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May 2011/Iyar 5771
A JOURNAL OF JEWISH RESPONSIBILITY
Israel’s History
Ilan Troen
A War of Many Names:
Teaching Israel’s
History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Sivan Zakai
Constructing
Transparent History:
A Textbook Case. . . . . . . 3
Gregory Khalil
& Paul Scham
Exploring the
‘Catastrophe’ . . . . . . . . . 4
Leonard Fein
Present at the Periphery:
A Personal History . . . . . 7
Samuel Hayim Brody
Martin Buber’s
Bi-Nationalism . . . . . . . . 9
Yisrael Medad
Israel’s War of
Liberation, 1944-1948 . . 10
Dan Heller
History and Mythmaking:
A Response. . . . . . . . . . 11
Dov Waxman
What Kind of Jewish State?
The Formative Decisions
at Israel’s Birth . . . . . . . 12
Discussion Guide . . . . . 13
Gary Rosenblatt, Ariel
Beery, Jarah Greenfield,
Shaul Kelner
Celebrating Israel
Independence Day:
A Roundtable . . . . . . . . 14
Lucy P. Chester
On Creating a
‘Palestinian Pakistan’ . . 17
Gideon Remez
The Marshal’s Myth
and the Scout’s
Observations. . . . . . . . . 18
Marc J. Margolius, Deena
Aranoff, Michael L. Miller
Rereading Zakhor:
Three Essays on History
and Memory. . . . . . . . . 19
Shlomi Ravid, Zoe Jick,
Jeffrey M. Green,
Shira Beery
NiSh’ma ........... 22
Jeff Goldman
Sh’maEthics . . . . . . . . 24
s time passes, history changes. Sometimes this also means changes in the very words we
use to describe the past and its intersection with today — Indians (now Native Americans),
Negros (until recently, blacks, now African-Americans). A few decades ago, Israeli Prime
This issue of Sh’ma takes a multifaceted look at what it means to reflect on and evaluate
history — especially with regard to the way we celebrate Israel Independence Day each May.
Israel today, both inside and outside its borders, is more than ever before a contested place. Its
polity remains starkly divided over issues of war and peace, religion and politics, and the conflicting
risks of reconciliation and occupation. Not surprisingly, the best way to acknowledge Israel’s birth
and achievements is in itself a matter of contention. In this issue, we air a wide range of views about
how to tell Israel’s story — that is, how to situate history between myth and counter-myth. —S.B.
A
A War of Many Names: Teaching Israel’s History
ILAN TROEN
It is hardly surprising that the bitter conflict out of which the State of Israel emerged is now being further contested through competing terms: “the War of Independence,” “the
Nakba,” and “the 1948 War.” Embedded in
each term are markedly different interpretations
of the past that also relate to scenarios for the
future. Revolutionary moments readily become
subjects for challenging as well as changing
narratives with differing interpretations expressed in nomenclature.
For those teaching the history of the Jewish
state, it is no longer possible to employ without
qualification the traditional term:
“War of Independence.” A powerful
Palestinian perspective has emerged
that demands acknowledgement of
the same event as “the Nakba,” or
“the Catastrophe.” Recently, some
scholars seem to prefer “the 1948 War.”
However, even this apparently neutral term does
not resolve all issues.
The 1948 War did not begin with the Declaration of Israeli Independence on May 14, 1948.
While one could argue that it began in stages,
immediately after the United Nations vote on the
partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947,
the Jewish-Arab conflict actually began much
earlier, erupting in violent episodes of political
and actual combat. Ignoring these preludes
would be like teaching that the American Revo-
lution began only in 1776 without considering
all that preceded it. (Some have even claimed
that the American Revolution began when the
first Englishman set foot on Indian North Amer-
ica, an event perhaps akin to when early Zion-
ists established the first colonies in the 1880s.)
For all that, the beginning of this crucial
episode of the Arab-Israeli conflict is easier to
determine than its conclusion. While the last
armistice between Israel and some Arab states
was signed in July 1949, several Arab countries,
notably Iraq, never agreed to the armistice.
Then, too, an armistice does not mean peace
and recognition but only a suspension of armed
conflict. In fact, fighting continued through the
1956 Sinai Campaign in one form or another.
There were confrontations between Israeli
and Jordanian and Egyptian forces as well as
retaliation raids for attacks by the fedayeen,
As in nature and geometry, parallel lines never
meet. Rather than trying to resolve differences,
appreciating each other’s rationale can lead to
a healthy sympathy even without agreement.
