JCPA LOGO
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

List of Recent Jerusalem Letters

Jerusalem Letter Internet Edition Jerusalem Letter  Internet Edition

Subscribe to the Jerusalem Letter
To subscribe to the Jerusalem Letter email edition, click on "Subscribe" and send a blank email message. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs


Jerusalem Letters of Lasting Interest

Regional Diplomacy in the Middle East

Israel, the Palestinians, and the Territories

American Jewish Community

World Jewish Communities

Jewish-Gentile Relations

Minorities in Israel

Religion in Israel


Regional Diplomacy in the Middle East:

  • The Quartet, the Road Map, and the Future of Iraq: A Realistic Assessment
        - Gerald M. Steinberg
    The reliance on monitors from the Quartet to insure an end to all acts of terrorism and to enforce and verify the security agreements lacks credibility, particularly in light of the failure to act to disarm Hizballah following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.

  • Understanding the Breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
       - Lt. Col. Jonathan D.H.
    A Palestinian state will never be perceived as the ultimate fulfillment of Palestinian national aspirations. Perceiving political compromise as proof of a historic retreat of Zionism before the Palestinian national movement, and proof that the balance of power is changing in their favor, the Palestinians will be in a better position to continue the struggle.

  • Legal Aspects of the Palestinian Refugee Question
       - Ruth Lapidoth
    UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of 11 December 1948 does not recognize any "right" to return, but recommends that the refugees "should" be "permitted" to return, subject to the condition that the refugee wishes to live at peace with his neighbors.

  • Saudi Arabia, Stability, and International Islamic Terror
       - Mordechai Abir
    Saudi loathing for Westerners relates to their being Christian and representing a dominant and successful civilization with a "materialistic culture" and superior military-political power and technology that has humiliated the world of Islam.

  • Whose Fault was the Failure of Camp David?
       - Saul Singer
    The error of Camp David lay in the belief that the Palestinians would accept Israel's existence at a time of perceived Israeli and American weakness. The talks were built on the premise that negotiating peace would tame radicalism. But the only way to reach peace is to reverse the process: to squelch Arab and Islamic radicalism first.

  • The Way to Peace Emerged at Madrid: A Decade Since the 1991 Madrid Conference
       - Eytan Bentsur
    The slow train that started out from Madrid made sense. This train was exchanged for the fast train of Oslo, that barreled ahead without sufficient attention to blockages and broken tracks along the way. When the negotiations continue, it behooves Israel to insist that many of the principles of Madrid be revived.

  • From "Occupied Territories" to "Disputed Territories"
       - Dore Gold
    The politically-loaded terms "occupied territories" or "occupation" seem to apply only to Israel and are hardly ever used when other territorial disputes are discussed. Israel possesses legal rights with respect to the West Bank and Gaza Strip that appear to be ignored by those who repeat the term "occupied territories" without any awareness of Israeli territorial claims.

  • Armistice in Jerusalem Once Again?
       - Raphael Israeli
    The Israeli-Jordanian pre-1967 armistice model is a negative one that must be discarded as a viable option in view of its dismal failure. The author, as an IDF officer dealing with the armistice in the 1960s, presents a number of lessons and conclusions from the experience of the armistice period.

  • Israel is Not the Issue: Militant Islam and America
       - Dore Gold
    As those familiar with Islamic history and literature know, the holy land for Muslims is Arabia and not Israel. Bin Laden told ABC News in 1998: "Allah ordered us in this religion to purify Muslim land of all non-believers and especially the Arabian Peninsula."

  • Russian Policy toward the Middle East under Yeltsin and Putin
       - Robert O. Freedman
    Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia faced a far different strategic situation with a host of new states on its southern borders, six of them Muslim. The Middle East legacy which Putin inherits as the leader of a weakened Russia is a rather modest one, befitting a country that has fallen from the ranks of a superpower.

  • Why Israel Rejects "Observers"
       - Saul Singer
    Israel's experience with and expectations from international observer forces ranges from barely tolerable to actively harmful. There is no reason for Israel to risk the placement of a one-way mirror between it and the Palestinians, with a special glaze that lets through Palestinian attacks, while reflecting back Israeli responses straight into the court of world opinion.

