Research Catalog

Title

Israel and the family of nations : the Jewish nation-state and human rights / Alexander Yakobson and Amnon Rubinstein ; translated by Ruth Morris and Ruchie Avital.

Author

Yakobson, Alexander.

Publication

London ; New York : Routledge, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Rubinstein, Amnon

Description

x, 246 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

Amnon Rubinstein and Alexander Yakobson explore the nature of Israel's identity as a Jewish state, and how that is compatible with liberal democratic norms and is comparable with a number of European states.

Series Statement

Israeli history, politics and society ; 50

Uniform Title

• Yiśraʼel u-mishpaḥat ha-ʻamim. English
• Cass series--Israeli history, politics, and society ; 50.

Alternative Title

Yiśraʼel u-mishpaḥat ha-ʻamim.

Subjects

• National characteristics, Israeli
• Zionism > Israel
• Jews > Israel > Identity

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [220]-237) and index.

Language (note)

• Translated from the Hebrew.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Machine derived contents note: Israel and the Family of Nations -- Jewish Nation-State and Human Rights. -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Establishment of the Jewish state -- The UN debates in 1947 -- 1. Israel's Declaration of Independence. -- 2. The UNSCOP (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) report. -- 3. The Partition debate in the UN General Assembly. -- 4. The dilemmas of the right of national self-determination. -- 5. The historic right and the historic connection. -- 6. ¿An alien body in the Arab Middle East¿. -- 7. The validity of the principle of partition. -- Chapter 2: Two arguments: Zionist "colonialism" and the "invention" of the Jewish national identity. -- 1. Colonialism and Imperialist support. -- 2. ¿The hope of two thousand years¿? Modern Jewish identity and the question of historical continuity. -- Chapter 3: Zionism and international norms. -- 1. Everything goes back to Herzl. -- 2. The question of Arabs' rights in the Zionist thought. -- Chapter 4: The Jewish state and the Israeli democracy -- 1. ¿The Jewish state" in the Israeli discourse. -- 2. The Jewish state and the rights of the Arab minority. -- 3. The Arabs in Israel as a national minority. -- Chapter 5: ¿Either Jewish or democratic¿? -- 1. ¿Jewish and democratic state¿ -- oxymoron? -- 2. The Law of Return and the international norms of civic equality. -- 3. Europe: diasporas and repatriation laws. -- 4. Official links with ¿kin-minorities¿. -- 5. Israel, the Jewish Diaspora and the Law of Return. -- 6. A Jewish state and a state of all its citizens. -- 7. ¿The Jewish-Israeli people¿ and the right to self-determination. -- Chapter 6: A ¿neutral¿ state and a democratic nation-state. -- 1. The neutrality principle and a typology of democratic systems. -- 2. Partition and ¿neutrality¿. -- 3. The principle of neutrality, the Law of Return and the problem of Palestinian refugees. -- 4. Two examples of partition: India and Ireland -- 5. ¿Imperial nations" -- Britain and Spain -- 6. Civic nationalism in a multi-ethnic society ¿ the United States and other examples. -- 7. ¿Composite" identities, national identity and citizenship. -- Epilogue: Nowhere else -- Appendix: Excerpts from some contemporary democratic constitutions. -- 26 March 2004 -- Israel and The Family of Nations -- Synopsis -- The main topic of this book ¿ written by two eminent Israeli scholars, a professor of constitutional law and a historian -- is the question ¿Can Israel be both Jewish and truly democratic?¿ Is the Jewish character of the national symbols in Israel ¿ such as the national anthem and the state emblem -- compatible with the principles of civic equality? Is the Israeli Law of Return ¿ which grants Jews, and Jews only, the right to immigrate to Israel and immediately acquire automatic citizenship ¿ unique in the annals of democratic societies? Is the nexus between Israel and the Jewish diaspora un exceptional one? And how can a nation¿state, which incorporates a large national minority with a distinct identity of its own be a state of all its citizens? The book examines the concept of a Jewish State and its various meanings in the light of international law, the principles of self determination of peoples, and the current norms of Human Rights as applied in contemporary democracies, citing various Western, mostly European, constitutions and laws, including laws on citizenship, immigration and repatriation. The book examines a great number of other democratic societies which grapple which similar dilemmas such as : national identity and citizenship, collective rights of national minorities, affinity of kin states to kin minorities, the issue of state and religion, cultural tradition and history versus modern national identity to modern national identity, the attitude of the modern democratic state to a multi-cultural society and other issues which are typical of heterogenous, democratic societies. -- The book concludes that international reality does not accord with the concept which regards a modern, liberal democracy as a culturally ¿neutral¿ and a nationally colourless entity. -- The book argues that denying the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination ¿ alongside a Palestinian State which will embody the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination ¿ is tantamount to denying the value principle of equality while ostensibly defending it. The book advocates upholding the high standards of liberal democracy in Israel while, at the same time calling upon the Palestinians and the Arab world to accept the reality of a Jewish state in the Middle East and upon the West -- to defend Israel¿s right to be what the UN General Assembly decided in its Partition Plan of 1947, namely a Jewish State. -- The Authors: Dr. Alexander Yacobson is a Senior lecturer in the history department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. -- Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, is currently Provost and Dean of the Radzyner School of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzlia. He is a former Minister of Education and a regular contributor to Israseli Dailies. -- Book¿s Statement -- Statement of the book¿s aims : to refuse contemporary attacks against Zionism and to establish the legal and moral foundations of Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State. -- Book¿s contribution : it is the only contemporary thesis justifying Zionism and Israel within the context of modern sociological and legal discourses. -- L:\Ruthy\???????????????-19.9.02\??????\??????\26 March 2004.doc.

ISBN

• 9780415464413 (hardback)
• 0415464412 (hardback)
• 9780203894026 (ebook)
• 0203894022 (ebook)

LCCN

^^2008002620

OCLC

• 191024128
• SCSB-12850101

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library