Many Bible interpreters assume a biblical text has only one right meaning and that it can be found if the reader uses the right methods. Charles Cosgrove, on the other hand, recognizes that language often admits multiple meanings and that scholars must deal with several sensible readings. As an example, Elusive Israel examines the identity of Israel in Romans 11, arguing for three equally plausible interpretations.
Kenneth M. Pollack, formerly a Persian Gulf military analyst at the CIA and Director for Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, describes and analyzes theømilitary history of the six key Arab states?Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Syria?during the post?World War II era. He shows in detail how each Arab military grew and learned from its own experiences in response to the specific objectives set for it and within often constrained political, economic, and social circumstances. This first-ever overview of the modern Arab approach to warfare provides a better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the Arab militaries, some of which are the United States? most likely adversaries, and some of which are our most important allies.
The legacy of Pauline scholarship, from ancient to modern, is characterised by a surfeit of unsettled, conflicting conclusions that often fail to interpret Paul in relation to his Jewish roots. William S. Campbell takes a stand against this paradigm, emphasising continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement in Paul's letters. Campbell focusses on important themes, such as diversity, identity and reconciliation, as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paultheologises is one that recognises and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlating demand that because difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus, reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Reconciliation, in this sense, respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. In this paradigm, transformation implies the re-evaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or gentile origin.
Israel's Wars is a fascinating and essential insight into the turbulent history of this troubled country which, since its foundation, has endured almost constant violence. Bringing its coverage up to date with recent conflicts, this fourth edition includes a new chapter on the Gaza wars from 2007-2014, a new preface and an updated concluding chapter. From the 1947-8 Jewish-Palestinian struggle for mastery of the land of Palestine to the Al-Aqsa intifada, the second Lebanon war and the Gaza wars, Bregman exposes hitherto unknown facts, including details of secret Soviet involvement in inciting the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli bombing of the American warship the USS Liberty, and Israeli assassinations of leading Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs, this new edition is valuable reading for students of Arab-Israeli conflicts over the last seventy years.
This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Israel contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1100 cross-referenced entries on significant persons, places, events, government institutions, political parties, and battles, as well as entries on Israel’s economy, society, and culture.
For nearly twenty years, Aaron David Miller has played a central role in U.S. efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace. His position as an advisor to presidents, secretaries of state, and national security advisors has given him a unique perspective on a problem that American leaders have wrestled with for more than half a century. Why has the world’s greatest superpower failed to broker, or impose, a solution in the Middle East? If a solution is possible, what would it take? And why after so many years of struggle and failure, with the entire region even more unsettled than ever, should Americans even care? Is Israel/Palestine really the “much too promised land”? As a historian, analyst, and negotiator, perhaps no one is more qualified to answer these questions than Aaron David Miller. Without partisanship or finger-pointing, Miller lucidly and honestly records what went right, what went wrong, and how we got where we are today. Here is an insider’s view of the peace process from a place at the negotiating table, filled with unforgettable stories and colorful behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Here, too, are new interviews with all the key players, including Presidents Carter, Ford, Bush forty-one, all nine U.S. secretaries of state, as well Arab and Israeli leaders, who disclose the inner thoughts and strategies that motivated them. The result is a book that shatters all preconceived notions to tackle the complicated issues of culture, religion, domestic politics, and national security that have defined—and often derailed—a half century of diplomacy. Honest, critical, and certain to be controversial, this insightful first-person account offers a brilliant new analysis of the problem of Arab-Israeli peace and how, against all odds, it still might be solved.
The Real History of Israel and the Palestinians No history is so disputed as the history of Israel. Some see Israel's creation as a dramatic act of justice for the Jewish people. Others insist that it was a crime against Palestine's Arabs. Author David Brog untangles the facts from the myths to reveal the truth about the Arab-Israeli conflict. In Reclaiming Israel's History you'll learn how the Jewish people have maintained a continual presence in the Land of Israel for over 3,000 years—despite centuries of Roman, Byzantine, and Muslim persecution; how the Romans invented the word "Palestine" as a way to sever the connection between the Jewish people and their land (and how subsequent conquerors doubled down on this strategy); how modern Jewish immigration to Palestine did not displace Arabs but instead sparked an Arab population boom; and the largely untold story of how the leader of Palestine's Arabs collaborated with the Nazis to murder Jews in Europe before they could reach their ancestral homeland. You'll also learn why most of Palestine's Arabs never identified themselves as "Palestinians" until after the 1967 War; the extraordinary lengths to which Israel's military goes to protect Palestinian civilians (and the high price Israel's soldiers pay for this morality), and how the Palestinians have on separate occasions rejected Israel's offers of a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza. Brog frankly admits to Israel's "sins both large and small," but notes that in any fair-minded analysis these have been far out- weighed by Israel's commitment to Western values, including freedom, democracy, and human rights. Honest, provocative, and timely, especially given rising anti-Semitism and the aggressive delegitimization of Israel, David Brog's Reclaiming Israel's History is the book for every reader who wants to understand what is really happening in the Middle East.