  • Srebrenica: The Dutch Sabra and Shatilla
       - Manfred Gerstenfeld
    The failure of Dutch forces to protect Bosnian Moslems in a UN "safe area" in Srebrenica in 1995 highlights the double standard used when judging the behavior of Israel. Although aware that Serbs were executing Bosnian Moslems, the Dutch UN forces fled the area, leaving thousands of innocent civilians to be massacred. No UN or Dutch political or military leaders have ever been held accountable for their failure to prevent these crimes.

  • Israel Looks Over the Horizon: Responding to the Threats of Weapons Proliferation
       - Gerald M. Steinberg
    A focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has distracted attention from developments in the wider Middle East, most importantly, the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Within the next decade, the number of states in the region with a nuclear weapons capability, as well as biological weapons and long-range delivery systems, is likely to increase dramatically, threatening not only Israel but the NATO countries and U.S. interests as well.

  • "Aid for Peace" -- An Exhausted Paradigm?
       - Saul Singer
    Discussion of extremely large assistance packages should be taken as a warning signal that aid is being used to bridge the gap between a stable and an unstable agreement. Any agreement in which financial assistance becomes a central, rather than secondary, component is likely to be very costly, least of all in financial terms.

  • American Evenhandedness in the Mideast Peace Process: Lessons from Camp David II and the Al-Aqsa Intifada
        - Saul Singer
    As the peace process reaches a watershed during the transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations, a distortion of America's mediating role has overwhelmed the more fundamental interests on which it was based, undermining both U.S. interests and the prospects for peace. The solution is not for the U.S. to abandon the role of "honest broker," but to transform that role into one of principled mediation rather than blind "evenhandedness."

  • A New Paradigm for Arab-Israeli Peacemaking: A Comprehensive Regional System for Security and Cooperation
        - Abraham (Abrasha) Tamir
    Over the last two decades, the reliance on separate negotiating tracks in the Arab-Israeli peace process has resulted in a cumulative loss of territories vital for the defense of Israel's very existence, without any corresponding buildup of peace and security for Israel that could last for generations.

  • The Emerging Threat of Iraq and the Crisis of Global Security
        - Richard Butler
    Iraq is continuing to develop its missile capabilities, it has recalled its nuclear weapons design team and has gathered them in one place, and has also rebuilt its chemical and biological weapons capabilities. To state it simply, Iraq is back in the business of making weapons of mass destruction.

  • Prime Minister Barak's First Year: Diplomacy and Politics
        - Zalman Shoval
    With regard to the peace process, Barak has shown a surprising lack of proficiency in his negotiating tactics. He squandered his predecessor's important achievement of lowering the extreme expectations of the Palestinians - raising them instead.

  • Middle East Missile Proliferation, Israeli Missile Defense, and the ABM Treaty Debate
        - Dore Gold
    The arms control regime for the Middle East has completely broken down. The most promising way of assuring the defense of Israel, the U.S., and the Western alliance is through a concerted effort to neutralize the growing missile threat with robust missile defenses.

  • Overthrowing Saddam Hussein: The Policy Debate
        - Max Singer
    Colonel Scott Ritter and General Wayne Downing believe that not many more than the number of U.S. ground forces currently in the theatre, perhaps a ground attack force of some 25,000 men, plus U.S. airpower, would be more than sufficient to march to Baghdad and overthrow Saddam's regime with low casualties and low risk of getting into serious trouble.

  • The End of the Post-Gulf War Era
        - Dore Gold
    Middle Eastern states can be expected to be attracted to the newly-found power of a nuclearized Iraq or Iran rather than resisting their influence because the bulk of Arab territorial claims against Israel had been settled.

  • The European Union and the Middle East Peace Process
        - Gerald M. Steinberg
    Europe should focus its energies and resources on areas where it can provide an important service, primarily with respect to promoting confidence-building, people-to-people contacts, and neutralizing the cultural basis for the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

  • American Policy Toward Iraq and Iran in Clinton's Second Term
        - Robert O. Freedman
    Although the sanctions on Iraq are still in effect, U.S. efforts to prevent the Iraqi regime from acquiring weapons of mass destruction appeared to be in shambles following Saddam's repeated defiance of the UN inspection team and the failure of the U.S. to respond with enough force to make a difference.

  • Israel's Relations with the Vatican
        - Aharon Lopez
    On December 30, 1993, the Holy See and Israel signed an accord establishing relations between the Vatican and the State of Israel, that also signified a change in the long, tortuous, and painful relations between two great religions, Catholicism and Judaism.

