“Israeli Society and Politics”
Yaron Ayalon, Junior/Senior Lecture, Emory University, Spring 2012
The State of Israel was founded in 1948. For Jews, it was the fulfillment of a 2,000-year-long dream to return to their ancestral homeland of Eretz Yisrael. For others, notably the Arab inhabitants known as the Palestinians (named after their land, Palestine), the establishment of a Jewish state was a tragedy. This course, however, deals very briefly with the dispute between the two parties, also known as the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although the conflict has undoubtedly shaped Israeli society and its political system, this course mostly has an inward focus on Israel itself: its political system, international relations, how it functions as a society of immigrants, relationships between secular and religious Jews and among Jews of various ethnic backgrounds, and the role the military plays in Israeli society. We also look at Israeli culture through music and film.
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