3,606 research outputs found
"Encystation": Containment and Control in Israeli Ideology and Practice
No full textThe radical closure of Gaza serves here as an extreme example of a process of
isolation and immiseration of national enemies that is deeply rooted in Israeli
ideology and practices of state formation. I use encystation to reveal the dual
meaning of the term—that of radical isolation of diseased elements and that of
protecting a fetus within a womb—and to show how the two meanings connect
with respective Israeli policies toward Palestinians and Jews. I suggest in closing
that the Oslo Accords have put in place mechanisms for the future imposition
on West Bank Palestinians of the same containment currently afflicting Gaz
Genre and identity in the work of David Grossman.
No full textDavid Grossman is a central figure in Israeli literature. Widely translated, his work has achieved international acclaim for its bold and innovative engagement in the events and mood of the day. In this study, the first monograph on his work in English, I focus on his process of constructing identity through storytelling. Key themes of identity---adolescence and parent-child relationships, sexuality and the body-soul dichotomy---are interwoven into diverse literary genres. My method is to examine the paradigms and significance of Grossman's literary genres, placing them in the context of Israeli and Western literature. I analyse his technique of manipulating traditional structural features of these genres to reveal the ambiguities and changing nature of identity. I show how he acknowledges his literary forefathers by his use of intertext to develop identity. I contend that Grossman's focus on the adolescent protagonist pinpoints a young person's confrontation with his inherited identity. I discuss The Book of Intimate Grammar as zntx-Bildungsroman, illustrating the instability experienced en route to a cogent sense of self and an accommodation with the adult world. Grossman breaks new ground in his seminal work of Holocaust fiction, See under: Love. Moving beyond the sphere of witness accounts and their consequent fiction, he uses a fragmented plot and complex narratives, revealing the impossibility of viewing the Holocaust as a single synchronic story, exposing the damaged identities that remain. In Be My Knife, his more recent epistolary novel, I find a shift in his construction of identity. Rhythms of internal and external languages combine in this exploration of sexuality and parenthood. I suggest that his narrative techniques of multiple voices and indeterminate endings enhance reader involvement. They are a call to share Grossman's enduring commitment to a "wide-hearted humanism". This credo involves creating an ethical identity of self-examination, facilitating the recognition of difference in self and others, as evidenced in his socio-political novel and essays. I highlight Grossman's artistry: his sensitivity to registers of language, expressing sociological aspects of Israeli life in the past decades. Ultimately, for Grossman, both the world and the "I" are but a narrative
Land and land conflict in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process:1990-1999
No full textThis thesis examines the importance of the debates and struggle over land in the Oslo Accord and immediately post-Oslo. It does this by first situating the conflict
over land in the historical context of the spread of Zionism from the 1880s, culminating in the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine in 1948. It then reviews and contrasts the policies on land and settlement of the Israeli Labour and Likud parties. The focus of the thesis is an assessment of Israeli settlement policy on the West Bank and Gaza-Strip after the Oslo Agreement of 1993. It examines the sequences of Israeli-Palestinian agreements that have divided Palestinian land into different categories and argues that these categories and the problems they have created have ignored the historical importance of land in the conflict between Israel
and Palestine.
