Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Other Palestinian Problem
- PART I THE CONFLICT WITHIN
- PART II MANAGING THE CONFLICT
- 5 The Formation of the Jewish Republic
- 6 Alternatives to Ethnic Hegemony
- 7 Neither Ethnocracy nor Bi-nationalism
- 8 Israel's Challenge
- Conclusion: A Comprehensive Resolution of the Palestinian Problem
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Neither Ethnocracy nor Bi-nationalism
Seeking the Middle Ground
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Other Palestinian Problem
- PART I THE CONFLICT WITHIN
- PART II MANAGING THE CONFLICT
- 5 The Formation of the Jewish Republic
- 6 Alternatives to Ethnic Hegemony
- 7 Neither Ethnocracy nor Bi-nationalism
- 8 Israel's Challenge
- Conclusion: A Comprehensive Resolution of the Palestinian Problem
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
It is inconceivable that we will continue the way we are going, because we are not only a Jewish state, we are also a democratic state. We can't run away from it. If we really mean to be democratic, then we have to be democratic. And that may create certain challenges to the Jewish nature of the State of Israel.
(Ehud Olmert, prime minister of Israel, 2006–2009)The history of Arab-Jewish relations in Israel and majority-minority relations around the world leads us to conclude that Israel's future depends on how it treats its Palestinian minority and more generally on the type of majority-minority relations it develops. Whereas many analysts tend to concentrate on Israel's “external Palestinian problem” – its relationship with the Palestinian population in the territories taken in the 1967 war – we believe that its “internal Palestinian problem” is equally serious. The goal of this chapter is to offer a comprehensive agenda for improving the way in which the internal Palestinian problem is managed.
This chapter provides a systematic program for transforming the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian minority in Israel, and through this transformation enhancing the quality of Israel's democracy and its long-term political stability. It argues that in order to significantly repair the deteriorating majority-minority relations within it, Israel needs to create a political structure and establish patterns of political behavior that are significantly more congruent with the actual nature of its society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Israel’s PalestiniansThe Conflict Within, pp. 167 - 192Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011