The Essence of Longing: Erez Gerstein and Israel's war in Lebanon (In Hebrew), 2007
The book explores Israel;'s long deployment in Lebanon (1985-2000) through the biography of the t... more The book explores Israel;'s long deployment in Lebanon (1985-2000) through the biography of the the country's most senior officer ever killed by Hezbollah. It further places the conflict, as well as Gerstein's life, in the broader context of changes in Israeli society in the 1990s
The book explores the motivations behind contemporary (post-1960) settlement projects into occupi... more The book explores the motivations behind contemporary (post-1960) settlement projects into occupied territories. Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, implement and support the permanent transfer of nationals into a territory not under their sovereignty. Ehud Eiran explains why states launch settlement projects into occupied areas and introduces the international environment as an important enabling variable. By drawing comparisons between three such major projects – Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Morocco in Western Sahara and Indonesia in East-Timor – Ehud Eiran classifies post-colonial settlement projects as a distinct cluster of cases that warrant a different analytical approach to traditional colonial studies.
Built on a careful synthesis of existing principles in international relations theory and empirical research, the book advances a clearly formulated theoretical position on the launch of post-colonial settlement projects. The result yields a number of fresh insights into the relationship between conflict, territory and international norms.
Key Features Explains what motivates states to launch post-colonial settlement projects, against international trends and norms Analyses three major post-colonial settlement projects (Israel, Morocco, Indonesia): one of the first books to place these projects in a comparative perspective Also analyses three cases where states considered settlements but did not launch projects: India in Goa, Libya in Chad and Mauritania in Western Sahara Argues that post-colonial settlement projects should be treated as a distinct category of cases, breaking with current work that views them as traditional colonial projects
Miscellanea Geographica – Regional Studies on Development 26 (3) , 2022
This paper analyzes Israel’s changing understanding of its geostrategic
posture from its establi... more This paper analyzes Israel’s changing understanding of its geostrategic posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation, mostly, as reflected in the nation’s national security doctrine. The paper then investigates the effect of Israel’s territorial expansion after 1967 on Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions.
A printed and revised version of a panel from the 2020 APSA meeting, analyzing Ian Lustick's 2019... more A printed and revised version of a panel from the 2020 APSA meeting, analyzing Ian Lustick's 2019 Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
This study argues that the effect of third-party trade on dyadic conflicts is conditional on the ... more This study argues that the effect of third-party trade on dyadic conflicts is conditional on the naval power of both the potential conflict initiator and its target state. This conditional effect occurs mainly because naval power allows trade-integrated initiators to reduce their trade dependence on a given trade partner and its allies more easily. At the same time, the target's naval power increases the costs that conflict inflict on the initiator's trade. As maritime trade accounts for about 80 percent of world trade volume, naval capability has an important effect on combatant states' ability to substitute trading partners during a conflict and to mitigate trade-related costs, thereby affecting the relationship between third-party trade and conflict. The findings of our statistical analyses support our theoretical expectation that the pacifying effect of third-party trade diminishes as the initiator's naval power increases, yet increases as the naval power of the potential target increases.
The article analyzes the failure of the U.S. intelligence community to
foresee the Egyptian-Syria... more The article analyzes the failure of the U.S. intelligence community to foresee the Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack on Israel in 6 October 1973. The paper deconstructs the various elements of the American failure and explores the reasons that led to it. The paper shows that at the heart of the flawed American assessment was a paradigm formulated by U.S. intelligence analysts, one that was influenced by Israeli intelligence analysts. With this conclusion, the paper suggests that alongside the numerous advantages of intelligence liaison between states, the practice can also lead them to make grave errors
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Vol. 95.5 pp. 979-997, 2019
Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as considerable gas finds; disagreements o... more Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as considerable gas finds; disagreements over the demarcation of maritime boundaries; large-scale violence and political instability following the Arab Spring; mass migration via sea routes; great power dynamics in the region; and environmental hazards, all create strong incentives for regional coordination on maritime security. International relations theories predict that growing security challenges (realism) coupled with expected gains (liberalism) will facilitate regional cooperation in the maritime domain. Yet, the political entities in the region rely mainly on unilateral actions, or entangle themselves in limited scale power-based quasi alliances in response to contemporary challenges. The paper demonstrates the puzzling gap between the theoretical expectation and practical outcome in the region and suggests why regional-scale cooperation in the maritime domain fails to take place.
The article analyses the effect of Israel’s new maritime orientation on its foreign policy.
