Zionism and the Foundation of the State of Israel

Israel-Palestine: Politics and Regime Structure

In this course, Dr Mori Ram (Newcastle University) explores the political structure of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, focusing on how Israel’s regime type should best be characterised. In the first lecture, we outline the historical development of Zionism amongst European Jews, the formation of the State of Israel within the historical territory of Palestine amidst the 1948 War, and the accompanying mass displacement of the Palestinian Arabs. The second lecture considers the extent to which Israel can be regarded as democratic, noting that whilst it has enshrined liberal principles, its democratic character is significantly problematised by its differential treatment of its Jewish citizens, Palestinian citizens, and Palestinians in the occupied territories. In the third lecture, we look at key trends in contemporary Israeli party politics, most importantly the rise of the far-right within its governing coalitions in recent years. We conclude with a fourth lecture which moves beyond discussion of Israel as a democracy to think about alternative ways scholars have conceptualised its regime type, notably Oren Yiftachel’s characterisation of Israel as an “ethnocracy”, and arguments that it can be designated as an apartheid state.

Zionism and the Foundation of the State of Israel

In this lecture, we think about the development of Zionist thought and the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. We focus on: (i) Jewish responses to persecution in Europe from the late-19th century, and the emergence of Zionism in this context; (ii) the key principles of the Zionist national narrative, notably its assertion of a Jewish claim over the Land of Israel, which at the time comprised the territory of Ottoman Palestine; (iii) the spread of Zionism amongst European Jews, and the process of Jewish migration to Ottoman (later British) Palestine from the late-19th century; (iv) growing tensions between the Jewish and indigenous Arab communities during the British Mandate period (1920-48), culminating the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; (v) the consequences of the 1948 War - whilst the Jewish community realised the Zionist goal of creating an independent State of Israel, the Palestinians Arabs suffered mass displacement, violence, and persecution.