The Failures of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Balance and Imbalance

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Failures of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Balance and Imbalance The Journal for Interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 2, Spring 2018 Print ISSN: 2252-347X Online ISSN: 2252-6959 https://doi.org/10.26351/JIMES2-11 The Failures of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Balance and Imbalance Uriya Shavit Abstract The article presents a thesis about the reasons for the repeated failures to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Drawing on a contextualized analysis of Palestinian and other reflections on the implications of demographics, it suggests that a unique situation of strategic imbalance and balance is the main reason for the continued impasse While the Palestinians are the weaker side in the conflict, the parity between the Jewish and Arab populations west of the Jordan River and a huge disparity between the Arab and Jewish populations in the broader Middle East, has led to a Palestinian belief that Israel’s strategic situation can only worsen and this consequently discourages the abandonment of dogmatic agendas. The article concludes with policy recommendations based on this analysis Keywords Hamas; Demographics in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; the Oslo Accords; the Palestinian Authority; Author’s contact: Prof. Uriya Shavit, Tel Aviv University; [email protected] 5 Uriya Shavit 6 Introduction Najib Razaq, the prime minister of Malaysia, in response to Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, recently told the following to thousands of applauding Muslims who rallied outside a mosque in Putrajaya, the Malaysian seat of Government: There are 1.6 billion Muslims. There are only 13 million Jews. unite, we will be looked down upon. It does not make sense if 1.6 billion lose1 to the Jews. If we don’t Razaq did not specify what such a unity would look like, nor what Muslims across the world should do to reestablish Islamic sovereignty over Jerusalem, but his words did reveal a deeper truth about the reason why countless efforts to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict have met with failure. Since the early 1990s American and other initiatives aimed at ending one of the most entrenched conflicts in the world have introduced variations of to achieve a lasting peace, security and prosperity for both Israelis and a similar formula to end the conflict. Championed as the only realistic path Palestinians, this formula calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the majority of Palestinian state with some form of sovereignty over East Jerusalem. In the territories it occupied in 1967 and the establishment of a demilitarized return, the Palestinian leadership will concede the “right of return” for some their relations with Israel. five million Palestinian refugees and Arab states, for their part, will normalize The repeated failures of these initiatives have done little to encourage revisionist approaches that challenge and reinterpret the widely accepted historical narratives that explain why some of the world’s brightest politicians and negotiators have been unable to bring the parties to an agreement. Some of those individuals who were involved in peace-making efforts have lamented “missed opportunities” and point to occasions where the parties actually established a mutually recognized framework for resolution and agreed to compromise on most of the issues. Unfortunately, however, political status agreement. This long accepted narrative is, however, blind to the circumstances or 2the lack of the necessary skills have prevented a final Hannah Beech, “Malaysian Leader Says Muslims Should Not ‘Lose to the Jews,’” New York Times 1 An example of this is the argument that the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime , December 22, 2017. 2 Oslo Process. See the analysis of Israeli Middle Eastern Studies scholar, former ambassador Minister, on November 4, 1995, was, largely - if not entirely - the reason for the failure of the The Failures of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process 7 of negotiators operating under different political circumstances have ended repetitive character of the failures. Over a period of 25 years, different teams up in similar deadlocks, which suggests that the problem is not one involving personalities or circumstances. Another theory places the blame on “extremists on both sides.” In short, it suggests, that, on the on hand, the rise of Hamas, an Islamist movement that considers Palestine in its entirety to be a Muslim endowment (waqf) and openly declares its commitment to eliminate Israel, and, on the other hand, the rise of messianic views on the Israeli religious right, have made a compromise impossible. The argument is that people who believe that they speak in God’s name, act as His vessels and abide by His will are unlikely to make concessions. Brothers and their3 different offspring, including Hamas, do not preach an There are three flaws in this theory. First, the Muslim open-ended war against all non-Muslim “aggressors” who have occupied Muslim lands. If they