Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there have been major shifts in its social and economic policies and in its strategic foreign policy toward the Arab world – particularly toward the Palestinian people – in addition to substantial changes in Israelis' perceptions of themselves. Whoever speaks seriously about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must therefore ask: which Israel are we actually facing?
Many Israels under one flag
The Israel of the founding generation was shaped by a nation-building work ideology, collective institutions, and a society that claimed – at least rhetorically – to be egalitarian. The Israel of the following decades, transformed after the war of 1967, became a state whose existence is inseparable from the occupation, the settlements, and the question of the Palestinian population under its control. After the collapse of the Oslo process, yet another Israel emerged: security-obsessed, neoliberal, divided between secular and religious forces, between the Ashkenazi founding elite and the Mizrahi immigrant societies.
These Israels are not inventions existing side by side; they are stages of a real development. Whoever builds analysis and strategy on the Israel of yesterday loses sight of the reality of today.
Consequences for Palestinian analysis
A sober gaze distinguishes: the Israeli state with its power structures, Israeli society with its contradictions, and the political currents competing for interpretive dominance. Only this differentiation allows a realistic assessment – protecting us both from idealising the “peace-capable Israel” of the past and from simplifying an allegedly unchangeable essence.
The Palestinians need precise knowledge of the Israel they face today: its coalition logic, its fears, its demography, its constitutional debates. For only those who understand their opponent – or negotiating partner – in their present shape can formulate a strategy that goes beyond slogans.