It f... more The article analyses the effect of Israel’s new maritime orientation on its foreign policy. It first demonstrates that in the last two decades Israel has changed its maritime posture in three important ways: it has developed energy dependence on offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination and dramatically expanded its navy’s platforms and missions. The paper then investigates the effects of these changes on Israel’s bilateral relations with its neighbors. Finally, the paper highlights the cumulative effect of these changes as well as some of their implications for Israel’s foreign policy. KEYWORDS Israel; Middle East; Mediterranean Sea; policy; maritime s
Since the mid-1990s, both the Israeli state and Israeli society have been developing and implemen... more Since the mid-1990s, both the Israeli state and Israeli society have been developing and implementing several separate new policies regarding the country's seas. These include the extraction of offshore hydrocarbons; expansion of the navy; massive desalination projects; and several legislative, planning, and zoning initiatives. Put together, these changes amount to a "turn to the sea" that profoundly affects Israel's economy, foreign policy, and military. This article compares this shift to historical precedents, offering Israel as a template for a new, cumulative model that does not conform to the existing narratives of how polities have turned to the maritime domain. Since the mid-1990s, Israel's spatial orientation has shifted toward the maritime domain. In this time, the Israeli state and the country's civil society have been developing and implementing new policies regarding the country's seas. These include producing natural gas from the Mediterranean Sea; significantly expanding the Israeli Navy; erecting several massive seawater desalination plants; and initiating several legislative, planning, and zoning schemes. Marine-related educational and environmental initiatives have also seen significant development during the same years. This "turn to the sea" affects the foundations of Israel's economy and infrastructure, the development and deployment of its armed forces, and its foreign policy. The literature offers two main explanations for a maritime turn: a top-down governmental decision and a merchant-class/market evolution. The first, top-down, model is prevalent in centralized states, with a limited role for citizens in the decision-making process. In these cases, the central authority decides that more planning and resources should be directed at the seas. The most common reasons are expected economic gains, national prestige and power projection. The decision by the Yongle Emperor in early 15th century China to build large ships and send them on global voyages was one of the most famous manifestations of this model. 1 The maritime focus was driven by the emperor's desire to expand Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean and to secure legitimacy for his rule. The highly centralized nature of this maritime turn is reflected in the Yael Teff-Seker is a postdoctoral fellow at the Technion-Israel
In the summer of 2005, thirty-eight years after it gained control over the Gaza Strip, Israel lef... more In the summer of 2005, thirty-eight years after it gained control over the Gaza Strip, Israel left the sandy Mediterranean region. The Disengagement Plan, as the withdrawal was called by the Israeli government, was intended to benefit the state of Israel by finally defining its southern border, helping to secure a Jewish majority within its newly consolidated borders, and allowing Israel to take the lead in a moment of stalemate in the peace process. The plan was further intended to benefit the 1.3 million Palestinians who resided in Gaza by ending foreign control over their lives. One group, however, did not stand to gain from the move, for the Israeli rollback included not only the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces, but also the removal of some 9,000 Israeli settlers, some of whom had resided in their communities for three decades. This paper explores and analyzes the claims and assistance facility created by Israel in order to compensate and aid these relocated settlers, and makes two contributions. First, it investigates the structural features of the claims and assistance facility. Second, it explores the effect of politics on the development, construction, and implementation of the facility. Rather than creating, as in most facilities, a mechanism to redress an injury already suffered, the Israeli government developed a compensation mechanism for a future injury that the government itself was about to cause. This situation contributed to the politicization of the facility and put the settlers in the impossible position of wanting to prevent the injury in the first place, while still having adequate compensation should the injury be unstoppable. Conversely, this situation allowed the government to use the facility as part of its effort to legitimize the injury. The compensation facility, therefore, had itself become part of the debate and not simply part of the solution.
The piece explores the psychological effects of the protracted conflict between Israelis and Pale... more The piece explores the psychological effects of the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The killings of Ali and Sa'ed Dawabshe are not just a human tragedy with a potential to spark a b... more The killings of Ali and Sa'ed Dawabshe are not just a human tragedy with a potential to spark a broader clash. They are also a manifestation of a decades-old internal conflict over the nature of Israel.
The Essence of Longing: Erez Gerstein and Israel's war in Lebanon (In Hebrew), 2007
The book explores Israel;'s long deployment in Lebanon (1985-2000) through the biography of the t... more The book explores Israel;'s long deployment in Lebanon (1985-2000) through the biography of the the country's most senior officer ever killed by Hezbollah. It further places the conflict, as well as Gerstein's life, in the broader context of changes in Israeli society in the 1990s
The book explores the motivations behind contemporary (post-1960) settlement projects into occupi... more The book explores the motivations behind contemporary (post-1960) settlement projects into occupied territories. Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, implement and support the permanent transfer of nationals into a territory not under their sovereignty. Ehud Eiran explains why states launch settlement projects into occupied areas and introduces the international environment as an important enabling variable. By drawing comparisons between three such major projects – Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Morocco in Western Sahara and Indonesia in East-Timor – Ehud Eiran classifies post-colonial settlement projects as a distinct cluster of cases that warrant a different analytical approach to traditional colonial studies.
