登陆注册
10481300000002

第2章 Introduction

My aim in this book is to survey the history of the State of Israel during its first fifty years, and also to tell something of its founders and pioneers, going back to the second half of the nineteenth century. Ideology, politics, diplomacy and war each have their place in the narrative, as do the stories of many of the individuals—some famous, others not—who contributed to the building up and survival of the State, and whose aspirations and toil made it what it is today—a State of more than five million people, four million of them Jews.

Fifty years ago there were only half a million Jews in British Mandate Palestine. Their desire for statehood long preceded the declaration of the State. The pioneers and the ideologists, many of them from Russia, but deriving their inspiration and support from throughout the Jewish world, were beset by problems, both of material hardship and of the competing claims of rival movements. Zionism came to the fore as a national movement when Democratic Socialism and even Bolshevism were competing for many souls, including the soul of the Jewish people.

One feature of the evolution of Jewish statehood was the steady settlement of small groups of pioneers on the land, starting more than a hundred years ago. The farming settlements that the pioneers created from the last quarter of the nineteenth century onwards gradually transformed the landscape and, more importantly, formed the basis of the future structure of Israeli life, first in Turkish and British Mandate Palestine and then—for the process has been a continuous one—in Israel. These settlements, often named for Zionist leaders or biblical characters and places, reflect many aspects of the history and aspirations of Jewish immigration and endeavour. Long before the Holocaust destroyed the world of Jewish life and experience in Europe, and set its survivors on the road to Palestine, the building up of Jewish national institutions in Palestine, and of a Jewish population committed to statehood, had reached a high point of achievement, requiring only the decision of the British to leave to set it on its national goals. It was not the Holocaust but the War of Independence, which began three years after the Holocaust ended, that enabled the Jewish State to come into being.

Over the past fifty years, Israeli society has faced a combination of pressures that are unusual in any nation: the pressures of continuous and massive immigration; five wars; the unpredictable cruelty of terrorist attacks (and, most recently, of suicide bombers); and a sense of the isolation and vulnerability of a small nation, each generation of which has lost loved ones in war and as a result of terrorist attacks. Israel is not only a nation that for the first three decades of its existence was surrounded by sworn enemies, but one that, following a victorious war in 1967, has had to share part of its own land with another people. This is not a novelty in history, but it is a painful situation that can only be resolved by supreme efforts of goodwill on both sides of the Palestinian–Israeli national divide.

This is an account in which history and current affairs merge: I have brought this first edition as up to date as possible. Every new day brings a new twist to the main themes of Israel's history since the foundation of the State fifty years ago: the aspirations of the old timers and the often conflicting desires of the newcomers, in a nation where immigrants make up the largest single sector of society; the tensions between the predominantly European Ashkenazi Jews and the Sephardi Jews, many of them of North African birth or origin; the tensions between the ultra-Orthodox Jews and those who adhere to a less extreme form of religious observance, or to no religious observance at all; the conflict between the Labour movement and ideology which ruled the State virtually unchallenged from 1948 to 1977 and since 1977 has competed for power and influence with the revisionist, Likud philosophy with its very different attitudes towards the nature of State power, the mood of State institutions and relationships with the Palestinian Arabs.

Every nation reaches watersheds that disturb the whole equilibrium of the society: Israel has already reached many in its first half-century of existence, among them the victory of June 1967 which resulted in the acquisition of a large Arab population, and the assassination in November 1995 of the Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, by an Israeli Jew. The repercussions of this assassination will affect many aspects of life in Israel in the years to come.

Israel is a State based on the rule of law, and democratic values. Its institutions, among them the Knesset (Parliament) and the Supreme Court, reflect this philosophy of statehood. But the democratic nature of the institutions and the humanitarian basis of their responsibilities are sometimes questioned, even threatened, as seen most recently when death threats were uttered against the Chief Justice. Those within Israel who seek to maintain and enhance the democratic nature of the State face a complex struggle, as needy of vigilance today as it was at the time of the foundation of the State fifty years ago.

Although confronted with many problems, Israel possesses a strong will to succeed and prosper, to maintain its vigorous and fulfilling daily life, and to confound the critics who point to both external and self-inflicted problems as insoluble. This volume describes many instances when attempts have been made to resolve conflicts, and many where a harmonious resolution proved impossible. In Winston Churchill's words, 'The future, though imminent, is obscure'. But as Israel embarks upon its second half-century those who are responsible for its future have the task of nurturing its vibrant life, and of treasuring, guarding and enhancing its humane and democratic values.

