Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy and the State. . - Reviews - book review

Contemporary Review, June, 2002

Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy and the State. Clive Jones and Emma C. Murphy. Routledge. [pounds sterling]14.99 p.b. 146 pages. ISBN 0-415-27088-X. Few countries have inspired so much devotion and so much hatred as modern Israel. At the heart of the question is Israel's treatment of the Palestinians whom Israelis dispossessed and now, the treatment of their descendants with reference to the country's political heritage and ethical code.

The main difficulty lies in Israel's peculiar constitution with its proportional representation. This constantly gives Israel coalition cabinets and allows the extremist minority parties to wag the government's tail. There is also a question of population: those Palestinians in Israel, along with their fiercest enemies, the ultra-orthodox Jews, are growing at a much faster rate than the majority. The authors claim that the Palestinian question deflects Israelis from coping with their real problems. They look briefly at the historical background but are more concerned with analysing the current situation in which Israel is becoming a more 'normal' state and is shedding its 'religious-nationalist' identity. This 'post-Zionist' stage could change Israeli life but not its relations with the Palestinians. Whether the ultra-orthodox parties and the p.r. system would allow this is another question. Therein is the rub. This is a refreshing examination of the current situation. (T.B.)