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The aim of this study is to investigate the outcomes of thirty-three day war of Hezbollah in Lebanon with Israel and the effect of Hezbollah on foreign policy of Israel. In this study that has been performed through a reviewing method (documental-library), the formation of Hezbollah, its wars and conflicts with Israel and specially thirty-three day war and victory of Hezbollah on Israel and the outcomes of this victory, foreign policy, and foreign security of Israel are investigated in details.

Every year for the last ten years I have visited Palestine/Israel, seven times leading a group of students who had spent a semester studying the conflict. Much can be learned from news reports, documentaries, and scholarly literature. But seeing Israel/Palestine in person creates the most vivid and compelling form of knowledge.

This paper aims to highlight some aspects concerning the phenomenon of religious pilgrimage, insisting on some biblical foundations of the pilgrimage phenomenon, as well as, in a theological approach, on its motivations and significance in Christianity. Religious pilgrimage centres on the desire to experience the encounter with God. Going on pilgrimage is an answer to this inner call: the pilgrim begins his journey with the awareness of being called by God. Some events and persons in the history of Israel anticipate and symbolize aspects and features of religious pilgrimage. The entire journey of the people of Israel through the desert was a pilgrimage made with the hope of reaching the Promised Land. Although during a pilgrimage may occur moments of wandering, difficulties, attempts and sometimes even desperation (events that can be also found in the pilgrimage of the chosen people), the experience of the pilgrimage is a celebration that profoundly marks the personality and spirituality of pilgrims.

Haifa has played no significant political or economic role in the history of Israel, and yet it is special—it is the only major city in Israel located between a sea (the Mediterranean) and a mountain (Mt. Carmel)—and has been a symbol of Jewish–Arab co-existence since the British Mandate of Palestine. The article describes Haifa and its population as reflected by some Hebrew and Arabic prose works whose writers have lived in the city. It focuses on Haifa as a composite of geographically and socially different neighborhoods and on the relations between its Arab and Jewish inhabitants—friendships, conflicts, professional cooperation, and romantic involvement. Hana Wirth-Nesher's model for the study of city novels and Gavriel Zoran's model of time and space in prose works are both brought into play.

The name ‘Israel’ is employed by all sections of Isaiah in various ways and with various meanings. As such, the book takes part in the fundamental transformation the name has undergone both in the history of Israel and in the literary history of the Old and New Testaments as it evolved from a political to a theological concept, from the Israel of history to the Israel of faith. According to an insightful thesis proposed by Leonard Rost, this development took its point of departure from the prophets of the eighth century BCE and has left especially deep traces in First and Second Isaiah. The name Israel can thus serve as a leitmotif that allows us to retrace the development of Isaianic prophecy as well as the various stages of the book’s origins.

How have Jews in Germany, stranded or returned there after World War II, related to Israel and to Germany, and how have their attitudes evolved since then? For decades, most Jews had no plans to stay in Germany, and their identification with and commitment to Israel, certainly in the first two decades, was extraordinary. However, over time their distance and even hostility to the German environment began to lessen, especially as West Germany developed ever closer ties with Israel. To a considerable degree, Germans themselves first reinitiated contacts with Jews and Jewish issues via Israel. In recent years, coinciding with the influx of Russian Jews and the policies of the Netanyahu and Sharon governments, there has been renewed emphasis on Diaspora and its values and a more positive reappraisal of the history of Jews in Germany. Nonetheless, basic ambivalences remain in place.

Beginning in 1967 the Soviet Union allowed some Jewish citizens to leave for family reunification in Israel (see Appendix). Due to the break in diplomatic relations between Israel and the U.S.S.R., most emigres traveled to Vienna where they were then flown to Israel. After 1976 the majority of emigres who left on visas for Israel “dropped out” in Vienna and chose to resettle in the West. Several American Jewish organizations facilitated their obtaining visas and being resettled in the United States and other countries. This article examines efforts by Israel to deny Soviet Jewish emigres the option of resettling in the United States. Israeli officials pressured American Jewish organizations to desist from aiding Russian Jews who wanted to resettle in the United States. Initially American Jews resisted Israeli efforts. Following Gorbachev's decision in the late 1980s to allow free emigration for Soviet Jews, the American Jewish community agreed to a quota on Soviet Jewish refugees in the United States, which resulted in most Soviet Jewish emigres to Israel. The article uses the case study to explore efforts by American Jews and Israel to influence American refugee policy in the 1970s and 1980s. It provides insights into ethnic politics as well as “sponsored politics,” whereby Israel used the American Jewish community to further its interests in the making of United States foreign policy. It also deals with the issue of human rights and migration. While no migrant has the right to go to a country of his or her choice, Israel did deny some emigres the right to exercise freedom of movement to other countries who welcomed them as refugees.

