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Bibliography - Background of Palestine
| Source | Discussion | Web Link |
|---|---|---|
| Israel's employement of "Anti-Semitism" | Although Semitism—as an ethnicity—includes races other than Jews, the term was associated specifically with the “hatred of Jews.” T | Link |
| The Americans Christians and the State of Israel | - The paper argues that the support that was extended by American Christians in general and the Christian Right in particular, to Israel and the Jewish people is the continuation of a long tradition in conservative American Christians rooted mainly in their theological doctrine. -Jews are considered to be God’s chosen people and to have a special Biblical status and role. On the other hand, the Christian Right is allegedly anti-Semitic, as it views Jews as a condemned nation for their rejection of Christ as the Messiah, the reason for which they are unsaved and need to be converted to Christianity. - both views, love and hatred of Jews, are based on the Biblical teachings and grounded in conservative Protestant theology; their paradoxical views on Jews are not a new phenomenon among conservative American Christians. - the study found that the support of the American Christians of the establishment of the State of Israel goes beyond theological doctrines or values. In fact, the humanitarian considerations of the liberal Christian and secular organizations in particular, were significant in contributing to the establishment of the Jewish state. | Link |
| E-scaping apartheid: Digital ventures of Zionist settler colonialism | - Settler colonialism is a project of racial domination. Operating through the structures of the settler state, it is characterized by an ongoing effort to dispossess native peoples of their lands in order to replace their presence with a society dominated by settlers -the Zionist project of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine undertook a process of territorial legitimization through the construction of new notions of national identity. -In the case of Palestine/Israel, the promise of the digital emancipation of free flow and unconstrained connectivity was intended to overcome the impediments to physical mobility imposed by apartheid. | Link |
| Elazar. G. & Billig. M (2021). Christian Zionists and Jewish settlers: the challenging and maintenance of religious boundaries. Religion, 51:3, 443-466, Doi:10.1080/0048721X.2021.1931981. | - This article is divided into three parts, corresponding to the major issues of contention and negotiation. i. The first deals with the issue of Christian missionary aspirations and the resulting evaluations regarding the nature of Christian interest in contact with Jews. ii. The second part deals with the broader theological issue regarding the Jewish legal categorization of Christianity as idolatrous and the shift among some rabbinical authorities to accept Christianity, particularly in its Protestant and Zionist forms as monotheistic. iii. The implications of Christian classification are discussed in the third part of this article, concerning the acceptance of donations from Christian sources and Christian economic support of Israeli communities, particularly in the West Bank, an issue that has sparked fierce debate within religious-Zionist circles in recent years. - Christian Zionism is a theology with many critics. Religious Zionist cooperation with Evangelicals is often presented by critics as a purely political and utilitarian move, one that is devoid of theological repercussions. - Support for Zionism and the Israeli presence in the West Bank bears deep theological significance as a central marker of monotheism. - Christian Zionists are sometimes accused of concealing their ‘true intentions’, Jews who come in contact with them often voice their will not to know about Christian beliefs and express their aversion to theological dialogue. - Evangelical-Jewish relations are typified by a distinct imbalance. While religious Zionist Jews maintain a general idea regarding the universal nature of redemption and a wish to become ‘a light unto the nations’, most refrain from directly engaging in theological debate and often know little of Christian theology. | Link |