did, they would also be calling for a holy war in Spain and Serbia. Second, Jewish messianic political views, while having gained the political fringe in terms of the number of Knesset members who embrace wider appeal and influence within Israeli society at large, have remained on such views. Even in the 20th (current) Knesset, arguably one the most hawkish the view that for theological reasons Israeli governments must never concede in Israel’s history, less than 10 percent of the members openly identify with any part of the lands occupied in 1967. Third, and most importantly, since 1993, it has not been the extremists who have repeatedly tried and failed to governments and the Palestinian mainstream national movement that have reach a final status agreement but centrist, center-left and center-right Israeli doneto the this. United Official States and chief non-official negotiator negotiationsItamar Rabinovich have in an demonstrated article by Aluf Ben, that “Arafat the Haaretz analysis of Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in an opinion column in the Israeli media:is Guilty “If – Rabin But Only Had HeNot Can Been Do Assassinated, It”, EnglishThere Would Edition, Have March Already 30, Been2004. Peace,” See also, Walla the, president Mahmud Abbas, who said that, if Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert had stayed inOctober power 17, two 2002 more (In months, Hebrew). peace Another could examplehave been is achievedthe statement (Olmert’s of Palestinian corruption Authority scandal Away from Inking Peace Deal,” Haaretz reviewled to his of resignationthis argument: in September Elie Podeh, 2008): Chances “Abbas: for Palestinians, Peace: Missed Israel Opportunities Were Two Months in the Arab-Israeli Conflict English Edition, October 14, 2012. For a critical For example, the notion that the “extremists on both sides” have frustrated the hopes of the (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015), p. 356. 3 Labor party and opposition leader Isaac Hertzog. Isaac Hertzog, “Only Separation Can Lead to“moderate a Two State majorities” Solution,” has New underpinned York Times the peace plan proposed in 2016 by Israel’s dovish , February 28, 2016. Uriya Shavit maximum8 that Israel’s center-left is willing to give the Palestinians is far less than the minimum that the PLO is willing to accept. One of the chief Israeli negotiators at the July 2000 Camp David Summit, where a final status agreement was still believed to be within reach, described of anonymity, the strategy of Ehud Barak’s dovish government was to trade why the talks collapsed. According to the official, who spoke on the condition most of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza for a Palestinian concession on the “right of return,” and to have the status of Jerusalem resolved as an independent issue. To their great shock, the Israeli negotiators learned that the Palestinians were insisting on the right of return in its fullest sense. A member of the Palestinian team, Hasan Asfur, argued in response that to concede the “right of return” under any circumstances, nor would they ever the above allegations were a fiction and that the Palestinians never intended concede it. 4 ambiguous approach to the refugee problem or repeated Asfur’s dogmatism.5 Indeed, over the past 25 years, PLO leaders have either presented an No democratically elected Israeli government is likely to ever agree to this demand or even to a more moderate demand that nevertheless facilitates any massive return of Palestinians to Israel that would threaten its Jewish majority. The impasse reached in the peace efforts has given rise not only to despair but also to characterizations of both sides, respectively, as war-mongering, clichés used in contemporary Israeli politics relating to what is interpreted sentimental, deceptive, and delusional. Specifically, one of the most popular as unrealistic dogmatic Palestinian demands, particularly regarding the “right of return,” is that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This statement, referencing a celebrated observation made by Abba Eban, a former Israeli foreign minister, reflects Israelis’ puzzlement demands that hinder any prospect for achieving Palestinian national over the fact that the clearly weaker side in the conflict has been presenting view about historical justice, political legitimacy and human rights but rather independence. The puzzlement is not necessarily related to specific points of Uriya Shavit and Jalal Banna, “Everything You Wanted to Know about the Right of Return and Were Afraid to Ask,” Haaretz Magazine 54 The ambiguous approach is committed to a “just and agreed upon solution based on United , July 6, 2001. position regards the “right of return” as an individual right of the refugees that their electedNations leadersResolution cannot 194,” concede. in line withMahmud the Arab Abbas, League President Peace of Plan the of Palestinian 2002. The Authority,dogmatic has articulated both views in recent years: Elhanan Miller, “Abbas Hardens His Stance on Palestinian ‘Right of Return,’” The Jerusalem Post , January 13, 2014.
Recommended publications
  • Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds an End to Antisemitism!
    Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds An End to Antisemitism! Edited by Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, and Lawrence H. Schiffman Volume 5 Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds Edited by Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, and Lawrence H. Schiffman ISBN 978-3-11-058243-7 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067196-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067203-9 DOI https://10.1515/9783110671964 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Library of Congress Control Number: 2021931477 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, Lawrence H. Schiffman, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com Cover image: Illustration by Tayler Culligan (https://dribbble.com/taylerculligan). With friendly permission of Chicago Booth Review. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com TableofContents Preface and Acknowledgements IX LisaJacobs, Armin Lange, and Kerstin Mayerhofer Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds: Introduction 1 Confronting Antisemitism through Critical Reflection/Approaches
    [Show full text]
  • “Muslims Are the New Jews” in the West: Reflections on Contemporary
    Uriya Shavit “Muslims arethe New Jews” in the West: Reflections on ContemporaryParallelisms This article examines aspectrum of contemporary textsbyMuslim essayists, scholars, and activists based in the Arab world, in Europe, and in the United States thatcomparativelyanalyzed Jewish experiencesinthe West as invaluable lessons for Muslim minorities. These included: antisemitism and the struggle against it; segregation from and integration into majoritysocieties; and political lobbying on behalf of the “greater nation.” The article argues that the diversityof Jewishrealities,past and present,and the general sense that Jewish minorities in the West ultimatelyfound ways to preservetheir religious identity while amass- ing social-political influence, have renderedcomparisons between Muslims and Jews an essentialaspect of different (and at times contesting) arguments about the future of Muslim minorities in the West. Introduction In 2012,Israel’sChannel 10,the country’ssecond-largest commercial television network, aired adocumentary series entitled “Allah Islam,” which painted an alarming picture of radicalizedMuslim communities in Europe. The series, de- scribed by several critics as uneven,¹ was met with exceptional public interest, with ratingsfor the network soaring to as much as 20 percent.The notion that Europe is being Islamized, or is under “Muslim occupation,” has been repeatedly articulated in recent years in Israeli media. Reports on European Jews (particu- larlyFrench Jews), who migrated to Israel or contemplate doing so and invoke their concern about Muslim attitudes to Jews as amain motivation, contribute to the imageofEuropean Muslims as an imminent threat.² In the past decade, Note: This is arepublication of the author’searlier publication of the same title in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 36, no.
    [Show full text]
  • Egypt and Israel Moomen Sallam and O!R Winter Moomen Sallam and O!R
    Egypt and Israel: Forty Years in the Desert of Cold Peace Moomen Sallam and O!r Winter On November 19, 2017, Israel and Egypt will mark the fortieth anniversary of Anwar Sadat’s dramatic visit to Jerusalem, when from the podium of the Knesset, the Egyptian President articulated his historic call for peace – “the last of wars and the end of sorrows…a new beginning to a new life – the life of love, prosperity, freedom and peace.”1 The fortieth anniversary of this seminal event, which was followed by drawn-out negotiations that ultimately concluded successfully with the signing of a peace treaty on March 26, 1979, invites a reassessment of the successes and disappointments of the Egyptian-Israeli peace thus far. The hope, particularly in Israel, was that the agreement would lead to warm, neighborly relations between Egyptians and Israelis based on coexistence, an acceptance of the other, and mutual cooperative endeavors. In practice, however, the peace between Egypt and Israel has remained “cold,” providing the two countries with more than the “negative peace” of an armistice but less than a “positive peace,” which in its broad sense includes reconciliation, mutual acceptance, and cooperative endeavors between the states and their peoples. 2 Israel and Egypt have limited themselves to tactical security coordination between their armies, correct diplomatic relations, and specific cooperative economic endeavors, while the cultivation of civic relationships between the two peoples, such as large scale economic interactions and the exchange of cultures, remains a far-off vision. Early in the era of peace, following three decades of hostility and bloody wars, it was already clear that the mental, consciousness-based transition from conflict to peace would be no simple matter.
    [Show full text]
  • Can Western Muslims Be De-Radicalized?