  • Assessing the Impact of the Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests on the Middle East
        - Gerald M. Steinberg
    On May 11, 1998, India announced the successful detonation of three advanced nuclear devices, followed by two more a few days later. These were clearly part of a weapons program, including a boosted or thermonuclear device. Pakistan followed with its own nuclear tests. Thus India and Pakistan moved from nuclear threshold states to become de facto nuclear powers.

  • Saudi Arabia in the 1990s: Stability and Foreign Policy
        - Mordechai Abir
    Saudis consider themselves superior to all other people including their more developed Arab "brethren." With the exception of the Western-educated elite, Saudis dislike foreigners (Arabs included) and are extremely suspicious of them. They particularly dislike Western "infidels" who reside in their country.

  • Turkey Between Secularism and Islam
        - Jacob M. Landau
    The secularist majority fear that the Islamists will succeed in turning Turkey into an Islamic theocracy, and view the military, who have already intervened to seize power three times in the last generation, as the last line of defense against Islamism.

  • Turkish-Israeli Relations: Crisis or Continued Cooperation?
        - George E. Gruen
    For the first time in the 73-year history of the modern, secular Turkish Republic, the Turkish Grand National Assembly on July 8, 1996, narrowly approved Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the pro-Islamist Refah Party (RP), as prime minister.

  • The Woeful State of Saudi Finances
        - Eliyahu Kanovsky
    Saudi Arabia's current financial problems stem, in large measure, from the policies it adopted in the 1970s and early 1980s, when it was convinced that the oil boom would last into the indefinite future. It was anticipated that the inexorable growth of oil revenues would greatly exceed the precipitous rise in public expenditures.

  • A Commodity in Scarcity: The Politics of Water in the Middle East
        - Amikam Nachmani
    The building of Turkish dams on the Euphrates is causing growing conflict with Syria and Iraq. In Syria, the low level of the Euphrates, together with pollution from pesticides, chemicals and salt, has forced the Syrian government to cut back on the supply of drinking water and electricity in Damascus.

  • The Islamic Jihad: The Imperative of Holy War
        - Boaz Ganor
    The Islamic Jihad aspires to overthrow secular Arab regimes in order to establish an Islamic pan-Arab empire. The Jihad is unique among the Islamic movements, however, in that it views war against the Jews and Israel ("the spearhead of the West and imperialism in the region") as an initial, essential step toward fulfilling the goals of Islam.

  • The U.S.-Israel Relationship: Mounting Misperceptions in Washington
        - Dore Gold
    After the Gulf War, the U.S. came to the conclusion that Israel's strategic environment had changed radically. Since the U.S. had apparently flattened a major military threat to Israel, Israel now lived with a much lower degree of risk.

  • Hamas--The Islamic Resistance Movement in the Territories
        - Boaz Ganor
    The Hamas movement is an offshoot of the Moslem Brotherhood in the Israeli-administered territories. In the absence of any willingness to accept territorial compromise, and in light of the movement's adamant refusal to conduct negotiations with Israel, the only path left open to Hamas for the resolution of the Palestinian problem is that of violent struggle to the death--the way of Jihad.

  • Syria and Terrorism
        - Boaz Ganor
    Syrian occupation of most Lebanese territory, since the early 1970s, had enabled it to dictate to the many terrorist organizations there how and when to operate. Though Syria's main involvement in terrorist activity around the world is indirect, through numerous subordinate terrorist organizations, in some cases it is not averse to carrying out terrorist attacks directly, using Syrian operatives, military facilities and embassies throughout the world.

  • U.S.-Israel Relations After the Gulf War
        - Steven L. Spiegel
    George Bush [senior] may have declared the Vietnam syndrome dead, but the way in which he conducted the Gulf War suggests that it is very much alive. Americans nearly destroyed the enemy and then stopped before there was any danger of significant American casualties.

  • U.S.-Israeli Relations in the Post-Cold War Era
        - Steven L. Spiegel
    There is a sense in America that the Cold War is over and we won. But there is no confidence that America can withdraw from the world back into safety. There is a sense that there will be different kinds of troubles.