| Omer Kemal Buhari. (2019). Contemporary Jewish anti-Islamism: Jewish Zionism and Jewish influence in Western anti-Islamism. Ilahiyat studies, vol. 10, no. 1, Doi: 10.12730/13091719.2019.101.190 | · Deals with contemporary Jewish anti-Islamism, principally focusing on Zionism’s role in such anti-Islamism, by delving into the existing literature, news media, and online sources. - Theoretical insight into the core doctrines of Zionism, which are choosiness, promised lands, and messianism, suggests that Islam and Muslims pose an obstacle to the ultimate goals of Zionism. - It does not seem possible that the Zionist agenda of evacuating Palestinians from “Zion” and destroying the al-Aqṣá mosque could be implemented without the propaganda effects of anti-Islamism. Hence, it appears to be a strategical move that Zionists are catalyzing anti-Islamic feelings in global terms. - Evidence in the “overlap” section is self-evident insofar as numerous Jewish public figures in various spheres of life are directly connected to anti-Islamic propaganda and actions. - - - -Allied with the so-called Christian Zionists, Jewish Zionists have been relatively active and successful in stimulating the United States of America and its allies to enter into wars in the Middle Eastern region, the casualties of which, mostly Muslim civilians, are expressed in millions. | (PDF) Contemporary Jewish Anti-Islamism: Jewish Zionism and Jewish Influence in Western Anti-Islamism (researchgate.net) |
| Giovanni Matteo Quer (2019). Israel and Zionism in the Eyes of Palestinian Christian Theologians | - Christian activism in the Arab–Israeli conflict and theological reflections on the Middle East have evolved around Palestinian liberation theology as a theological–political doctrine that scrutinizes Zionism, the existence of Israel and its policies, developing a biblical hermeneutics that reverses the biblical narrative, in order to portray Israel as a wicked regime that operates in the name of a fallacious primitive god and that uses false interpretations of the scriptures. - This article analyzes the theological political–theological views applied to the Arab–Israeli conflict developed by Geries Khoury, Naim Ateek, and Mitri Raheb—three influential authors and activists in different Christians denominations. - Besides opposing Zionism and providing arguments for the boycott of Israel, such conceptualizations go far beyond the conflict, providing theological grounds for the denial of Jewish statehood echoing old anti-Jewish accusations. | Link |
| Gamble. R. M. (2018). God’s country: Christian Zionism in America, by Samuel Goldman. American Political Thought, vol 8. No.2. | - Christian Zionism in America initially emerged during the colonial era with the arrival of the Puritans, and it persists to this day as a formidable political force in the United States. - Over the intervening years, the prospect of a Jewish return to the “holy land” has captured the imaginations of a strikingly diverse set of American Christians. These include theologically liberal and theologically conservative supporters, along with both prominent political and religious leaders and countless women and men in the pews. - The ever-changing political and religious milieu in the colonies and in the United States also helped foster numerous iterations of Christian Zionism, as proponents articulated a wide array of justifications for, and anticipatory visions of, a Jewish state. - A contemporary observer of the movement, for instance, reflexively associate Christian Zionism with prominent figures on the Religious Right, and with the strain of end-times prophecy interpretation called premillennial dispensationalism that has informed many evangelicals’ perspectives on Jews and Israel. | Link |
| Porat. D. (2008). Between nation and land in Zionist teaching of Jewish history, 1920-1954. Journal of Israeli History, vol. 27, no.2, 253-268. DOI: 10.1080/13531040802284114. | - The article discusses the representation of Jewish history in the Zionist school system of the Yishuv and the early State of Israel (1920–1954). - This article examines the changes in the history curriculum in the Jewish community in Palestine (Yishuv) from 1920 to the mid-1950s, changes in which Dinur played an important role. - In the Yishuv period the history curriculum was centered on “shifting Jewish centers” in the spirit of historian Simon Dubnow, an approach that also integrated Jewish and non-Jewish history. - From the 1930s, Ben Zion Dinur and the Teachers’ Council of the Keren Kayemet le-Yisrael (Jewish National Fund) attempted to make the Land of Israel the central axis uniting Jewish history, a focus that downplayed non-Jewish history. - Because of the opposition to this approach within the education system, this change, which Dinur regarded as essential for the integration of the new immigrants from the Muslim countries into Israeli society, was implemented only after he was appointed minister of education in the early 1950s. - The Jewish nation gathered in the Land of Israel was diverse and fragmented. Dinur hoped to create unity by transforming the modern Zionist narrative that had developed in European Jewish history into the central axis of Jewish history. The struggle for unity thus became a struggle for conformity. | Link |
