Shared Land/Conflicting Identity
Shared Land/Conflicting Identity

Author: Robert C. Rowland

Publisher: MSU Press

Published: 2002-12-31

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0870139495

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Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli and Palestinian Symbol Use argues that rhetoric, ideology, and myth have played key roles in influencing the development of the 100-year conflict between first the Zionist settlers and the current Israeli people and the Palestinian residents in what is now Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is usually treated as an issue of land and water. While these elements are the core of the conflict, they are heavily influenced by the symbols used by both peoples to describe, understand, and persuade each other. The authors argue that symbolic practices deeply influenced the Oslo Accords, and that the breakthrough in the peace process that led to Oslo could not have occurred without a breakthrough in communication styles. Rowland and Frank develop four crucial ideas on social development: the roles of rhetoric, ideology, and myth; the influence of symbolic factors; specific symbolic factors that played a key role in peace negotiations; and the identification and value of criteria for evaluating symbolic practices in any society.

My Struggle for Peace, Volume 3 (1956)
My Struggle for Peace, Volume 3 (1956)

Author: Moshe Sharett

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 827

ISBN-13: 0253037654

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The third volume of the former Israeli prime minister’s journals from the nation’s early years. My Struggle for Peace is a remarkable political document offering insights into the complex workings of the young Israeli political system, set against the backdrop of the disintegration of the country’s fragile armistice with the Arab states. Replete with Moshe Sharett’s candid comments on Israel’s first-generation leaders and world statesmen of the day, the diary also tells the dramatic human story of a political career cut short—the removal of an unusually sensitive, dedicated, and talented public servant. My Struggle for Peace is, above all, an intimate record of the decline of Sharett’s moderate approach and the rise of more “activist-militant” trends in Israeli society, culminating in the Suez/Sinai war of 1956. The diary challenges the popular narrative that Israel’s confrontation with its neighbors was unavoidable by offering daily evidence of Sharett’s statesmanship, moderation, diplomacy, and concern for Israel’s place in international affairs. This is the third volume in the 3-volume English abridgement of Sharett’s Yoman Ishi [Personal diary] (Ma’ariv, 1978) maintains the integrity, flavor, and impact of the 8-volume Hebrew original and includes additional documentary material that was not accessible at the time. The volumes are also available to purchase as a set or individually. “The editors . . . vastly improved on the Hebrew version by adding Sharett’s speeches, reports, cabinet minutes, and other sources to the text. . . . These additions makes this work so important and welcome by all who aspire to understand the foreign and defense policies of Israel in its first decade.” —Israel Studies Review