The Rise of Israel: A History of a Revolutionary State (Israeli History, Politics and Society)

282 Pages·2008·1.25 MB·English

by  Jonathan Adelman

The Rise of Israel
The state of Israel is one of the most controversial countries in the world. Yet its
unique creation and rise to power in 1948 have not been adequately explained either
by its friends (mainstream Zionists) or by its detractors (Arabists and post-Zionists).
Using a variety of comparative methodologies, from contrasting the Jewish state to
other minorities in the Ottoman Turkish Empire, to the rise of the four Tigers in Asia,
to newly independent countries and revolutionary socialist countries in Europe and
Asia, Jonathan Adelman examines how Israel gained the strength to overcome great
obstacles and become a serious regional power in the Middle East by 2007.
Themes addressed include:
(cid:127) How the creation of Israel is strikingly different from that of most new states.
(cid:127) How voluntarist forces, those of individual choice, will and strategy, played a
major role in its creation and success.
(cid:127) In-depth analysis of the creation of a revolutionary party, government, army and
secret police as critical to the success of the socialist revolution (1881–1977).
(cid:127) The enormous size of the forces aligned against the state, including major inter-
national and religious organizations representing billions of people, international
reluctance to helping Israel in crisis, and internal Israeli and Jewish issues.
(cid:127) The tremendous impact of revolutionary (socialist and semi-capitalist national-
ist) factors in giving Israel the strength to survive and become a significant
regional power over time.
Jonathan Adelman provides a fresh perspective on one of the most controversial
states in the world and avoids the highly charged ideological descriptions that often
plague such discussions. Understanding the rise of Israel, a key state in the region,
helps to explain a great deal about the Middle East today.
Jonathan Adelman, who teaches at the Graduate School of International Studies at
the University of Denver, has written 11 books on Russian and Chinese politics,
revolutions and security studies. Having taught at Hebrew University and the
University of Haifa, he applies his knowledge of revolutions and international affairs
to explaining the creation and flourishing of Israel.
Israeli History, Politics and Society
Series Editor: Efraim Karsh
King’s College London
This series provides a multidisciplinary examination of all aspects of Israeli
history, politics and society, and serves as a means of communication between
the various communities interested in Israel: academics, policy-makers, prac-
titioners, journalists and the informed public.
1. Peace in the Middle East 8. Israel at the Polls, 1996
The challenge for Israel Edited by Daniel J. Elazar and
Edited by Efraim Karsh Shmuel Sandler
2. The Shaping of Israeli Identity
9. From Rabin to Netanyahu
Myth, memory and trauma
Israel’s troubled agenda
Edited by Robert Wistrich and
Edited by Efraim Karsh
David Ohana
3. Between War and Peace 10. Fabricating Israeli History
Dilemmas of Israeli security The ‘new historians’, second
Edited by Efraim Karsh revised edition
4. US-Israeli Relations at the Efraim Karsh
Crossroads
Edited by Gabriel Sheffer 11. Divided against Zion
Anti-Zionist opposition in
5. Revisiting the Yom Kippur War Britain to a Jewish state in
Edited by P. R. Kumaraswamy Palestine, 1945–1948
Rory Miller
6. Israel
The dynamics of change and
continuity 12. Peacemaking in a Divided Society
Edited by David Levi-Faur, Israel after Rabin
Gabriel Sheffer and David Vogel Edited by Sasson Sofer
7. In Search of Identity 13. A Twenty-Year Retrospective of
Jewish aspects in Israeli culture Egyptian-Israeli Relations
Edited by Dan Urian and Efraim Peace in spite of everything
Karsh Ephraim Dowek
14. Global Politics 24. Decision on Palestine Deferred
Essays in honor of David Vital America, Britain and wartime
Edited by Abraham Ben-Zvi and diplomacy, 1939–1945
Aharon Klieman Monty Noam Penkower
25. A Dissenting Democracy
15. Parties, Elections and Cleavages
The case of ‘Peace Now’, an
Israel in comparative and
Israeli peace movement
theoretical perspective
Magnus Norell
Edited by Reuven Y. Hazan and
Moshe Maor
26. Britain, Israel and Anglo-Jewry
1949–1957
16. Israel and the Polls 1999
Natan Aridan
Edited by Daniel J. Elazar and
M. Ben Mollov 27. Israeli Identity