| The Armageddon Lobby: Dispensationalist Christian Zionism and the Shaping of US Policy Towards Israel-Palestine | - This article investigates the history of contemporary Christian Zionism in the United States and the impact of this movement on US policy issues related to Israel-Palestine. - Dispensationalist Christian Zionists, often described the ‘Armageddon lobby’, make up the largest voting bloc in the Republican Party and have become a mainstay in US politics. - More recently, the Christian Zionist lobby has had a profoundly damaging impact on the Israeli-Palestinian ‘peace process’ as well as creating a conspiracy of silence regarding Israeli offensives in the occupied Palestinian territories. - Though the ‘Armageddon lobby’ has been successful in its efforts as a pro-Israel lobby, its influence is in fact counterproductive to Israel because the lobby hinders the prospect of Israel living in peace because of their policy of deterring the progression of negotiations. | Link |
| Religion and the Secular State in Israel | -On 14 May 1948, following the 1947 United Nations resolution on partition of the territory under the Mandate of Great Britain,4 the State of Israel was established as a sovereign “Jewish and democratic state,”partially fulfilling the program of the Zionist movement, created in 1987. -The State of Israel is a secular State. Its Parliament, Knesset, makes its laws. If a religious law should be applied, it would only be the consequence of a secular law giving it such force. Affirming that it is a secular State is however not enough to explain the role of religion in the state. That role differs from one state to another on the basis of the respective constitutional provisions, and in Israel‟s case, no formal written Constitution has been adopted until now (although this should not be interpreted as implying that there are no constitutional rules in the state) adding an additional complication. -These are seminal and difficult questions that must be answered, despite discrepancies, in order to avoid misunderstandings. It seems reasonable to accept that the reference to Israel as a “Jewish State” is equivalent to stating that in historical, political, and legal terms, it is the state of the Jewish people – a worldwide community of indisputable religious origin scattered all over the world. -Israel is a democracy and generally respects religious liberties. Its legal system concerning religion is not, however, fully compatible with norms observed in Western democracies. The foundations for this situation can be found in history and in the complex character of the State established in 1948, which has developed into a modern but complex democracy during its six decades of existence. | Link |
| Hummel. D.G. (2018). A “practical outlet” to premillennial faith: G Douglas Young and the evolution of Christian Zionist activism in Israel. Religion and American Culture , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , pp. 37 - 81 . | - This article examines Young's distinctive theology and politics and situates them in intellectual and international contexts. -It argues that Young sought to place Christian Zionism at the center of American evangelicalism after 1967 and that his effort was only partially successful. While Young spoke to thousands of evangelicals, trained hundreds of students, and sat on boards and committees to broaden the appeal of Christian Zionism, he also met stiff resistance by some members of the American evangelical establishment. - The Jerusalem Conference on Biblical Prophecy, which saw Young collide with Carl F. H. Henry, a leading American evangelical, illustrates the limits of Young's efforts. - Young reframes the rise of Christian Zionism among American evangelicals and situates activism in Israel as central to the development of Jewish-evangelical relations in the twentieth century. | Link |
| Pappe. I. (2016). Colonization in Zionist and Israeli History. Babylon Nordic Journal of Middle East Studies, DOI:10.5617/ba.4363. | - This article discusses the historical and Jewish Israeli contemporary colonization of Palestine and the resultant ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. - Pappé is one of the so-called New (Israeli) Historians who questioned the Israeli official Zionist narrative and present alternatives to its presentations of history and of the image of the state of Israel. - As in the past, colonization of this kind produces an anti-colonialist movement and this movement brought the Hamas into power in 2006. But for the sake of all those who live there-Jews and Arabs alike, there is a need to revisit and reactivate the peace process on better foundations: acknowledgment of the Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the search for a political structure that would allow the people to move beyond the colonialist period. | Link |
