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The shape of Israel's settlement map in the first two decades of independence was the outcome of formative political, economic, and social mechanisms. This article focuses on settlement in the mountain region through an examination of the failed settlement efforts in Biranit. We address settlement programs for the mountain region as a reflection of the contest to control the state's bureaucratic character and shape the character of its institutions. From this perspective, efforts to settle the mountain region represent the political contest between state and Zionist bodies over their roles in the transition from Yishuv to state. Special attention is drawn to the use of the terms ‘frontier’ and ‘periphery’ to mobilize political and economic resources both in and outside Israel.

This paper addresses the convergence of British colonialism and Zionist aspirations in Mandatory Palestine. As research so far explored this topic mainly as a confluence of colonial-national intere...

The article focuses on the political establishment's attitude toward Israeli youth during the early years of statehood, viewing it from a new angle: regarding young people as a political force reflecting the effects of contemporary social development. I focus on those described as hegemonic youth, members of Israel's social and economic elites. This approach sees the attitude of the political establishment toward the youth as a political expression and suggests an instrumental approach toward youth and the youth ethos in Israeli society as a tool to construct republicanism. Hence, despite publicly having declared the need to strengthen the Zionist youth movements and young national activism, the state's financial and organizational efforts were mainly invested in generating alternatives to the pioneering youth movements, along with the effort to change their ideological and organizational base. These alternatives included ‘good citizenship’ education in schools and informal settings, which were di...

Maccabi was the first sports organization in Palestine. It started out as a national Zionist sports organization. In the 1930s, it was knocked off this pedestal in Palestine by the growing strength of Hapoel, the sports association that operated under the aegis of the powerful Histadrut workers Union. Unlike organizations such as Hapoel, which were founded as part of the recruitment mechanism of political-ideological movements, Maccabi was avowedly independent. This independence exacted a price—loss of direction. The leadership of Maccabi recognized the political weakness of the civic camp and believed that the time was ripe to take charge of it. Maccabi’s transformation into a political party in the 1944 elections was due to a combination of factors: Maccabi found itself sidelined from the pan-Zionist role it had played in Europe and was forced to grapple with the question of its political and class orientation. In the 1930s there was a large wave of immigration from Europe. Among the immigrants were many sports activists from Germany and Austria. They were absorbed in the leadership of Maccabi and encouraged the association to enter the political arena, hoping to translate Maccabi’s national legacy into electoral power. Among the parties that competed in August 1944 for a spot in the Fourth Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine, was Maccabi. The elections were a total failure. Maccabi won five out of 171 seats. The bid to become a political party harmed Maccabi’s public and national image. It also harmed its standing as a sports organization. From then on, the issue was no longer whether Maccabi could influence the Yishuv politically, but whether it would survive as a sports association. Entry into the political arena signaled the conclusion of its historic role as the national sports association of the Jewish people.

The Brit Maccabim Atid sport club was founded by immigrants from Germany who came to Palestine during the 1930s. The circumstances surrounding this organisation’s establishment differed from those ...

This article looks at the impact of harsh environmental conditions on the development of the Zionist narrative and the pursuit of Jewish urban settlement in Arab cities, specifically Acre. While overcoming adversity was part of the Zionist farming ethos, settling in areas that were environmentally challenging was one of the factors that kept the Zionist establishment from acknowledging or supporting urban Jewish settlement in Arab towns. In fact, the openly professed ideology of settling in such locations and creating mixed cities was implemented only in the few cases where an economic or political incentive existed. These incentives aside, environmental issues like swampy land and seasonal flooding were major inhibiting factors, not only affecting the scope of Jewish settlement but also the way they were addressed in the Zionist narrative.

Kidron examines the ways in which Zionist settlers in Palestine used the crisis brought about by the advent of the First World War as an effective instrument through which to achieve a change in national consciousness. She contends that the war crisis was used to re-define social distinctions in accordance with a differentiated Zionist image and, importantly, to emphasize the new yishuv’s supremacy in a way that did not reflect any particular social reality but rather the effort to create new social awareness. The chapter argues that a significant gap developed between the actual supremacy of the new yishuv during the war and the supremacy of its image and demonstrates the different factors that worked to strengthen this image. This image was ultimately a key factor in the ongoing social integrity and survival of Jewish society in the region, and later allowed for the emergence of a distinct national social formation within Palestine that redefined the relationships between the social groups there.

Haifa was named a ‘mixed city’ by the British, who ruled Palestine from 1917 to 1948, in reference to the two national communities that inhabited the town. This definition was not neutral, and reflected the Brits aspirations to create national coexistence in Palestine among the diverse urban societies.Reality was more complicated. The basic assumption of this paper follows the idea that the bi-national urban society of Mandatory Haifa developed into dual society, albeit with much overlapping in economic and civil matters, but takes it one step further: through highlighting changes in the urban landscape, I wish to argue dominance of the national European modern Hebrew society over the Palestinian-Arabs and the traditional and oriental Jewish societies and ideas alike. The changes in the urban landscape tell us the story of Zionism's growing influence and dominance, and the way the urban landscape was used to embody Zionism's modern European ethos. The neighbourhood's segregation, therefore, repres...

Life-threatening obstruction of the lower trachea is rare, and protocols for treating severe narrowing of the tracheal lumen are scant. We describe our management to provide safe airway control in a severely dyspnoeic patient with unilateral vocal cord paralysis and a 1 mm opening of the lower trachea.

To test the efficacy of the molecular adsorbent recycling system (MARS) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic liver disease.A prospective case analysis.A university-affiliated tertiary medical center.We applied MARS to treat a consecutive series of eight patients with acute exacerbation of chronic liver disease.The overall survival rate was 62.5%. All patients demonstrated improvement with regard to their degree of encephalopathy. In three patients, intracranial pressure and jugular bulb oxygen saturation decreased and cerebral perfusion pressure increased after treatment institution. Patients' hyperdynamic state was attenuated, as demonstrated by elevation of systemic vascular resistance, mean arterial pressure, and parallel reduction in cardiac index. A prompt reduction in serum ammonia, bilirubin, and lactate levels was observed. There were no complications during the treatment period.Applying MARS treatments to patients with acute exacerbation of chronic liver disease can detoxify blood, improve cerebral circulation, and reduce brain edema, as reflected by the reduction in intracranial pressure and jugular bulb oxygen saturation values in our patients. A partial reversal of the characteristic hyperdynamic circulation was also achieved. Despite our encouraging results, further testing is needed to determine the reliability of the system.