American Jewish Public Activity: Identity, Demography, and the Institutional Challenge
Jews in America have been known to be, in Earl Raab’s felicitous phrase, "politically hyperactive." Yet today, the most fundamental indicators of Jewish support — membership, participation, and contributions — are on the wane for most of the organizations which have been in the forefront of Jewish activity in the public square in recent decades.
Have the Palestinians Abandoned a Negotiated Settlement?
Tremendous intellectual energies have recently been expended in trying to ascertain why PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat refused President Clinton’s proposals for Israeli concessions at Camp David and in subsequent negotiations.
Occupied Territories or Disputed Territories?
Last month’s Palestinian draft resolution at the UN Security Council again described the West Bank and Gaza Strip as “occupied Palestinian territories.” References to Israel’s “foreign occupation” also appear in the Durban Draft Declaration of the UN World Conference Against Racism. This language was not just chosen for rhetorical purposes but in order to invoke specific legal claims: For example, Palestinian insistence on using the term “occupied territories” is usually connected to the assertion that they fall under the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. Yet, Palestinian spokesmen also speak about Israeli military action in Area A as an infringement on Palestinian sovereignty: If Israel “invaded Palestinian territories,” then they cannot be regarded as “occupied”; however, if the territories are defined as “occupied,” Israel cannot be “invading” them.
Russian Policy Toward the Middle East Under Yeltsin and Putin
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main successor state, Russia, emerged in a greatly weakened geopolitical position. Complicating Russia’s problems was a politically weak and often physically sick President Boris Yeltsin. Concerned about its "soft underbelly" in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, regions that were threatened by radical Islam, Moscow focused its Middle East efforts on Turkey and Iran, both of which had a considerable amount of influence in the two regions.
Journalistic License: Professional Standards in the Print Media’s Coverage of Israel
On May 15, 2001, the Associated Press circulated an article covering Arafat’s Al-Naqba speech, marking the day Palestinians recall the "catastrophe" of the creation of the State of Israel. The article boasted direct quotations of the Palestinian leader’s statements.
Why Israel Rejects “Observers”
In the midst of an already crumbling cease-fire, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell dropped what to Israeli ears was a bombshell. Standing next to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat after their June 2001 meeting in Ramallah, Powell said, "I think as we get into the confidence-building phase there will be a need for monitors and observers to…make an independent observation of what has happened."
The Failure of UN Forces in Srebrenica
In the UN safe area of Srebrenica, 6-8,000 Bosnian Moslems were murdered in July 1995 by the Bosnian Serbs, making it the largest civilian massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. The United Nations leaders, those of their peace-keeping forces, and the Dutch government had known for some time that the enclave was not defensible and had not taken adequate protective measures.
Israel Looks Over the Horizon: Responding to the Threats of Weapons Proliferation
The wave of Palestinian violence and terrorism that began at the end of September 2000 led to a widespread tendency to focus exclusively on Israeli-Palestinian political and security relationships. This narrow concentration of attention is potentially misleading and obscures the fundamental security threats that Israel is facing at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
“Aid for Peace” — An Exhausted Paradigm?
At present, there are no substantive Arab-Israeli peace negotiations underway. Israel has had to contend with the ongoing armed offensive launched by the Palestinians in late September 2000 after the failure of the Camp David summit.
Anti-Semitism Revived: The Impact of the Intifada on Muslim Immigrant Groups in Western Democracies
Since the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in the Middle East in late September 2000, an almost simultaneous wave of violent anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment has accompanied it in the Western democracies, initiated and executed mainly by locally nationalized Arab or Muslim immigrants, long established or recent arrivals, legal or illegal.
Untenable Linkages: Tying a Cessation of Palestinian Violence to an Israeli Settlement Freeze
Israel has been increasingly facing new diplomatic initiatives that, in effect, call for a freeze in Israeli settlement activity in exchange for a cessation of the eight-month-old, low-scale warfare on the part of the PLO, which the Palestinians call the Al-Aqsa Intifada. This new linkage has arisen in two distinct forms.
The Sovereign Self: Jewish Identity in Post-Modern America
I remember at my bat mitzvah having a thought, a prayer, and saying: Let me never leave this. I also remember being surprised, because that was a time when I couldn’t imagine Judaism not being important to me–it was almost like knowing what was coming. I remember thinking it and being surprised I was thinking it.
The Sovereign Self: Jewish Identity in Post-Modern America
I remember at my bat mitzvah having a thought, a prayer, and saying: Let me never leave this. I also remember being surprised, because that was a time when I couldn’t imagine Judaism not being important to me–it was almost like knowing what was coming. I remember thinking it and being surprised I was thinking it.
–Molly
Civilizational, Religious, and National Explanations for Ethnic Rebellion in the Post-Cold War Middle East
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL RIGHTS: JERUSALEM’S ACADEMIC COMMUNITY IN THE ERA OF STATE-BUILDING
This essay focuses on a comparative analysis of the contribution of Jerusalem’s academic community to the emergence of a civil society during the formative years of Israeli state-building. Although many of the prominent scholars were not only active participants in the Zionist movement, but after their emigration to Palestine became personally dependent on the political success of the Zionist project, their loyalty to the political leadership of the Yishuv and the state was limited by their sense of truth and
justice. In what was, at the time, a very etatist society, Israeli scholars maintained the principles of political freedom, and contributed a great deal to the advancement of the ideals of civil rights (especially with respect to recognition of the personal and collective rights of the Arab minority), and to the development of a critically-oriented public)
