| Between
1949 and 1967 few Israelis had questioned the boundaries established
during Israel's war for independence. Zionist and religious ideologies
that advocated Jewish control over all the "Land of Israel"—the
areas of Jewish settlement in biblical times—lay dormant.
The 1967 victory, which brought the bulk of these territories under
Israeli control, rekindled traditional sentiments for the reestablishment
of Jewish sovereignty in all these territories. These sentiments
became a powerful political force within Israel and provide a growing
potential for violence. This book examines those Israelis who have
become most identified with this violence. Its focus is upon the
development of vigilantism and political deviance in the Gush Emunim
settlements.
This
nook examines the similarities between deviant behavior and society's
reactions to deviance. It examines the deviance of Jewish settlers
who themselves advocate or participate in law-violating actions.
It describes and explains the social organization of deviant social
controls. Rather than centering our view of the normative process
in the general society, it focuses upon Jewish settlers who evade
and resist the rules and laws of that society in the name of "higher"
laws.
A detailed
examination of settler rationalizations of vigilante violence against
Arabs provides an unusual glimpse of community support for law violations
in these areas. Unique quantitative data allow for the first major
multivariate analysis of vigilanted attitudes and behaviors.
Jewish
Settler Violence provides an innovative and thought-provoking
approach to violence that is rationalized and legitimized with reference
to norms and values. It illustrates the importance of broadening
concerns with crime and deviance to include "altruistic" law violations
that have more in common with the complex decision-making processes
of societal reactions that the routine character of most deviant
behavior. It also provides a set of sobering implications for the
future of Jewish settler violence. This research suggests that vigilantism
and antigovernment violence will increase, at the same time that
the Israeli government will find it increasingly difficulty to respond
to and control settler deviance.
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