Israeli Identity in Transition - (Praeger Jewish and Israeli Studies) by Anita Shapira (Hardcover)

About the Book

The last 15 years have witnessed deep changes in Israeli society. The naive solidarity of the early years of statehood has given way to more sophisticated approaches, and the atmosphere of the 1990s was conducive towards critique and open discussion. It was the age of the Oslo Accords, of the large wave of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, economic growth and prosperity, and a concurrent feeling of security and well-being. Israel was fast becoming a postcapitalist society, a junior member of the global village. This newly acquired self-assurance led to openness towards unorthodox views on basic questions of Israeli identity.

The new mood found expression in the cultural climate and in the public debates. The Zionist narrative in relation to the Palestinians; the early troubled absorption of immigrants from Islamic countries; the discrimination against the Arab Israeli minority; the delay in the 1950s in incorporating the memory of the Holocaust into collective memory; the Zionist attitude towards the Jewish Diaspora, all these were issues on the cultural and intellectual agenda, subjects of heated controversies. This book attempts to come to grips with these themes. The complex texture of Israeli society is drawn here by a number of hands, presenting up-to-date approaches, as viewed by experts.

Book Synopsis

The last 15 years have witnessed deep changes in Israeli society. The naive solidarity of the early years of statehood has given way to more sophisticated approaches, and the atmosphere of the 1990s was conducive towards critique and open discussion. It was the age of the Oslo Accords, of the large wave of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, economic growth and prosperity, and a concurrent feeling of security and well-being. Israel was fast becoming a postcapitalist society, a junior member of the global village. This newly acquired self-assurance led to openness towards unorthodox views on basic questions of Israeli identity.

The new mood found expression in the cultural climate and in the public debates. The Zionist narrative in relation to the Palestinians; the early troubled absorption of immigrants from Islamic countries; the discrimination against the Arab Israeli minority; the delay in the 1950s in incorporating the memory of the Holocaust into collective memory; the Zionist attitude towards the Jewish Diaspora, all these were issues on the cultural and intellectual agenda, subjects of heated controversies. This book attempts to come to grips with these themes. The complex texture of Israeli society is drawn here by a number of hands, presenting up-to-date approaches, as viewed by experts.

Review Quotes

?Every article is insightful, well reasoned, and supported. Many are innovative or at least offer a perspective not often expounded. The topics themselves suggest the richness of ideas about social identity: the new historiography, Arab-Jewish relations, "negating exile," the diaspora factor, the Holocaust, Judaism, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from "melting pot to multiculturalism," and globalization....Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.?-Choice

"Every article is insightful, well reasoned, and supported. Many are innovative or at least offer a perspective not often expounded. The topics themselves suggest the richness of ideas about social identity: the new historiography, Arab-Jewish relations, "negating exile," the diaspora factor, the Holocaust, Judaism, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from "melting pot to multiculturalism," and globalization....Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."-Choice

About the Author

ANITA SHAPIRA is Professor at Tel Aviv University. She specializes in modern and contemporary Jewish history, especially social and cultural history and questions of identity. She has published numerous books and articles on the history of Zionism and the Jewish community in Palestine. Her best known works are Berl Katznelson: A Biography of a Socialist Zionist and Land and Power: the Zionist Resort to Force, 1882-1948.