HUMAN SPACE, TERRITORIALITY, AND CONFLICT: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ISRAEL AND THE WEST BANK

This brief and speculative paper focuses direct attention on Totem, in particular certain totemic concerns with space as place. Through adopting an overall structuralist perspective, Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel, is considered as a totemic space. This is developed against the broader backcloth of Jewish societal development and advanced through a brief study of the continuing Jewish settlement of Samaria. It is suggested that no deeper comprehension of the proceeding settlement initiatives is attainable unless the importance of such a perspective is realized. The brief review, short case study, and pointers to proceeding work provide crucial subjects for further attention. The contentious, indeed emotive, nature of the paper is to be emphasized