The thesis argues that the classification of land is intended to further subjugate Palestine to the political and economic dominance of Israel, and that the
formulation for discussing land issues undermines the possibility for the establishment of a strong and economically independent Palestinian state. The thesis submits that the persistence of Israeli settlement policy and the manner of Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank has not encouraged the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to conduct a comprehensive land survey and registration
procedure. Moreover. Israeli strategy in the post-Oslo period has been to promote the cantonisation of Palestine to ensure that any future Palestinian state will remain
economically weak and politically disjointed
A study American - Israeli relations 1967 - 1973
No full textThe War of June 1967 proved to be instrumental in changing the perceptions of the principal protagonists in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and also the major powers outside the region. The pre-emptive strike launched by Israel on 6 June began a comprehensive defeat of the Arab states, and in just six days Israel increased her size threefold, incorporating large portions of Arab land into her territory. The changes that occurred can be briefly summed up as follows: Soviet influence within the Arab states increased with military advisers sent to Egypt and Syria in great numbers to help reconstruct the defeated armies (despite the fact that Soviet armaments had failed to avoid a convincing Israeli victory). Israel's confidence both i n her own strength and i n her ability to survive increased. The idea that Israel could act as a "strategic asset" became a firmly established tenet of American foreign policy. Ironically, relations between the Soviet Union and the Arab states, who backed them, were strengthened after the defeat inflicted by Israel. On a practical level, the Soviet Union embarked upon a massive programme of military and economic support for the Arab states, quickly replacing the amount of military hardware that had been lost in the war. The Soviet newspaper "Izvestia" suggested that the Arab states realised that only: "through reliance upon the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, can they abolish completely imperialist influence in the Middle East and achieve Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories"
Do High-Skill Immigrants Raise Productivity? Evidence from Israeli Manufacturing Firms, 1990-1999
No full textDuring the second part of the 1990s, the Israeli economy experienced a surge in labor productivity and total factor productivity, which was driven primarily by the manufacturing sector. This surge in productivity coincided with the full absorption and integration into the workforce of highly skilled immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The Soviet immigrants were disproportionately employed in manufacturing and, after an initial adjustment period, progressively moved into higher responsibility occupations where their skills could be put to use more efficiently. This has led some observers to comment that the high-skilled immigration wave was one of the main determinants for the fast growth of the Israeli economy in the 1990s. In this paper, I use a unique data set on Israeli manufacturing firms and investigate directly whether firms and industries with a higher concentration of immigrants experienced increases in productivity. The analysis shows that there is no correlation between immigrant concentration and productivity at the firm level in cross-sectional and pooled OLS regressions. First-differences estimates, which control for fixed unobserved differences between firms, reveal, if anything, a negative correlation between the change in output per worker and the change in the immigrant share. A more in-depth analysis reveals that the immigrant share was strongly negatively correlated with output and productivity in low-tech industries. In high-technology industries, the results tend to point to a positive relationship, hinting at complementarities between technology and the skilled immigrant workforce.immigration, productivity
Star of David Square
No full textModernist building with curved facade at the point of Allenby and Nachalat Binyamin (left) and a British Colonial building at Nachalat Binyamin and HaCarmel; A main public square, located in the heart of Tel Aviv, Israel at the intersection of King George, Sheinkin, the Carmel Market, Nahalat Binyamin, HaCarmel and Allenby Streets (first paved with concrete in 1914). The square is named so for the six different streets that cross it, contributing to its popularity with tourists and locals alike and making it one of the busiest squares in the city center. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 5/21/2013
The Arab Gulf countries and the Arab- Israeli conflict;: the linkages and dynamics (1970-2000)
No full textThis thesis examines the changing linkages and dynamics of the relationship between the Arab Gulf countries and the Arab-Israeli conflict through the period of 1970-2000. The Arab Gulf countries' level of involvement in supporting the Arabs and Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli conflict diminished throughout the period of study. The thesis explains this diminishing role by discussing the impact of the developments of international struggle for influence in the Gulf as well as the Israeli ambitions and relations to the Gulf region, largely expressed through the Israeli relationship with Iran under the Shah. The thesis shows that the years 1973, 1979 and 1990 formed important turning points for international influence in the region. These turning points influenced on the level of the Arab Gulf countries' involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Throughout the seventies, the Arab Gulf countries played an active role in supporting the Arab side in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The clearest expression of this support was the implementation of the oil embargo against the West during the October 1973 War. The eighties witnessed the birth of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the formation of which symbolized the emerging security challenges within the Gulf region. These security challenges represented by the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan exhausted most of the capabilities and efforts of the Arab Gulf countries. Their focus and attention shifted away from the Arab-Israeli conflict, in spite of the serious and dramatic developments in that conflict. The repercussions of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 resulted in a further diminishment of the role of the Arab Gulf countries in backing the Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Only after September 2000 and the beginning of the Second Palestinian Intifada did the Arab Gulf countries again play a vital role, by means of financial, political and media support. The thesis explains the linkages between security in the Gulf and the Arab- Israeli conflict. It examines the hypothesis that a reciprocal relationship explaining the level and type of Arab Gulf countries involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict has existed throughout the period of the study