American Jewish Community:
  • American Jewish Public Activity -- Identity, Demography, and the Institutional Challenge
        - Sherry Israel
    There are almost no appropriate institutional venues for single young adult Jewish participation in most mainstream Jewish organizations. By the time young Jews marry and have children -- that is, fit into the mold for which participation in most organizations is designed -- he or she has found other things to do and, increasingly, a non-Jewish partner to do them with.

  • The Israel Swing Factor: How the American Jewish Vote Influences U.S. Elections
        - Jeffrey S. Helmreich
    The greatest political strength of American Jewry lies in the fact that it is a uniquely swayable bloc. The issue of support for Israel has proven capable of spurring a sizable portion of Jews to switch parties - in large enough numbers to tip the scales in national or statewide elections.

  • Religion and the Public Square: Attitudes of American Jews in Comparative Perspective
        - Steven M. Cohen
    A special two-part report on an extensive survey of American Jewish attitudes conducted in January-February 2000, comparing the views of Jews, non-Jews, and a group of Jewish leaders.

  • The 1990 Demographic Study: Some Good News, Much Bad News
        - Daniel J. Elazar
    The 1990 population survey found 590,000 people who were born or raised as Jews who now are either nothing or have another religion.

  • The Conversion of American Jewry
        - Samuel Z. Klausner
    Only a very small portion of Jews convert to Christianity in the intermarriage system, but the children of these intermarriages are highly likely to marry a Christian and become members of the Christian community.

  • Don't Look Back: Holocaust Survivors in the U.S.
        - William Helmreich
    Holocaust survivors living in America have succeeded to a great degree. They were able to successfully hold down jobs and even do well. They belong to Jewish organizations at a high rate and are more likely to be leaders in thoise organizations. Nearly 90 percent of all survivors have visited Israel at least once.

  • The New Geo-Demographics of American Jewry
        - Daniel J. Elazar
    Massive geographic shifts have taken place among the Jewish population of the United States away from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South and West, and away from the big cities to the suburbs and the exurbs beyond the suburbs. Both moves have served to dissolve established Jewish communities and drastically lower the density of Jewish population concentrations.

  • Has the Intifada Really Weakened American Jewish Support for Israel?
        - Eytan Gilboa
    Evidence presented here clearly shows that during the Arab uprising of 1987-1991, American Jews were more supportive of Israel than non-Jews. Even those American Jews who have been critical of Israel distinguished between criticism and attachment.

  • Some Paradoxes in American Jewish Life
        - Gerald Bubis
    There is a disproportionate support of the arts by Jews in America. The paradox is the low priority that culture has within the Jewish community itself. There is almost no serious funding of comparable arts -- symphonies, plays, music, etc. -- under Jewish auspices.

Jewish-Gentile Relations:
  • Anti-Semitism Revived: The Impact of the Intifada on Muslim Immigrant Groups in Western Democracies
        - Raphael Israeli
    Since the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in the Middle East in late September 2000, an almost simultaneous wave of violent anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment has accompanied it in the Western democracies, initiated and executed mainly by locally nationalized Arab or Muslim immigrants, long established or recent arrivals, legal or illegal.

  • Rethinking Latino-Jewish Relations in Los Angeles
        - Steven Windmueller
    The presence of Jews in Los Angeles from Mexico and Latin America can serve as essential bridge-builders in promoting social and political connections between Latinos and Jews, drawing on their shared language and cultural roots, and common concerns for establishing themselves in their new society.

  • Early Warning: Identifying Potentially Genocidal Political Movements
        - Franklin H. Littell
    Many seem to believe that the difference between terrorists and freedom fighters is that if they are our boys they are "freedom fighters" and if they are on the other side they are "terrorists." But there is a real difference. Terrorists characteristically attack a whole society to terrorize it -- by killing women shoppers or children, or innocent people riding buses. Freedom fighters are soldiers, though sometimes not in uniform, who strike at military targets.

  • A Meeting of Ancient Peoples: Western Jews and the Dalai Lama of Tibet
        - Nathan Katz
    The Dalai Lama, the world's preeminent Buddhist monk, wanted to learn the "Jewish secret" for surviving exile. He reasoned that the Jews had the expertise of 1,900 years of living in the diaspora, all the while preserving their distinct religion.

Israel, the Palestinians, and the Territories:
  • How to Help Palestinian Refugees Today
        - Scott B. Lasensky
    Creating a mechanism that would ease the situation of Palestinian refugees in a way that promotes an eventual resolution of the conflict could contribute more toward long-term peace and stability than the current donor strategy.

