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S. Walker
From Blood And Soil: The Nation of Israel
The nation of Israel has played a critical role in the formation of Western and Eastern ideologies and has had an unmistakably profound impact upon the theological and cultural evolution of mankind. Former U.S. President John Adams, commenting on the historical importance of the Hebrews, once said the following:
"I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations … They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern (Aish).”
The Hebrews are not only of undeniable historical significance but also a key factor and concern in contemporary politics. In order to begin to understand the nature of Israeli politics it is important to understand the rich history of the Hebrews and also the events surrounding and leading up to the formation of the nation of Israel. We will begin our investigation into the politics of the nation of Israel by reviewing key historical contributions and events pertaining to that nation and its people.
The most significant and widespread impact of the Hebrew culture can be seen in its spread of monotheism to essentially polytheistic cultures. This theological ideal served to both lay the foundation and perpetuate the formation and evolution of the world’s three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The importance and breadth of changes affected by this new ideology can be better understood in light of the fact that approximately 55.25% of the world’s population are adherents to one of these three religions (statistics from adherents.com).
Within the three great religions it is generally recognized that the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, through his recognition of one God, initiated the primary and pivotal acceptance of the necessity of monotheism. This embrace of the reality of the existence of the one, supreme, and infinite God was called “Kiddush Hashem”, or “sanctifying the name of God” by the Hebrews (Aish). Reflections of the Kiddush Hashem can be found in the three primary prayers of the monotheistic religions: The Islamic Shahada: “la ilaha illa Allah” (there is no God but God)(George 27); The Jewish Shema: Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad… (Hear Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One); The Catholic Nicene Creed: “We believe in one God…” (Catholic Encyclopedia). In the formations of these religions we can see foreshadowed the current strife and often deadlocked political state of Israel. The Christian Bible (and thusly the Jewish Torah, which is contained within its Old Testament) and the Islamic Quran both admonish their readers to respect life and live a life of love and service to others. In fact, in Surah 5:28 of the Quran Muhammad is quoted as saying “You will surely find that the nearest in affection to those who believe are the ones who say, ‘We are Christians’”(George 20). However, despite their undeniable ties, history has left many scars upon all three religions, resulting in relentless and furious fighting between zealots and radicals from all three religions. One particular issue of controversy between Christians, Muslims, and Jews arises from discrepancies in the portrayal of the submission of Abraham to God through the near-sacrifice of his son Isaac/Ishmael and the subsequent covenant found in the Torah/Old Testament and the Quran.
A second matter integral to understanding the reasoning behind the formation of the Jewish state is that of the historical persecution of the Hebrews. The chronology of Jewish persecution spans two millennia and has been played out in nearly every major world culture. Before and contemporary with the time of Christ the Jews suffered some combination of persecution, enslavement, and/or attempted genocide under the nation-states of Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome (This list is not all inclusive) (Aish2). Many of these early persecutions are remembered to this day in the form of High Holidays, and observed nationally in Israel and by practicing Jews throughout the world. Jews celebrate Chanukah to remember the divinely aided revolt against forced Hellenistic reformation. Tisha B’Av (Literally the ninth of Av) is a day for lamentation of the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians on Av 9(The ninth day of the fifth month of the Jewish lunar calendar) in 586 B.C., and the subsequent destruction of the reconstructed temple by the Romans on the same day six centuries later. In modern practice, Tisha B’Av also serves to mourn the expulsion of all Jews from England on Av 9, 1290, and the launching of the Spanish Inquisition against Sephardic Jews on Av 9, 1492 (Moody 117).
Through the 19th and 20th centuries the Jews continued to suffer more and more rabid persecution under the French clergy (1806), the Catholic Papacy under Pius IX (1846-1878), Alexander II of Russia (1881), in the Easter Massacre in Moldova, Russia (1903), in the Russian Exile (1915), under the White Armies of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), in riots resulting from the publishing of Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, in Germany, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and the U.S.S.R., under Hitler’s German Third Reich and France’s Vichy Government (1933-1946) and the corollary Holocaust (1939-1945), which killed over 6 million Jews, through riots under the Romanian pro-Nazi regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu (1941), in mass riots in Jedwabne, Poland (1941), and in the massacre of 18,000 Jews in the Minsk Ghetto in Poland (1942). Once again, this list is hardly inclusive and it must be noted that in many regions of the world there remains brooding, if not rabid, anti-Semitism. In many countries around the world, the persecution of Jews continues openly to this day (Religioustolerance.org).