Until now no one has outlined the matrimonial politics of the Davidic dynasty as a whole. A closer look reveals these policies to be a clear-cut means of stabilizing David's dynasty and expanding its territory and power. As far as we know, all of the marriages of Davidic crown-princes are comprehensible in the political and regional context of the time. In every case, choosing the bride for the crown-prince of Jerusalem and Judah was politically goal oriented. Selection of the royal bride throws light on the sometimes weaker, sometimes stronger (more independent) position of the kings as well as the possibilities and aims of Davidic politics. Mentioning the kings's mothers makes clear that the Bible can supply valuable information for the investigation of the history of Israel and Judah.

The implied strategy and the history projected in the new book of Jens Bruun Kofoed, Text and History, fails to measure up to the critical principles of both theology and science established by Thomas Acquinas' centuries' old distinction between faith and reason. An apologetic intention in Kofoed's book attempts to demonstrate that the biblical history of his evangelical faith is not unreasonable. Thomas Thompson, on the other hand, thinks it is necessary to hold the line between faith and science, which St. Thomas drew some seven centuries ago. What Kofoed argues in an effort to project a history of Israel, which would be an alternative to that of the “Copenhagen school” is not science. Nor are his rules of evidence those that the world of secular history requires. Led by an apologetic rhetoric and understanding of historical argument, Kofoed's revised Arhus dissertation is dominated by a critique of the “Copenhagen school,” which attempts to show that an alternative answer is not impossible. Although em...

In revisiting the plagues in Ps. cv, this study suggests that the omission of the fifth and sixth plagues and the repositioning of the ninth plague may be credited to the psalmist's interest in stressing the significance of land in the history of Israel.

The event described and commented on here occurred within the State of Israel, a week after the state came into being (22-23 May 1948). Although the Tantura Case is a significant chapter in the history of Israel/Palestine there is virtually no detailed reference to it in the works of Israeli or Palestinian historians, or of any other historian. Nevertheless, the Tantura events were also a subject of heated legal and public debate in Israel throughout 2001. The public controversy still generates strong passions. This article provides not only a description of the event and the controversy, and its ongoing social implications, but also discusses its impact on fundamental questions of historiography, such as the question of the nature and hierarchy of sources, as well as the scope and limits of the historian's imagination. It also poses even higher questions, namely those which impinge upon a historian's objectivity and moral obligations.

This list is presented as the names of those accompanying 'Jacob into Egypt but it displays genealogical features and gives two different totals for the numbers involved. Commentators have found difficulty in proposing a complete overall solution to the problems posed by the passage. Such a complete overall solution is suggested with far-reaching implications for the early history of Israel and a proper understanding of Israel's true character and constitution.

It is well known that the book of Ezekiel is replete with the vocabulary of holy and profane on the one hand, and contains several retellings of the history of Israel on the other hand. It is the purpose of this study to examine the relationship between these two aspects. It is argued that Israel’s past is characterized as a history of profanation of what pertains to God, its present exilic condition is depicted as a state of profanation, and its future is portrayed as a result of God’s sanctification. It is also noted that this understanding of Israel’s history reveals the ambivalent character of the (experience of) exile.

Reading the book of Joshua against a post-exilic backgroundThis article argues that the book of Joshua portrays the idealistic views held by the post-exilic community on the history of Israel. The book displays remarkable similarities with Third Isaiah and with narratives from the post-exilic period. By reading the book of Joshua against a post-exilic background, it obtains theological significance, not as a historical account of the occupation of the land, but as a call for the acceptance of foreigners into the community of the people of YHWH, as well as for the decentralization of religious power. The book owes its final form to a marginalized group, who were in conflict with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The book of Joshua functioned as a contra-narrative against the exclusive claims made by the returning exiles.

