Review: Donald Akenson’s God’s People: Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel, and Ulster

I am happy and relieved to be posting my final book review of the quarter for my independent study with Hendrik Spruyt on Donald Akenson’s God’s People: Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel, and Ulster.

While I was not ultimately convinced by the scope of Akenson’s argument, it is a compelling and thought provoking read.  At 350 pages, the book is quite long by academic standards.  That said, it is definitely worth the time for anyone interested in the role of religion and biblical allusion in the construction of cultural and political claims.

Please find the review after the jump.  As always, comments and criticisms are welcome

Elites or Masses: Who Drives Israeli Resistance to Territorial Withdrawal?

With much time and energy spent, I have finished my paper at long last for Jeffrey Winters’ course on Oligarchy & Elite Rule. 

This paper explores some of the tensions that exist between theories of elite rule and theories of pluralism and social movements in the context of Israeli control of the West Bank and (formerly) Gaza.  As usual, I came into this paper thinking that I would get very little constructive out of it in terms of advancing my dissertation research agenda, and, as usual, I was surprised by how relevant it became. 

I stress that this paper is very tentative in its conclusions and form, but hopefully it adds some useful insights.  Included below is the opening section of the paper.  If you are interested in reading the whole thing, fire me off an email and I will be happy to send it to you for review.

Murder at Merkaz HaRav

Today an Arab resident of Jerusalem broke into the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva in the neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe and murdered eight students and injured at least ten others.

Armed with a Kalachnikov rifle, the terrorist fired over 500 bullets turning the house of study into a bloodbath. He was only stopped when one student armed with a handgun managed to shoot him down. You can read horrifying descriptions of the incident here, here, and here.

Meanwhile, residents of Gaza celebrated by handing out candy, praying for thanks in local mosques, firing their guns in the air, and praising the murder’s “heroic act.” A spokesman for Islamic Jihad was quoted saying, “Those who carried out the attack have brought great pride and raised the heads of the Palestinians” while Hamas “blesse[d] the (Jerusalem) operation,” saying “It will not be the last.”

In other ominous undertones, the group claiming responsibility for the attack is calling itself the Galilee Freedom Battalions – the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh. This name refers both to the recently assassinated number two of Hezbollah and the northern region of Israel with a sizeable Arab demographic. Coupled with the fact that the murderer was an Israeli Arab, this is both a reminder for the government of the largely underappreciated security concerns posed by some members of this community and yet another obstacle weakening prospects for their integration into Israeli society. I have no doubt that the terrorist had both these objectives in mind.

Please join me and many others across the world tomorrow, Friday, March 7th, in wearing blue to show solidarity with the victims of this awful event.

Technorati Tags: yeshiva merkaz harav,jerusalem,terrorist attack,israel,gaza celebration,galilee freedom battalions,murder,wear blue

When it Rains, it Pours

There has been so much to write in world events over the past few days, it’s a bit overwhelming.  Elections in Pakistan have essentially thrown President Musharraf’s party out of power, Fidel Castro has handed over the reigns of Cuba to his brother Raul, Armenia is going to the polls to elect a new president with possible repercussions for Nagorno-Karabakh, and most importantly for my research, Kosovo has unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.

I have also recently finished reading Mark Mueller’s The Remnants of War, one prominent Quaker political scientist’s take on the decline of major warfare in the Twentieth Century.  With sticky notes attached to just about every page, the book is definitely in need of a review if only for my own peace of mind.

Last but certainly not least, I am still working on my second year paper due in near final form at the end of March.  As part of that exercise, I am trying to complete a concept mapping paper for my qualitative methods class taught by Jim Mahoney.  My concept of choice: ethnohistorical territoriality.  What does that mean?  I’ll post some version of the paper with the answer soon. 

So why the slow progress?  I had my first real encounter with the Chicago winter last week Tuesday when walking to campus.  Ice was everywhere and after several times stumbling, I finally took one big spill.  A nice couple found me writhing in pain on the street and drove me over to the university.  Long story short, it turns out I broke my left arm, more specifically a non-displaced fracture of the radial head. 

It’s not a bad enough break to require a cast but it does mean that I’ve had to keep my arm in a sling almost full time until yesterday.  Needless to say, my academic work has slowed to a crawl while I wait for the pain and swelling to go down.  Clearly I’ve made some progress; I’m typing this with both hands but it hurts like hell.  Hopefully things will be back to relative normalcy soon!

Technorati Tags: kosovo,serbia,pakistan,cuba,armenia,nagorno karabakh,mark mueller,remnants of war,qualitative methods,jim mahoney,ethnohistorical territoriality,chicago,winter,ice,fracture

Suicide Bombing in Dimona

This morning at 10:30 am in the Israeli southern town of Dimona, a suicide bomber blew himself up murdering one woman and wounding 11 others.  A second bomber hurt in the initial blast was shot by police before he could take out the rescue crews.

