer (bio) Keywords Israel, foreign policy, Zionism “Israel has no foreign policy, only a defense policy with international implications.” —Moshe Dayan “Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics.” —Henry Kissinger In the relatively few studies of Israel’s foreign policy conducted to date, much has been made of the centrality of domestic politics and national security concerns as driving forces. Why this should seem strange is a mystery, for the same could be said of almost every country: the centrality of securing the state and the degree to which domestic politics have an impact on what a state does are self-evident. Why, then, do the same characteristics appear to be more important when applied to Israel? There are at least three reasons why Israel’s pursuit of its national interests abroad may seem different from that of other countries. First and foremost, Israel has since 1948, and indeed even earlier, defined itself as a state under constant threat of extinction. The Zionist struggle for legitimacy during the British Mandate was marked by periodic mini-wars with the Palestinian Arabs who sought to destroy the Zionist movement and expel those who, in their view, had dispossessed them from their land. Immediately after the United Nations decision to support the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine, the Zionists faced war, first [End Page 95] from their Palestinian neighbors and then, after Israel’s declaration of independence, from five Arab nations. Arab enmity toward the very existence of Israel has been a constant feature in Israeli thinking and policymaking. The persistent fear that the next Holocaust is just around the corner cannot be dismissed lightly. To be sure, Israel has become the dominant military power in the region, and its economic strength is unchallenged. The gap is undoubtedly growing, given Israel’s world-class high technology sector. These strengths, however, are offset by a pervasive sense of existential concern. It is therefore unsurprising that security concerns not only dominate Israeli thinking but also inform virtually all aspects of its foreign relations. A second factor explaining the dominating role of security in the formulation and execution of Israeli foreign policy is the weakness of Israel’s foreign ministry and the degree to which Israel’s intelligence agencies have played an outsized role in conducting Israeli relations abroad. Even a cursory Google search of books on the subject reveals a preponderance of titles related to the activities of the Mossad, and a paucity of titles assessing the role of the foreign ministry. Israel has had some very professional and astute diplomats, but their impact on Israeli policy formulation and implementation has been far less prominent than that of their intelligence counterparts. No single volume can address this anomaly or correct the record with regard to how Israeli foreign policy is developed and executed. A good place to start, however, is Uri Bialer’s overview of Israeli foreign policy, a single address for the student and layperson interested in the history, dynamics and challenges of Israel’s efforts to secure its place among the family of nations. Bialer, a well-respected scholar, has drawn his information primarily from secondary sources, and he has integrated a vast amount of material in a readable volume that brings the story primarily into the 1990s, that is, the latest years accessible to historians in Israel’s classified archives. In his examination of the broad sweep of Israel’s national interests and policies, Bialer addresses a number of subjects that have long deserved analysis. For example, he devotes an early chapter to the diplomacy of the Yishuv, the community of Zionist and non-Zionist Jews who populated Palestine during the British Mandate. A substantial number of scholarly and popular books and articles have been published on daily life, Jewish immigration and land purchases, Zionist efforts to organize a government-in-waiting, origins of the Israeli army, and the like. Diplomacy has been a largely neglected topic, notwithstanding the prodigious efforts of such notables as Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion to navigate the halls [End Page...

Competing Administrations in Palestine: Imperial Power and Settler Regimes in the British Empire

This paper investigates the similarities between the British experiences with settlers in other instances of colonisation, and mandatory Palestine. It addresses the extent to which British officials were aware of, and understood the aims, intentions, and methods of the Zionist movement, as well as the consequences for the indigenous population. Utilising primarily British documents from the mandatory period, and the literature on settler-colonialism, this paper will address a gap in research on the imperial responsibility, and role in, the mandate's development. This examines the knowledge and intent of the British in the settler-colonial context, and British imperial history.