Martin Gilbert

Merton College

Oxford

6 October 1997

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 羊皮卷大全集:一生必读的励志经典(超值金版)

    羊皮卷大全集:一生必读的励志经典(超值金版)

    本书收录了常见《羊皮卷》范本的经典,同时融入了最新的励志好书,17部世界级成功宝典以各自的主题让《羊皮卷大全集:一生必读的励志经典(超值金版)》处处闪耀着人类智慧的光芒,并照耀着生命的前程。相传两千多年前,一个贫苦青年海菲在神的指引下,得到秘密流传下来的经商致富秘籍,最终成为了富甲一方的人。这些秘籍书写在羊皮卷上,因此被称为“羊皮卷”。但令人惋惜的是,自海菲之后,再也没有人看到过这些神秘的羊皮卷。虽然那些神秘的羊皮卷已经随着时间的流逝而消失在历史的车轮下,但是富有羊皮卷意义的书籍却从未消失过。
  • 修仙败家子

    修仙败家子

    身怀饕餮血脉,手握绝世神通。幸得仙人指点,步入修真大道。一路过关斩将,除尽魑魅魍魉。
  • 99度甜:大牌萌妻赖上门

    99度甜:大牌萌妻赖上门

    不好,莫熙彦的青梅回来,挂名妻子单依依立刻收拾好行李打算走人。“你去哪?”她的去路被挡住了。“正宫娘娘回来了,当然是找准自己位置,回冷宫去。”她冷眼,带着自嘲。“乖,别闹了,你是名正言顺的莫太太,别的女人都是路人甲。”他沉声哄着,蹲下,帮她把鞋带绑好。后来他才知道,她不是因为吃醋跟他闹,而是急着离开他,奔赴另一个男人的怀里。
  • 非凡筑基

    非凡筑基

    莫问烈炎几腔雄,一缕心火云中留;挥剑斩云苍穹现,长怒清吟震中州。且看一个筑基期弟子如何在高手如云的修真世界搅动一方风云。本书为爽文,越级战斗对主角来说如饮水;主角遇到危险往往会逢凶化吉,绝地翻盘,有仇现报绝不拖沓。
  • 爆笑囧妃:邪王N次追妻

    爆笑囧妃:邪王N次追妻

    穿越成废物有什么关系?拜一个牛逼的师父,整个大陆照样横着走!次日,云若若满身酸楚的醒来质问:“你不是说,整个大陆横着走么?”妖孽男淡淡的开口道,“你昨晚不是横了一晚?”
  • 快穿之翻身做女王

    快穿之翻身做女王

    苏暖暖的人生总体来说还是很完美的,童星出道,19岁得最佳女主角提名,25获得影后桂冠;但是在获得影后的第二天就空难去世了,魂魄飘荡了好几天,终于被一个不知名的系统收了,认命的做任务,等复活吧!毕竟我的影后奖杯还没抱热乎呢!
  • 此仙只应天上有

    此仙只应天上有

    新书是《若为落白故》,欢迎入新坑,我爱大家~九天仙阙之上,天帝之女扶摇公主横行霸道,玩弄众神、欺压群仙,与上古龙族缔结婚约却遭悔婚,应有此报,不过……“老娘本来就不想嫁。”她说,一切都在她计划之中,趁机勒索龙族苍天令,持令牌前往石沉溪洞拜苍玄始神为师,拜师是假,真心是真,苦苦追索十万年,今朝终能见君面。称心如意之后,日常对话是这样的:“她们说我猪。”某妖:“什么?猪?”“就猪!”“哦。但……不像么?”“……”很温很暖超萌非常闹的故事,不要虐心、不要阴谋、不要生离死别,要在一起!【Q群217853682喜欢的加哟。】
  • 副所长常怀民

    副所长常怀民

    东湾这块地儿上的大事小情都牵动着常怀民的心。这天,常怀民下乡回来已误了派出所的晚饭,胡乱煮了包方便面吃过,就走出所外想散散步,捋捋心思。山里人一拨一拨往外搬,村庄里的人日见稀少,可这事那事却并没少。正想着,对面路上一道灯光闪过,还有轰鸣声,他能看得出,是一个骑摩托的人走过去了。看看表,已经晚上十点多了,谁这个时候还夜行呢?看看方向,朝武安庄那边去了,常怀民心头便掠过几分狐疑。回到办公室,看大家都已睡下,他洗了脚,没有上床,坐在办公桌前,总觉得好像还有什么事似的。“叮铃铃……”值班室的电话突然响了起来。
  • 小错的爱情

    小错的爱情

    因为无聊彭泽远,李小错好像就一直倒霉,工作被炒,还不断因为他受了大大小小得伤!原本是一个平淡无奇的女孩竟然是国际最隐秘家族的继承人,原本是平平凡凡得邻居,竟然是黑帮头目得接班人,原本是自己大学时期最喜欢得一个老师,竟然是个gay!而且还暗恋自己喜欢的人!再加上两个小包子,一个帅气可爱,一个聪明漂亮。到底谁才是最幸福的人,看看李小错得一生,从平淡到风起云涌。只与那一人执手,走遍天涯路,相爱永久!
  • 重生花魁之江山赋歌

    重生花魁之江山赋歌

    这秦淮河烟波浩渺之中,多少楼台倾颓又矗立。残破的西风卷着脂粉味道,我就在这秦淮河畔,日日盼望。痴情错付,命沉碧落,一朝重生,定要让这秦淮河泛起惊涛骇浪。都言妓子无心寡情,孰知世人皆薄情寡义。我用一生成全他和别人的荣华,甚至用生命为他们添红增色,重生一世,本以为与这青楼常伴,秦淮河的香波中,会是我的葬身之地,可是,你为什么会出现,龙游秦淮,这不是你的来处,更不该是你的去处。你说我出淤泥而不染,愿与我同堕阿鼻。你生,我生,你死,我死。君心妾意,良辰美景,杨柳残月,执手吹散烟波,苍茫水天一色。君生我亦生,我与君偕老。