In search of a successor to the
17. Public Policy in Israel pioneer, Tsabar and settler
Edited by David Nachmias and Lilly Weissbrod
Gila Menahem
28. The Israeli Palestinians
An Arab minority in the Jewish
18. Developments in Israeli Public
state
Administration
Edited by Alexander Bligh
Edited by Moshe Maor
29. Israel, the Hashemites and the
19. Israeli Diplomacy and the Quest
Palestinians
for Peace
The fateful triangle
Mordechai Gazit
Edited by Efraim Karsh and P. R.
Kumaraswamy
20. Israeli- Romanian Relations at the
End of Ceauces¸cu’s Era, 30. Last Days in Israel
Yosef Govrin Abraham Diskin
31. War in Palestine, 1948
21. John F. Kennedy and the Politics
Strategy and diplomacy
of Arms Sales to Israel
David Tal
Abraham Ben-Zvi
32. Rethinking the Middle East
22. Green Crescent over Nazareth
Efraim Karsh
The displacement of Christians
by Muslims in the Holy Land 33. Ben-Gurion against the Knesset
Raphael Israeli Giora Goldberg
23. Jerusalem Divided 34. Trapped Fools
The Armistice Region, Thirty years of Israeli policy in
1947–1967 the Territories
Raphael Israeli Schlomo Gazit
35. Israel’s Quest for Recognition and 43. Israeli Institutions at Crossroads
Acceptance in Asia Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Garrison State diplomacy
44. The Israeli-Palestine Peace
Jacob Abadi
Process Negotiations, 1999–2001
36. The Harp and Shield of David Within reach
Ireland, Zionism and the State of Gilead Sher
Israel, 1937–1963
45. Ben-Gurion’s Political Struggles,
Shulamit Eliash
1963–67
37. H. V. Evatt and the Establishment
A lion in winter
of Israel
Zaki Shalom
The undercover Zionist
Daniel Mandel 46. Ben-Gurion, Zionism and
American Jewry
38. Navigating Perilous Waters
1948–1963
An Israeli strategy for peace and
Ariel Feldestein
security
Ephraim Sneh 47. The Origins of the American-
Israeli Alliance
39. Lyndon B. Johnson and the
The Jordanian factor
Politics of Arms Sales to Israel
Abraham Ben-Zvi
In the shadow of the hawk
Abraham Ben-Zvi 48. The Harp and the Shield of David
Ireland, Zionism and the State of
40. Israel at the Polls 2003
Israel
Edited by Shmeul Sandler, Ben M.
Shulamit Eliash
Mollov and Jonathan Rynhold
41. Between Capital and Land 49. Israel’s National Security
The Jewish National Fund’s Issues and challenges since the
finances and land-purchase Yom Kippur War
priorities in Palestine, 1939–1945 Efraim Inbar
Eric Engel Tuten
50. The Rise of Israel
42. Israeli Democracy at Crossroads A history of a revolutionary state
Raphael Cohen-Almagor Jonathan Adelman
Israel: The First Hundred Years (Mini Series)
Edited by Efraim Karsh
1. Israel’s Transition from 4. Israel in the International Arena
Community to State Edited by Efraim Karsh
Edited by Efraim Karsh
5. Israel in the next Century
2. From War to Peace? Edited by Efraim Karsh
Edited by Efraim Karsh
3. Politics and Society since 1948
Edited by Efraim Karsh
The Rise of Israel
A history of a revolutionary state
Jonathan Adelman
First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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© 2008 Jonathan Adelman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Adelman, Jonathan R.
The rise of Israel : a history of a revolutionary state / Jonathan
Adelman.
p. cm. – (Israeli history, society and politics; 49)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Israel–History. 2. Israel–Foreign relations–20th century.
3. Zionism–History. I. Title.
DS126.5.A64 2008
956.9405–dc22
2007042980
ISBN 0-203-92829-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–77509–4 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–77510–8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–92829–6 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–77509–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–77510–6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–92829–5 (ebk)
For my loving Deborah

Contents
List of tables xi
Preface xii
PART I
The rise of Israel 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Controversy over Israel 15
3 The rise of Israel in comparative perspective 27
PART II
Obstacles to the rise of Israel 43
4 Jewish issues 45
5 Hostility of the major powers 57
6 Enmity of the Arab world and Iran 73
7 Major international and religious organizations 91
8 Western unwillingness to help Israel in crises 102
9 Israeli issues 110
PART III
Revolutions and the rise of Israel 119
10 Historical roots of the revolutions 121
11 Two modern Zionist revolutions 131