Built on a careful synthesis of existing principles in international relations theory and empirical research, the book advances a clearly formulated theoretical position on the launch of post-colonial settlement projects. The result yields a number of fresh insights into the relationship between conflict, territory and international norms.
Key Features Explains what motivates states to launch post-colonial settlement projects, against international trends and norms Analyses three major post-colonial settlement projects (Israel, Morocco, Indonesia): one of the first books to place these projects in a comparative perspective Also analyses three cases where states considered settlements but did not launch projects: India in Goa, Libya in Chad and Mauritania in Western Sahara Argues that post-colonial settlement projects should be treated as a distinct category of cases, breaking with current work that views them as traditional colonial projects
Miscellanea Geographica – Regional Studies on Development 26 (3) , 2022
This paper analyzes Israel’s changing understanding of its geostrategic
posture from its establi... more This paper analyzes Israel’s changing understanding of its geostrategic posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation, mostly, as reflected in the nation’s national security doctrine. The paper then investigates the effect of Israel’s territorial expansion after 1967 on Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions.
A printed and revised version of a panel from the 2020 APSA meeting, analyzing Ian Lustick's 2019... more A printed and revised version of a panel from the 2020 APSA meeting, analyzing Ian Lustick's 2019 Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
This study argues that the effect of third-party trade on dyadic conflicts is conditional on the ... more This study argues that the effect of third-party trade on dyadic conflicts is conditional on the naval power of both the potential conflict initiator and its target state. This conditional effect occurs mainly because naval power allows trade-integrated initiators to reduce their trade dependence on a given trade partner and its allies more easily. At the same time, the target's naval power increases the costs that conflict inflict on the initiator's trade. As maritime trade accounts for about 80 percent of world trade volume, naval capability has an important effect on combatant states' ability to substitute trading partners during a conflict and to mitigate trade-related costs, thereby affecting the relationship between third-party trade and conflict. The findings of our statistical analyses support our theoretical expectation that the pacifying effect of third-party trade diminishes as the initiator's naval power increases, yet increases as the naval power of the potential target increases.
The article analyzes the failure of the U.S. intelligence community to
foresee the Egyptian-Syria... more The article analyzes the failure of the U.S. intelligence community to foresee the Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack on Israel in 6 October 1973. The paper deconstructs the various elements of the American failure and explores the reasons that led to it. The paper shows that at the heart of the flawed American assessment was a paradigm formulated by U.S. intelligence analysts, one that was influenced by Israeli intelligence analysts. With this conclusion, the paper suggests that alongside the numerous advantages of intelligence liaison between states, the practice can also lead them to make grave errors
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Vol. 95.5 pp. 979-997, 2019
Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as considerable gas finds; disagreements o... more Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as considerable gas finds; disagreements over the demarcation of maritime boundaries; large-scale violence and political instability following the Arab Spring; mass migration via sea routes; great power dynamics in the region; and environmental hazards, all create strong incentives for regional coordination on maritime security. International relations theories predict that growing security challenges (realism) coupled with expected gains (liberalism) will facilitate regional cooperation in the maritime domain. Yet, the political entities in the region rely mainly on unilateral actions, or entangle themselves in limited scale power-based quasi alliances in response to contemporary challenges. The paper demonstrates the puzzling gap between the theoretical expectation and practical outcome in the region and suggests why regional-scale cooperation in the maritime domain fails to take place.
The article analyses the effect of Israel’s new maritime orientation on its foreign policy.