A final element critical to understanding the past of Israel, and to understanding its future, is a consideration of the region’s geography. At the height of its power the Hebrew Empire stretched from the south of Lebanon to the northeast of Sinai (modern-day Egypt). It shared it’s eastern border with the nation state of Edom, an amalgamation of ancient societies in what is now modern-day Jordan, and was also bounded by the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west (Biblestudy.com).
Map of Historical Israel (Biblestudy.com) Regional Map of Historical Israel (JVL)
Following the reign of King Solomon of the house of David, the Kingdom of Israel was divided through civil turmoil into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital of Samaria, and the southern kingdom of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem. This division lasted from approximately 920-597 B.C. and was characterized by corrupt, ineffective kings, public unrest and revolts, and calamity. By the end of this period the Hebrew Empire would suffer a full collapse and the state would crumble more and more under the weight of conquering invaders until it finally dissolved under pressure from King Nebuchadnezzer of the Babylonian Empire and the Jews were forced out of there homeland in the first of many exiles (JLV2). Israel would become a land divided by neighboring countries and the Jews would be left without a homeland until the middle of the 20th century.
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S. Walker
Israel was reestablished as a state on May 14, 1948 on lands granted to it through the Multi-lateral U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 (U.N. Resolution 181). The country had been virtually divided in half. Half of its historical lands were allocated to form the new Arab State, whereas the remainder was used to form the new Jewish State of Israel. Because of its sacred status in all three of the major monotheistic religions, a neutral area was created around Jerusalem. This division of lands, however, was not to be a lasting one (Israeli Government).
(Israeli Government)
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Within twenty-four hours of Israel’s official declaration of independence, a coalition of the regular armies of neighboring countries Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, hoping to take advantage of the country in the weakness of its infancy, mounted a furious attack upon the new nation, forcing its ill-prepared military, The IDF (Israeli Defense Force), to fight for the newly sovereign state less than a day after its conception. With regard to the coalition attack former Iraqi Prime Minister Sayyid Salih Jabr is quoted as saying that all the Arabs would need would be “a few brooms” to drive the Jews into the sea (Palestine Facts). This marked the beginning of the Israeli War for Independence. The war would end within 15 months but would leave a nation of both Arabic and Jewish people with deep scars of enmity and already controversial boundary lines reshaped in a much more controversial manner. An armistice agreement stemming from U.N. Security Council Resolution 1080 left the Arab State severely diminished and divided into two portions. In Accordance with the armistice, the larger eastern portion would be under Jordanian rule, and the smaller western portion would be subject to Egyptian rule (Israeli Government).
Map of Armistice Lines 1949-1967
(Israeli Government)
The 1948 attack would leave a painful legacy in its wake as hundreds of thousands of Arabs, particularly those of Palestinian descent, had fled Israel in the wake of the Arab forces in hopes of returning soon to what many Arab leaders were promising to be a land swept free of the Jews (Palestine Facts). After the unexpected repulsion of the Arabian insurgents by the IDF those Arabs displaced were denied re-entry to their former lands. The newly disenfranchised Arabs would be left to contend for living space, many being forced to live as refugees, mired in poverty and deep-rooted enmity.
Israel’s Boundaries would officially change three more times following two wars (the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973)) and two military campaigns (the Sinai Campaign (1956) and Operation Peace for Galilee (1982)) (Israeli Government). Israel’s current boundaries would be set in 1993, although the Palestinian Authority and the League of Arab Nations still hotly contest these boundaries.
Map of Israel, Gaza Strip, West Bank (2000) (JLV3)
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Having explored the issues of regions and borders, we shall now examine the topography and resources available in present-day Israel. “Israel's area within boundaries and ceasefire lines, including the areas under Palestinian self-government, is 10,840 square miles (27,800 sq. km.). Long and narrow in shape, it is some 290 miles (470 km.) in length and about 85 miles (135 km.) across at the widest point” (Israel Government2). The Northern can be divided into three parallel regions spreading from east to west and characterized by coastal plains, mountain ranges, and a rich, fertile region known as the Jezreel Valley; a widespread, arid, and sparsely inhabited region known as the Negev dominates the South (Israel Government2) The climate ranges from temperate to tropical and there are two distinct seasons: a cool, rainy, winter season, and a dry, hot, summer season (Israel Government2). In arable regions, Israel has abundant forests and wildlife, and a plethora of flora can be found in the coastal plains regions (Israel Government3).
Although Israel is largely reliant upon imports due to somewhat scarce natural resources, they nevertheless are “largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains” (Israel Economy 2000). Their leading exports are “diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables)” (Israel Economy 2000). It is interesting to consider a possible corollary between Israel’s staunch support of the United States in virtually all elements of policy, and the fact that “roughly half of the government’s [Israel’s] external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid” (Israel Economy 2000). Israel’s Currency is the New Israeli Shekel (NIS). It is moderately strong when compared against the US Dollar, but has weakened slightly in the past 5 years (Israeli Government4).