| Sturm., T. & Frantzman. S. (2015). Religious geopolitics of Palestinian Christianity: Palestinian Christian Zionists, Palestinian liberation theologists, and American mission to Palestine. Middle Eastern Studies, 51:3, 433-451, DOI: https://doi.org/10. 1080/00263206.2014.971768. | - The article provides a short history of these two movements and highlights influential voices through interviews and media analysis. - This article argues that hybrid religious identifications with nation and place has transcended, in some cases, political struggle for territory. - This article argue that a number of Palestinians have found a way to interpret and escape the Israeli Palestinian conflict while simultaneously keeping their identification to their homeland, ethnicity, and nation through the geopolitical lens of conservative American evangelical eschatology. - Still others have found in Christianity a narrative of liberation from Israeli occupation. | Link |
| The Function of Religion in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict | - Focuses specifically on the role of religion in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the manner in which actors incorporate religion into their national politics. - Addressing a) territorial rights, b) interpretations in the use of deadly force and violence, and c) interpretations of the final political goal to be attained for both Jewish and Palestinian side. - the study reflects on different approaches to religion and how they may provide perspectives that are either catalytic to conflict or catalytic to building peace. - analyzes and contrasts religious nationalism and pro-peace religiosity, concluding with implications and directives for conflict resolution. | Link |
| Yohanani. L. (2019). Zionist identity and the British mandate: Palestine’s internment camps and the making of the Western native. Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 26, Iss 1, p246-262. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12558 | - This paper examines the relationship between British police officers, Jewish guards, and German internees in Palestine’s internment camps during World War II. - The paper investigates the role of Western-identified actors in the Zionist identity-making project using the reports of the Jewish guards. - The paper analyzes these Jewish accounts in the context of identity- and ethnic boundary-making, and argues that they illustrate Zionism’s intent to construct itself as a Western but non-colonial movement, and Zionists in Palestine as natives but not “Orientals.” - The reports also reveal a breach between the formal hierarchy – British officers, Jewish guards, German internees – and the ethnic order, which situated British and Germans at the apex and the Jews at the bottom. | (PDF) Zionist identity and the British Mandate: Palestine's internment camps and the making of the Western native (researchgate.net) |
| Smooha, S. (2013). A zionist state, a binational state and an in between Jewish and democratic state. | - This paper discusses the three models of Israel’s national character. - Israel declares itself as and is a Jewish and democratic state. Yet, it is actually a Zionist state much more than it is a Jewish state. - The Palestinian-Arab minority rejects Israel’s Zionist nature and has a vested interest in transforming it into a binational state. - The Arabs’ interest is contrary to the Jews ‘hegemonic Zionist state. Both sides can, however, come to terms with a Jewish-democratic state, an alternative that positions Israel in between current Israeli Zionism and the Arab drive to binationalism. | (PDF) A Zionist state, a binational state and an in between Jewish and democratic state (researchgate.net) |
| Porat, G. B. & Filc, D. (2020). Remember to be Jewish: Religious Populism in Israel. Politic and Religious, 1-24. | -The paper explores the relation between religion and populism in Israel. -Jewish identity has been an important marker of citizenship and belonging in Israel since its inception. The founders of the Zionist movement and the dominant elites of early statehood remained dependent upon Jewish religion to demarcate national boundaries and legitimate territorial claims. - With the establishment of the state, Jewish identity helped create and legitimate a segmented citizenship regime that secured privilege for Jews. -The complex relation between religion and populism in Israel is demonstrated by the development of two populist parties; an “inclusive” one (Shas) and an “exclusionary” one (Likud). The study of the two parties shows the role of religious identities, tropes, and symbols in boundary-making and political strategies. -In Israel, religion functions both as the positive content of the political community (the ethnos––the Jewish people—is conflated with the demos) and the demands for inclusion; and as the marker of a threat (non-Jewish citizens, asylum seekers, and allegedly disloyal secular elites). | Link |
