Anita Shapira, a professor of Jewish history, has taken on a rather complex task: to write a book that is essentially a review of the establishment of the Jewish settlement in Palestine and then in the State of Israel. Already in the introduction, on page 10, the author makes it clear that she is not innovating anything but is trying to bring together into one volume many studies dealing with the subject.
The main question that remains for us is to examine whether she does so in an interesting enough way throughout the book. Moreover, it seems that in the name of the book, after the words "as a nation and as a people," there should be a question mark. Readers will decide, after Shapira's review, whether Israel can be considered a nation like all nations. She herself admits that this is not an objective review but history as she understands and interprets it.
The book chronologically describes events, processes, and milestones in the history of Zionism, but instead of presenting only well-known political and war issues related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, it also presents the formation of Jewish and Israeli society, economy, and culture from the first Aliyah until the end of the 20th century.
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It is to be assumed that the new historians, who are also mentioned in the book, will sharply criticize the author's choice to present the Arabs only when they clash with the Jewish side. This does not require justification or apology, because this is not a book that presents a Palestinian narrative. There are many such books, and they are the ones who created a false and distorted history here.
What is more, Shapira presents the events with the Arabs when it is necessary to do so, and she does so courageously and without any pretense. For example, she does not deny the expulsion of the Arabs of Ramla and Lod, but she rightly explains that it was a rare event and also the special circumstances in which it took place.
However, some of Shapira's descriptions are one-sided or incomplete. For example, in describing the great immigration of the 1950s and the problematic absorption of the immigrants, she omits a central story: the kidnapping of Yemenite children. Or in Chapter 17, she criticizes the late Menachem Begin in the 1981 elections as an instigator and demonizer. She did not write that incitement and demonization were also the domain of the Alignment members. She omitted from the book the fact that during that election campaign, the late Mota Gur had harsh words towards Mizrahi Likud activists. This is one example among many.
In addition, the book reveals notable errors related to dates: for example, she writes that Prime Minister Golda Meir resigned from the government on November 11, 1974, while Meir resigned on June 22 of that year.
Despite this, the book is well written and interesting, but the question becomes more acute: As a nation? The answer is not great. The nation of Israel is much more than that. History proves this, and Shapira does a good job of explaining it in her comprehensive review.
Anita Shapira, As a Nation: Israel 2000-1881, Zalman Shazar Center Publishing, 502 pp.'
• The writer is the Deputy Director of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice, a lecturer at the Israeli Center for Political Training, and a columnist for Israel Hayom."