    Can Western Muslims Be De-radicalized? by Uriya Shavit and Sören Andresen topping the radicalization of young Muslims has become a focal point of political and academic discussion in the West as thousands of Western SMuslims have traveled to jihadist training camps in Syria and Iraq. The attacks in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels and Nice in 2016 have also heightened fears of terrorism in the West perpetrated by returning jihadists. Along with an intensification of intelligence and surveillance operations, three main courses of action have been deliberated and partially implemented by Western governments: banning or limiting the freedom of preachers who, while not endorsing violence, openly oppose liberal values and envision an Islamic future for the West; setting up domestic programs to prevent or reverse radicalization by enhancing integration of Muslim communities and persuading citizens who have joined jihadist groups to return home; and fighting the Islamic State While not sanctioning violence, some mosques and (or ISIS) on its home turf with the schools cultivate among young devotees a triumphal, aim of destroying it. supremacist, Islamic mindset, which can eventually There are positive aspects to lead to violent action. Former British prime minister each of these courses of action, but David Cameron (above) set off a firestorm of protest in October 2015 when he spoke about the existence of do they significantly decrease the radical “breeding grounds” for terror and vowed current threat of Islamic terror in there would be “no more passive tolerance [to Western countries? Is it possible that radicalism] in Britain.” they may even contribute to increasing the very threat they aim to counter? An examination of current programs can reveal which components are useful and which are not.
    [Show full text]
  • Ing Business in Israel Entrepreneurship and Innovation: the Israeli Model Spring 2016
    Doing Business in Israel Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Israeli model Spring 2016 1 Doing Business in Israel Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Israeli model Spring 2016 Academic director Udi Aharoni Tel: 00972-3-6407314 e-mail: [email protected] Course coordinator Idit Admon Tel: 00972-54-2222636 e-mail: [email protected] Hila Rachmani Tel: 00972-50-2230961 e-mail : [email protected] Teaching Assistant Shimrit Samuel e-mail: [email protected] Dates Wednesday, May 18th - Thursday, May 26th, 2016 Program structure: The program consists classes and workshops, company visits, a tour of Tel Aviv -Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Credits: 3 credit units Language of instruction: English Background The dramatic shift to an innovative and entrepreneurial high-tech orientation that the Israeli economy has undergone in recent decades has not only been acknowledged globally. It has also contributed to the prosperity of associated areas such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals and the ecology. Many factors can be said to have led to Israel's high-tech success, some of which have to do with the hostility of the external environment, the lack of natural resources, and the so-called collective Israeli personality – ingenious, tough and adaptive. Be that as it may, entrepreneurship and innovation have come to be regarded as integral parts of the Israeli economic mindset, and the many successful IPOs and M&As of Israeli start-up companies have turned our small country into a world leader in certain high-tech areas. Indeed, many of today's global players started their operations in the local Israeli economy.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic Activism in a Multicultural Context : Ideological Continuity Or Change?
    Islamic activism in a multicultural context – ideological continuity or change? 2 Fact box Description of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in the Western world’s messages and methods against target groups in Sweden 2017 Malmö University Docent Aje Carlbom The risk of recognizing MB-associated organizations as the most important representatives for Muslims and Islam is that a minority of politically oriented activists with a missionary religious view is given the possi- bility of advancing their positions in public at the expense of the majority of Swedish citizens with a Muslim cultural background. A problem with MB-associated organizations is that they contribute to creating political and social polariza- tion by pitting an imagined “we” (Muslims) against an imagined “them” (non-Muslims). This is an identity politics strategy that pits groups against each other and thereby has a negative impact on democratic rules regarding the debate of factual issues. The risk of uncritically allocating resources to MB-associated organizations is that they influence the inte- gration process negatively in that they want to protect Muslims from influence by the majority society by building up a parallel Islamic sector of public bodies, a so-called Muslim civil society. Publication number MSB1189- March 2018 ISBN 978-91-7383-811-5 MSB has ordered and financed the implementation of this research report (alternatively study report). The authors are solely responsible for the contents of the report. 3 Preface Research on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Islamic activism has grown in scope in recent years. Globalization has led MB-associated activists to move to various parts of the world where they have built up locally influ- enced activities.