This attack should come as a surprise to no one.  With would-be bombers being arrested in packs in Sinai almost every day following the breach of the Gaza-Egypt border fence and relatively lax security on the long Egypt-Israel border, the question of another terrorist attack was not a matter of “if” but “when”. 

Gaza: Ironies, New Facts, and Old Realities

There is plenty to be upset about this week in the news coming out of Gaza.

Not only has southern Israel suffered a massive barrage of qassam rockets but Hamas has manufactured yet another artificial humanitarian crisis putting greater international pressure on Israel to cancel its economic embargo of the Strip and Egypt has openly allowed for the breaching of the Egypt/Gaza border fence effectively eliminating what little import controls were once in place.

Dealing with Core Issues in the Israeli-Arab Conflict

As usual, this cartoon from Dry Bones hits the nail right on the head. 

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are sitting down to discuss “core issues“, it would seem that those issues which are among the most important to a long-term sustainable peace on the Israeli side are being entirely ignored.  I could feign surprise, but 13 years on from the Oslo Accords, it’s getting a little exhausting. 

As always, check out more of Dry Bones’ wit, political insight, and humor at the Dry Bones blog.

Technorati Tags: israeli arab peace process,core issues,ehud olmert,mahmoud abbas,dry bones

Review: Defending Israel by Martin Van Creveld

Martin Van Creveld‘s book, Defending Israel: A Strategic Plan for Peace and Security is one of the most disappointing books I have ever read on the subject of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Van Creveld’s mission, like so many before him, is to propose a sustainable solution to conflict which will ensure both peace and security for the State of Israel.  In many respects, his basic formula differs very little from the discourse touted by Israeli leftists and most of the international community.  That is, he recommends a complete (or at least near-complete) withdrawal by Israel from the disputed territories of the West Bank (Yehuda and Shomron), Gaza (published prior to the disengagement), and the Golan Heights.  Moreover, he counsels the completion of the West Bank Security Barrier and a complete overhaul of Israel’s military hardware to focus on technologically advanced early warning systems, ballistic missile defense, and naval platforms.

Where Van Creveld rhetorically departs from standard liberal internationalist claims against Israel’s presence in the territories is in his explicit attempt to ground his arguments in purely strategic reasoning.  This means that he spends very little energy focusing both on Israel’s ethnohistorical claims to the territory and on the nature of Palestinian claims on “Israel proper”.   He also demonstrates little explicit interest in humanitarian concerns as far as the impact the strategies he proposes would have on the Arab population at large.  While a narrowly conceived focus such as his would not be flawed in and of itself, his claim to not be preoccupied with interests and challenges other than military strategy make for a both disingenuous and unconvincing argument.

Review: R’Meir Kahane’s They Must Go

Among the many literatures that were recommended to me this summer while conducting field research in Israel was this book: They Must Go by Rabbi Meir Kahane.  I do not feel that it is necessary to provide a lengthily back story as to why I would choose to engage with such a controversial work.  For that, please feel free to peruse one of my earlier posts.  Just as I have not hesitated to read and critically evaluate work by left-leaning authors such as Tom Segev and Gershom Gorenberg to better understand these perspectives, there is no reason why I should hesitate to do the same with those by right-wing nationalist authors.

If one truly wishes to understand the political and social perspectives of those who claim to be informed by Kahanist thought, one must go to the source.  To judge the content and legitimacy of Kahanism on the basis of widely disseminated generalizations and dominant political critiques is not only lazy but intellectually dishonest.  Unfortunately, Kahane’s political works are too often rejected a priori from this basis without the critics ever having actually seriously engaged with them.  This is something I hope to rectify here.  This is not to say that reading this book has made me a Kahanist; far from it.  Rather, it has forced me to engage with ideas which are extremely uncomfortable coming from a western liberal background and to think more critically about the prospects of sustainable peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hamas says “Jews Out!”

If we can say anything "nice" about Hamas, it is that they, unlike their Fatah counterparts, are both consistent and honest.  When they say they want the destruction of the State of Israel, they mean it and they stick to their story.

Just in case there was ever any doubt, check out this piece reported by the Jerusalem Post.  The statement comes just in time as Israeli and Fatah negotiators wrap up the Annapolis conference in which the parties have committed to the founding of a Palestinian State by 2008. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone is listening.

Hamas on Thursday called on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs.

The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that "Palestine is Arab Islamic land, from the river to the sea, including Jerusalem… there is no room in it for the Jews."

Regarding the partition decision, Hamas said that "correcting mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but prolonging it is exploitation."

Good luck finding that one in any of the major western newspapers.

Tags: hamas, fatah, israel, terrorism, annapolis conference