  • The Beleaguered Christians of the Palestinian-Controlled Areas
        - David Raab
    The population of the Christian community in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority is rapidly dwindling due to discriminatory treatment by the Muslim majority. One Christian cleric in Jerusalem compared the behavior of Christians to that of battered wives, who continue to defend and identify with their tormentor even as the abuse persists.

  • The Destruction of the Temple Mount Antiquities
        - Mark Ami-El
    Future generations will not understand how, while under Jewish rule, we allowed the destruction of our antiquities. History will not forgive us if we do not stop, even belatedly, the crimes that have occurred on the Temple Mount, whose goal is to wipe out every vestige and testimony to the existence of Jewish history and archeology at the site.

  • Who Killed Muhammad Al-Dura? Blood Libel -- Model 2000
        - Amnon Lord
    Muhammad Al-Dura, the poster child of the current Palestinian uprising, was not killed by IDF gunfire at Netzarim junction, according to an inquiry by the German ARD television network based on a study by Israeli physicist Nahum Shahaf. The Palestinians, in cooperation with foreign journalists and the UN, arranged a well-staged production.

  • Poison: The Use of Blood Libel in the War Against Israel
       - Raphael Israeli
    Palestinian fabrications, reminiscent of blood libels against the Jews throughout the ages, are part of the ongoing Arab war against Israel.

  • International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State: Legal and Policy Dilemmas - A SPECIAL REPORT
        - Tal Becker
    Countries such as China, Russia, India, and Indonesia -- that may be inclined recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state -- should think twice about doing so, lest this be used as a precedent for secessionist movements in their own countries.

  • Untenable Linkages: Tying a Cessation of Palestinian Violence to an Israeli Settlement Freeze
       - Dore Gold
    Any implicit linkage between a cessation of Palestinian violence and a freeze on settlement growth requires that Israel make a new concession to the PLO, beyond its Oslo responsibilities, in exchange for PLO compliance with the Palestinians' Oslo responsibilities. Advocates of linkage, in short, seek to re-write the Oslo Accords.

  • Failure of Perception and Self-Deception: Israel's Quest for Peace in the Context of Related Historical Cases
       - Joel S. Fishman
    An examination of the historical record reveals many examples of failures of perception, and of leaders and governments refusing to integrate compelling information of existential importance. In Israel's case, the would-be peacemakers enabled an enemy, now heavily armed, to establish a territorial base close to its population centers.

  • Apocalyptic Fears Now; Unforseen Risks Tomorrow: Israel's Poorly Predicted Future
       - Manfred Gerstenfeld
    After seven years of the peace process, catastrophic remarks about the end of the State of Israel are much more frequent than they were before the Oslo agreements. Some of the most crucial current issues today were poorly foreseen only a few years ago, leading to the conclusion that even major predictable issues may be ignored in the forecasts of highly intelligent people.

  • The Conflict between Israel and the Palestinians: A Rational Analysis
       - Yakir Plessner
    The application of game theory methodology to the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians begins with the identification of the options that each side to the conflict has, and an attempt to assess, based on the chosen option, what each side is trying to achieve.

  • Jerusalem in International Diplomacy - A SPECIAL REPORT
        - Dore Gold
    Israel's rights to sovereignty in Jerusalem are firmly grounded in history and international law. Only by avoiding premature negotiation over an unbridgeable issue such as Jerusalem can the U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians stabilize the volatile situation that has emerged and restore hope that a political process can be resumed in the future.

  • The False Prophet of Palestine: In the Wake of the Edward Said Revelations
        - Justus Weiner
    The "best-known Palestinian intellectual in the world" made wholesale political use of the supposed circumstances of his childhood, weaving an elaborate myth of paradise and expulsion from paradise out of one or two circumstances and a raft of inventions. Edward Said was never a refugee from Palestine, but he is certainly a refugee from the truth.

  • The Beginning of Israeli Rule in Judea and Samaria
        - Rephael Vardi
    Both the Arab population of the West Bank as well as ourselves were surprised by the fact that in 48 hours we had occupied the area. They had been told that the Jordanian and other Arab forces were in no time going to occupy Israel. During the first month of June 1967 the local Arab population was ready and willing to fully cooperate with the military government.

