Baruch Kimmerling (1939-2007) was one of Israel's outstanding critical sociologists. In this volume, Israeli and Palestinian scholars of several disciplines and generations offer a series of studies on Israel and Palestine, past and present, in dialogue with the research agenda Kimmerling has advanced. Essays discuss Zionism and militarism, frontier and colonization, social protest and the limits of democracy, the sociology of fear and the politics of home -- and Kimmerling's own trajectory.

Israeli Religious Zionism underwent dramatic changes following the Six-Day War. The authors of this title argue that the war generated a trend of maturity that destabilized the fundamental ethe and myths of the traditional Religious Zionism ideas.

In recent years, more and more students have been taking Health Economics courses in the framework of different academic programs. These students are mostly health professionals who had not been exposed to the world of economics before. This textbook aims to introduce the material intuitively, in an informal and non-technical way, and above all – in Hebrew. The book is the fruit of extensive experience, its author having taught the course at the Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, Tel Aviv University and Yale University.

According to common opinion, in the research of Jewish law and in the Halakhic literature, transactions in incorporeal estates are non-valid. However, economic life and the business world are based on these transactions. As a result, a gap was created between Halacha and reality. The book " Out of Nothing" proposes resolving this problem through Talmudic research methods, various issues which are discussed in the Talmudic law, including Davar She'lo Ba La'olam , Tovat Hanaha , and bills sale. In the course of the discussion it turns out that the Tannaitic ruling recognized these transactions, but Talmudic Halakha refused to recognize them. However, the Amoraim suggest various ways of mediation in order to enable transferring of future estate, debt bonds and so on. The book proposes to take the bridges that the Amoraim proposed based on the Tannaitic law and to use them as tools for Halakhic validation of current market life.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam's Three Ways to Be Alien draws on the lives and writings of three figures cast adrift from their traditional moorings into an unknown world. The subjects includea "Persian" prince of Bijapur (in central India, no less) held hostage by the Portuguese at Goa; English traveler and global schemer, whose writings reveal a surprisingly nimble understanding of realpolitik in the emerging world of the early seventeenth century; and an insightful Venetian chronicler of the Mughal Empire in the later seventeenth century who drifted between jobs with the Mughals and various foreign entrepôts, observing all but remaining the eternal outsider. In telling the fascinating story of floating identities in a changing world, Subrahmanyam also succeeds in injecting humanity into global history and proves that biography still plays an important role in contemporary historiography.

Dr. Yosef Govrin joined Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1953 and during his 42 years of diplomatic service he served in many functions in Israel and abroad, inter alia: Ambassador to Romania, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry, and Ambassador to Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and to the UNO in Vienna. These Reflections are based on the author's activities in developing relations with these three states in substance and in quantity, his discussions with the heads of these states and their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, surveying their internal and external policies, describing the local Jewish communities and the activities to foster relations with them and to strengthen their national s tatus. These reflections have a documentary nature and constitute a unique and important source for research regarding the history of Israel's relations with Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia from the beginning of the 1990s, characterized by the end of the Cold War, following such historic events as the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the end of the presidency of Austria's Kurt Waldheim, when he was "persona non grata" in many parts of the world, including Israel, as well as the signing of the Oslo Agreements, known as the Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO.

Jewish thought and rhetoric may have dominated the Jewish people's way of life for years, but what happens when a Jewish state is established, whose laws and authorities are not necessarily based on that same Jewish tradition? Jewish-Israeli Political Thought is a collection of studies exploring the tension between Israeli and Jewish political philosophy, the relationship between the Jewish people's collective and personal past and present, individual identity and its place in the traditional Jewish collectiveness, and the intermediary role of the ancient Hebrew language in the dialogue between the past and the present. The chapters in this book were written by young scholars of different religious, and sometimes cultural and lingual backgrounds; however, they all live in modern-day Israel, and they all question the relation between traditional-Jewish and modern-Israeli political thought. The diversity of the writers enables a broad and unique perspective on the status of Jewish tradition in contemporary political thought in Israel. The book provides a window into various spatial and temporal horizons in the course of a Jewish tradition that is constantly being re-examined and re-discovered.

This book analyzes the roots of the ideological discourse among distinguished Arab intellectuals and liberals regarding political reforms and democratization processes in the Arab states during the three decades that preceded the 'Arab Spring.' It fills a void in the literature that examines the impact of the New Arab Liberals on the political status quo. The New Arab Liberals have drawn public criticism in demanding a change to the political status quo and the cultural and social molds. They have succeeded in presenting to the Arab public a rational alternative outlook, centered upon a civil, secular, and democratic state, as against an Arab nationalistic or Islamist state vision. Their demands for radical reform have led to aggressive and violent expression since December 2010 in the shake-up known as the 'Arab Spring' that shattered a large part of the Middle East. In order to understand the background, the range, and strength of the demands of the Arab public, it is necessary to investigate the ideological contribution of the Arab Liberals to the public discourse.

