History: Ancient &
Medieval
Conquering
Canaan
Accounts in Joshua and Judges
Destruction
& Restoration
The Babylonian exile
Palestine
Under Persian Rule
Rebuilding the Temple
Hasmonean
Rule
The marriage of religion and politics
Roman
Rule
Palestine becomes a Roman tributary
The
Great Revolt
Jewish factions rebel against Roman rule.
Muslim
Rule
Persians, Byzantines, and Arabs attain and lose control of
Palestine.
Taxing
Times
The economy of ancient Palestine
Medieval
Palestine
A destination for Jews fleeing disasters and expulsions
History: Modern, Until 1948
Zionism
The Jews as a nation
Theodor
Herzl
The father of modern Zionism
Ahad
Ha-am
The father of cultural Zionism
Hadassah
The Zionist women's organization
Henrietta
Szold
Educator, Zionist, mother of the yishuv
The
Balfour Declaration
The British declare support for a Jewish state
Palestine
Between the Wars
Arabs & Jews struggle to define the nature of the
land.
The
British Mandate
Governing Palestine from 1923 to 1948
The
Yishuv & the Holocaust
Jews in Palestine respond to Nazism and genocide
British
White Paper (1939)
Limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine
Ze'ev
Jabotinsky
Founder of the Zionist Revisionist movement
History: 1948-80
Birth
of the State
Mandatory Palestine becomes an independent Israel
Building
the State
Creating an infrastructure
Mass
Migrations of the 1950s
Refugees from European and Arab lands seek a new life.
The
Law of Return
Allowing all Jews to become citizens of Israel
Absorbing
the Exiles
How Israel dealt with massive numbers of new arrivals
Building
the Military
Israel's foreign relations in its early years
The
Six Day War
A 1967 turning point
The
Yom Kippur War
Surprise attack on a holy day (1973)
From
the Horrors of War
The 1973 conflict led to peace with Egypt
The
Camp David Accord
Peace between Israel and Egypt (1979)
History Since 1980
The
First Intifada
The 1987 Palestinian uprising
Oslo
Negotiations
Secret Meetings, 1992-93
Oslo
Accords
Israel and the Palestinians sign an agreement.
The
Second Intifada
In 2000, a new uprising begins.
The
Second Intifada Continues
What happened and why
Suicide
Bombings
A wave of attacks
Paving
the Way
Failed peace plans
The
Road Map
The U.S. backs a new plan for peace
Israel
and Lebanon
A history of conflict
Israeli-Palestinian Relations
Israeli-Palestinian
Relations
An overview
Who
Are the Palestinians?
Geography, history, and politics
Territorial
Conflict
Israel & the territories, 1948-67
The
Territories, 1967-81
After the Six Day War
Palestine
Liberation Organization
The PLO, 1964-87
The
Oslo Failure
Where the Oslo Accords went wrong
Palestinian
Attitudes
What Palestinians think of suicide bombings
Avoiding
Yesterday's Mistakes
Problems with the Road Map
Gaza
Disengagement
The history and politics of the decision to disengage
Politics
Israeli
Politics
An overview
Electoral
System
An introduction to Israel's parliamentary process
Does
It Work?
Pros and cons of the system
Elections,
Israeli Style
Israel in election season
Political
Parties
A look at the major players
Small
Parties
The eternal hope of grabbing a parliamentary seat
Case
Study (Part 1)
Rise of the 15th Knesset
Case
Study (Part 2)
Fall of the 15th Knesset
The
Presidency
Largely a ceremonial role
The
Supreme Court
An introduction to Israel's version
Yitzak
Rabin
A man of war and peace
The
Ethic of Jewish Power
Lessons from the Rabin assassination
Rabin's
Legacy
Reflections on the 10th anniversary of his death
Refusal
to Serve
Conscientious objection in Israel
Ariel
Sharon
Biography of a prime minister
Messianism
of Force
The legacy of Ariel Sharon
Kadima's
Big Bang
Israel's newest political party
Ehud
Olmert
Former Jerusalem mayor and Ariel Sharon' successor
Elections
2006
Analysis of the results
Israeli Holidays
Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day)
Israel's
Independence Day
An overview
New
Customs
Religious observances of Yom Ha'atzmaut
Religious
Status
Differing views on the religious meaning of Yom Ha'atzmaut
Prayer
for Israel
Drawing on a traditional model, with new twists
Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day)
Yom
Hazikaron
An overview
Grief:
Personal or Communal?
Tensions over the meaning of Yom Hazikaron
Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day)
Yom
Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day)
An overview
The
Biblical Jerusalem
City and idea
Centrality
of Jerusalem
Permeating Jewish belief and prayer
Heavenly
Jerusalem
An idea rises from the city's ashes
Documents
"The
Jewish State"
An excerpt from Herzl's book
The
Balfour Declaration
The British declare support for a Jewish state
British
White Paper (1939)
Restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine
Declaration
of Independence
Israel becomes independent (1948).
"Her
Broken Vessels"
An excerpt from the writing of Abraham Isaac Kook
Law
of Return (1950)
Guaranteeing Israeli citizenship to all Jews
U.N.