    [Show full text]
  • Uriya Shavit, the New Imagined Community: Global Media and The
    Edinburgh Research Explorer Review of Shavit's The New Imagined Community Citation for published version: Goddard, H 2011, 'Review of Shavit's The New Imagined Community: Global Media and the construction of national and Muslim identities of migrants', Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, pp. 747-750. Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Publisher Rights Statement: © Goddard, H. (2011). Review of Shavit's The New Imagined Community: Global Media and the construction of national and Muslim identities of migrants. Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, 747-750. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 28. Sep. 2021 This is the Author’s Final Version of © Goddard, H. (2011). Review of Shavit's The New Imagined Community: Global Media and the construction of national and Muslim identities of migrants. Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, 747-750. Please refer to the published article for citation purposes. Uriya Shavit, The New Imagined Community: Global Media and the Construction of National and Muslim Identities of Migrants, Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2009, vii + 209 pp., ISBN 978-1-84519-328-7, $74.95 or £49.95.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic Radicalization in Arizona
    Islamic Radicalization in Arizona John Robert Butler, (Research Assistant, ICT) 31/10/2013 ABSTRACT Jihadi terrorism has become an area of increasing concern for world governments since 9/11. However, individuals typically go through an extensive process of radicalization prior to the execution of such religious violence. This study examines Islamic radicalization in the United States by focusing on the case study of Arizona. It begins by presenting general demographic information for the state, and it then provides the broad overview of the radicalization process in Arizona. The paper then goes on to detail several critical case studies of Islamic radicalization related to terrorist financing, violence, and religious fundamentalism in the state. Lastly, the study concludes with an overview of the current state of radicalization in Arizona and a discussion of potential future areas for radical infiltration, particularly illegal immigration. This paper outlines in depth the links between the Arizona Muslim community and Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah while also detailing the connections between fundamentalist Islam and isolated radical behavior within the family and local Muslim society. * The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). 2 INTRODUCTION The contemporary threat of jihadi terrorism is largely dependent upon radicalized Islamic networks in the West and affiliated terrorist organizations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.1 To some extent, this development is the spontaneous adaptation of a movement ill-suited to centralized command and control, but it is also the function of Al-Qaeda strategic planning conducted prior to the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Embattled Minority In-Between Minorities: an Analysis of British and German Salafi Anti-Jihadi
    ISSN 0806 -198X Embattled Minority In-Between Minorities: An Analysis of British and German Salafi Anti-Jihadi Campaigns * URIYA SHAVIT (University of Tel Aviv) Abstract Based on an analysis of 150 documents collected between 2012 and 2015 from bookstores, websites and YouTube channels operated by Salafi mosques and organisations in Britain and Germany, this article discusses the different strategies adopted in European Salafi discourse in an effort to disassociate salafiyya from al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Jihadi-Salafi movements. The article suggests that the target audience of these rebuttals are Western governments and publics, who suspect salafiyya to be a breed- ing-ground for terror, as well as mosque attendees, who are exposed to jihadi-salafi denunciations of Salafi anti-politics and anti-violence agendas. It introduces the diverse set of arguments invoked by Salafis to defend their opposition to violent attacks on Western soil, including the religious duties to abide by contracts, respect Islamic rules of warfare and the regulations on initiating jihad, avoid harming the interests of Muslims and of Islam in Europe, and oppose modern-day Khawarij of whom the Prophet Mu ḥammad warned. Key words: Islam in Europe, salafiyya , jihadi-salafiyya , al-Qaeda, ISIS 1. Introduction The term ‘the Muslim minority in Europe’, so commonplace today in popular and academ- ic discourses, is reductionist and misleading. It postulates that for a majority of individuals of Muslim faith on the continent, the religious aspect of identity overrides all other aspects, including national, ethnic and socio-economic. This is not the case. It also postulates that the Muslims of Europe agree on a substantial enough body of religious doctrine and prac- tice to render their analyses as a singular, coherent group instructive.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Islamism—Understanding and Strategy ∗ David Douglas Belt
    Global Islamism—Understanding and Strategy ∗ David Douglas Belt The Sources of Islamic Revolutionary Conduct In his introduction to Milestones Along the Way, or Milestones, as it is best known, Egyptian schoolteacher-turned-philosopher Sayyid Qutb described the failure of non- Muslim, modern ideologies, and reminded the Muslim community, or umma, of Is- lam’s superiority: Mankind today is on the brink of a precipice, not because of the danger of complete annihilation which is hanging over its head—this being just a symptom and not the real disease—but because humanity is devoid of those vital values which are neces- sary not only for its healthy development but also for its real progress. Even the Western world realizes that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy val- ues for the guidance of mankind. It knows that it does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence. … It is essential for mankind to have new leadership! The leadership of mankind by Western man is now on the decline, not because Western culture has become poor materially or because its economic and military power has become weak. The period of the Western system has come to an end pri- marily because it is deprived of those life-giving values which enabled it to be the leader of mankind. … Islam is the only System which possesses these values and this way of life. All nationalistic and chauvinistic ideologies which have appeared in modern times, and all the movements and theories derived from them, have also lost their vitality.