The Old Testament witness is an exhortation to courage and dialogue. Every new generation of Israel faced the challenges of its time without hesitation and often daringly. The history of Israel was marked by serious crises, which could well have wiped out the covenant people. In all, these crises, Israel rallied to the call of Yahweh and sometimes triumphantly, sometimes agonizingly, faced the new situation. The nation came through the tests and grew through them, not only in inner strength and stature, but also in insight regarding matters of faith. New dimensions were opened up to the Israel of each new generation. An earlier generation would have failed to perceive these fresh perspectives in faith and understanding. Not least, Israel's faith came to be what it was through the encounter with nonIsraelite religions and cultures. No better proof of the inherent vitality and moral strength of the faith of Israel could be given than the power it possessed to assimilate and transform the various elements with which it came into contact through its historical environment. (1) The Old Testament offers numerous illustrations of this profound truth. We note in this connection the theological enrichment for the faith of Israel when its God came to be understood clearly, through the use of the pattern of the ancient West Asian vassal treaties, as the sovereign king of God's people. The faith of Israel rarely emerged without being enriched and strengthened by its encounters with other religions and cultures, which brought to light and set forth new elements of the Jewish faith. For our reflection on the theme, Identity and Plurality, I have chosen a text from the book of Exodus. As a story of deliverance from oppression, the birth of freedom, and the divine sanction of human rights and responsibilities, the exodus story has served as a paradigm for over two and half millennia. From the sixth century BCE to the present, the images, the values and the ideas of exodus persist. There is something in the story that pertains to the human spirit irrespective of cultural and ethnic differences. The human condition is elucidated by the encounters of the Hebrews and the Egyptians, Moses and Pharaoh, and Yahweh and Israel, as well as by the concepts of the mountain of God and the promised land. The exodus is paradigmatic in every generation and every circumstance for those engaged in eradicating human oppression and bringing salvation on the temporal horizon. The exodus is the story of the birth of a people, a social and ethnic unity that emerges in Israel beginning in the Iron Age. This forging of identity is a process that extends over the lifetime of Israelite society. The processes of ethnic self-definition are evident in the symbolic rites of passage in the exodus story: the people are separated and delivered from the house of bondage; transformed into a new identity a s the "people of Yahweh" at the holy mountain; and reincorporated into the promised land with their new identity in place. The story as a whole defines the collective identity and ethnic boundaries of the people, and provides a common foundation for social and religious life. "The social function of history is evident in the processes of ethnic self-definition in the story and in the annual festival of Passover that re-enacts this collective memory." (2) One key dictum given to the people that provided for an authentic identity amidst the pluralistic ethos of the time, was the expectation on the part of Yahweh, that Yahweh would be the God of Israel and Israel would have no other god before Yahweh. The words "before me" in Hebrew al panay could more easily be translated "along side me", and would appear to have had most direct relevance to a cultic situation in which it was usual for more than one god to be worshipped at a sanctuary. However, it certainly came to imply that no other god was to be worshipped in preference to Yahweh, or instead of Yahweh. …

