Ideology and Realpolitik: East German Attitudes towards Zionism and Israel

Over several decades, the East German stance towards Israel was marked by condemnation of Zionism, a unilateral position on the Arab-Israeli conflict and denial of reparations and restitution claims. This position had its ideological background in the communist approach to the “Jewish question,” anti-Semitism and nationalism, while the most important criterion in shaping attitudes towards Israel was the incorporation of the German Democratic Republic's Middle East policy into the foreign policy of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. In addition, the East German political elite followed its own political interests when it tried to break through the West German Hallstein doctrine with the help of some Arab countries.     

A Selection of Books on Zionism and the Land of Israel, 1989

Barnet Litvinoff, ed., Selected Letters of Weizmann, Am Oved and Yad Chaim Weizmann, 463 pp.

Meir Miber‐Maiberg, In the Shadow of the Citadel: The Stand of Safed, Milo Publishers, 379 pp.

Eliahu Eilat, Through the Mists of Time: Memoirs, Yad Yitzhak Ben‐Zvi, Jerusalem, 233 pp.

Hagit Lavsky, ed., Jerusalem in Zionist Consciousness and Deed, Shazar Center and the Center for the Study of Zionism and the Yishuv, 464 pp.

Twenty Years in Jerusalem — 1967–1987, a collection of articles edited by Professor Joshua Prawer and Ora Achimeir, Defense Ministry Publishing House and the Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Israel, 267 pp.     

A selected and annotated bibliography for 1988: The history of Zionism and the state of Israel

The option of aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) poses a continuous challenge to any attempt to forge a diasporic version of Zionist ideology. This challenge grew twofold during the years immediately preceding and following the founding of the State of Israel. The article examines this challenge through the lens of Abba Hillel Silver, the leader of American Jewry during the period in question. While the Israeli leadership saw aliyah as a litmus test, indicating the degree to which Zionist leaders abroad were committed to the cause, for Silver the question was not one of dual loyalties between competing American and Israeli citizenships but a dilemma of inner American-Jewish identity. It is through this American-Jewish perspective that Silver's grappling with both the option of his own aliyah, and the importance of aliyah per se in American Zionism should be seen. An analysis of his views on the matter may illumine the evolving relations between diasporic transnationalism and homeland nationalism during the critical years when the homeland gains independence and sovereignty.     

History and Globalization: Reflections on Temporality

Globalization emerged as the buzzword of the 1990s, and, at the dawn of a new millennium, it continues to transfix academics, the media and policy-makers alike. However, one of the key gaps in the research into the process(es) of globalization has concerned its historical identity: the story (and analysis) of its origins, its development and mutation over time, and the continuities and differences between past and present. In this article the author sketches a typology of claims made about the historical identity of globlization in the current literature, and points to some unexplored and fruitful avenues of enquiry. Following this, two recent books are reviewed which attempt, in different but complementary ways, to deepen our understanding of globalization in history. The article concludes with a call for further research on this and related topics.