The source of the doctrine of justification is a much-debated topic within Pauline studies. The present author sees this source in Paul's Old Testament background, asserting that the creation-covenant scheme in the Pentateuch provides the apostle with his theological foundation in the letter to the Romans.
Eighteen eminent, contemporary scholars on the Middle East clarify the historical background of the Arab-Israeli conflict, present careful analyses of the economic, social and demographic aspects of the area, and lay the foundation for a better understanding of the relevant political problems on which a peaceful settlement rests. "No. 1 in the series." "Contents: "Introduction - "(Michael Curtis). "PART ONE "- "ARABS AND JEWS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Israel and Palestine: The Political Use of Ethics "(Ben Halpern). "Intergroup Relations in Israel "(Hugh M. Smythe and Sandra Weintraub). "Ethnic Relations in Israel "(Yochanan Peres). "The Palestine Arabs: A National Entity "(Don Perer: ). "Who Are the Palestinians? "(Marie Syrkin). "DISCUSSION. PART TWO -ECONOMIC, HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVES. Economic Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict "(Eliyahu Kanovsky). "The Ba'ath In Syria "(Sylvia G. Haim). ."Arab Refugees and the Arab-Israeli Dilemma "(Fred Khouri). "The Second Arab Awakening "(Jon Kimche). "Demography and Geography in Palestine "(Samuel Merlin). "DISCUSSION. PART THREE - POLITICAL DYNAMICS AND THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT. Political Systems of the Middle East: Opening Remarks "(Irving Louis Horowitz). "The Fiasco of Anglo-American Middle East Policy "(Amos Perlmutter). "The Middle East and the Great Powers "(F.H. Hinsley), "Ending the Arab-Israeli Conflict "(Yehoshafat Harkabi). "Clashing Horizons: Arabs and Revolution "(Abdul Aziz Said). "The New Left and Israel "(Shlomo Avineri). "Closing Horizons: Israelis and Nationalism "(Gil Carl Alroy). "DISCUSSION.
This investigation builds upon recent developments in the study of Paul's use of Scripture that center around the concept of "intertextuality." Abasciano uses an exegetical method that incorporates into a thorough traditional exegesis a comprehensive analysis of Paul's use of Scripture against the background of interpretive traditions surrounding the texts alluded to, with great emphasis placed on analyzing the original contexts of Paul's citations and allusions. Such an intertextual exegesis is conducted in Romans 9:1-9 with an awareness of the broader unit of chapters 9-11 especially, and also the epistle as a whole. The study finds that many of the themes Paul deals with in Romans 9-11 are also present in ancient Jewish and Christian interpretive traditions surrounding the passages he invokes, and more importantly, that Paul's scriptural quotations and allusions function as pointers to their broad original contexts, from which he developed much of the form, content, and direction of his argument, holding significance for a number of exegetical details as well as broader themes and rhetorical movements. The final chapter seeks to draw conclusions concerning the significance of Paul's use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:1-9 for the exegesis and theology of Romans and for Pauline intertextuality. The identity of the true people of God is central to Romans 9-11 and the epistle. And Paul's use of Scripture is contextual and referential, calling for attention to Pauline intertextuality in standard exegetical procedure. JSNTS 301>
Ehud Barak's election as Prime Minister of Israel on 17th May 1999 and his determination to conclude a peace deal with the Palestinians inspired both Israeli voters and the international community. So where did it all go wrong? How did it end, less than two years later, in the total failure of Barak's peace efforts, his defeat at the polls and ejection from office? How did he open the way not to peace, but to Ariel Sharon? Drawing on exclusive interviews with all the major international figures involved, this book traces the history of the Middle East peace process from Barak's election, through the peace talks at Camp David to the current Road Map. It illuminates the characters of Clinton, Arafat, Sharon and many others, and offers many insights into one of the most complex political political situations in the world today.