National Minority, Regional Majority: Palestinian Arabs Versus Jews in Israel, by Yitzhak Reiter. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2009. 403 pp. $49.95. National Minority, Regional Majority is an ambitious book written by a scholar who has both academic experience and government service. He was the Israeli Prime Minster's deputy advisor on Arab affairs from 1978 to 1987. The book provides insights into a variety of issues related to present-day Israel studies. Students of Israeli domestic policies concerning Palestinian citizens will be most served by it. The book is focused on providing an understanding of the dynamic relationship between Jewish and Palestinian citizens in Israel. It is organized in a fairly straightforward manner and provides useful conclusions on the topic. The study, in the words of Mr. Reiter, seeks to add a new dimension of analysis, interlocking conflict, to the body of work already engaged with the subject. The framework employed analyzes the relationship between Jewish and Palestinian citizens in Israel and the impact on it by the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and great power conflicts in the Middle East region (p. xiii). The chapters of the book are organized around two bookends. One is a historical narrative and the other some conclusions. Chapters in between, on individual Israeli governments and their treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel, make up the bulk of the study. The best chapter is number seven,"Peace and Affirmative Action," which details the Oslo Process and the lead up to the Second Intifada. It is the most analytical chapter of the book. The final chapter in the study offers thoughtful suggestions for the way forward for Jewish and Palestinian Israeli relations. These are largely focused on how Israel can continue to be a self-professed Jewish and democratic state with a significant non-Jewish minority. From his analysis, Mr. Reiter maintains that the government of Israel needs to be more mindful of the needs of the Palestinian community if it hopes to avoid a full-scale reproach of the idea of being both Jewish and democratic. He implies that had Israel been more aware of the needs of Palestinian Israelis they would have been less inclined towards Land Day 1976 protests, a rallying cry now for equal rights by Palestinians in Israel, and solidarity with the first and second intifadas (p. 296). This conclusion is similar to one made concerning Israel's occupational overreach in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Neve Gordon in Israel's Occupation (2008). Unfortunately, the limitations of the book place it within a category of literature that is broadly defined as status quo. Reiter is clearly comfortable with government nomenclature. Calling Palestinian Israeli citizens Arabs and Israeli Arabs throughout the book is a case in point. …

In this chapter, the author has an easier task: to elucidate what the Song meant to the ancient poets whose works are studied here. But, to understand the late ancient readings, the earlier history of the Song and the history of its interpretation, a history of which these piyyutim is a vital part. Song of Songs Rabbah offers discrete and discontinuous interpretations of the Song, and perhaps surprising to those who expect it to articulate a thorough-going allegory of God and Israel as spouses; it devotes minimal space to the marital metaphor. Neither the early history of the Song nor the story of its canonization may ever be recovered, but the effects of its canonization are manifold. The Song not only reflects the sacred history of Israel, it resonates in the contemporary moment. The poets sing the Song of Songs anew.Keywords: allegory of God; Isreal; piyyutim; Song of Songs Rabbah

In the two decades since Israel’s constitutional revolution, the Basic Laws have gained normative supremacy over other laws and have legal efficacy. Yet, they have not assumed an integrative role in Israeli society. In terms of their substance, the Basic Laws are incomplete in scope. In terms of Procedure leading to their enactment, they lack public legitimacy, due to having been retroactively upgraded by the Israeli Supreme Court from regular laws to constitutional norms. This paper argues that the only “constitutional moment” in the history of Israel possessing the potential to achieve an integrative role was the Declaration of Independence. This founding document should have been perceived as a transitional constitution, which established Israel’s basic values. Furthermore, in 1994 the historical missed opportunity could have been corrected when the Declaration was alluded to in the two Basic Laws, which constitute Israel’s (partial) Bill of Rights. Unlike the Basic Laws, the Declaration suffers neither the substantive nor procedural problems identified, and possesses integrative potential.

In this article the author discusses one of the most radical interpretations of the per son and mission of Jesus, namely the posi tion that sees Jesus as a supporter of vio lent resistance to Roman tyranny or a rev olutionary preacher, sympathizing with the ideology and methods of the Zealots. The article is written in such a way as to introduce the reader to the main arguments of the view, its version of the central meaning of Jesus' public ministry and preaching, and to present some problematic aspects of this theory by means of his torical and biblical analysis of its claims. The study of this issue, despite its brevity and introductory nature, will be of interest to those who are interested in the field of Christology and in lternative views on the role of Jesus in the history of Israel and of humankind.

This diploma thesis deals with the withdrawal of Great Britain from Palestine and the reactions of the Zionist movement on her mandatory policy. In 1937, the British planed to divide the mandate between the Arabs and the Jews, terminate the administration and establish an alliance with the successor states. Disapproval of the Arab world, worsened security in Palestine and the threat of a war in Europe led the mandatory power to prolong the administration and restrict the jewish immigration.These meassures caused a deterioration of Anglo-Zionist relations. During the Second World War, the Zionist Organization put forward a request for the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine. No long after, the British restored their preparations for the termination of the mandate. As before the war, they sought for the pernament teritorial solution for postmandatory Palestine and new allies. Due to unstable geopolitical situation and the loss of her hegemonic position, Great Britain had to consider the attitudes of the Arab world and the United States of America.

