Bedouin Health Services in Mandated Palestine

Amos Elon, Tne Israelis, Founders and Sons, pp. 359, bibliography and index, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £2·50.     

A note on Palestine

Political dynasties seem to flourish in Asia, whatever the political system. But this is not a relapse into traditional rule. Political dynasties are modern hybrids in which elite political aims are linked to popular norms of charismatic legitimacy. They are found in non-democratic regimes, electoral democracies and democratic movements, providing key advantages in a context of weak institutions or institutional decay. The author's detailed analysis of the situation in countries as varied as North Korea and India, Singapore and Thailand, Japan and the Philippines, shows that the descendents of charismatic leaders play a major role in politics in Asia. For they are often the key to the survival of a regime, a party or a movement.     

Palestine under the mandate

Asia's First Modern Revolution: Mongolia Proclaims Its Independence in 1911. Urgunge Onon and Derek Pritchatt. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 1990. Pp. 203, Appendices, Gloss. Bibliog. Notes, Index, Map. $59.00.     

Constructing Palestine through Surveillance Practices

State-building is normally associated with the setting-up of institutions such as the army, police force, judiciary and political system. By considering the Palestinian case of state-building, the paper relies on constructivist analysis to examine the use of surveillance as a discursive practice in State construction. Two central aspects of surveillance practices are considered in this paper: population count and spatial monitoring. Examination of these practices is situated in the asymmetrical power relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Conflict over land and people is manifested in the construction of citizenship, identities and geographical boundaries. The paper examines the historical and contemporary role of the census in both the Palestinian and Israeli case in the social construction of spaces and categorization of people. Examples are drawn from the first Israeli census taken in 1948, the monitoring of Palestinian refugees by the United Nations, and the contest over Jerusalem and borders as a consequence of the Oslo Agreement.     

Overcoming Phobias and Asymmetries in Israel and Palestine

This article argues that in order to reach future breakthroughs, vis-à-vis the Israeli political and discursive limitations, two main principles would need to be approached. Firstly, any future formula will need to correspond with the changing reality (the physical impossibility of the old-fashioned two-state solution) by pushing forward a political solution that highlights a safe Jewish existence in the region of Israel/ Palestine, irrespective of whether this safety will be highlighted in relation to a one-state, confederative or a parallel two-state solution. Secondly, it will need to acknowledge the attachment – be it historical, religious or legal – of Jewish-Israelis to the land. These principles are related to the Israeli phobias mentioned and analyzed in the article, and are crucial for any future solution that will see Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians living either side by side or on the same side, but with equal citizenship, a paradigm that can happen in two parallel states, in a state of all of its citizens, or in two states with open borders and joint institutions.     

Origins of the Arab states' involvement in Palestine

Afghanistan and the Soviet Union by Henry Bradsher. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1982. Pp. 336. $32.50; $12.75 (paper).

Afghanistan's Two Party Communism by Anthony Arnold. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1983. Pp. 260. $10.95.

Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal by Beverly Male. New York: St Martin's Press, 1982. £13.95.

Red Flag Over Afghanistan by Thomas Hammond. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984. Pp. xvii + 261. £26.25; £11.25 (paper).

The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire edited by Marion Kent. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1984. Pp. x + 237. £18.00.

Der Islam in der Gegenwart edited by Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach, with editorial help from Michael Ursinus. Munich: C.H. Becker, 1984. Pp.774, bibliography, maps, index. DM, 138.

Workers’ Participation and Self‐Management in Turkey by Mehmet Nezir Uca. The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, Research Report Series No. 13, 1983. Pp.xiv + 254. Guilders 11

France Overseas by C. Andrew and A.S. Kanya‐Forstner. London: Thames &; Hudson, 1981. Pp.302. £12.95.