    [Show full text]
  • Muslim Minorities Jurisprudence Iyad Zahalka (Trans
    ajiss34-1_ajiss 1/23/2017 11:56 AM Page 114 114 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 34:1 Shari’a in the Modern Era: Muslim Minorities Jurisprudence Iyad Zahalka (trans. Ohad Stadler and Cecilia Sibony) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 224 pages. Iyad Zahalka’s commendable Shari’a in the Modern Era: Muslim Minorities Jurisprudence gives researchers and legal practitioners an overview of the emerging fiqh al-aqalliyyāt (the jurisprudence of minorities) discipline. In fact, at the time of its publication several other books were published on this subject, among them Uriya Shavit’s Shari’a and Muslim Minorities: The Wasati and Salafi Approaches to Fiqh al-Aqalliyyāt al-Muslima (Oxford: Ox- ford University Press, 2015) and Said Fares Hassan’s Fiqh al-Aqalliyyāt: His- tory, Development, and Progress (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). ajiss34-1_ajiss 1/23/2017 11:56 AM Page 115 Book Reviews 115 Zahalka credits Shavit with giving him useful comments while preparing Shari’ah in the Modern Era . It is no coincidence that all of these books are from a Sunni perspective with particular focus on the works of two well-known scholars in the Sunni legal world: Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Taha Jabir al-Alwani (d. 2016). Zahalka’s book, therefore, captures the gradual creation of another – or perhaps a new – branch of fiqh that focuses on the socio-legal issues faced by Muslims ruled by non-Muslim sovereigns or systems that conflict with Islamic law. His ob - jective is to examine the “ fiqh al-aqalliyyāt of the wasaṭi faction, a school of thought dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood that positions itself in the mid - dle ground between conservative resistance to changing religious laws and the disintegration of the commitment to religious tradition” (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Radicalism and Islamic Terror: Historical Background
    Radicalism and Islamic Terror: Historical Background Meir Litvak Islamic fundamentalism is part of a worldwide phenomenon of an activist and often belligerent response to perceived threats from modernity and globalization – originating in the West – to the religious and cultural identity of various societies. In addition, the resort to religious activism was and remains a response to the severe socioeconomic upheavals these societies have experienced as a result of modernization, especially among those who were not fortunate enough to enjoy its benefits. The Islamic State is the most extreme and violent manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism in the modern era. Distress and concern over the loss of religious and cultural identity have been especially strong in Muslim societies and particularly in the Arab Middle East since the middle of the nineteenth century. They are rooted in the deep gulf between the Islamic self-perception of the proper status of Islam, deemed as superior to all other civilizations, on the one hand, and the political, economic and technological inferiority of the Muslim world in the modern era compared to the West, on the other. This gulf is especially blatant given the fact that unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam as a religion and civilization was immensely successful at the outset. It outshone Europe and its achievements were not far less impressive than those of India and China. This historical accomplishment nourished the belief that Islam’s success in this world was one of the proofs of its theological veracity. Therefore, the weakness and inferiority of Muslim societies in the modern era and the dominance of Western civilization aroused both psychological and theological distress due to the difficulty in bridging the gap between belief and reality.
    [Show full text]