The new world order and its impact on the Arab Israeli peace process (1991-1999)
No full textThis thesis examines the impact of the New World Order on the Arab-Israeli peace process. It argues that, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the old bipolar World Order has disappeared and a new unipolar one has emerged. The United States of America, as the only remaining single superpower, has enjoyed a great degree of influence and a kind of hegemony in international affairs. Its military superiority and economic, technological and diplomatic strength, in the absence of any competing power, have given it the upper hand to pursue its own policies and its own interests. This American unipolarity and hegemony are clearly demonstrated in the Middle East peace process. The United States' unipolarity on the international level and its hegemony on the regional level have allowed it to pursue policies to resolve the Arab- Israeli conflict. Regional states, released from the constraints or protection of the patron- client relationships fostered under the bi-polar Old World Order, have adjusted their own policies to take into account this New World Order. A neo-realist understanding of this has been developed which assesses this process in terms of international and regional balance of power and "rules of the game”. This method had been used to understand the reasons for and nature of the Arab- Israeli peace negotiations that started at Madrid in 1991 and developed in Oslo in 1993. The thesis argues that these negotiations were in fact a single process which was the direct result of this American-led New World Order. Whether through direct or indirect American involvement or through the indirect or direct acknowledgement by regional actors of the nature of the New World Order, American interests and preferences have been strongly reflected in the peace process
The Israeli labour party in opposition and in the national unity government, 1977-1992
No full textThe Israel Labour Party and its forerunner Mapai dominated both the pre-state Jewish organisations in Palestine and the early years of the state of Israel prior to 1977. This thesis covers the period between 1977 and 1992 which saw the party’s first electoral defeat (1977) and its eventual return to power (1992). It will argue that during this period the Labour Party was transformed from a dominant party with power (prior to 1977) to a dominant party without power (1977-1981). The years between 1981 and 1992 witnessed the development a more competitive party system in Israel with the Labour Party's status being transformed to that of a non- dominant party either without power (1981-1984 and 1990-1992) or with a share of power during the National Unity Government years (1984-1990).A central theme of the thesis is the continuing "conditioning effects" of the period of dominance in shaping the Labour Party's development, even after it was no longer considered to be a dominant party. This was also in part related to the problem of defining political power in Israel as the Labour Party after its defeat in the parliamentary election in 1977 continued to enjoy a high degree of penetration into the everyday life of the population through its continued control of key institutions in Israel. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the period prior to 1977 and examines the development of the labour movement within the dynamic Israeli society as well as the Labour's Party's (Mapai's) relationship with the Israeli political system. In addition, it analyses the existing frameworks for explaining the decline of the Labour Party which was illustrated by its election defeat in 1977. The second part examines the developments of the party between 1977 and 1992 and is divided into historical periods which cover the various changes of government
Justificational narratives : what is the role of fear in Israeli narratives of war?
No full textBibliography: leaves 90-92.The body of this thesis contains two main parts. The first (section 3) is a critical linguistic analysis of a selection of political speeches (which I have called 'policy narratives') delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the period February 2002 - October 2003. I have sought, with reference to Aristotle and other writers on persuasion, to delineate the rhetorical devices employed by Sharon and his speechwriters, and to demonstrate that one of their most important functions is to contribute to and enhance the overall climate of fear among the Israeli people, for the furtherance of Sharon's own political goals. I focus primarily on the speeches surrounding and leading up to the March 2002 announcement of 'Operation Defensive Shield', which was described by Palestinians and international aid workers as the harshest military assault on the WBGS since the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war. After examining the policy narratives I provide another representation of the 'reality on the ground' experienced by the Palestinian population at the receiving end of Sharon's 'operations'. The second (section 4) is a linguistic analysis of the 'narrative of personal experience' of a civilian reservist - Moshe Nissim - who was recruited in April 2002, at the height of 'Defensive Shield', to drive a D-9 bulldozer through the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp. Nissim, who seems motivated by his own personal fears and failures, apparently sees in Jenin the long-awaited opportunity to redeem himself. Although he does not appear to have been inspired by the arguments and themes of Sharon's narratives, the overall atmosphere of fear and hatred that is legitimised and given weight by Sharon in his speeches, sets the stage for Nissim to act on his darkest urges and later to be considered by himself and others as a hero for having done so. I contend that Israeli right wing hegemony both feeds and is fed by fear
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