scholarly journals Vague and unworkable: The fuzziness of the archipelago as a concept and its unsuitability as model for a 21st century Palestinian nation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saba Bebawi ◽  
Christian Fleury ◽  
Philip Hayward
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Substantial Proportion ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Vague Concept ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Modern Nation State

While it is frequently invoked, the archipelago is such a vague concept that its deployment in fields such as island studies is only productive when the contingency of its use is specified. In this article, we examine the concept itself and then consider the use of the archipelago as a metaphor and/or model for a future Palestinian state. The creation of the modern nation-state of Israel in Palestine in 1948, various Israeli military actions, and (often related) public and private developments of former Palestinian lands has resulted in a substantial proportion of Palestinians fleeing to neighbouring countries (chiefly Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria). Those Palestinians who have remained have largely been confined to territorial isolates within the Jewish state. These isolates have frequently been understood and analogised as ‘islands’ within Israel, and the aggregation of these isolates has been variously referred to and/or represented as an archipelago. This article examines the development of this metaphoric interpretation of the Palestinian community within Israel in Anglophone, Arabic, and Francophone discourse, and characterises the contortions necessary to imagine Palestinian territories as archipelagic. The conclusion returns to consideration of the notion of the archipelago itself and of its usefulness in island studies and other contexts.

Beyond the Nation-State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shumsky
Keyword(s):  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
Zionist Movement ◽  
Theodor Herzl ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
State Of Israel

The Jewish nation-state has often been thought of as Zionism's end goal. This bracing history of the idea of the Jewish state in modern Zionism, from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century until the establishment of the state of Israel, challenges this deeply rooted assumption. In doing so, the book complicates the narrative of the Zionist quest for full sovereignty, provocatively showing how and why the leaders of the pre-state Zionist movement imagined, articulated, and promoted theories of self-determination in Palestine either as part of a multinational Ottoman state (1882–1917), or in the framework of multinational democracy. In particular, the book focuses on the writings and policies of five key Zionist leaders from the Habsburg and Russian empires in central and eastern Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Leon Pinsker, Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and David Ben-Gurion to offer a very pointed critique of Zionist historiography.

The Challenge of a Jewish State

2015 ◽  
pp. 135-180
Author(s):  
David H. Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
The Creation ◽  
First Time ◽  
State Of Israel

This chapter investigates the first of three external challenges which defined Jewish life in western Europe in the late 1940s and 1950s. This was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. For the first time in modern history, Jews could choose whether or not to live in the diaspora. There were hundreds of survivors in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands who were convinced that they had no future in Europe and migrated to Palestine as soon as they could. Those who chose not to were now forced to think more seriously about their decision to remain in western Europe. Zionist stalwarts, in particular, were challenged to reassess their role now that the Jewish state was a reality. What resulted was a transformation in collective and personal behaviour and attitudes that largely strengthened collective Jewish identity and commitment.

scholarly journals THE JEWISH QUESTION, SECULARIZATION AND THE NATION-STATE CRISIS IN HANNAH ARENDT: FOR A POLITICS OF PLURALITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-205
Author(s):  
Tomas Borovinsky
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Jewish Question ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Before And After ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Modern Nation State

In the present paper we intend to rethink the “Jewish question”, in the context of religion’s secularization and the modern nation-state crisis, in Hannah Arendt’s political thought. She writes, on the other hand, in and over the decline of modern nation-states that expel and denationalize both foreign citizens and their own depending on the case. She also thinks as a Jew from birth who suffers persecutions and particularly theorizes on her Jew condition and the future of Judaism before and after the creation of the State of Israel. As we will see during this paper we can identify these three issues all together, particularly in the Zionist experience: modern secularization, decline of the nation-state and the “Jewish question”. And it is from these intertwined elements that we can draw a critical thinking for a politics of pluralism.

The Creation of the State of Israel, 1947–48

2020 ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Jerome Slater
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Arab States ◽  
State Of Israel

The 1947 UN partition plan divided Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem designated as an international city. The Zionist leaders “accepted” the plan, but only as a temporary tactic, until Israel could later expand and take over all of historical Palestine. The Palestinians rejected the plan, unwilling to compromise their claim to Palestine and aware of the Zionist expansionist plans. American policies toward the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine were mixed. Roosevelt was sympathetic to Zionist goals, but he was unwilling to jeopardize US ties to the Arab states in the Middle East, especially because of their control of oil vital to the US economy. Similarly, Truman was advised by the State and Defense Departments that it was against the national interests for the United States to support the creation of Israel, but for reasons of both morality and domestic politics, he overrode them.

