What is the nature of the foreign relations between Israel and former Soviet Union states?
How can we understand these countries’ policy transformations that were once supportive of Palestinian rights, and that have now sided with Israel in the International arena and the United Nations? The theme of this issue is a preliminary attempt to answer these questions. Within this theme, researcher Muhannad Mustafa offers an analysis of Israel-Azerbaijan relations and its impact on regional politics considering that it is a Muslim country with a Shia majority and for its strategic locality.
Additionally, the issue presents the introduction of Yosef Govrin’s book on the diplomatic relations between Israel and Eastern European countries, and explains the nature of the policy shifts that occurred in the early 1990s. As for Izz el-Deen el-Tamimi, he offers a study on Israel’s diplomatic and economic relations with the BRICS countries.
This issue is an endeavor to raise important questions that could contribute to the overall understanding of Israeli foreign policy strategies vis-à-vis regional conflicts, and its ability to benefit from regional and global transformations. Indeed, in a world that has witnessed major alterations such as the decline of the United States influence in this region, it becomes critical to pay attention to Israel’s past experience in quickly adapting and rearranging the cards following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In the interviews section we are publishing an interview conducted by Kholoud Massalha with Hilel Cohen, a senior lecturer at the Department of Islam and Middle Eastern Studies and in the School of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and who is a prominent historian of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Within the articles section, Raef Zreik writes an article in which he evaluates the Joint List, the scopes of its work, and its future. The same section includes an article by the writer and critic Anton Shulhut on the Holocaust, the Nakba, and the conflict in memory, history, and literature.
Moreover, this issue presents a detailed study on the role of the Kibbutzim in land appropriation with a focus on the events that followed the 1967 war and the Oslo Agreement and how the Kibbutzim benefited from the war to expand its control over the land.
As for the section in current affairs, Wadi’ Awawdeh writes a review on the history of Israel’s former President Shimon Peres who recently passed away, and follows Palestinian-Israeli responses to his death.
This issue also encompasses an analytical review by Muhannad Mustafa on the Biton Committee report that was submitted to the Israeli minister of Education and which talked about the status of Mizrahi culture and the position of the Ministry of Culture and Sport towards it.
The archive section presents an exclusive translation of excerpts from Moshe Shareet’s diary, in addition, while the book reviews section includes Ali Haydar’s review of Caroline Glick’s book The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, and a review of Yosef Jabareen’s on Israeli Urban Planning in Jerusalem by Mahmoud Fataftah. The issue concludes with a selection from the latest Israeli publications.