The struggle between Israel and Hezbollah (the Party of God) between 1985 and 2000 was characterized by asymmetry: Israel was a regional superpower; Hezbollah could field five hundred fighters on the ground, backed by three thousand more on the home front. The power gap narrowed as Iran pumped massive technological and organizational aid into Southern Lebanon and Hezbollah applied increasingly sophisticated psychological warfare. During the decade and a half campaign, the Shiite organization combined guerilla activity with psywar and succeeded in creating a political climate suited to its interests: getting the IDF to withdraw from Lebanon and destroying the Israeli-supported South Lebanese Army (SLA). This was a textbook case of applied psychological warfare in a low-intensity war.

(2001). Being Palestinian in Israel. Journal of Palestine Studies: Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 88-96.

Islam, the youngest of the three monotheistic religions, represents a fairly advanced stage in the evolution of traditions which could already be encountered in Jewish and Christian sources. Since the l9th century and even earlier, scholars who noticed this well-known phenomenon, have usually confined themselves merely to asserting the Jewish or Christian origins of traditions recounted in the Islamic sources, without further investigating the new life that was infused into these traditions in the Islamic sphere. In the following, traditions of a clearly Biblical origin will be examined in their specif1c Islamic connotation, thus perhaps enabling us to gain more insight into the role the Biblical history of Israel plays in Islamic historical consciousness.2 This will serve to shed more light on the Islamic conviction that the divinely pre-ordained history of humankind which began with the People of Israel is continued through the history of Muhammad's community.3 For this investigation, the Ark of the Covenant and the Golden Calf have been chosen. These two ritual objects play a signif1cant role in Biblical and Qur'anic historiography, as well as in early Islamic tradition (hadlth). In spite of their contrasting ritual signif1cance (monotheistic as opposed to pagan), they have much in common as symbols of divinity, and in fact stand in an inverted symmetry to each other. The mutual role of these objects in Islam

Jewish tradition refers to the city of Jerusalem in both abstract and concrete terms, celestial Jerusalem and earthly Jerusalem. The two are intricately bound up with each other and Jerusalem, the eternal capital city of the Jewish people, derives its powerful mystique, from its original appearance in Jewish history, although Biblical Jerusalem, the ancient city surrounded by hills, and modern Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, surrounded by satellite urban appendages, lack geographical congruity. In general, this is geo-politically relevant given the potent sensitivities that most Jews in Israel and elsewhere have for the symbolic value of their ancient capital. Significantly, most of the Arab inhabitants the capital city of Israel, are not Israeli citizens and the vast majority of them refuse to participate in municipal elections, even though Israeli law allows non-citizens who are permanent residents to vote in local elections. That Israel permits several countries to maintain separate consulates, in the western and eastern parts of Israel's capital, indicates Israel's implicit recognition of a dual status in Jerusalem. After the 1967 war, while careful to avoid using the formal language of annexation, Israel generally considered that east Jerusalem and some surrounding areas had become part of Israel, when by Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital City, it was declared to be the united and eternal capital of the State of Israel. This paper examines these political and legal developments.

Books reviewed in this article: Philip R. Davies, In Search of ‘Ancient Israel’ Philip R. Davies, Scribes and Scrolls: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures Lester L. Grabbe (ed.), Can a ‘History of Israel’ Be Written? Niels Peter Lemche, The Israelites in History and Tradition V. Philips Long (ed.), Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography Thomas L. Thompson, The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel

Two extreme views exist as to the structure of Lam 1: one is that there is no structure at all, while the other is that we have a very sophisticated and intricate structure. The author of this article, in rejecting - as would many scholars - both extremes, underlines the unique occasion of the poem - the aftermath of 586 BCE - and the traumatic experiences that are being commemorated, and argues for a dramatic composition involving role-play in the annual commemoration of the greatest tragedy in the history of Israel.