Resolution 242 (1967)
Calling on Israel to relinquish territories
Reform
Zionism
A denominational statement
The
Camp David Accord
An excerpt from the 1979 treaty between Israel & Egypt
PLO
Recognition of Israel
1993 letters from and to Yasser Arafat
Yitzhak
Rabin's Final Speech (1995)
Last remarks of the late prime minister at Tel Aviv peace
rally
The
Wye River Memorandum (1998)
Signed by Prime Minister Natanyahu and Yasser Arafat
"Sad
Song"
A poem by the poetess Rahel
Prisoner
Rights
An Israeli Supreme Court decision
The
Disengagement Plan
The 2004 plan for leaving Gaza
Resources
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Jewish Thought
Ancient & Rabbinic
Primer
The basics of Jewish thought about the Land of Israel
Classical
Sources
An overview of the Land of Israel in biblical and rabbinic
Jewish thought
Promise
of the Promised Land
In the Bible, possession is tied to morality
Homeless
at Home
The Land in Genesis
A
Demanding Land
Rights and consequences of controlling the Land
"Always
Live in the Land"
As the Diaspora grew, so did the centrality of the Israel.
What
About the Land?
Early rabbinic literature
The
Rabbinic Revolution
Portable holiness
Medieval
The
Land in Medieval Thought
An overview
Perfection
Land
Judah Halevi's thought
It's
God's to Give
Rashi's first comment on the Torah
National
Ground
Maimonides on the Land
Mystical
Israel
Kabbalistic approaches to the Land
Passive
vs. Active
Two streams of medieval mystical thought
Body
of Land
Ecstatic kabbalah sees the Land as metaphor for the body.
Modern
The
Land in Modern Thought
An overview
Secular
Zionism
From religious idea to secular ideology
Religious
& Zionist
Returning to the Land and hastening the Messiah
Zionist
Utopias
Early Zionists envisioned a perfect society.
Exuding
Holiness
Abraham Isaac Kook
The
Challenges of Success
Secular Zionism since 1948
Religious
Significance
Rabbis Kook & Soloveitchik
Settling
All the Land
Gush Emunim and the settlements
Moderate
Religious Zionism
Beyond the settlement movement
Questioning
Zionism
The movement has always provoked opposition.
From
the Left
The Reform Movement's early opposition to Zionism
Ultra-Orthodox,
Anti-Zionist
Neturei Karta and the Satmar Hasidim
Philosophical
Critique
The thought of Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Religion
Without State
Leibowitz's critique of religious Zionism
Post-Zionism
New understandings of the past
Clash
of Nationalisms
Arabs in Zionist thought
Pragmatic
Approach
Ben-Gurion and the Arabs
Israel
& Judaism
The importance of Israel for those who don't live there
Culture & Society
Society
& Religion
An overview
Ethnic
Mix
Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews in Israel
Israeli
Arabs
At 20%, Israel's largest minority
The
Bedouin
An ambiguous relationship with the Jewish state
Israel-Diaspora
Relations
An unequal partnership?
Israeli
Education
A complex issue for such a diverse society
Israel
Defense Force
Compulsory army service
Post-Zionism
Is Israel losing its Jewish character?
Star
Power
Israel's Generation X
Freedom
of Religion
How Israel navigates a difficult issue
Jewish
or Democratic?
An Israeli judge reflects on values.
Israeli
Media
Vibrant and aggressive
Economic
Issues
An introduction to Israel's economic system
From
Agriculture to Tech
Evolution of Israel's economy
Economic
Challenges
Some common to all economies, some unique to Israel
Feeding
a New Nation
Israel needed to feed masses of new immigrants.
Architecture
in Israel
Integrating the European and the Middle Eastern
Modern
Aliyah
Economic, political and religious trends
Homosexuality
in Israel
A leader in equality for sexual minorities
Food
Israeli
Food
An overview
Recipe:
Shakshuka
A popular egg dish
Recipe:
Felafel
Israel's signature food
Recipe:
Hummus
Chick pea spread
Desserts
The story of Israeli sweets
Recipe:
Eretz Yisrael Cake
A cake made of typical Israeli ingredients
The Arts
Literature
Israeli
Literature
From Ottoman Palestine to today
Early
Israeli Literature
Nationalistic poetry
Shai
Agnon
Truth is sometimes indistinguishable from fiction.
The
New Wave
Israeli literature in the second half of the 20th century
Poet
of Israel's Soul
A profile of Yehuda Amichai
The
Next 50 Years
The future of Israeli writing
Music
Israeli
Music
An overview
Musical
History
Israeli music since the days before statehood
Folk
Music
Expressing the dreams of a new nation
Popular
Music
Unique sound from a unique place
Chava
Alberstein
Multilingual folkie
Political
Pop
In Israel, even music is political
From
the Desert
Ethiopian-Israeli pop music
Film
Israeli
Film
An overview
Conflict
Films
Liberal politics in Israeli movies of the 1980s and '90s
Arabs
on Israeli Screens
Films portray ties and tensions between Jews & Arabs.
The
Search for Home
Films by and about mizrahi
Jews in Israel
Home
on the Screen
Four mizrahi films
Shadow
Cinema
The Holocaust in Israeli film
Art
Israeli
Art
An overview
East
Meets West
Israeli visual arts
Yaacov
Agam
Israel's most famous artist
Photos
Explanations of
images on this page (with credits).
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