It f... more The article analyses the effect of Israel’s new maritime orientation on its foreign policy. It first demonstrates that in the last two decades Israel has changed its maritime posture in three important ways: it has developed energy dependence on offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination and dramatically expanded its navy’s platforms and missions. The paper then investigates the effects of these changes on Israel’s bilateral relations with its neighbors. Finally, the paper highlights the cumulative effect of these changes as well as some of their implications for Israel’s foreign policy. KEYWORDS Israel; Middle East; Mediterranean Sea; policy; maritime s
Since the mid-1990s, both the Israeli state and Israeli society have been developing and implemen... more Since the mid-1990s, both the Israeli state and Israeli society have been developing and implementing several separate new policies regarding the country's seas. These include the extraction of offshore hydrocarbons; expansion of the navy; massive desalination projects; and several legislative, planning, and zoning initiatives. Put together, these changes amount to a "turn to the sea" that profoundly affects Israel's economy, foreign policy, and military. This article compares this shift to historical precedents, offering Israel as a template for a new, cumulative model that does not conform to the existing narratives of how polities have turned to the maritime domain. Since the mid-1990s, Israel's spatial orientation has shifted toward the maritime domain. In this time, the Israeli state and the country's civil society have been developing and implementing new policies regarding the country's seas. These include producing natural gas from the Mediterranean Sea; significantly expanding the Israeli Navy; erecting several massive seawater desalination plants; and initiating several legislative, planning, and zoning schemes. Marine-related educational and environmental initiatives have also seen significant development during the same years. This "turn to the sea" affects the foundations of Israel's economy and infrastructure, the development and deployment of its armed forces, and its foreign policy. The literature offers two main explanations for a maritime turn: a top-down governmental decision and a merchant-class/market evolution. The first, top-down, model is prevalent in centralized states, with a limited role for citizens in the decision-making process. In these cases, the central authority decides that more planning and resources should be directed at the seas. The most common reasons are expected economic gains, national prestige and power projection. The decision by the Yongle Emperor in early 15th century China to build large ships and send them on global voyages was one of the most famous manifestations of this model. 1 The maritime focus was driven by the emperor's desire to expand Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean and to secure legitimacy for his rule. The highly centralized nature of this maritime turn is reflected in the Yael Teff-Seker is a postdoctoral fellow at the Technion-Israel
In the summer of 2005, thirty-eight years after it gained control over the Gaza Strip, Israel lef... more In the summer of 2005, thirty-eight years after it gained control over the Gaza Strip, Israel left the sandy Mediterranean region. The Disengagement Plan, as the withdrawal was called by the Israeli government, was intended to benefit the state of Israel by finally defining its southern border, helping to secure a Jewish majority within its newly consolidated borders, and allowing Israel to take the lead in a moment of stalemate in the peace process. The plan was further intended to benefit the 1.3 million Palestinians who resided in Gaza by ending foreign control over their lives. One group, however, did not stand to gain from the move, for the Israeli rollback included not only the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces, but also the removal of some 9,000 Israeli settlers, some of whom had resided in their communities for three decades. This paper explores and analyzes the claims and assistance facility created by Israel in order to compensate and aid these relocated settlers, and makes two contributions. First, it investigates the structural features of the claims and assistance facility. Second, it explores the effect of politics on the development, construction, and implementation of the facility. Rather than creating, as in most facilities, a mechanism to redress an injury already suffered, the Israeli government developed a compensation mechanism for a future injury that the government itself was about to cause. This situation contributed to the politicization of the facility and put the settlers in the impossible position of wanting to prevent the injury in the first place, while still having adequate compensation should the injury be unstoppable. Conversely, this situation allowed the government to use the facility as part of its effort to legitimize the injury. The compensation facility, therefore, had itself become part of the debate and not simply part of the solution.
The piece explores the psychological effects of the protracted conflict between Israelis and Pale... more The piece explores the psychological effects of the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The killings of Ali and Sa'ed Dawabshe are not just a human tragedy with a potential to spark a b... more The killings of Ali and Sa'ed Dawabshe are not just a human tragedy with a potential to spark a broader clash. They are also a manifestation of a decades-old internal conflict over the nature of Israel.
FES Southern Perspective: Israel's Strategic Interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, 2021
The Eastern Mediterranean emerged in the last decade as a new focus of Israeli strategic interes... more The Eastern Mediterranean emerged in the last decade as a new focus of Israeli strategic interests. Traditionally, the region was an afterthought in Israeli thinking. It posed no major threat, nor did it hold a significant promise. However, This state of affairs saw a dramatic shift that accelerated in the last decade. The discovery of substantial gas depots in Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Eastern Mediterranean and Israel’s newly acquired reliance on them for its energy needs turned Israeli attention West. Part of this turn to the sea includes a quasi-alliance with Greece and Cyprus and involvement in a nascent regional organization, the Cairo-based EastMed Gas Forum, founded by the Hellenic states, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Jor dan, and the Palestinian Authority and grew later to include France. In part, with Israel’s encouragement, the US offers support, of sorts, to both the Israeli-Hellenic alliance and the Gas Forum, which it joined as an observer in March 2021. The EU is a natural ally; it extended support to the forum and entered it as an observer. With growing tensions between the Hellenic states and Turkey, the forum and the Israeli-Hellenic alliance may assume a more significant role. At a minimum, they offer European actors another framework to stabilize and possibly even benefit from the region.