The Apartheid System in the Israeli and South African Experiences

The apartheid system prevailed in South Africa in 1948. The natives of the land were segregated into ethnic groups in certain locations known as the Bantustan. According to apartheid laws, each ethic group, whether white or black in skin, is only liable to inhabit a certain region. However, the white have the right of mobilization while the Black are imprisoned in their selected areas. Such discrimination alludes to the one which is established by Israel to discriminate between the Palestinian Muslims and Christians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and other occupied lands. Such racial discrimination is deeply rooted in the Jewish rationale. Sephardim and Ashkenazim, i.e. western or eastern Jews serve as a good example on this issue. The Western Jews look down upon their Eastern peers as being inferior by all means. The Zionist movement whose members are originally from the west have instigated this inequality and prejudice against their Eastern peers. Keywords: Apartheid, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Zionist Movement, Bantustan.

Janusz Korczak’s visits to Palestine in 1934 and 1936

ABSTRACT Janusz Korczak is known for his pedagogical methods and for the fate he suffered in the Warsaw Ghetto. We are less familiar with his interest in the image of the ‘New Jew’ and the Zionist movement of his time. This article attempts to introduce unknown ties that Korczak created with the collective settlement in Mandatory Palestine, and to shed light on his two visits at the kibbutz where he stayed, in 1934 and 1936. The article uses, among other sources, interviews with several of Korczak’s orphans who survived, and with those who accompanied him on his visit.

Эмигранты-субботники из Астраханской губернии в исторической памяти современного Израиля и России: восприятие и интерпретация

В статье определены особенности восприятия и интерпретации наследия эмигрантов-субботников из Астраханской губернии в исторической памяти наших современников, проживающих в Израиле и России. Применены идеографический, сравнительно-исторический и ретроспективный методы, а также метод опроса. Материалами явились статьи православных миссионеров XIX в., современные научные исследования, записи и комментарии в сетевых дневниках и результаты проведенного автором интернет-опроса. Реконструирована биография одного из пионеров движения халуцим, Йоава Дубровина, выявлены различные аспекты восприятия его личности нашими современниками, охарактеризована степень известности И. Дубровина в современном Израиле и среди членов еврейской общины Астрахани, определено его значение в создании образа первопроходцев и в современном культурном наследии страны. Автор заключает, что имя Дубровина и других иудействующих не известно большинству респондентов, однако отмечен интерес к «халуцим с русским лицом». The aim of the article is to determine the peculiarities of the perception and interpretation of the heritage of the Subbotnik emigrants from Astrakhan Province in the historical memory of our contemporaries living in Israel and Russia. The author used the ideographic (descriptive-narrative), comparative-historical, and retrospective methods, as well as the survey method in the study. The materials were articles by 19th-century Orthodox missionaries; research by historians, religious scholars, and culturologists; the content of online blogs on the livejournal.com platform; and the results of an Internet survey that the author conducted. The author examines the factual record of the emergence and data on the settlement of sectarians in Astrakhan Province and analyzes the attitude of provincial officials and eparchy missionaries towards them. She does a detailed analysis of the manifestations of religious identity among the Judaizers, pointing out the generally calm attitude of the latter towards the professed teaching. The author also determines the circumstances of the spread of eschatological and émigré aspirations among them in the 1880s against the background of the nascent Zionist movement and notes the emergence of individuals who were active conductors of these ideas. In modern Israeli culture, the carriers of such sentiments (“grassroot Zionism”) appear to be outstanding people who stand out from among their contemporaries by the very fact of their involvement in Judaism. The author reconstructs the biography of one of such people, Yoav Dubrovin. He became one of the first participants in the movement of Halutzim, pioneers of the development and settlement of the future territory of the State of Israel. Already in old age, he emigrated to the Promised Land with his family. The author describes the difficulties the migrants encountered, which led to the death of many family members, as well as to the subsequent resettlement of the remaining Dubrovins to a new place of residence. At present, a museum is located in the former estate of the Dubrovins. The author reveals the various aspects of the perception of Dubrovin by today’s contemporaries, characterizes the degree of his popularity in modern Israel and among members of the Jewish community of Astrakhan, determines his role in creating the image of pioneers and in the modern cultural heritage of Israel. The author concludes that the majority of the respondents do not know the names of Dubrovin and of other Judaizers, but they show interest in “Halutzim with a Russian face”.