| Sayegh,. F. A. (2012). Zionist Colonialism in Palestine (1965). Settler Colonial Studies, 2:1, 206-225, Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2012.10648833. | - This article discusses the organizational set-up of the Zionist settler colonial movement, its diplomatic strategies, as well as the ideology and structural features underpinning it. - This article highlighting Zionism’s aspiration to racial self-segregation, its rejection of any form of coexistence or assimilation, its unbending drive towards territorial expansion, and the necessary violence, structural and physical, it has to employ to achieve its goals. - These phenomena are not passing features of Zionism, but are ‘congenial, essential and permanent’, and consequently also manifest themselves in the policies of the Israeli state towards Palestinians and the wider Arab region. - The threat emanating from Zionist settler colonialism, and the duty to challenge it, is not only the concern of Palestinians alone. Rather, a regional response to Zionism is necessary, given its constant threat to destabilize the region and wage wars on its neighbors. | Link |
| Aldrovandi,. C. (2011). Theo-Politics in the holy land: Christian Zionism and Jewish religious Zionism, vol. 5, Iss 4, p. 114-128. | - This article focuses on the ‘Theo-political’ core of US Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism. - The political militancy characterizing two Millenarian ⁄Messianic movements such as Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism constitutes a still under-researched and under theorized aspect that, at present, is paramount to address for its immediate and long terms implications in the highly sensitive and volatile Israeli-Palestinian issue, in the US and Israeli domestic domain, and in the wider international community. - Although processes of the ‘sacralization of politics’ and ‘politicization of religions’ have already manifested themselves in countless forms over past centuries, Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism are unprecedented phenomena given their unique hybridized nature, political prominence and outreach, mobilizing appeal amongst believers, organizational-communicational skills and degree of institutionalization. | Link |
| Zaidman,. M. & Kark. R. (2015). Garden cities in the Jewish Yishuv of Palestine: Zionist ideology and practice 1905-1945. Planning perspective, vol.31, no.I, 55-82. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2015.1039051 | - The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the broad popularity and selective adoption of Garden City concepts in Zionist circles and the Jewish Yishuv (Community) in Palestine to document their implementation in Jewish urban settlement in Palestine and to follow their local evolution into the creation of unique urban fabric. - This paper shows how the Garden City ideology and its implementation in England and Germany influenced the Zionist movement, its leaders, and settlers in Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine, and led them to adopt and adapt concepts of the Garden City model as the national paradigm of the new Jewish urban planning in Palestine. - The planning was influenced by Garden City ideas, with modifications to Ebenezer Howard's original model made to suit local tradition, public demand and Zionist goals. - The application of the message of the Garden City movement to the physical model beginning unintentionally with building of Ahuzat Bayit (Tel Aviv) in 1909 until 1945, and continues to exert its influence on current planning. - This article adds a dimension to the emerging picture of early twentieth-century Zionist settlement in Palestine as a laboratory for implementing novel planning ideas of international importance. | Link |
| Stern, N. (2018). The social life of the Samson Saga in Israeli religious Zionist rabbinic discourse. Journal of culture and religion, Vol. 19, pg 177-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2018.1444653 | - This article explores how different contemporary groups of Israeli religious Zionists read and relate to the Biblical tales of Samson. - Using current religious Zionist discourse (Bible lessons, newspaper articles, and written opinion pieces) authored or delivered by leading rabbinic figures, this article demonstrates how contemporary interpretations of the ‘Samson Saga’ (Judges 13–16) are used as a medium through which contemporary religious Zionists in Israel and the West Bank contest the meanings of political sovereignty, violence, and personal ethics. - This article argues that a focus on how sacred texts is interpreted, debated, and contested in social contexts (or the ‘social life of a text) can offer scholars a thicker and more nuanced window into the varied ways in which religious nationalists grapple with competing political visions and desires. | Link |