Institute for International Political Studies Dossier , 2020
The piece reflects on the structural features that led Israel to greater involvement in the Medit... more The piece reflects on the structural features that led Israel to greater involvement in the Mediterranean and analyzes the promises and concerns that flow from this engagement
Israel adopted some of the social and technological changes brought about by the Coronavirus cris... more Israel adopted some of the social and technological changes brought about by the Coronavirus crisis in 2020, but in regards to the core question of national identity, the preliminary phase of the response to the Coronavirus seems to further support its existing identity: a Jewish, Zionist state that relies on a technologyprone, forward-leaning security establishment.; thus, protecting its core value of providing physical security, while deflecting ontological challenges to its sense of self.
Israel is still holding to its traditional security maxim. Based on a perception of a hostile reg... more Israel is still holding to its traditional security maxim. Based on a perception of a hostile region, Israel's response includes early warning, deterrence and swift-including pre-emptive-military action, coupled with an alliance with a global power, the US. Israel is adjusting these maxims to a changing reality. Overlapping interests-and perhaps the prospect of an even more open conflict with Iran-led to limited relationships between Israel and some Gulf states. These, however, will be constrained until Israel makes progress on the Palestine issue. Israel aligned with Greece and Cyprus around energy and security, which may lead to conflict with Turkey. Russia's deployment in Syria placed new constraints on Israeli freedom of action there. The US's retrenchment from the Middle East is not having a direct effect on Israel, while the Trump administration's support for Israel's territorial designs in the West Bank may make it easier for Israel to permanently expand there, thus sowing the seeds for future instability in Israel/Palestine. The EU could try and balance against such developments, but, as seen from Israel, is too divided to have a significant impact.
THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: NEW DYNAMICS AND POTENTIAL FOR COOPERATION THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: NEW DYNAMICS AND POTENTIAL FOR COOPERATION N. Goren (Ed.), 2018
The brief focuses on regional effects
of the natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean. It r... more The brief focuses on regional effects of the natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean. It reviews specific gas discoveries in the region since the late 1990s, looks at their effect on regional security and on environmental policies, analyses international boundary demarcation in the region, and examines the roles of external actors – the US, EU and Russia. The chapter claims that the discoveries have yet to become a game-changing driving force of regional integration, reconciliation and closer relations with Europe, and that in some cases they even created new regional tensions. Despite this state of affairs, the chapter emphasises those areas that show potential for regional cooperation and the instances where this potential has already materialised.
Promoting Liberal Democracy in the Eastern Mediterranean, 2018
The chapter (in pp. 38-48) explores Israel's democratic challenges and shows how the alliance wit... more The chapter (in pp. 38-48) explores Israel's democratic challenges and shows how the alliance with Greece and Cyprus can help to deal with them
United States Institute of Peace Brief: Watching from the Sidelines: Israel and the Syrian Uprising, 2011
This 2011 brief assesses Israel's initial response to the Syrian Civil war and investigates its s... more This 2011 brief assesses Israel's initial response to the Syrian Civil war and investigates its sources
The piece argues that security studies experts should include food security as part of their unde... more The piece argues that security studies experts should include food security as part of their understanding of security
A strong democracy is vital for Israel’s security. Fair elections and regime change, checks and b... more A strong democracy is vital for Israel’s security. Fair elections and regime change, checks and balances with an emphasis on restraining the power of the executive branch, an open and democratic culture of criticism, and the ability to attract and retain the creative classes are the pillars of an effective Israeli national security. Undermining them means not only a different political order, but also a real threat to the security of the state.
The piece suggests that Prime Minister Netanyahu adopted a monarchic diplomatic style. I then poi... more The piece suggests that Prime Minister Netanyahu adopted a monarchic diplomatic style. I then points to the implications of such an approach
בנימין נתניהו מיצב עצמו כמנהיג שמרכז בידיו את הטיפול בסוגיות הדיפלומטיות היום-יומיות, מדלג מעל הפ... more בנימין נתניהו מיצב עצמו כמנהיג שמרכז בידיו את הטיפול בסוגיות הדיפלומטיות היום-יומיות, מדלג מעל הפקידות האמונה על התחום ומשיג לבדו הישגים דיפלומטיים. לסגנון הזה יש משמעויות נרחבות
This January 2012 op-ed suggests that Israelis - who once feared their foes’ strength - now worry... more This January 2012 op-ed suggests that Israelis - who once feared their foes’ strength - now worry about their weakness
This op-ed makes the case for strengthening Israel's MFA, mostly in order to better adapt to glob... more This op-ed makes the case for strengthening Israel's MFA, mostly in order to better adapt to global power transitions
Published in March 2019, the piece calls for adding a liberal-democratic aspect to the emerging I... more Published in March 2019, the piece calls for adding a liberal-democratic aspect to the emerging Israeli-Hellenic alliance
Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean create strong incentives for greater interstate ... more Recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean create strong incentives for greater interstate coordination in the maritime domain there, though current state preferences are expected to limit the gamut of joint action. Yet, the nature of early 21 st century maritime security challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the expected inability of unilateral state action to resolve them, suggest that in the medium to long terms we should expect these conditions to lead to a more unified regional action in order to achieve maritime security. Indeed, early signs of such action are already visible.
Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, i... more Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, implement and support the permanent transfer of nationals into a territory not under their sovereignty. Once a common feature of the international system, settlement projects are now rare, and contradict international norms. Yet, these modern projects had been an important feature of some of the longest conflicts of our times, such as Israel-Palestine and Morocco-Western Sahara. Moreover, they had a profound effect on conflicts: they led to their prolongations, affected their levels of violence, patterns of resolution, as well as post-conflict stability. With this significance in mind, the book asks why states launched new settlement projects during the era of decolonization, against common practice and against international norms. The book introduces the international environment as an important enabling variable for the launch of these projects. By drawing comparisons between three such major projects--Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Morocco in Western Sahara and Indonesia in East-Timor—the book classifies post-colonial settlement projects as a distinct cluster of cases that warrant a different analytical approach to traditional colonial studies, including settler-colonialism approaches. Built on a careful synthesis of existing principles in international relations theory and empirical research, the book advances a clearly formulated theoretical position on the launch of post-colonial settlement projects. The result yields a number of fresh insights into the relationship between conflict, territory and international norms.
The theory chapter explains how scholars analyse current-day post-colonial settlement projects. I... more The theory chapter explains how scholars analyse current-day post-colonial settlement projects. It shows that much of the focus in the literature is on internal explanations such as settler-driven or an audience costs perspective; or bicommunal/bilateral explanations such as social control or economic utilization.
ABSTRACT:The article examines Justice Elyakim Rubinstein's approach to compromise in the judi... more ABSTRACT:The article examines Justice Elyakim Rubinstein's approach to compromise in the judicial process, based mainly on his judicial record on the Israeli Supreme Court bench, (2004–2017) but also on his speeches and publications. The two arguments advanced here are first, that Justice Rubinstein believed in compromise (rather than adjudication) as the preferred outcome of the legal process; and second, that according to his reading of Hebrew Law, compromise is justified by more than utility, efficiency, and benefit to the common good. The article likewise considers the limits and shortcomings of Rubinstein's approach, and the manner in which he mitigated some of them.
ABSTRACT In the early morning of July 31, 2015, masked attackers threw firebombs into two Palesti... more ABSTRACT In the early morning of July 31, 2015, masked attackers threw firebombs into two Palestinian homes in the West Bank village of Duma, south of Nablus, killing three Palestinian civilians. Contrary to claims by Israeli and Palestinian politicians, this attack was neither an isolated anomaly nor just another incident of settler violence. Instead, it was the latest attack in an important but largely unknown phenomenon called “price-tag,” in which a loosely connected group of young Israelis called “hilltop youth” burn Palestinian mosques and destroy property in hundreds of attacks accompanied by threatening graffiti that references Israeli settlers, outposts, and anti-Arab slogans. Using an original dataset of price-tag incidents and interviews with key actors, we demonstrate that the perpetrators, targets, and strategies of price-tag are different than previous patterns of settler violence. Whereas previous settlers saw the Israeli state as legitimate and largely decided to cooperate with it, the hilltop youth have decided to confront it by using price-tag attacks to deter settlement withdrawals and chain-gang the state into a conflict with the Palestinians. This analysis of the strategic logic of price-tag reveals its potential to shift the political landscape within and between Israelis and Palestinians.
<p>The chapter investigates three cases of prolonged occupation from the post-colonial era ... more <p>The chapter investigates three cases of prolonged occupation from the post-colonial era that did not produce a settlement project: India in Goa (1961 onwards), Libya in Chad (1974-1992) and Mauritania in Western Sahara (1975-1979). The cases serve as "negative cases".</p>
The chapter investigates the Moroccan settlement project in the Western Sahara and the Indonesian... more The chapter investigates the Moroccan settlement project in the Western Sahara and the Indonesian settlement project in East-Timor (1975-1999). It uses the framework advanced in the book and shows that both projects were meant to secure permeant territorial expansion into occupied regions. Following the model, the chapter analyses the four variables that led to the launch of the settlement projects: Legally plausible case for expansion, American support, institutional capacity and a low level of local affinity to the occupying states. The section dealing with each case includes four parts: the why and how of occupation and expansion, the evolution of the settlement projects, the four variables that led to the projects, and then how these variables interacted to produce a settlement project. The chapter is concluded with some observations about the comparison between the two cases.
