The first eight essays offer personal accounts, from both Jewish and Palestinian perspectives, of the 1948 massacre of the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. In the last four essays, theologians and scholars discuss possibilities for a tenable future for both Israelis and Palestinians. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

First published in 1960, The New-Old Land of Israel deals particularly with the excavations which have amazingly enlarged our knowledge of Bible times. The unique quality of the Bible land of Israel is that it has the thrill of a rich historic past, an ardent, bustling present and an exciting, incalculable future. It is the purpose of this book to give to the reader that thrill, to describe the historical places which have been excavated by the archaeologists and link the past with the present. It starts with a survey of Palestine archaeology in the last hundred years, and a brief history of Jerusalem through the ages. Then it gives an account of the modern big town by the sea, Tel Aviv- Jaffa, and the ancient Roman town by the sea, Caesarea; of the Philistine city of Askalon and a biblical fortress of Judaea which are again populous: of Beersheba, the home of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, and now a teeming modern town which grows by thousands every year, and of a Eilat, a port of King Solomon and today of Israel to the Red Sea. This is an important read for scholars and researchers of archaeology, history of Israel, Middle East history and history in general.

Text: English, Hebrew (translation)

"The struggle over Israel/Palestine is not just another contest by competing nationalisms or an instance of geopolitical competition. It is also about control of sacred territory that involves local Jews, Muslims, and Christians as well as worldwide faith communities, each with their own interests and stake in what transpires. This balanced introduction to a complex subject presents the multiple positions within the great monotheistic traditions. It demonstrates that the secular discourses in the public square concerning ownership privileges, historical precedence, political rights, and justice that have allegedly replaced religious claims actually coexist with, and often complement, the theological. It explores the century-long tangle of secular and theological debates about Israel's legitimacy. Whether readers support a Jewish state or are resolutely opposed, the serious and substantial scholarship of this well-reasoned and innovative book will contribute to a nuanced and better-informed understanding of this persistent issue that has entered its second century on the international agenda."--

Mrs Trager's book, while containing all these questions in embryonic shape, for the stimulation of the thinker, is yet written with a simplicity and charm that should make it a favourite reading-book: a genre of literature of which the Anglo-Jewish community possesses as yet only the Apples and honey of Mrs Redcliffe Salaman. Christians should be equally entranced by this picture of the latest development of the people whom they first met in the Bible. The present book needs to be supplemented by one giving a comprehensive survey of things as they are to-day in Palestine.

"The Socoh Intensive Survey was initiated in 2010 by the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University, and the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the intent to conduct a large-scale excavation of the site beginning in 2011. The goal of the anticipated project was to expand the work of the Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Project into a regional study focusing on the history of the Elah Valley and the expansion of Judah in the Early Iron Age. Specific research questions to be addressed were (1) the geopolitical interplay between the cities of Tell Zakariya-Azekah, Khirbet Qeiyafa-Sha'arayim and Khirbet Shuweikeh-Socoh within Judah and the border of Philistia; (2) Socoh's stratigraphic and historical occupation; (3) its fortification history as a border garrison town; (4) its relationship to the major military history of the region (Philistine, Assyrian and Babylonian incursions); and (5) its larger significance in the development of the Shephelah"--

Two creative centres of Jewish life rose to prominence in the twentieth century, one in Israel and the other in the United States. Although Israeli and American Jews share kinship and history drawn from their Eastern European roots, they have developed divergent cultures from their common origins, often seeming more like distant cousins than close relatives. This book explores why this is so, examining how two communities that constitute eighty percent of the world's Jewish population have created separate identities and cultures. Using examples from literature, art, history, and politics, leading Israeli and American scholars focus on the political, social, and memory cultures of their two communities, considering in particular the American-Jewish challenge to diaspora consciousness and the Israeli struggle to forge a secular, national Jewish identity. At the same time, they seek to understand how a sense of mutual responsibility and fate animates American and Israeli Jews who reside in distant places, speak different languages, and live within different political and social worlds.

"Tearing down stereotypes about Jews, Richard Marceau tells us about himself, using his own story to convey Jewish history and culture. He draws an original portrait of the State of Israel, the role it plays in today's Jewish identity, and helps us discover Quebec's Jewish community. Denouncing prejudices and intellectual dishonesty, identifying himself as a pro-Palestinian Zionist, Richard Marceau calls for a respectful dialogue, promoting both the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel and the creation of an independent Palestinian state."--Pub. desc.