Gendered Violence: Jewish Women in the Pogroms of 1917 to 1921 by Irina Astashkevich

Reviewed by: Gendered Violence: Jewish Women in the Pogroms of 1917 to 1921 by Irina Astashkevich Leona Toker Gendered Violence: Jewish Women in the Pogroms of 1917 to 1921. By Irina Astashkevich. Brookline, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2018. 170 pages. $35.00 (paper). From the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917 to the end of the Civil War in 1921, Ukraine was ravaged by an array of angry and usually undersupplied belligerents: the Ukrainian National Army that sought the independence of Ukraine; the Red Army; the anti-revolutionary White Volunteer Army and its allied Cossack forces; the Polish Army; and anarchist gangs like those of Petliura and Makhno, forming and changing alliances. Cities and small towns, the latter containing a large percentage of Jewish artisans, traders, and educational and medical professionals, were captured and recaptured, passing from one military force to another. Most of the changes of power were accompanied by pogroms. Irina Astashkevich's Gender Violence, based on the study of archival materials, is devoted to the inevitable feature of those pogroms—the mass rape of Jewish women. This specific issue has been understudied. The exact number of rape victims is not known—it was often a matter of hundreds in each specific location, and the locations were numerous. There are few recorded testimonies by surviving victims of rape—the phenomenon was mainly reported by male witnesses of the pogroms. "For obvious reasons" is a quoted phrase that recurs throughout the book: unbearable trauma, dishonor, cognitive dissonance (and, one might add, perhaps an unwillingness to verbalize the unthinkable and thus make it thinkable) prevented women from admitting, much less narrating, the sexual violence perpetrated on them. Judging by the women's narratives referred to in the book, the raped woman is usually another woman, whereas the speaker herself evades the issue by shifting the audience's attention to plunder of property, or presents herself as having had a lucky escape, or leaves lacunas in her narrative: "[t]hese stories," writes Irina Astashkevich, "are not merely evidence of traumatic experience, but rather are part of it" (90). She also points to the fact that rape survivors had no literary stencil to use for shaping their narratives. [End Page 403] It is also mainly from narratives of Jewish men that one learns about the outcomes of gang rape: venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancies, death after home-abortions, suicide attempts (often successful), and departure, with no return, from the scene of suffering. Some victims were mutilated or tormented with such sadistic intensity that they did not survive the rape. The study records two main waves of pogroms and mass rapes, one in 1918 and a much more intense one, especially because of the participation of the Cossacks, in 1919, when the Jewish community must have had too little time to recover from prior assaults, and there may have been less to loot. According to Astashkevich, the latter wave was practically genocidal. In addition to satisfying the basest instincts of the soldiers and other militants, rape targeted the honor and very life of Jewish communities. The book thus inscribes itself into the context of current studies of rape as a weapon of war, in which rapists deal a blow to the "social vitality" (xix) of the targeted community from which it can hardly recover. Gang rapes were often perpetrated in public, with Jewish men, prominently including family members of the victims, forced to watch and remain ashamed and humiliated for life. Through public gang rape the conquerors asserted their power and superiority by dehumanizing the Jewish victims (xiii) and reinforcing their own virile "bonding and camaraderie" (59)—the book notes that the rapes were mostly vaginal and cases of homosexual rape were unknown. Whereas the pogroms of the 1880s helped stimulate the Zionist movement, further reinforced by the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903, no Jewish attempts to actively resist the aggression are dealt with beyond noting that "Jewish self-defense units could not curb the violence and often became its first victims" (18). Astashkevich refers to Hayim Nahman Bialik's poem "In the City of Slaughter," written upon the poet's visit of inspection to Kishinev but does not mention the Zionist implications of...

Far Apart and Close Together: Fritz Haber and Chaim Weizmann

AbstractFritz Haber (1868–1934) and Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952) were both prominent German‐speaking Jewish chemists with rather divergent views on Jewish assimilation and Zionism that only converged upon the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany. While Haber converted to Protestantism and followed the calling of a German patriot during World War One and the turmoil of the Weimar Republic, Weizmann became the leader of the Zionist movement whose efforts led to the founding of Jewish academic institutions in British Mandate Palestine and eventually to the creation of the State of Israel. Weizmann won the support of the British political establishment for the Zionist cause through his invaluable services to the British military as a chemist during World War One. Guided by the timeline of their encounters as well as their mutual correspondence, we trace the ever‐closer relationship between these two towering figures of the 20th century. Had it not been for his ill health, Haber would have likely assumed a leading position at what is today the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot as well as played a direct role in shaping other academic institutions, including The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the future State of Israel.

