Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-dtkg6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T11:46:25.933Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Dialectic between Confrontation and Commitment: Religious-Zionism and the Settlement Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2016

Moshe Hellinger*
Affiliation:
Bar-Ilan University
Isaac Hershkowitz*
Affiliation:
Bar-Ilan University
Bernard Susser*
Affiliation:
Bar-Ilan University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Moshe Hellinger, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Isaac Hershkowitz, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Bernard Susser, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002Israel. E-mail: [email protected].
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Moshe Hellinger, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Isaac Hershkowitz, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Bernard Susser, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002Israel. E-mail: [email protected].
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Moshe Hellinger, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Isaac Hershkowitz, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]; or to: Bernard Susser, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002Israel. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

Religious Zionists have been the driving force behind the settlement project in Israel for the past 40 years. They often see settling in the Greater Land of Israel as a messianic activity. It might be thought that when state policy clashes with radical messianic movements, the result would be violent, bloody confrontations. This study seeks to explain why this has not been the case in Israel despite the dismantling of settlements in the Sinai and Gaza and the controversial Oslo process. Although there has been turmoil and resistance, most religious Zionists have refrained from serious violence. We suggest that a “theological-normative balance” prevents all-out de-legitimation of the state and life-threatening violence against it.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Almond, Gabriel A., Appleby, Scott R., and Emmanuel, Sivan. 2003. Strong Religion: The Rise of Fundamentalism around the World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Aran, Gideon. 1985. The Land of Israel between Religion and Politics: The Movement to Stop the Withdrawal from Sinai and its Lessons. Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Aran, Gideon. 1987. From Religious Zionism to Zionist Religion: The Sources of Gush Emunin and its Culture. Ph.D. Dissertation, Jerusalem: The Hebrew University [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Aran, Gideon. 1991. “Jewish Zionist Fundamentalism: The Block of the Faithfull (Gush Emunim) in Israel.” In Fundamentalism and the State: The Fundamentalism Project. vol. 2, eds. Marty, Martin E., and Scott, R. Appleby. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 265344.Google Scholar
The Association of Yesha Rabbis. 2005. “The Announcement of the Rabbis for the Land of Israel and the People of Israel.” The Association of Yesha Rabbis Bulletin 28. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Dalsheim, Joyce. 2011. Unsettling Gaza: Secular Liberalism, Radical Religion and the Israeli Settlement Project. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Don Yehiya, Eliezer. 1987. “Jewish Messianism, Religious Zionism and Israeli Politics: The Impact and Origins of Gush Emunim.” Middle Eastern Studies 23:215234.Google Scholar
Drucker, Raviv, and Shelah, Ofer. 2005. Boomerang. Jerusalem: Keter Books. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Feige, Michael. 2009. Settling in the Hearts: Jewish Fundamentalism in the Occupied Territories. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, Shlomo. 2007. Self- Expression and Democracy in Radical Religious Zionist Ideology. Ph.D. Dissertation, Jerusalem: The Hebrew University.Google Scholar
Garb, Yoni. 2004a. “Young Mafdal Members and the Ideological Roots of Gush Emunim.” In Religious Zionism: The Era of Changes, eds. Cohen, Asher, and Harel, Israel. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 171200 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Garb, Yoni. 2004b. “Messianism, Antinomianism and Power in Religious Zionism: The Case of the ‘Jewish Underground.’” In Religious Zionism: The Era of Changes, eds. Cohen, Asher, and Harel, Israel. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 323363 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Gorenberg, Gershom. 2006. The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967–1977. New York, NY: Times Books.Google Scholar
Harnoi, Meir. 1994. The Settlers. Or-Yehuda: Maariv Book Guild [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Hellinger, Moshe. 2008. “Political Theology in the Thought of the ‘Merkaz HaRav’ Yeshivah and Its Profound Influence on Israeli Politics and Society since 1967.” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 9:533555.Google Scholar
Herriot, Peter. 2009. Religious Fundamentalism: Global, Local and Personal. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hoch, Richard L. 1994. The Politics of Redemption: Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda ha-Kohen Kook and the Origins of Gush Emunim. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
Inbari, Motti. 2012. Messianic Religious Zionism Confronts Israeli Territorial Compromises. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Leadership, Jewish. 2005. “Clarification of the Duty to Disobey.” Jewish Leadership, January. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Kook, Rabbi Abraham Issac Hacohen. 1993. Orot, ed. Kook, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda. Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Kook, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda. 1995. Eretz Hatzvi: Our Rabbi, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Hacohen Kook and the Fight for Greater Israel, ed. Melamed, Zalman. Bet-El: Netivei Or Publishing. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Lustick, Ian S. 1988. For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel. New York, NY: Council of Foreign Relations.Google Scholar