  • A National Solution to the Palestinian Problem
        - Raphael Israeli
    Israel could say it accepts the idea of a Palestinian people, but expects the Palestinians to reciprocally agree that the Jewish people are a nation too. True reciprocity requires that the Palestinians recognize the right of the Jewish people, not the right of Israel, to exist and to enjoy self-determination.

  • Demarcating an Israeli-Palestinian Border: Geographic Considerations
        - David Newman
    Much of Israel's coastal plain between the green line and the sea is only about 16 kilometers wide. Arik Sharon used to offer free bus rides to people in Tel Aviv and Netanya to go to one of the settlements overlooking the coastal plain, offer them binoculars and ask them if they could see their own neighborhood. Then he would say, "Think what would happen if there was a Jordanian or Palestinian soldier here with a gun."

World Jewish Communities:
  • Jewish Life in Ukraine at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
        - Betsy Gidwitz
    Recognizing that many immigrants of the 1990s have become part of a subculture more concerned with maintaining a Russian lifestyle than with joining the larger Israeli nation and society, authorities in Israel would do well to develop additional programs for new immigrants that address questions of Jewish and Israeli identity.

  • The Jews of Japan
        - Daniel Ari Kapner and Stephen Levine
    The Japanese and the Jews share much in common as complex peoples who are among the world's most enduring and most modern, at once traditional and innovative, respectful of the past yet zealous for the future.

  • Wartime and Postwar Dutch Attitudes toward the Jews: Myth and Truth
        - Manfred Gerstenfeld
    The percentage of Jews from The Netherlands murdered by the Germans and their associates in World War II was higher than in any other Western European country. The number of Dutch Nazi collaborators during World War II exceeded the number of those active in the resistance. Furthermore, the immediate postwar attitude of the Dutch government reflected a coldness and abuse of power against the remnants of the Jewish community in many areas.

  • The Jews of Moldova, 1998
        - Betsy Gidwitz
    Aliya from Moldova is high relative to the total Jewish population. Emigration is facilitated by the relatively strong Jewish identity of many Moldovan Jews and by the presence in Israel of many earlier emigres.

  • Virtual Reality Comes to Canadian Jewry
        - Ira Robinson
    In the Canadian Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1998, a major portion of the schedule was shifted from "traditional" activities, such as speeches and resolutions, to a "talk show" format of sessions on issues of contemporary Jewish concern -- raising questions about the control of public discourse in the Jewish polity.

  • LePen's National Front: A Threat to the Jews of France
        - Robert O. Freedman
    Despite being the ideological successor of the anti-Dreyfus forces and Marshall Petain, LePen and the National Front are far weaker in terms of popular support. Two major groups in French society that traditionally have been anti-Jewish, the Catholic Church and French right-wing intellectuals, are conspicuous in their absence from the National Front.

  • Survivors of the Spanish Exile: The Underground Jews of Ibiza
        - Gloria Mound
    In Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands off of Spain, a community of secret Jews - Marranos - continued to survive for hundreds of years. "In 1930 I was shown Jewish books, pieces of Torah, and tefillin 800 years old. The bishop made me promise not to speak of what I had seen."

  • The Jewish Community of Sao Paulo, Brazil
        - Alberto Milkewitz
    Sao Paulo is home to some 76,000 Jews, the largest Jewish community in Brazil. Most in the Jewish community belong to the middle and upper classes, in a city where much of the population is lower class. Some 65 organizations affiliated with the Sao Paulo Jewish Federation focus on such areas as religion, education, welfare, culture, politics, fundraising, youth, media, sports, medical services, an old age home, and a cemetery.

  • The Other Refugees: Jews of the Arab World
        - George E. Gruen
    After decades during which "Middle East refugees" seemed to be synonymous with "Palestinian refugees," Jews from Arab countries living in both Israel and the diaspora formed the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) in 1975 to make certain that any "just settlement of the refugee problem" recognizes those Jews who were forced to flee from lands where they had lived for centuries.

  • The Last Jews in India and Burma
        - Nathan Katz and Ellen S. Goldberg
    Of the more than 25,000 Jews in India at independence, perhaps 5-6,000 remain, and many of them are highly assimilated Bene Israel in Bombay. Jewish life has become all but impossible. The vast community matza bakeries of Bombay and Calcutta have been all but silenced. The glorious Jewish community of Cochin has now been reduced to a few old homes along Synagogue Lane.


