Countdown to Statehood
Author | : Hillel Frisch |
Publisher | : State University of New York Press |
Total Pages | : 240 |
Release | : 2012-02-01 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781438403410 |
ISBN-13 | : 1438403410 |
Rating | : 4/5 (10 Downloads) |
Download or read book Countdown to Statehood written by Hillel Frisch and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countdown to Statehood, based on Arabic, English, and Hebrew language sources, analyzes the form that the Palestinian state is likely to take. The book looks at past institution-building patterns in the West Bank and Gaza, the relationship between the PLO and the local Palestinians, and the nature of the conflict with Israel from 1967 through the first year of the Palestinian Authority under Arafat's leadership. A major reference point in this analysis is the Zionist experience of state-building in Israel's own pre-independence era. Not only did the Zionist experience serve as a model of a successful protagonist that Palestinians wished to emulate, but both also began as diaspora-based. These similarities and, even more so, the dissimilarities between these two struggles for national determination allow the reader to assess the potential likenesses and disparities of the future Palestinian state compared to its Israeli counterpart. The concluding chapter analyzes the findings in the broader context of third-world state-building by arguing, contrary to the common wisdom that "war makes the state," that more peaceful routes to statehood lead to better states in the post-independence era.