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Most Americans are ill-prepared to engage thoughtfully in the increasingly serious debate about Israel, its place in the Middle East, and its relations with the United States. Essential Israel examines a wide variety of complex issues and current concerns in historical and contemporary contexts to provide readers with an intimate sense of the dynamic society and culture that is Israel today. The expert contributors to this volume address the Arab-Israeli conflict, the state of diplomatic efforts to bring about peace, Zionism and the impact of the Holocaust, the status of the Jewish state and Israeli democracy, foreign relations, immigration and Israeli identity, as well as literature, film, and the other arts. This unique and innovative volume provides solid grounding to understandings of Israel's history, politics, culture, and possibilities for the future.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
1. An Invitation to Israel Literacy / Ilan Troen and Rachel Fish
2. Israel: Geography, Demography and Economy / Ilan Troen, Maoz Azaryahu, and Arnon Golan
3. From Zionism to Zion / Michael Brenner
4. Zionist Settlement in the Land of Israel/Palestine / Ilan Troen
5. The Arab-Israeli Conflict / Alan Dowty
6. History of the Peace Process / David Makovsky
7. Israel in World Opinion / Gil Troy
8. Israel: A Jewish Democracy / Yedidia Stern
9. Citizenship and Democracy in Israel / Donna Robinson Divine
10. Israel, American Jews and Jewish Peoplehood / Steven Bayme
11. "Jewishness" in Israel: Israel as a Jewish State / David Ellenson
12. Contemporary Christianity and Israel / Yaakov Ariel
13. Perceptions and Understandings of Israel within Islam / Norman Stillman
14. "Hebrewism" and Israeli Culture / Rachel Harris
15. Israeli and Hebrew Literature: from the Yishuv to the 21st Century / Ranen Omer-Sherman
Glossary
Timeline: A Century of Wars and Conflict and Peace Negotiations and Agreements
1917-2016
Index
About the author
Rachel Fish is Associate Director of the Schusterman Center.
S. Ilan Troen is the Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair in Israel Studies and founding Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. He is founding editor of
Israel Studies. His publications include
Imagining Zion: Dreams, Designs and Realities in a Century of Jewish Settlement and (with Jacob Lassner)
Jews and Muslims in the Arab World: Haunted by Pasts Real and Imagined.
Summary
This unique and innovative volume provides solid grounding to understandings of Israel's history, politics, culture, and possibilities for the future.