The history of Israel has always been a virtual history. Until recently, historical debate in the field has confined itself almost entirely to a discussion about alternative fictional scenarios for the past: the patriarchs and the conquest stories as an alternative to the exodus and settlement narratives; Moses or Ezra; Josiah or John Hyrcanus. Evidence, when it has been of interest to the field at all, has ever been in regard to any given scenario's persuasiveness. The story of David on the Mount of Olives is used as an example of the theological world at stake in the Bible's virtual history; particularly in regard to the motif of Yahweh as 'the lord of history'. Recognition of such virtuality in the biblical tradition aids the contemporary historian of intellectual history. The story of Jesus on the Mount of Olives is used to illustrate this.

An Uneasy Relationship: American Jewish Leadership and Israel 1948-1957, by Zvi Ganin. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005. 255 pp. $29.95. In this study Israeli writer Zvi Ganin discusses the dynamics of the often divided American Jewish Community as it sought to respond to the newly established State of Israel, whose leaders, especially David Ben-Gurion (Israel's first prime minister), had a very different view of Zionism from theirs. A second focus of the book is an analysis of the interaction of the American Jewish leadership with the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations, many of whose top leaders were openly hostile to Israel. The book highlights the role of the American Jewish Committee, and especially its leader from 1949 to 1954, Jacob Blaustein, who was to play a key role in dealing both with the Israeli leadership and with Truman and Eisenhower. Drawing upon the Israeli State Archives, the archives of the American Jewish Committee, and the documents in the U.S. State Departments Foreign Relations of the United States series, among other sources, Ganin presents a highly readable analysis of the challenges facing Israel in its early years and the problems it had in dealing with the American Jewish Community and the U.S. Government. After beginning his book with a detailed description of a divided American Jewish Community in 1948 (Zionists [the majority], non-Zionists, led by the American Jewish Committee, and anti-Zionists, led by the American Council for Judaism), and their often hostile interactions, Ganin focuses on the lack of understanding between Israeli leaders (especially Ben-Gurion) who saw all Jews living outside of Israel as living in Exile, and American Jews who saw the United States as their "Zion," and who had no intention of moving to the newly established State of Israel. Abba Eban, then Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and later to the United States, put the matter clearly (p. 71): Culturally, America's Jews feel American. There is doubt whether through the Diaspora there ever was such a Jewish community which identified so closely with the host nation as does American Jewry. And not just Jewish leaders, even the leaders of American Zionism use the terms "our country," "our nation," "our government" in relation to the United States. Such a community was very hard for Israeli leaders such as Ben-Gurion to understand. Growing up in Russia and Eastern Europe where Jews were an often-hated minority subject to pogroms, these Israeli leaders developed the Zionist concept of the negation of the Diaspora, and assumed the American Jewish community would go the way of the German and Polish ones. The Israeli leaders simply could not understand that when American Jews referred to their "nation," they meant the United States, and not the Jewish people. Nonetheless, in order not to jeopardize the aid flowing from American Jews and the U.S. Government at a time when Israel was in desperate need of such support to recover from its War of Independence and resettle hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Europe and the Arab world in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ben-Gurion was willing to compromise on his ideological position. …

