Internal Struggle around the Oslo Agreements

Abstract

Upon the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the country’s leadership introduced a principle of domination known as mamlakhtiyut (statism). Statism was a European phenomenon that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century and continued until the mid-twentieth century. It characterized a territorial, bureaucratic, and centralized state that wished to control and mobilize its population for various collectivistic purposes. ¹ Probably one of the cardinal elements of the statist enterprise was the disbanding of the prestate militias and military formations, which were torn by disputes and organized on narrow political and ideological platforms. These groups were replaced by a newly created, unified army. David Ben-Gurion, the Israeli leader, was convinced that the Arabs would not accept their defeat in the 1948 war any more than they would the idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East, so a second round of conflict was just a matter of time. In order to deal with this threat, he decided to turn Israel into a nation-in-arms.