Life in Palestine Under the Rule of the Ottoman Empire According to Ibrahim Nassralla's Novel: Zaman al-Khoyoul al-Bayda'

This study deals with the Palestinian administrative, economic, political, educational, intellectual, and national dimensions as they are reflected in the stories and events of the historical novel Zaman al-Khoyoul al-Baida' by the Palestinian writer Ibrahim Nassralla, The novel that covers three generations from 1880s to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The events take place in a Palestinian village called 'Hadiya ', which serves as a representative of all Palestine. The study proves that the writer emphasizes the Palestinian identity through the stories that he collected from people who lived through the three periods of occupation of Palestine: the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and Israel, but the main focus is on the Ottoman Period. Stylistically, the novel has a special printing style. The oral stories are typed in italics in order to distinguish them from written stories. To investigate the information in the people's quoted stories, the events of the novel and the writer's arguments and his descriptions of the life of local Palestinians, the study relies on Paul Hamilton's theory of historicism , which is a critical way of using historical contexts to interpret narrative texts.

Extreme Haredi Leaders and their Isolation from the Zionist Enterprise: Between Ideology and the Challenges of Reality

High on the ideological and theological agenda of extreme Haredi groups is the delegitimization of the Zionist enterprise, its institutions, and the State of Israel, and the subsequent expectation of their rank-and-file to thoroughly isolate themselves from them. Based on existing scholarship and previously undiscovered primary sources, this article traces the conduct of extremist Haredi leaders vis-à-vis Zionist institutions during the British mandate in Palestine and after the establishment of the State. As we shall see, some extreme Haredi leaders elected to implicitly recognize the Zionist enterprise and its institutions. The specific circumstances surrounding the different cases enable us to understand the general phenomenon and to advance some preliminary observations.

From National Autonomy to Independent State: The Bund in the Face of the State of Israel, 1948-1989

The title of the article ’From National Autonomy to Independent State‘ refers to the gradual change that occurred in the wake of the Holocaust with respect to the Bund’s refusal to recognize the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people during its first forty years. Yet notwithstanding the historical anti-Zionism ideology of the Bund, the movement never wavered in its identification with the State while remaining critical of Israel’s policy towards the Arab refugee problem created by the War of Independence (1948-1949).

Jewish-Christian Identities in Conflict: The Cases of Fr. Daniel Rufeisen and Fr. Elias Friedman

The status of Jewish identity in cases of conversion to another religion is a contentious issue and was brought to the forefront of public attention with the 1962 court case of Oswald Rufeisen, a Jewish convert to Christianity known as Br. Daniel, which led to a shift in the way that the state of Israel defines Jewish identity for the purposes of citizenship. At the same time, however, another test case in conflicting interpretations of Jewish identity after conversion was playing out in Rufeisen’s own monastery, hidden to the public eye. Of the fifteen monks who lived together in the Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa, two were Jewish converts, both of whom converted during the Second World War and later immigrated to Israel. Both outspoken advocates for their own understanding of Jewish identity, Rufeisen and his fellow Carmelite Fr. Elias Friedman expressed interpretations of Jewish-Christian religious identity that are polarized and even antagonistically oppositional at times. This paper argues that the intimately related histories and opposing interpretations of Rufeisen and Friedman parallel the historical contestation between Judaism and Christianity. It investigates their overlapping and yet divergent views, which magnify questions of Jewish identity, Catholic interpretations of Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust narratives, and proselytism.

Crisis, Urban Fabrics, and the Public Interest: The Israeli Experience

The relation between urbanization and pandemics is not new. In fact, the “reformative” urban plans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries sought the addition of green patches, reliable running water systems, good sanitation, and sunlight to fend off the common ailments of the industrial city. No wonder then that these urban planning elements are also compatible with the Covid-19 era, as ample green and low-density areas are supposed to ensure or at least support quality of life and good health, even amid the health crisis we face today. This article examines whether additional elements tie together urban fabrics and coping with crises, particularly pandemics. To answer this question, I examine national urban planning in the state of Israel from the mid-20th century onwards. Urban planning in Israel has implemented theories and precedents from Europe and America; however, Israeli planners have also included nationalist-ideological contents in their work, so that the state and its interests have dictated their planning. The article concludes that the state interest of producing a cohesive society has created Israeli urban fabrics with community values and proximity to green areas, which are better suited for individual coping with crises involving the denial of personal freedom, whether due to a pandemic or any other reason. Accordingly, it proposes viewing these elements as suggestive of the need for significant involvement by public representatives in future urban renewal efforts.

Booster or additional vaccination doses in patients vaccinated against COVID-19

Several health organizations, mainly in Western countries, have recently authorized the use of a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for patients previously vaccinated with mRNA vaccines, with criteria that do not always coincide. The COVID Scientific Committee of the Illustrious College of Physicians of Madrid (ICOMEM) has received and asked several questions about this situation, to which the group has tried to give answers, after deliberation and consensus. The efficacy of the vaccines administered so far is beyond doubt and they have managed to reduce, fundamentally, the severe forms of the disease. The duration of this protection is not well known, is different in different individuals and for different variants of the virus and is not easily predictable with laboratory tests. Data on the real impact of a supplementary or “booster” dose in the scientific literature are scarce for the moment and its application in large populations such as those in the state of Israel may be associated with a decrease in the risk of new and severe episodes in the short observation period available. We also lack sufficient data on the safety and potential adverse effects of these supplementary doses and we do not know the ideal time to administer them in different situations. In this state of affairs, it seems prudent to administer supplemental doses to those exposed to a higher risk, such as immunocompromised individuals and the elderly. On the other hand, we consider that this is not the time to accelerate, on the spur of the moment, a massive administration of a third dose to other population groups that are less exposed and at lower risk, without waiting for adequate scientific information, which will undoubtedly arrive gradually. We do not believe that this position is incompatible with the practical and ethical warnings made by the World Health Organization in this respect.