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Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
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Clash of Identities: Explorations in
Israel and Palestinian societies; and
Palestinian and Israeli Public Opinion.
The public imperative in the second
Intifada
Moriel Rama
a Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Israel
Published online: 10 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Moriel Ram , Journal of Modern Jewish Studies (2013): Clash of Identities:
Explorations in Israel and Palestinian societies; and Palestinian and Israeli Public Opinion.
The public imperative in the second Intifada, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, DOI:
10.1080/14725886.2013.853393
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2013.853393
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BOOK REVIEW
Clash of Identities: explorations in Israel and Palestinian societies
BARUCH KIMMERLING
Columbia University Press, 2007
414 pp., $29.00, ISBN 978-0-23-114329-5
Palestinian and Israeli Public Opinion. The public imperative in the second
Intifada
JACOB SHAMIR &KHALIL SHIKAKI
Indiana University Press, 2010
193 pp., $58.50 (Hardcover)/$21.69 (Paperback), ISBN 978-0-25-322172-8
The books explore the multiple facets of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from two differ-
ent disciplinary perspectives of the social sciences. Clash of Identities is an anthology of
essays by the late Baruch Kimmerling (1939–2007), which focuses on the construction
of Israeli and Palestinian collective identity. The volume contains 12 previously published
essays and an epilogue that are arranged thematically.
Although some of his conclusions might be dated, most of Kimmerling’s insights
remain poignant. For example, his, now seminal, analysis of the concept of cultural
and cognitive militarism in Israel (chapter 6) continues to challenge the common
view of Israeli society as highly liberalized and democratic by convincingly presenting
its embedded hegemonic military discourse.
Two critical remarks regarding the book’s structure and hypothesis should be noted.
One main difficulty arises when reviewing the thematic allocation of the chapters. Only
one directly deals with the Palestinian side while six are devoted to the construction of
the Israeli-Zionist identity. The other three are devoted to the Palestinian-Israeli con-
flict’s overall dynamic by demonstrating how each side perceives the other’s image
while conceiving its own. Thus, in place of a mutual exploration the focal point is
clearly given to the Israeli side.
Another problem is Kimmerling’s conflation of Zionism and Israeliness, the latter
depicted by Zionism’s classic attributes. Remarkably enough, Kimmerling was among
the first to explore the multi-layered nature of Israeli society, which, after 1948,
became ethnically heterogonous and multicultural, albeit dominated by an eastern
European hegemonic elite. Yet all these nuances become vague due to the nature of
investigation that poises two seemingly intact sets of collective identities that should
have been handled a little more carefully. Nevertheless, Kimmerling’s work provides
an important judicious outlook that leaves the reader with a somewhat gloomy appre-
hension of the immensity of the problem as it unfolds.
The subject of presenting a possible “win set”parameter, which supposedly can
harness support among domestic constituents for the conflict’s resolution, makes up
the key discussion in the work of Jacob Shamir and Khalil Shikaki. They discuss the
role of public opinion by way of Robert Putnam’s
1
“two level game”model, which inves-
tigates how different agents and institutions become eager players on both sides’
Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 2013, pp. 1–2
ISSN 1472-5886 print/ISSN 1472-5894 online
http://www.tandfonline.com
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domestic games by pressuring leaders either “directly or through public opinion”to
adopt a certain policy (25).
The researchers limit themselves to several important events from the failure of the
Camp David accords in September 2000 through to the renewal of the armed conflict;
the unilateral Israeli disengagement plan of 2005 followed by the Hamas takeover in
Gaza a year later. In each case the authors review the role of public opinion through
the decision taken by policy makers.
One interesting and important point that this research raises is the discrepancy
between Israeli views and their ascribed public opinion. While over 50% of Israelis sup-
ported the dismantling of most settlements for peace from mid-2001, public opinion
seemed to contradict this. The majority of Israelis prefer a smaller state to retaining
a greater land of Israel, as long as there remains a decisive Jewish majority (99).
Nevertheless, both books will enrich those who wish to understand the entangle-
ments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From this respect even their limitations galva-
nize one of the key issues of the conflict: the asymmetry inherited in it.
Note
[1] Robert D. Putnam, “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level
Games.”International Organization 42 (1988): 427–460.
MORIEL RAM
Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Israel
© 2013, Moriel Ram
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2013.853393
2JOURNAL OF MODERN JEWISH STUDIES
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