Jewish religious texts and the historical reality of the Temple

إن قضية بيت المقدس من أهم القضايا التي قامت عليها حروب وصراعات وسياسات دول؛ وتظهر لنا ثنائية الصراع من خلال وجود بناء حالي متمثلا في المسجد الأقصى، مع وجود نظرية أو أسطورة تقابله، تمثلت في معبد مقدس (هيكل سليمان) تتبانها بعض الفرق اليهودية المتطرفة، يسعى أصحابها إلى إثبات وجود تلك الأسطورة، فوجب دراسة الأسطورة من حيث نصوصها ومدى مصداقيتها، للوصول إلى حقائق يقبلها البحث العلمي المجرد، وتخضع للقوانين البحثية المقبولة. بمعنى يجب أن تكون الدارسة منهجية بتعاطي النظرية اليهودية المتطرفة، القائمة على الأخذ بالنصوص الدينية المؤسسة للنظرية السياسية داخل الكيان الصهيوني وخارجه؛ فوجب الخروج بتصور حقيقي لتلك النصوص الدينية، ومدى صحة انطباقها على الحقائق التاريخية؛ فهذه النظرية أو هذه الأسطورة هي محط نزاع بين الطوائف اليهودية نفسها، بين من يتبناها من الطوائف المتشددة والأحزاب السياسية في الكيان الصهيوني، ومَنْ يخالفها من الطوائف اليهودية الأخرى؛ ليقف اليمن المسيحي المتطرف كقوى ضغط مؤيدة على سياسات الدول في أمريكا وأروبا؛ وفي المقابل تقف وجهة نظر إسلامية تخالف تلك النظريات اليمينة المتطرفة، تقوم على نظرية يؤيدها بناء قائم على أرض الواقع -المسجد الأقصى- ويصدقها تاريخ حقيقي ووثائق قانونية وتاريخية ودينية؛ فوجب تفكيك وجهة النظر الصهيونية ودراستها من خلال هذا البحث، للوصول إلى تصورات ونتائج.

On Palestinian Yiddish and Ashkenazi Arabic in 18-19 century Palestine: a language-oriented new look on Jewish-Arab relations

ABSTRACT This article aims to shed light on two principle subjects relating to language and culture in the Jewish community in Palestine before the rise of Zionism. First, it attempts to describe and to deepen our understanding of the Yiddish of the Ashkenazi community spoken in Historical Palestine in the 18th and 19th centuries. This dialect of Yiddish, referred to in this article as ‘Palestinian Yiddish’, was permeated with Arabic influences. Secondly, and in conjunction with addressing this dialect, the article explores various facets of the knowledge of Arabic among the Ashkenazi community in the country. In this respect, it highlights that the increased knowledge of Arabic in the Ashkenazi community indicates not only acquaintance with the language itself, but also encompasses broader insights about the relations between the Ashkenazi community and the Arab-Palestinian people which challenges the traditional research on the topic. Based on socio-linguistic analysis, as well as inslights from language contact and language and society, this article claims that the language parameter can highlight the social and political routes in which the Ashkenazi Palestinian community was paving, including those of acclimation, integration and being part of the general hegemonic Arab culture. As I argue, this is not unconnected to Zionism’s strenuous recoil from both of these languages—Yiddish and Arabic. ‘Palestinian Yiddish’ and ‘Ashkenazi Arabic’, therefore, jointly reveal a period as it once was and is no more: language skills and social relations that posed a threat to separatist practices that were to be pushed forward by the Zionist movement.

The Water Project of the Israeli Middle East Channel and its Geopolitical Repercussions on Arab Water Security

Jordan and Israel agreed on the establishment of a water navigation project linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The agreement included in the light of the peace agreement between them in 1994. The project is the largest economic cooperation between the Zionist entity and Jordan in decades and a huge project represented in the establishment of a water link with a length of two hundred kilometers between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the earth. They have already signed an official agreement. The cost of the project may reach eleven billion dollars, with a clear and influential presence of the World Bank and the United States as sponsors of the agreement and donors among the countries funding the project. Israel gave Jordan an incentive to sign represented by fifty million cubic meters of water annually provided by Tel Aviv to Amman from the Sea of ​​Galilee.

