A Worthless Flock with No Shepherd: Bechor Shalom Shitrit's Representation-based Approach to Political Crisis Resolution
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13537120500535332
ISSN1743-9086
Autores Tópico(s)Political Conflict and Governance
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings (Tirshomet Ye'shivot Hamemshala), 15 March 1950, p. 54 (Hebrew), The Israel State Archives (hereafter, ISA). Throughout the text the author translated the Hebrew word ‘Eder’ as ‘herd’ and not as ‘flock’. 2. During this period the refugee issue was discussed in Cabinet several times, in numerous sessions following the start of the work of the ‘UN Conciliation Commission’. Shitrit was particularly interested in this issue. An example of his interest in the Arab refugee question is evident in a document he addressed to the Prime Minister entitled: ‘The Escape of the Arabs’, 25 February 1949, ISA, Section 49, Gimel 54/307. 3. Richard F. Elmore, ‘Backward Mapping: Implementation Research and Policy Decisions’, Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 94, No. 4 (Winter 1979–1980), p. 610. 4. See for example, Ian Lustick, Arabs in the Jewish State: Israel's Control of a National Minority, Austin, Texas, 1980, p. 53; Benny Morris, 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians, Oxford, 1994; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, 2nd ed., New York, 2004; Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis, New York, 1986; Elie Rekhess, ‘The Underlying Principles of the Policy Toward the Arabs in Israel’, in Varda Pilovsky (ed.), Transition from ‘Yishuv’ to State 1947–1949: Continuity and Change, Haifa, 1990, pp. 291–299 (Hebrew). 5. Alisa Rubin Peled, ‘The Other Side of 1948: The Forgotten Benevolence of Bechor Shalom Shitrit and the Ministry of Minority Affairs’, Israel Affairs, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring 2002), pp. 84–103; Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, ‘Conflicting Commitments: The Mizrahi Leadership in Mapai in Israel's Early Years’, Israel, Vol. 5 (2004), pp. 63–97 (Hebrew). On the demise of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, an institution that existed between May 1948 and June 1949, see Rubin Peled, ‘The Other Side’; Rekhess, ‘The Underlying Principles’; Segev, 1949, p. 47. 6. For a biographical account of Shitrit's political career, see Rubin Peled, ‘The Other Side’; Meir-Glitzenstein, ‘Conflicting Commitments’. 7. Morris, The Birth, p. 332. 8. Ilan Pappe, ‘The Lausanne Conference: An Early Indication of Different Approaches in Israeli Policy towards the Arab–Israeli Conflict’, Iyunim: Studies in Zionism, the Yishuv and the State of Israel, Vol. 1 (1991), pp. 241–261 (Hebrew); Ilan Pappe, The Making of the Arab–Israeli Conflict, 1947–1951, London and New York, 1992, p. 153. It is no wonder that Sharett also shared Shitrit's vision that Israel should prefer an independent Palestinian state in Western Eretz Israel. Gabriel Sheffer, Moshe Sharett: Biography of a Political Moderate, Oxford, 1996, p. 382. 9. Rekhess, ‘The Underlying Principles’. 10. Segev, 1949, p. 47. 11. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 22 November 1949, p. 30. 12. For instance, Moshe Shapira from the Hapoel Hamizrahi National Religious Party introduced a personal perspective when referring to specific cases of families who had been separated. ‘On Friday, I was visited by Dr Leiner, of the International Red Cross. He said there were several cases of split families. One involves a woman with children of 4 and 5, who was separated from her husband and is not being allowed to reunite. I can understand when we refuse to let adults back, but what threat can there be from little children?’, ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 29 May 1949, p. 14. 13. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 11 October 1949, pp. 40–41. 14. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 17 August 1949, p. 16. 15. Muhammad Nimr Hawari headed the refugee delegation to the Lausanne conference. Hawari also held discussions with Elias (Eliahu) Sasson, Director of the Middle East Affairs Department at the Foreign Ministry. See Pappe, The Making, pp. 222–225. For Sasson's reports to Sharett on his discussions with Hawari, see Y. Rosenthal (ed.), Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, May–December 1949, Vol. 4, Jerusalem, 1986, E. Sasson to M. Sharett, Document 12, 8 May 1949; Document 52, 2 June 1949; Document 219, 17 August 1949; Document 250, 29 August 1949. 16. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 29 May 1949, p. 23. 17. Ibid., pp. 24–25. 18. Ibid., p. 25. 19. Ibid., p. 28. 20. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 19 July 1949, p. 27. 21. Ibid., p. 28. 22. Ibid., pp. 28–29. 23. Ibid., pp. 31–32. 24. Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, Trouble in Utopia: The Overburdened Polity of Israel, Tel-Aviv, 1990 (Hebrew). 25. Shaul R. Shenhav, ‘The Voice of the State: The Israeli Government's Shaping of the State Narrative in the Early Years of Israel’, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2003. 26. Ibid. 27. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 2 February 1950, p. 27. 28. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 17 January 1950, first meeting, p. 38. 29. Ibid., p. 41. Here the author translated the Hebrew word ‘Eder’ because of the semantic escalation implying that Shazar was being insulting. 30. The hunting image was used by Shitrit when he expressed his opinion in favour of a uniform system of education in the camps: ‘We are now living in the State of Israel and we don't want anyone hunting Jews down because of where they come from and because they are religious. What is all this hunting? We need a uniform system of education in the camps’, Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings, ISA, 17 January 1950, first meeting, p. 39. 31. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 11 October 1949, pp. 39–40. 32. Rubin Peled, ‘The Other Side’, p. 86. 33. The exact term in Hebrew was ‘Shtahim Muhzakim’. 34. ‘Stenographic Records of Provisional Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 20 December 1948, p. 14. 35. Ibid., p. 15. 36. At least at a certain time Shitrit supported this option. See Pappe, The Making, p. 224. 37. ‘Stenographic Records of Provisional Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 20 December 1948, p. 16. 38. Ibid. 39. Shitrit's remark which is quoted in the introduction to this article in which, he referred to the treatment of the Sephardim (North African Jews) as ‘a worthless flock with no shepherd’ was made in the context of this disagreement, ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 15 March 1950, p. 54. 40. Ibid., pp. 54–55. 41. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 6 September 1949, pp. 7–8. 42. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 14 March 1949, p. 6. 43. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 6 September 1949, p. 10. 44. Itzhak Galnoor, Steering the Polity, London, 1982, pp. 125, 127. 45. ‘Stenographic Records of Cabinet Meetings’, ISA, 2 February 1950, p. 27. 46. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. A. M. Codevilla, New Haven, 1997, p. 91. Additional informationNotes on contributorsShaul R. ShenhavShaul R. Shenhav is Raymond and Janine Bollag Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Communication at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations Post-Doctoral Fellow.
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