Lustick, Ian S. 1993. “Jewish Fundamentalism and the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.” In Jewish Fundamentalism in Contemporary Perspective: Religion, Modernity and the Crisis of Modernity, ed. Silberstein, Lawrence J. New York, NY: New York University Press, 104116.Google Scholar
Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, Scott R.. 1993. “Introduction.” In Fundamentalism and the State: The Fundamentalism Project, vol. 2, eds. Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 19.Google Scholar
Melamed, Eliezer. 2005a. “Discussions with Young People from the Left.” Besheva, February 10. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Melamed, Zalman. 2005b. “Disobeying Orders Strengthens the IDF.” Yeshiva Site. http://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/3223. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Na'or, Arie. 2001. Greater Israel: Theology and Policy. Haifa: Haifa University Press and Zemora Bitan Publishers. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Pedahzur, Ami. 2012. The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ra'anan, Tzvi. 1980. Gush Emunim. Tel-Aviv: Hapoalim Library. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Rabin, Yitzhak. 1996. The Rabin Memoirs (with Goldstein, Dov, translated by Goldstein, Dov), Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Rotenberg, Hagit. 2004. “How to Stop the Bulldozer.” Besheva, June 17. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Roth, Anat. 2014. ‘Not at any Cost’—From Gush Katif to Amona: The Story behind the Struggle over the Land of Israel. Tel-Aviv: Miskal-Yedioth Ahronot Books and Chemed Books. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Rubinstein, Amnon. 2000. From Herzl to Rabin: The Changing Image of Zionism. New York, NY: Holmes and Meier.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, Danny. 1982. On the Lord's Side: Gush Emunim. Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sach, Yaniv. 2005. “The Keeper of Arik.” NRG, April 26. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sagi, Avi. 2010. “Does Bnei Akiva Still Exist?Deot 46:1014. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sagi, Avi, and Schwartz, Dov. 2003. “From Pioneering to Torah Study: Another Perspective.” In A Hundred Years of Religious Zionism, vol. 2, eds. Sagie, Avi, and Schwartz, Dov. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 7375. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Segal, Haggai. 1987. Dear Brothers. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Segal, Haggai. 1999. Yamit, the End: The Struggle to Stop the Withdrawal from Sinai. Bet-El: Bet-El Library. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Shachor, Naomi. 2015. The Rabbinate in Judea Samaria and Gaza 1969–2005—Continuity and Change in the History of Modern Rabbinate in the State of Israel. Ph.D. Thesis, Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Shafat, Gershom. 1995. Gush Emunin: The Story behind the Scenes. Beit-El: Beit-El Library. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sherlow, Yuval. 2010. Disengagement Responsa. Tel-Aviv: Miscal. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1981. “Gush Emunim: The Tip of The Iceberg.” The Jerusalem Quarterly 21:2847.Google Scholar
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1986. Every Man Whatsoever is Right in his Own Eyes: Illegalism in Israeli Society. Tel-Aviv: Hapoalim Library. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1993. “Three Models of Religious Violence: The Case of Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.” In Fundamentalism and the State: The Fundamentalist Project, vol. 2, eds. Marty, Martin E., and Appleby, R. Scott. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 469490.Google Scholar
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1998. The Ascendancy of the Religious Right in Israel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1999. Brother against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination. New York, NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Tal, Uriel. 1987. Myth and Reason in Contemporary Judaism. Tel-Aviv: Hapoalim Library and Tel-Aviv University. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Taub, Gadi. 2007. The Settlers and the Struggle over the Meaning of Zionism. Tel-Aviv: Miskal-Yedioth Ahronot Books and Chemed Books. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Trop, Aharon. 2004. “Evacuation of Jews is a Sin: An Interview with Rabbi Abraham Shapira.” Besheva, October 15. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Waxman, Dov. 2008. “From Controversy to Consensus: Cultural Conflict and the Israeli Debate over Territorial Withdrawal.” Israel Studies 13:7396.Google Scholar
Weisburd, David, and Lernau, Hagit. 2006. “What Prevented Violence in Jewish Settlements in the Withdrawal from the Gaza Strip: Toward a Perspective of Normative Balance.” Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 22:3782.Google Scholar
Weissman, Aliza. 1990. The Evacuation: The Story of the Evacuation of the Settlements in Sinai. Bet-El: Bet-El Library. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Wilcox, Philip C. Jr. 2011. “The Settlers and the Struggle over the Meaning of Zionism.” The Middle East Journal 65:143145.Google Scholar
Zertal, Idith, and Eldar, Akiva. 2007. Lords of the Land: The War over Israel's Settelments in the Occupied Territories 1967–2007. Trans: Vivian, Eden. New York, NY: Nation Books.Google Scholar