Violence and the Ethnic Nation-State, 1939–1949

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-112
Author(s):  
Laura Robson
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
World War ◽  
Primary Mode ◽  
Ethnic Nation ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Second World

In the Mashriq, the Second World War saw not only the British reoccupation of territory as insurance against Axis expansionism, and the French doubling down on colonial claims to land, resources, and people, but also an ongoing battle—sometimes literally—between these competing European concepts of postwar empire, both of which made use of local iterations of ethnicity, religion, and nationhood to bolster particular visions of ongoing imperial possession. This appropriation of communal identities for imperial purposes culminated in the war for Palestine in 1948, which resulted in the mass dispossession of the Palestinians and the foundation of a Jewish state of Israel—a confirmation of the ethno-national state as the primary mode of political organization in the modern global order.

Commemorating Raffles: The creation of an imperial icon in colonial Singapore

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-598
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Barnard
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Imperial History ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Trade Port ◽  
Modern Nation State

While Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles led the expedition that founded colonial Singapore in 1819 and conceptualised many of the early institutions that developed the trade port, it was the depiction and commemoration of his time in the region that made him an icon of imperial mythology. This was part of a process in which admiration of his name and exploits were exalted, ultimately representing a core element in the Victorian mentality, the need to create heroes to glorify the British Empire. This article will survey and analyse how the commemoration of Raffles in the first 75 years of colonial rule, through the commissioning of statues and the attachment of his name to establishments and institutions, solidified and justified a British presence in the region and larger imperial history, which continues to echo in the modern nation-state of Singapore and its history.

Peoples of the Gourd: Imagined Ethnicities in Highland Southeast Asia

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 999-1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Proschan
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
World System ◽  
Imagined Communities ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Nation States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Modern Nation State

Since its appearance in 1983, Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism has taken on almost talismanic status, ritually invoked for its quasi-magical efficacy in thousands of scholarly discussions of nationalism and ethnicity. Anderson's book has given focus to a line of argument in which not only nationalism but also ethnicity are seen as reflexes of the Euroamerican colonial enterprise. Anderson proposes what we might call an “appendency theory” of ethnicity, holding that ethnicity is a phenomenon that is secondary to, contingent upon, and necessarily later than the modern nation, and that therefore it could not possibly have existed prior to the colonial conquest and the creation of nation-states. In this view, ethnicity itself is a recent product of modern history—of the colonial or postcolonial era, the age of the modern nation state and the capitalist world system.

The Missing Dimension in the Built Environment: A Challenge for the 21st Century

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Leo R. Zrudlo
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
City Design

This article addresses architects, planners, and developers but should also interest any other professionals involved in the creation of the built environment. It begins by stating that the built environment is principally made up of buildings and groupings of buildings. Therefore, architecture and urban design are the major focus of the article. Definitions of architecture are then presented from a variety of authors and architects. An argument is made that there actually is a missing dimension in the built environment illustrated by quotations from architects, architectural theorists, amid critics. It becomes evident that architecture is unable to satisfy the emotional and aesthetic needs of people and also that the profession itself, which admits that modern architecture has created bleak and insensitive environments, is in profound disagreement on how to rectify the situation. Under the heading “Architecture–The Object” arguments for and against different architectural movements or stylistic tendencies are highlighted by quotations from the proponents of tile various styles and theories. A similar approach is taken for cities under the heading “Urban Design–The Juxtaposition of Objects.” The fact that something is missing from architectural and city design is concluded, and examples of a preoccupation for the spiritual aspect of architecture and urban design are used to illustrate this growing concern for a dimension that has been much neglected in tile previous several decades. The notion of “spiritual” is then defined, followed by a list of spiritual qualities. Two important principles, unity in diversity and consultation are discussed before presenting some concluding thoughts on how the designers of the built environment can begin finding ways of infusing their designs with a spiritual dimension.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document