The chapter explains the launch of the Israeli settlement project in Gaza and the West-Bank (Incl... more The chapter explains the launch of the Israeli settlement project in Gaza and the West-Bank (Including East-Jerusalem) following Israel’s occupation of these regions in the 1967 Six-Day War. The chapter uses the theory advanced in the book and shows that Israel launched the settlement project in order to secure permanent territorial expansion into these areas. Israel believed that the future of these areas will be determined in a negotiation within the framework of UNSCR 242. The settlement project was meant to affect the outcome of these future talks. The chapter identifies the conditions for the launch of the project: US support and a legal ambiguity regarding the status of these areas, American support, and an institutional capacity to carry out such a project. The local population’s low level of affinity with Israel further contributed to the launch of the project.
This short text reviews the transformation of the Israeli Navy in the last decades, ties it to Is... more This short text reviews the transformation of the Israeli Navy in the last decades, ties it to Israel's broader "turn to the sea", and highlights some of the future challenges it may face.
Israel is in the midst of a “turn to the sea”: a systematic allocation of national, corporate, an... more Israel is in the midst of a “turn to the sea”: a systematic allocation of national, corporate, and civil society resources toward the nation’s maritime domain. As many regional actors, including Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, are naval powers, and as global actors such as Russia and the United States have a naval presence in the region, Israel’s evolution has broader implications for regional security.
BECOME A MEMBER
The country’s new maritime focus includes six major elements, some of which are interrelated: the discovery, production, and subsequent dependence on natural gas from the sea; an expansion of the navy; the leveraging of this newly energized navy as a significant tool in military diplomacy and alliance-building; the development and subsequent dependence on seawater desalination facilities for water supply; new regulatory frameworks for the sea; and an alliance with Cyprus and Greece.
The piece reviews Professor Uri Bialer's book "Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall not Dwell a... more The piece reviews Professor Uri Bialer's book "Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall not Dwell alone" (Indiana University Press, 2020)
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Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, implement and support the permanent transfer of nationals into a territory not under their sovereignty. Ehud Eiran explains why states launch settlement projects into occupied areas and introduces the international environment as an important enabling variable. By drawing comparisons between three such major projects – Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Morocco in Western Sahara and Indonesia in East-Timor – Ehud Eiran classifies post-colonial settlement projects as a distinct cluster of cases that warrant a different analytical approach to traditional colonial studies.
Built on a careful synthesis of existing principles in international relations theory and empirical research, the book advances a clearly formulated theoretical position on the launch of post-colonial settlement projects. The result yields a number of fresh insights into the relationship between conflict, territory and international norms.
Key Features
Explains what motivates states to launch post-colonial settlement projects, against international trends and norms
Analyses three major post-colonial settlement projects (Israel, Morocco, Indonesia): one of the first books to place these projects in a comparative perspective
Also analyses three cases where states considered settlements but did not launch projects: India in Goa, Libya in Chad and Mauritania in Western Sahara
Argues that post-colonial settlement projects should be treated as a distinct category of cases, breaking with current work that views them as traditional colonial projects
posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by
reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation,
mostly, as reflected in the nation’s national security doctrine. The paper
then investigates the effect of Israel’s territorial expansion after 1967 on
Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing
global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have
transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and
how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions.
foresee the Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack on Israel in 6 October
1973. The paper deconstructs the various elements of the American
failure and explores the reasons that led to it. The paper shows that
at the heart of the flawed American assessment was a paradigm
formulated by U.S. intelligence analysts, one that was influenced by
Israeli intelligence analysts. With this conclusion, the paper suggests that alongside the numerous advantages of intelligence liaison between states, the practice can also lead them to make grave errors
It first demonstrates that in the last two decades Israel has changed its
maritime posture in three important ways: it has developed energy dependence on offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination and dramatically expanded its navy’s platforms and missions. The paper then investigates the effects of these changes on Israel’s bilateral relations with its neighbors. Finally, the paper highlights the cumulative effect of these changes as well as some of their implications for Israel’s foreign policy.
