Divided We Stand: American Jews, Israel, and the Peace Process

(Hardback)

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Description

The first integrated analysis of the relationship between Israel, American Jews, and the peace process in the Middle East. The relationship between Israel, American Jews, and peace process has been a subject of passionate debate among scholars, political activists, and lay observers alike. This book is the first rigorous attempt to chart the impact of the peace process on the American Jewish community and its relationship with Israel, as mediated by the changing identity needs of American Jews. Overall, the trajectory of this relationship has been from a wide consensus of support for Israeli foreign policy, toward increasing polarization. On one side is the "peace camp" composed mainly of those whose Jewish-American identity is based on a religious-universalistic definition of Judaism; on the other, those who identify as nationalistic, or orthodox in religious terms, and support a "hard-line" vision of Greater Israel. The acrimony between the two, combined with demographic change, has undermined Israel as a symbol of Jewish identity in America, and impeded effective lobbying for Israel.

Reviews

History is generally about a subject completed. Divided We Stande is a story of disappointments and frustration for which the final chapter has not yet been written....In the often confusing abd highly charged plethora of information available on this topic in the news media, journal articles, and web sources, Seliktar has prcessed and coordinated a thoughtful chronological account useful to scholars and advanced students.-History: Reviews of New Books
"History is generally about a subject completed. Divided We Stande is a story of disappointments and frustration for which the final chapter has not yet been written....In the often confusing abd highly charged plethora of information available on this topic in the news media, journal articles, and web sources, Seliktar has prcessed and coordinated a thoughtful chronological account useful to scholars and advanced students."-History: Reviews of New Books

Author Bio

Ofira Seliktar is Professor of Political Science at Gratz College, and the author of Failing the Crystal Ball Test.