Minorities in Israel:
  • The Islamic Arab Minority in the Jewish State
        - Zeidan Atashi
    The Arab citizens of Israel, most of whom are Muslim, are gradually being swept up by radical Muslim movements that subscribe to fantasies about eradicating Israel. It is hopefully not too late to strengthen the Arab leadership that seeks to pursue peace.

  • The Druze in Israel and the Question of Compulsory Military Service
        - Zeidan Atashi
    The whole world, including diaspora Jewry, contributes money and resources to Israel, but only one other group in the world contributes to the State of Israel with its blood -- the Druze community in Israel.

  • The Anti-Millennium: The Islamization of Nazareth
        - Raphael Israeli
    The Islamists in Israel have learned from the Nazareth experience that if they are persistent enough and aggressive enough, they will have their way since they can rally the Muslim majority among the Arabs in Israel for any showdown.

  • The Islamic Movement in Israel
        - Raphael Israeli
    It was precisely the young leaders of the movement, who were dipped in Western principles, studied in Israeli universities, and knew Israeli society, language, and culture well, who became the most radically opposed to it and veered toward an uncompromising Islamic fundamentalism.

  • Armenians in Israel
        - Arthur Hagopian
    Armenians believe in the eternality of their race, symbolized by their emblem - the soaring twin peaks of Mount Ararat, traditional site of Noah's stranded ark. The goldsmiths, jewelers, photographers, pharmacists, teachers and potters of the Old City are living proof of Armenian durability.

  • The Arabs in Israel: A Surging New Identity
        - Raphael Israeli
    More mosques were built in the territories and Israel in the last seven years than in the previous seventy. The "Israeli" component of Arab identity has been greatly reduced, while the Palestinian component is surging.

  • The Druze Minority in Israel in the Mid-1990s
        - Gabriel Ben-Dor
    In no case do Druze live together in villages with Muslims only, due to historical animosities. Practically all Israeli military units are open to the Druze and some serve in very sensitive posts.

Religion in Israel:
  • The "Post-Secular" Era
        - Eliezer Schweid
    With the completion of the process of secularization within the Jewish people, it is now clear that secularism is no substitute for religion. Indeed, the need for religion has intensified due to continuing moral, social, and spiritual-existential problems and the profound human need for a connection with the sources, and for continuity and permanence.

  • Religion in Israel: A Consensus for Jewish Tradition
        - Daniel J. Elazar
    Three-quarters of "secular" Israelis follow the most common traditional religious practices. Nearly two-thirds of all Israelis believe that there is a God and another quarter believe that it is possible that there is.

  • Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Judaism: How to Square the Circle
        - Daniel J. Elazar
    We have a confrontation between an Orthodoxy with thousands of newly Orthodox coming from backgrounds in which they did not grow up within Orthodox frameworks, among whom observance of the letter of the law as most stringently interpreted is an ever greater necessity, while among the American non-Orthodox there exists thousands of children of Conservative and especially Reform Jews marrying non-Jews yet wanting to maintain their connections with Judaism and the Jewish community.

  • The Law of Return Reconsidered
        - David Clayman
    A Jew from Kurdistan emigrated to Israel in 1950 but left behind his pregnant wife. The woman subsequently married a Moslem neighbor to whom she bore nine sons, all raised as Moslems. Under the Law of Return, because the mother was Jewish, she was able to come to Israel and bring with her 170 children, grandchildren, and their spouses, all believing and practicing Moslems.

  • The Ultra-Orthodox in Israeli Politics
        - Menachem Friedman
    Successful maintenance of the "Scholar Society" exacts a political and ideological price of so far inestimable scope. Moreover, the price of moving to the center of the political arena is likely to be so high that it will eventually undermine the very foundations of ultra-Orthodox society.


Other Topics:
  • Netanyahu's Economic Record
        - Eliyahu Kanovsky
    From Israel's point of view, the Arab market is very small, even if their populations are large. The Arab countries fear Israel's economic power and many believe that Israel is out to dominate them.

  • Learning from Our Failures
        - Daniel J. Elazar
    We would not be concerned about the situation in Israel the way we have to be now if 10 or 20 percent of those Jews now living in the diaspora would have chosen to settle in Israel.