Now that we have gained sufficient background information about the infrastructure, geography, resources, history, culture, and the religious traditions of Israel to make educated analytic assessments of and predictions about the political structure of the nation, let us make an examination of the compositions of the political institutions of Israel.
At first glance, the Israeli political system would seem to adhere very closely to the model for a western constitutional democracy. It must be noted, however, that as of yet Israel does not have a constitution. The situation is best explained on the Israeli Ministry of foreign affairs website:
“Even though it was stated in the Proclamation of Independence -- read by David Ben-Gurion at the ceremony in which the State of Israel was declared -- that the Constituent Assembly, which turned into the First Knesset, would draft a constitution for Israel, this was not done due to differences of opinion with the religious parties. In place of a constitution, it was decided to legislate a series of basic laws, which in the future would together form the constitution. This task is now -- 46 years after the establishment of the State -- close to completion, and there are several articles in the existing basic laws which can only be amended by an absolute majority (the support of over 60 MKs) or a special majority (which is large than an absolute majority) of the Knesset members. The existing basic laws are: laws regarding the nature, powers, responsibilities, and rules governing the office of the president; the institution of the Knessset; the institution of the Judiciary; the nature of the electoral system, and the responsibilities of the government, the responsibilities of the IDF, laws regarding the protection and sanctity of Jerusalem as capital of Israel and seat of the Knesset; laws regarding regulation of the economy; and laws securing human rights” (Israel Government5).
Other basic laws regarding the process of legislation, freedom of expression and association, and rights in trial are also currently under debate (Israel Government5).
The disregard for a whole and fully functional constitution in preference of the system of gradual employment of basic law utilized by the Israeli Knesset could ultimately prove to be detrimental to the nation of Israel. As a country constantly suffering from external conflict, the Israelis seem to be refusing a democratic mainstay specifically designed to introduce stability into a government. Emmanuele Ottolenghi, Ph.D. in political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, elaborates upon this possible dilemma:
“Israel is a society where there is a fundamental and existential disagreement on the source of political authority, which translates into a permanent and insurmountable conflict on the nature and identity of the state. As if this were not enough, an external conflict is still on-going whose resolution will have wide repercussions on both political legitimacy and national identity. Traditionally, management of this permanent division relied upon a deferent judiciary and upon the ability of political forces to elaborate political compromises. The absence of constitutional limits allowed for compromises to become legislation and bound the courts to enforce them--irrational, unjust or illogic though they may be from a legal standpoint. Even when agreements were ad hoc arrangements that defied the legal logic of general and abstract rules, judicial deference ensured that there would be no interference: the political would clarify the meaning and application of these arrangements for each concrete circumstance.
The preference given so far by the Israeli legislator to coexistence of constitutional constraints (the Basic Laws) and of mechanisms for their temporary suspension, derogation, and violation (circumvention clauses) attempts to create a precarious balance between the two. Though it is difficult to forecast how long and how successfully this balance can hold, experience suggests that emergency and provisional arrangements have a permanent nature in Israel. Critics of the courts correctly attack judicial expansion of locus standi and lack of a political question doctrine as violations of the separation of powers that should be corrected. One should add to this legitimate criticism, however, that the sovereign should accept that acknowledgment of discretionary powers in exceptional circumstances means only that the exception creates the sovereign power to decide how to manage the emergency” (Ottolenghi).
The first of the Israeli institutions that we will examine is the Unicameral Parliament known as the Knesset. The Knesset sits in Jerusalem and, in accordance with Basic Law: The Knesset, consists of 120 members of Knesset (MKs). Membership in the Knesset is determined by general election. Based upon the results, members are then selected from a list through traditional proportional representation. Although the Knesset is unicameral it still operates through two different modes: all MKs sit in the Plenary for open floor debate, voting, and to work within the legislative framework set by the basic laws in order to pursue the agenda as guided by the executive; there are also the committees, which function much like the committees in other western democracies, offering an opportunity for MKs with specialization in a field to revise and modify bills so that they will be more effective, cater more to a certain interest group or party, or be more palatable to the Plenary and thus easier to pass. Like British Members of Parliament, Members of Knesset hailing from parties not represented in the government may also make a motion of no confidence in order to protest government policy and attempt to overthrow the current government. In the history of Israel there has only ever been one successful vote of no confidence, which was handed down on March 15, 1990 (Israel Government5). Similar to the United States Congress, the Knesset currently has twelve standing committees to deal with pressing issues. The current Prime Minister of the Knesset is Ariel Sharon and his Vice Prime Minister is Ehud Olmet.