China and Israel: From Discord to Concord provides the Hebrew reader, for the first time, with eyewitness testimony and historical and economic analysis of the step-by-step evolution of Sino-Israeli ties, from the frozen relationship of the early 1950s to the extensive economic, diplomatic and cultural ties of the twenty-first century. Included in the anthology are the recollections of diplomats who were central to the creation of Sino-Israeli ties ( Isai Magid, Zev Suffott, Moshe Yegar, and Reuven Merhav) and the perspectives of prominent American, Chinese, Indian, and Israeli scholars. The footnotes attached to these chapters cite up-to-date bibliographical sources, in Hebrew and other languages, for further research on Sino-Israeli relations .

The book starts with the description of the historical background of the settlement of Mesopotamia and the emergence of the Sumerian culture in the fourth millennium BC. It continues into the Old Assyrian trade in the beginning of the second millennium BC. There are many books on the history and archeology of the region but emphasis of the book is on the economic institutions and the economic life of the people. The book is based on first class sources for the third millennium period and original sources from the period of the Old Assyrian trade. The central motive of the book is the description of the economy as one with characteristics of market economy with economic institutions such as property rights, market, money, credit and means of enforcement.

David Weinberg’s multi-national study focuses on the efforts by the Jews of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to reconstruct their lives after the Second World War. These efforts have largely been ignored, perhaps because the emphasis on assisting survivors in displaced persons camps in occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy and in developing Israel as the center of the Jewish world after the Holocaust diverted attention from the struggle by Jews in western Europe to recover their voice and sense of purpose. Weinberg attempts to set the record straight, presenting the challenges that were faced both in the national context and in the world Jewish arena and examining how they were dealt with. Weinberg begins his study by reviewing the action taken to revive Jewish communities in the three countries materially and institutionally, remodeling them as efficient, self-sustaining, and assertive bodies that could meet new challenges. With the creation of the State of Israel, Jews who stayed in western Europe had to defend their decision to do so while nevertheless showing public support for the new nation. There was also a felt need to respond quickly and effectively to any sign of antisemitism. In addition, tensions arose between Jews and non-Jews concerning wartime collaboration in deportations, and the need to memorialize Jewish victims of Nazism. The Cold War offered challenges of its own: the perceived need to exclude communist elements from communal affairs was countered by a resistance to pressures from American Jewish leaders to sever links with Jews in eastern Europe. Yet beneath the show of assertiveness Jewish life was fragile, not only because of the physical depletion of the population and of its leadership but because the Holocaust had shaken religious beliefs and affiliations and had raised questions about the value of preserving ethnic and religious identity. At the same time, new forms of Jewish consciousness had evolved, meaning that Jewish leaders had to provide for diverse educational, religious, and cultural needs. This book's comprehensive approach offers a broad and valuable addition to existing studies on the regeneration of Jewish life in individual European countries. Underscoring the similar political, cultural, social, and economic issues facing Jewish survivors in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands after the Holocaust, David Weinberg demonstrates how, with the aid of international Jewish organizations, they used unprecedented means to meet unprecedented challenges. It is a story worth telling that adds much to our understanding of postwar European Jewish life.

This study examines the concept of United Nations peacekeeping operations and their execution in Cambodia, Former Yugoslavia and Somalia from 1988 to 1995. The research is anchored primarily in United Nations documents, which were produced following the diplomatic discussions that took place in the organization on the subject of peacekeeping in general and in the cases of Cambodia, Former Yugoslavia and Somalia in particular This research demonstrates, using the records of diplomatic discourse at the United Nations, that although there was an attempt to change the concept of peacekeeping operations, it eventually failed. The best explanation for this outcome is that international politics at the United Nations – at least as it concerns peacekeeping operations – is still conducted according to the principles of each state’s realpolitik. The states formed their stance on a case by case basis, while calculating power relations in order to advance their own national interests. Therefore their position on each topic did not necessarily match the declared position of any particular political alliance. Furthermore, many multi-functional operations were still executed in accordance with the traditional concept. The main objective of these operations was international mediation between belligerent sides in order to form sovereign governments and to deploy a 'peacekeeping force' in accordance with the traditional principles of international and local consent, impartiality and the non-use of force. Traditional objectives were preferred over new objectives such as democratization, human rights, and economic development.