"Across almost the entire expanse of Jewish history, Jews have had to adjust to being ruled by empires. In antiquity alone Jews lived under a succession of imperial powers - Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Seleucid - before having to deal with the Romans. Judaism (of course) was shaped by each successive encounter with an imperial power. But as Katell Berthelot argues in this book, Rome and Roman imperialism presented Jews with unique ideological challenges, and compelled Jews to rethink key aspects of their own self-definition. Long before Rome became Christian, Jews recognized pagan Romans as unprecedented rivals because of some striking similarities between the two peoples. Previously Jews were ruled by empires associated with kingdoms and kings. By contrast, "Rome" was first and foremost a city and a people - and Romans thought of their city and themselves as a people in ways uncomfortably close to the ways Jews defined themselves: as an Israelite people tied to a capital city, Jerusalem. Moreover both Romans and Jews conceived of themselves as a pious people with a divine calling; both thought they possessed the most perfect laws ever written; and both believed themselves to be entrusted with a universal mission that implied bringing peace to the world. This was too close for comfort. The disturbingly close parallels led some Jews to feel that Rome was in fact trying to take Israel's place in God's plan for the world. Revealingly, the ancient rabbis depicted this rivalry by turning to the famous biblical story of the sibling rivals Jacob and Esau, associating the Jews with the former and the Romans with the latter. The perceived rivalry led to a series of innovations in Jewish self-perceptions in late antiquity in several areas that Berthelot will discuss in a series of book chapters: innovations in Jewish understandings of power, citizenship (or membership in a people), and law. Berthelot argues that in some cases the Jewish sources imitate or mimic Roman representations (of, e.g. legal thinking and practice), and in other cases propose a countermodel"--

Despite the tragic reality of the continuing Israeli-Arab conflict, this book affirms the bonds between the two communities, showing that the literatures of both ethnic groups defy obstructive ideologies. Rachel Brenner argues that literary critics have ignored the variety and dissent in the novels of both Arab and Jewish writers in Israel, giving them interpretations that conform with Zionist ideology. She offers insightful new readings that compare fiction by Jewish writers Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, and others with fiction written in Hebrew by such Arab-Israeli writers as Atallah Mansour, Emile Habiby, and Anton Shammas. She highlights the moral and psychological dilemmas faced by both Jews and Arabs and suggests that the hope for release from the historical trauma lies in reaching an understanding with and of the adversary.

Poetry. Jewish Studies. "The ruins of Lifta, an archeological site of incalculable value outside Jerusalem is a nexus of 'irreconcilable stories.' To the stones of Lifta and their compelling mute testimony, Kaminsky has bent his poet's ear, transcribing for us their urgent, mournful, bitter and aggrieved voices that witness to the layers of memory and history here. As the poet was summoned to Lifta, this probing and timely book summons the reader with blunt, contentious dialogues, daring and tender monologues, striking allegories, and always, the piercing questions that, seemingly unanswerable, must continue to be asked in the pursuit of understanding and justice."--Jeanne Marie Beaumont

This pioneering handbook is presenting Israel in its intellectual controversies regarding Zionism, the making of the State of Israel and contemporary Israeli society. In more than a dozen of thematic sections, a wide range of perspectives is covered. Among the debated key topics are 'Israel and Democracy', 'Religion and State', and 'Zionism vs. Post-Zionism'. The Handbook constitutes a major reference work for anyone dealing with Israel

A beautifully written, sensual and evocative book, in the tradition of Amy Tan and Isabelle Allende, rich in magic realism and folklore. 'To understand the end you have to look for the beginning'. As a little girl in Jaffa, Israel, Tamara has an insatiable desire for stories, constantly asking questions of those around her, and demanding explanations. However, no-one ever seems to give Tamara the whole story, so instead she must piece together the various narratives herself in what will become a lifelong attempt to unravel the hidden secrets of her tangled family history, and so bring some meaning to her own life. Raised by her fiercely independent maternal grandmother, Simcha, who jealously guards her from others, in particular her paternal grandmother, Rashella, Tamara's love of stories develops into a voracious appetite for life itself. An impulsive, passionate seeker of knowledge in all its forms, nothing prepares her for the thrilling intensity and the danger of falling deeply, madly in love for the first time

The soul of this book is not just linguistic. The author creates an innovative approach, combining language with anthropology and history, and this can serve a medley of researchers in interdisciplinary fields. The texts introduce the long and rich inheritance of the Arabic-speaking Jews of Tiberias. They have lived there for centuries with only brief interruptions, and have spoken Arabic as their mother tongue. The author continues here his research on other communities in Galilee where Arabic has been spoken by Jews, such as Haifa, Safed and Pqi'in. The book pays homage to these people, their heritage and language, before all sink, alas, into the limbo of forgotten things. These are the last vanishing voices, which speak out, tell and still breathe. Hopefully they will still serve as evidence in the future of a once glorious but dying culture, whose existence, paradoxically, may even come to be doubted in future times.