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The comparative dimension is, all too often, missing from writing on Israeli history. Zionist ideology restricts comparisons between Zionism and other forms of nationalism. Also, Zionist claims to have initiated a radical rupture with the Jewish past mask continuities between Israel and the experiences of modern diaspora Jewry. Over the past two decades, Israeli historiography has become more critical, and a number of books have presented Israel as a variant of settler-colonialist societies such as the United States and South Africa. The framework of continuity across space commands attention, but it lacks nuance and is often built upon politicized foundations. Moreover, this framework neglects areas of continuity across time, between Israel and the Jewish past. Israel in History: The Jewish State in Comparative Perspective seeks to address these issues. The essays in this book combine a variety of comparative schemes, both internal to Jewish civilization and extending throughout the world. These frameworks include:· modern Jewish society, politics and culture· historical consciousness in the 20th-century western world, and the matrix of Western colonialism, · Third World anti-colonialism and post-colonial state-building.The book’s underlying theme is the need to study Israeli history within multiple and overlapping comparative frameworks. The benefit of comparison is not limited to a richer understanding of the circumstances under which Israel was born and has developed. Rather, an open-ended, comparative approach offers a useful means of correcting the biases found in so much scholarship on Israel, be it sympathetic or hostile. Israel in History: The Jewish State in Comparative Perspective will appeal to scholars and students with research interests in Middle East studies and Israeli history.
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By mid-2004, Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings, directed at Israelis in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and inside Israel, resulted in approximately 1,000 deaths. Israel responded by reoccupying parts of the West Bank and Gaza, killing about 3,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians, Revised Edition is the definitive source for high school students, undergraduates, and general readers who want an accurate account of these people and their long history. Much has happened since the first edition was published, making this revised edition a crucial update. The revised edition includes new entries on recent developments and personalities, updates of many of the existing entries, and approximately 50 black-and-white photographs and additional maps. A document section has been added to the end of the book, including entire texts or excerpts of key documents on Palestinian history.
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