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This triptych of stained glass covers an entire wall in the former National Library building at Givat Ram. The center panel, dominated by red, the color of war and bloodshed, depicts texts written on parchment, surrounded by floating kabbalistic symbols. Below the texts and symbols are the walls of Jerusalem, made from the Dead Sea […]

Jordan becomes the second Arab country after Egypt (1979) to sign a peace treaty ending the state of war with Israel. The Treaty addresses boundary demarcations, water sharing, police and security cooperation, environmental issues, border crossings, administration of Muslim holy sites and other issues.

(November 1, 1995) On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, September 13, 1993, an agreement between Israel and the PLO that spelled out potential Palestinian self-rule, scholars and diplomats who worked back then have written dozens of articles, published interviews, and participated in video documentaries praising and criticizing […]

The Jordanian, Israeli, Palestinian Triangle  Ken Stein January 27, 2023 From the June 1967 War, when Israel captured lands on the West Bank of the Jordan River, portions of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, these territories became part of Israel’s future.  Previously all the West Bank and a portion of Jerusalem were […]

Jordan’s King Hussein made a strategic decision to disassociate administratively from the West Bank, leaving it to focus Jordanian national identity on only the east bank of the Jordan River. The PLO subsequently negotiated with Israel to rule over some of these lands, as codified in the 1993 Oslo Accords, but no Palestinian state was promised.

IDEAL© is CIE’s collection of online podcasts, videos, white board explanations, power points, courses, and webinars. Multiple session courses on modern Israel and Israeli culture are provided. Two dozen digital items are in Spanish.

Five weeks after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Jerusalem in November 1977, to accelerate Egyptian – Israeli negotiations, Begin brought to President Jimmy Carter, Israel’s response to Sadat’s peace initiative: political autonomy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. No Palestinian state was considered.

Udi Dekel and Noa Shusterman, with permission of INSS

As Israel approaches its 75th year, several summaries of Zionism and state building are worth reviewing.  The classic review is “Zionism” discussed from biblical origins, including the  ancient kingdoms, peoplehood, messianism, and stirrings to renewal for Eretz Yisrael. This is found in the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906, Vol VIII, 40 pages;   “The Zionist Movement”  reprinted from  The Israel Yearbook, […]

Upon its inception, Zionism needed more than political and financial solutions to actualize a Jewish home in Palestine. The architects of the Zionist enterprise evolved a cultural identity along with state structures. Its dynamism is still evolving from the diversity of its populations’ origins. see also his excellent Development of Israeli Culture (2018).

In the 1975-1979 period, Hanan Bar-On served in Israel’s embassy in Washington and then for seven years as Director General of the Foreign Ministry. His insights highlight the building strain that evolved between Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin. From an Israeli view point, he recalls how unpredictable Zbigniew Brzezinski behaved toward the Israelis, how flexible Moshe Dayan was in seeking compromises, and how the Leeds Castle, England Foreign Minister’s talks in July 1978, established the contours for the successful Camp David negotiations two months later. He sheds important light on the context of the four Egyptian-Israeli agreements: Sinai I (1974), Sinai II Disengagement (1975), the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1979).

Recorded March 20, 2022, this 33-minute presentation by Center for Israel Education President Ken Stein addresses how teachers’ decisions on when in history to begin the story of Israel alter what students learn about Zionism, the State of Israel and the Jewish people’s connection to the land.