Israel and the Quest for Permanence (Paperback)

This book takes the reader to the very soul of a nation in conflict. The first half traces the historical internal divisions, exploring the ways in which a nation of extraordinary, unifying purpose became a nation of such deeply divided aspirations. It begins with the Six Day War of 1967, an unprecedented and still unmatched moment in Israeli history. Also chronicled is the cascading impact of the war, from the birth of the settlement movement in the late 1960s, to the era of """"land for peace"""" under Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s. The second half of the book explores Israel's three deeply divisive internal issues-- citizenship, race, and religion-- and how, in its second half-century, the Jewish state must finally come to terms with enormous questions of nationhood. Not simply a story of emerging extremism, it is the story of how Israel's past is shaping its future.