Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Chronology
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A New Look at Modern Palestine and Israel
- 1 Fin de Siècle (1856–1900): Social Tranquillity and Political Drama
- 2 Between Tyranny and War (1900–1918)
- 3 The Mandatory State: Colonialism, Nationalization and Cohabitation
- 4 Between Nakbah and Independence: The 1948 War
- 5 The Age of Partition (1948–1967)
- 6 Greater Israel and Occupied Palestine: The Rise and Fall of High Politics (1967–1987)
- 7 The Uprising and its Political Consequences (1987–1996)
- 8 A Post-Zionist Moment of Grace?
- 9 The Suicidal Track: The Death of Oslo and the Road to Perdition
- Postscript: The Post-Arafat Era and the New Sharon Age
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Glossary of Names
- Glossary of Terms
- Index
Introduction: A New Look at Modern Palestine and Israel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Chronology
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A New Look at Modern Palestine and Israel
- 1 Fin de Siècle (1856–1900): Social Tranquillity and Political Drama
- 2 Between Tyranny and War (1900–1918)
- 3 The Mandatory State: Colonialism, Nationalization and Cohabitation
- 4 Between Nakbah and Independence: The 1948 War
- 5 The Age of Partition (1948–1967)
- 6 Greater Israel and Occupied Palestine: The Rise and Fall of High Politics (1967–1987)
- 7 The Uprising and its Political Consequences (1987–1996)
- 8 A Post-Zionist Moment of Grace?
- 9 The Suicidal Track: The Death of Oslo and the Road to Perdition
- Postscript: The Post-Arafat Era and the New Sharon Age
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Glossary of Names
- Glossary of Terms
- Index
Summary
From my classroom at Haifa University, up on the Carmel Mountains, there is seldom a clear view of the city below. On a rare day, when smog and pollution are miraculously absent, I can see the Jewish and Palestinian neighbourhoods of Haifa. The city stretches from the seacoast to the Carmel Mountains. The Palestinians live below, in the areas adjacent to the harbour, but in recent years have moved up to the slopes of the mountains, to parts of the town in which they lived before 1948. In Haifa, the standard of living improves as one moves up the slopes; poverty decreases with altitude.
Socio-economic well-being is closely entwined with national and ethnic affiliations and topography. This forms a pyramid which encapsulates the stratification of Israeli society and, more importantly, the history of the land. Given this geographical polity, it is not surprising to find the university at the top of the mountain, marked by a tower of thirty storeys and overlooking the Palestinians, Mizrachi Jews and the less fortunate socioeconomic classes of the town. Like all other national institutions in Israel, the community of Haifa University is predominantly Jewish, European and middle class.
Haifa University, however, has a large share of Palestinians, 20 per cent to be exact; more than their share of the population at large.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A History of Modern PalestineOne Land, Two Peoples, pp. 1 - 13Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006