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Dan Leon: Review of Bernard Avishai's The Hebrew Republic (Harcourt, 2008)

Dan Leon, who lives in Jerusalem, is a former senior editor of the New Outlook magazine and a former co-managing editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal. His most recent book was Who’s Left in Israel? (Sussex Academic Press, 2004)

The sub-title of The Hebrew Republic is “How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last.” This may well be. an overly ambitious title. Would it not have been preferable to say “may bring” rather than “will bring'” After all, the author's own last words are not wholly optimistic – the book ends by noting that “some will publicly lament that the Jewish state was supposed to be ‘a light unto the nations.’ Perhaps they could just learn from the nations for a while.”

Realistic but hopeful, Bernard Avishai, formerly of Duke University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, writes that “this book argues that there is a way out (of the conflict), and an emerging Israeli elite is quite capable of leading the country to it. But Israelis, especially members of this elite, first have to see how much better things are than they commonly imagine, and worse than they commonly fear.” He believes that Israel can stand the test of globalization and even suggests, “Greater Israel has a rival in global Israel. Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and even the vast majority of Jews removed from the settlements could do worse than find themselves in the gravitational pull of Greater Tel-Aviv.” However, listening to members of Israel's younger generation, he expresses the fear lest “some of these remarkable young people would get caught up in futile escalation (between Jews and Arabs) or might leave the country to pursue their freedom,” referring to a poll that “nearly half of Israel's young people do not feel connected to the state, while a quarter of them do not see their future here.”'

Avishai indicates that it will take another generation to implement a Palestinian peace and, with it, slowly realize the vision of a Hebrew republic, which is actually a return to the most original Zionist vision. Israel, he thinks, has no chance of enjoying a peaceful future without becoming a more complete democracy. This involves tackling problems like the expansion of settlements, the alienation of Israeli Arabs and the exploding ultra-orthodox population.

The Hebrew republic envisaged by Avishai would have borders based upon the internationally recognized green line; it would accept a constitution guaranteeing the equal rights of all its citizens; it would guarantee equality of property rights, rescinding the quasi-official status of Zionist institutions like the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund; and it would separate religion and state and end state support for rabbinical institutions, promising civil marriage, divorce and burial as well as a true public school system.. These are also the steps necessary in order to do away with atavistic trends and smooth Israel's movement toward global integration.

What he calls The “Israel” Republic is an ideological book in the sense that it presents a clear vision for the Israeli future. But it is full of facts and figures on all the topics covered. It points out, for example, when writing of “Israeli Arabs'” (they prefer to be called “Palestinian citizens of Israel”) that they constitute about a fifth of the population but own less than 3 percent of land within the green line. Of the 370 settlements established in Israel between 1948 and 1953, 350 were built on formerly Arab property and all of this land was closed to Arabs. In writing of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population, too, we are provided with all the demographic data relevant to their situation and prospects.

The first section of the book is called “Jewish and democratic” because Avishai believes that while most Israelis think Israel must remain Jewish and democratic, “almost nobody can tell you what this means.” He also sees the ingrained dilemma in Israel’s striving to be “a state for world Jewry (and) a republic of citizens many of whom are not Jews.” The second section is called “The decline – and rise – of the Hebrew republic.” The book therefore, takes up most of the central challenges facing Israeli society and policy.

The author quotes Gramsi’s famous dictum that the pessimism of the intellect should be coupled with the optimism of the will. Perhaps Bernard Avishai shares this sort of outlook as he ends his prologue with the thought, which we have mentioned, that it will take another generation to achieve peace and this is not too much to ask for “that is the time it took all of us to create the disaster we will now have to unmake.” All in all, the Hebrew Republic is an original and significant contribution to an analysis and an understanding of Israeli society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.