KEYWORDS Israel; Middle East; Mediterranean Sea; policy; maritime s
This paper explores and analyzes the claims and assistance facility created by Israel in order to compensate and aid these relocated settlers, and makes two contributions. First, it investigates the structural features of the claims and assistance facility. Second, it explores the effect of politics on the development, construction, and implementation of the facility. Rather than creating, as in most facilities, a mechanism to redress an injury already suffered, the Israeli government developed a compensation mechanism for a future injury that the government itself was about to cause. This situation contributed to the politicization of the facility and put the settlers in the impossible position of wanting to prevent the injury in the first place, while still having adequate compensation should the injury be unstoppable. Conversely, this situation allowed the government to use the facility as part of its effort to legitimize the injury. The compensation facility, therefore, had itself become part of the debate and not simply part of the solution.
Settlement projects are sustained clusters of policies that allow states to strategically plan, implement and support the permanent transfer of nationals into a territory not under their sovereignty. Ehud Eiran explains why states launch settlement projects into occupied areas and introduces the international environment as an important enabling variable. By drawing comparisons between three such major projects – Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Morocco in Western Sahara and Indonesia in East-Timor – Ehud Eiran classifies post-colonial settlement projects as a distinct cluster of cases that warrant a different analytical approach to traditional colonial studies.
Built on a careful synthesis of existing principles in international relations theory and empirical research, the book advances a clearly formulated theoretical position on the launch of post-colonial settlement projects. The result yields a number of fresh insights into the relationship between conflict, territory and international norms.
Key Features
Explains what motivates states to launch post-colonial settlement projects, against international trends and norms
Analyses three major post-colonial settlement projects (Israel, Morocco, Indonesia): one of the first books to place these projects in a comparative perspective
Also analyses three cases where states considered settlements but did not launch projects: India in Goa, Libya in Chad and Mauritania in Western Sahara
Argues that post-colonial settlement projects should be treated as a distinct category of cases, breaking with current work that views them as traditional colonial projects
posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by
reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation,
mostly, as reflected in the nation’s national security doctrine. The paper
then investigates the effect of Israel’s territorial expansion after 1967 on
Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing
global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have
transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and
how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions.
foresee the Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack on Israel in 6 October
1973. The paper deconstructs the various elements of the American
failure and explores the reasons that led to it. The paper shows that
at the heart of the flawed American assessment was a paradigm
formulated by U.S. intelligence analysts, one that was influenced by
Israeli intelligence analysts. With this conclusion, the paper suggests that alongside the numerous advantages of intelligence liaison between states, the practice can also lead them to make grave errors
It first demonstrates that in the last two decades Israel has changed its
maritime posture in three important ways: it has developed energy dependence on offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination and dramatically expanded its navy’s platforms and missions. The paper then investigates the effects of these changes on Israel’s bilateral relations with its neighbors. Finally, the paper highlights the cumulative effect of these changes as well as some of their implications for Israel’s foreign policy.
KEYWORDS Israel; Middle East; Mediterranean Sea; policy; maritime s
This paper explores and analyzes the claims and assistance facility created by Israel in order to compensate and aid these relocated settlers, and makes two contributions. First, it investigates the structural features of the claims and assistance facility. Second, it explores the effect of politics on the development, construction, and implementation of the facility. Rather than creating, as in most facilities, a mechanism to redress an injury already suffered, the Israeli government developed a compensation mechanism for a future injury that the government itself was about to cause. This situation contributed to the politicization of the facility and put the settlers in the impossible position of wanting to prevent the injury in the first place, while still having adequate compensation should the injury be unstoppable. Conversely, this situation allowed the government to use the facility as part of its effort to legitimize the injury. The compensation facility, therefore, had itself become part of the debate and not simply part of the solution.
of national identity, the preliminary phase of the response
to the Coronavirus seems to further support its existing
identity: a Jewish, Zionist state that relies on a technologyprone, forward-leaning security establishment.; thus,
protecting its core value of providing physical security,
while deflecting ontological challenges to its sense of self.
of the natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean. It reviews specific gas discoveries
in the region since the late 1990s, looks at their effect on regional security and on
environmental policies, analyses international boundary demarcation in the region, and
examines the roles of external actors – the US, EU and Russia. The chapter claims that
the discoveries have yet to become a game-changing driving force of regional integration,
reconciliation and closer relations with Europe, and that in some cases they even created
new regional tensions. Despite this state of affairs, the chapter emphasises those areas
that show potential for regional cooperation and the instances where this potential has
already materialised.
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The country’s new maritime focus includes six major elements, some of which are interrelated: the discovery, production, and subsequent dependence on natural gas from the sea; an expansion of the navy; the leveraging of this newly energized navy as a significant tool in military diplomacy and alliance-building; the development and subsequent dependence on seawater desalination facilities for water supply; new regulatory frameworks for the sea; and an alliance with Cyprus and Greece.