ABSTRACT

This issue of the Israeli Affairs Journal focuses on “Israel and the regional context post Arab revolutions”.
The issue contains nine articles, of which six consider regional factors that are influencing the balance of powers in the Middle East. The articles explore the extent to which shifting internal transformations of powers in the region impact upon foreign policies, particularly toward Israel, and generally toward new potential regional alliances. The implications of internal developments in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria on their relationship with Israel and Israel’s relations with them are thus explored.

Two exclusive and in-depth interviews are featured in this issue. One is with Ami Ayalon, an Israeli politician, former member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, and a former head of the Israel's secret service. He emphasized that “efforts should be exerted to find a regional reality within which an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians based on two states for two peoples is applied. Otherwise, taking unilateral and independent steps by each side should be encouraged, as long as these steps are intended to promote the emergence of a two-state for two peoples reality. Among unilateral steps Palestine should take is demanding the UN recognition of the state of Palestine and not to continue depending on the negotiations. Ayalon argues that this has been tried for more than 20 years without success, adding, “There has been no state in the world that emerged as a result of negotiations”. The second interview is with On Barak, a Historian, Lecturer and Researcher, and covers the Arab revolutions more generally.

This issue also contains a report that reviews Netanyahu’s third government one year after gaining power, and an exclusive translation of a lecture by Raphael Falk on his book entitled, ’ Zionism and the Biology of the Jews’.

The selection from the Zionist archive section includes an exclusive translation of an article by Ariel L. Feldestein. The article is entitled “Did It Really Hang on One Vote? The Meeting of the People’s Administration on the Eve of the Establishment of the State of Israel”. The article sheds light on the controversy between the Zionist Movement leadership that preceded the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, in accordance with the UN partition Resolution of November 29, 1947.

Finally, this issue includes a collection of recent book reviews, as well as a library.

Contents

Rafael Falca, Zionism and biology of the Jews

Abed Kana’neh, Israel between resistance and jihad

Ari Shavit, Lydda, 1948: A city, a massacre, and the Middle East today

Muhannad Mustafa, They Egyptian scene

Anat Lapidot-Firilla, Interests and values in the Turkish foreign policy towards Israel

Ariel Feldstein, By a one vote margin: The People’s
Directorate session on the eve of the establishment of Israel

Ali Haydar, On new Israeli wars

Readings - Full facts of the invention of the Land of Israel

Al-Tayyeb Ghanayim, A Reading in “Almina” - a novel [in Hebrew]

Maram Masarweh, A new Israeli book on the catastrophe and Nakba

Special Interview - Antoine Shulhut and Bilal Dhahr
Uri Goldberg, Israel’s perspective of Iran as a witness to current trends

Wadee’ Awawdeh, Almost a year from Netanyahu’s third government: A preliminary account statement

Yoel Guzansky and Ron Tira, An Israeli attack on Iran: The international legitimacy factor

Al-Tayyeb Ghanayim, An Israeli academic’s viewpoint on Arab revolutions

Library: A synopsis of most recent Israeli publications