1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East, by Tom Segev, translated by Jessica Cohen. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007. 673 pp. $35.00. The "Six Day War," as Israel coined it in 1967, constituted a major transformative event in the history of Israel and the Middle East at large. Tom Segev's book about this war provides an up-to-date historical account of the IsraeU domestic setting before the war, the political dynamics leading to and through the war, and the new realities and dilemmas following the war. The book makes important contributions to the history of the war, but these contributions are somewhat handicapped by three main problems. First, the book spans almost six hundred pages, excluding footnotes. The writing is journalistic in style, relying heavily upon direct quotes, which often makes the book feel like a very long newspaper article. The first third of the book provides exhaustingly long mundane, and redundant details of ordinary life in 1966, drawn from letters and diaries, which is likely to deter some readers. Second, Segev makes far-reaching inferences from selected letters and newspaper articles, arguing that Israelis sank into what he describes as depression, solemn mood, bereavement, distress, sense of helplessness, and similar cognitive attributes. These generalizations often seem overstated and exaggerated in order to justify the incorporation of the first part of the book. Most of the social problems that Segev notes had been constant characteristics of Israeli politics and society since independence. Segev explains that on top of these, Israel also experienced special problems from 1966 until the war, such as an economic recession (following years of prosperity), and the relatively high emigration rate from Israel, but he fails to demonstrate that these factors fed into the general national mood of depression and distress that he reconstructs. Third and more important, even if one does accept that a widespread psychological depression was building up among the Israeli public in the weeks prior to the war, Segev still does not demonstrate a causal mechanism between these factors and the natural panic that hit the Israeli public after Nasser's threats suddenly turned into action. Segev simply reiterates that"[i]t was not Nasser's threats that had brought this [panic] about-or, at least, not only his threats-but the quicksand of depression that pulled so many people down for so many months" (p. 286). But it remains unclear exactly how and why this prior national depression (if it existed) was a necessary condition for the war. By way of counterfactual argument, it is simply hard to envision that Israelis would have reacted differently even if all the known problems that Segev mentions were absent. Unfortunately, Segev does not differentiate between sentiments pertaining to these larger social factors and the mass panic that ensued after Nasser's moves. Indeed, these factors are largely forgotten when the book begins discussing the political dynamics that led to war following the Samoa operation (Chapter 3) and especially the border escalation with Syria (Chapter 4). It is here that Segev makes a greater contribution by providing updated records of Israeli government meetings that were not previously published. These include secret communications with King Hussein and Palestinian leaders; power and prestige struggles between Israeli Defense Force generals and Government Ministers, especially with PM Levi Eshkol; and complicated relations with the Johnson administration and the anticipation for a green light from the U. …

The main theme of Isaiah 40–55, so-called Deutero-Isaiah, is that Yahweh will grant forgiveness and deliverance to his people in order to provide a new beginning. In time, however, it became apparent that the salvation proclaimed by the prophet had not materialized. In response to a growing unease, therefore, the adherents of Deutero-Isaiah offered a reassurance to the people that salvation was imminent. In later days, however, a new explanation was offered for the fact that the prophetic pronouncement remained unfulfilled—the delay of salvation was blamed on the people of Israel's guilt. In order to explain the failure of Israel, and the subsequent withholding of Yahweh's salvation, the adherents of Deutero-Isaiah borrowed parts of the Deuteronomistic scheme concerning the history of Israel. By making observations on the tradition-historical connections in Isaiah 40–55, traces of Deuteronomistic theology in Deutero-Isaiah can be found. Further, it is also possible to draw some general conclusions about the relationship between the Deutero-Isaiah (respectively Isaian) school and the Deuteronomistic movement.

The Books of Kings contain some examples of individual restitution in the prophetic narratives: raising from death, restitution from a disastrous illness and restitution of a social position. The 17win motive in these narratives is the confidence of people in the saving power of the prophet and of God, who uses the nwgic abilities of the prophet. In the composition of the Deuteronomistic History the national restitution of Israel in 2 Kings 13-14 appears as a chance for Israel to repent. But it was not used, and so the history of Israel inevitably came to an end.

This article critically reexamines the origin of the name Palestine. The earliest occurrence of this name in a Greek text is in the mid-fifth century B. C., Histories of Herodotus, where it is appl...

The Preface of John Bright's popular textbook, A History of Israel, states that Bright targeted the "undergraduate theological student." Although presented as an academic history textbook, the content of the book amounts to a theology of the Protestant Old Testament, written in accord with a popular Protestant movement of the mid-twentieth century. This study examines Bright's motives for composing his History as discerned from unpublished letters of the period, and as discerned from a rhetorical evaluation of the textbook. Apparently, Bright did not consider himself a historian; rather, he thought himself to be a theologian who theologizes about history. Critical evaluation of Bright's effort concludes that Bright misconstrued the role of the historian precisely because he viewed that role through the eyes of a theologian. Nevertheless, he models an approach to the presentation of history that is valuable for future writers of textbooks targeted at theology students.