Failure That Matters: Two Abortive Agreements and the Dynamics of Orthodox Jewish Politics on the Eve of World War II

Agudat Yisrael and the religious Zionist movement (Mizrachi) were the two largest and most influential political organizations of Orthodox Jewry during the first half of the twentieth century. Competing for the support of observant Jews, the two movements were enmeshed in bitter ideological and political struggles. Nevertheless, due to the dire situation of European and Palestine Jewries their political representatives met during the late 1930s in Paris and London in order to negotiate possible avenues of cooperation. While these endeavors were unprecedented in the history of the two movements, they eventually failed. Due to their failure, earlier scholarship has dismissed these efforts as a “lost opportunity” for Orthodox Judaism and blamed Agudists for their unwillingness to overcome long-standing rivalries and ideological reservations. This article, in contrast, perceives the negotiations of 1938–1939 as an important window into intra-Orthodox dynamics during the first half of the twentieth century. Rather than stressing the difficulties of overcoming ideological barriers and the failures of non-Zionist Orthodoxy to adapt to the challenges of the modern age, the article argues that it was a careful weighing of political gains and risks on both sides that dominated the negotiations and determined their outcome. The insights gained from this close analysis of intra-Orthodox relations are of significance beyond the question of party politics, as the two rivals were not only influential political movements, but ultimately came to shape the social, cultural, and political realities of traditionalist Jewry in the State of Israel during its early years and well beyond.

A European Enlightenment in the Promised Land? The Jewish Kulturkampf at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

ABSTRACT This article discusses the European Kulturkampf in the nineteenth century from the points of view of the Russian Hebrew writer Judah Leib Gordon and the founding father of the Zionist movement Theodor Herzl. Gordon’s literary outlook emphasizes the tension between the traditional Jewish religious leadership and the maskilim as an instance of the sweeping all-European Kulturkampf phenomenon, in which the problem of the rabbis was the last issue that had not yet been solved. He believed that the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel, without the elimination of the rabbis’ authority, carried serious dangers. In his dystopian feuilleton published in 1885 depicting the future Jewish state, he argued that the victory of liberalism was a historical necessity in order to avoid a radical orthodox and nationalistic hegemony. Like Gordon before him, Herzl feared that losing the basic humanistic principles of the Enlightenment the Jews had acquired in Europe would be one of the outcomes of their settling in the Land of Israel. In his 1902 utopian novel Altneuland he declared: “Stand by the principles that have made us great: Liberalism, Tolerance, Love of Mankind. Only then will Zion be truly Zion.” Gordon and Herzl both expressed their concerns in their fictional works, probably wishing that these would serve only as warning signs.

Reflections of Cultural and Intellectual Resistance in Samih al-Qasim poetry

Resistance is a vital part of contemporary Arab poetry. It can be said that resistance is not any more limited to military resistance; however, the 1980s and 1990s witnessd another type of resistance which can be referred to as cultural resistance. This type of resistance manifests itself in defending history, ethnic and national identity and civilization, raising awareness about the importance of resistance among Palestinian people. Samih Al-Qasim, a contemporary Palestinian poet, is one of the pioneers in the field of cultural resistance. He has devoted himself to the issue of national and ethnic identity, which the Zionist regime seeks to eliminate so that Palestinian people live in cultural, intellectual, and historical isolation. Al-Qasim believes in the power of words functioning socially and intellectually to raise awareness and effect change. The present study which is based on a descriptive-analytical approach investigates the features of cultural and intellectual resistance in Samih Al-Qasim’s poetry. It concludes that defending national, regional, and universal identity, resisting ignorance and treachery, condemning social classes, clinging to Islamic history, defending Arabic, and promoting some Islamic and Arab history all of which are part of Al-Qasim’s poetry. These aspects represent cultural resistance in the poety of Samih AlQasim. Keywords: contemporary Palestinian poetry, resisance, thought and culture, identity and belonging.