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Purpose: Following the current rise of Antisemitism globally and in Germany, this paper examines the current situation regarding Antisemitism in teacher education. The paper aims to make a contribution for the demand of an implementation of education critical of Antisemitism in teacher education. Approach: Combining experience from university teacher training and the field of extracurricular political education we appoint perspectives for a sustainable implementation of education critical of Antisemitism in teacher training via best practice examples. We evaluate the potentials of field trips, international study groups and networks between university and agents located in civil society. Findings: The revised curricula for Social Sciences in the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia (and formerly Berlin) name current Antisemitism for the first time, indicating an urgent need for professionalization in Social Science teacher education where the facets of Antisemitism only play a minor role. Hence, expertise and existing resources must be stabilized, a structural implementation and funding is needed in order to target the challenging topic of Antisemitism. Research limitations/implications: This paper functions as a preliminary research in order to examine the given shape of Social Science teacher education and Antisemitism in Germany. A comprehensive, structured analyses of all teacher training facilities as well as extracurricular agents working in the field of education critical of Antisemitism could be useful in order to pool expertise. Nonetheless this paper encourages local collaborations between university and civil society actors.

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles published in the Web of Science category "Education and Educational Research" in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). A total of 2091 journal articles published in this category and cited more than 100 times up to the end of the year 2016 were retrieved as highly cited articles. Distributions of highly cited articles per publication year, journals, institutions and countries were analysed, as well as the citation life cycle of the top-cited articles. The USA, its institutions and researchers are the absolute leaders in the category of Education and Educational Research according to the results of the conducted analysis.

The rapid changes in information technology in recent years have rendered current high school curricula unable to cope with student needs. In consequence, students do not possess the proper skills required in today's information era. Specifically, many students lack the skills to search efficiently for information. Moreover, even when abundant information is available to them, students are unable to critically read, analyze, and evaluate it. To address these problems we developed a high school course designed to provide students with applied logical tools. The course was developed for two different student groups: social sciences-oriented students and exact sciences-oriented students. It is composed of several parts whose contents depend on the students' orientation. This course is part of a broader program whose purpose is a comprehensive study and understanding of logical and concept-based systems. The course was taught to three high school student groups with different academic orientation and age. Two of the groups majored in social sciences and the third group majored in exact sciences. Of the two social sciences groups, one was composed of senior students and the second of junior students. To assess the effectiveness of the course, we gave each group an exam testing their critical reasoning skills. This exam was administered in the first week of the course. The groups were given a similar exam at the end of the course. In addition, after the completion of the course the students were asked to fill in a questionnaire about the course and its effect on them. The purpose of the pre-course and post-course exams was to examine the objective change in the assessment of students' skills. The purpose of the questionnaire was to test overall satisfaction and the students' subjective assessment of the change in their skill. The results of this initial examination were very encouraging. We found a significant improvement in the students' critical reading skills. In addition, students felt they had better analytical and critical skills. They reported a change in their reading behavior with most students reporting a more critical and logical approach and a better ability to understand underlying assumptions and separate opinion from fact. We believe this paper makes three important contributions. First, the course we describe is novel in adapting university level courses in applied logic for high school students. Secondly, it is modular enough to allow exact sciences-oriented students to combine critical reading with computer and mathematical topics. Thirdly, we report our experience of teaching this course in the high school level and find that this course improved skills essential to the students and that students responded positively to it. (Contains 4 tables.)

Dedicated inpatient care for eating disorders has profound impact on patients' embodied practices and lived realities. Analyses of inpatients' accounts have shown that participants endorse complex and conflicting attitudes toward their experiences in eating disorders wards, yet the apparent ambivalence that characterizes inpatient experiences has not been subject to critical examination. This paper examines the narrated experiences of 13 participants (12 women and one man; age 18–38 years at first interview) with past or present anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified, who had been hospitalized in an inpatient eating disorders ward for adults in central Israel. The interviews, which took place in 2005–2006, and again in 2011, were part of a larger longitudinal study exploring the subjective experiences of eating disorders and recovery among Israeli adults. Employing qualitative analysis, this study finds that the participants' accounts were concerned with dynamics of difference and belonging, as they played out in various aspects of inpatient care, including diagnosis, treatment, relationships with fellow patients and staff, and everyday life in hospital. Notably, participants simultaneously defined themselves as connected to, but also distinct from, the eating disordered others who formed their reference group at the ward. Through negotiating a protectively ambivalent positioning, participants recognized their eating disordered identities and connected with others on the ward, while also asserting their non-disordered individuality and distancing themselves from the potential dangers posed by ‘excessive’ belonging. The paper suggests that this ambivalent positioning can usefully be understood through the anthropological concept of liminality: being both a part of and apart from one's community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin of the tin used for the production of bronze in the Eurasian Bronze Age is still one of the mysteries in prehistoric archaeology. In the past, numerous studies were carried out on archaeological bronze and tin objects with the aim of determining the sources of tin, but all failed to find suitable fingerprints. In this paper we investigate a set of 27 tin ingots from well-known sites in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Mochlos, Uluburun, Hishuley Carmel, Kfar Samir south, Haifa) that had been the subject of previous archaeological and archaeometallurgical research. By using a combined approach of tin and lead isotopes together with trace elements it is possible to narrow down the potential sources of tin for the first time. The strongly radiogenic composition of lead in the tin ingots from Israel allows the calculation of a geological model age of the parental tin ores of 291 ± 17 Ma. This theoretical formation age excludes Anatolian, central Asian and Egyptian tin deposits as tin sources since they formed either much earlier or later. On the other hand, European tin deposits of the Variscan orogeny agree well with this time span so that an origin from European deposits is suggested. With the help of the tin isotope composition and the trace elements of the objects it is further possible to exclude many tin resources from the European continent and, considering the current state of knowledge and the available data, to conclude that Cornish tin mines are the most likely suppliers for the 13th–12th centuries tin ingots from Israel. Even though a different provenance seems to be suggested for the tin from Mochlos and Uluburun by the actual data, these findings are of great importance for the archaeological interpretation of the trade routes and the circulation of tin during the Late Bronze Age. They demonstrate that the trade networks between the eastern Mediterranean and some place in the east that are assumed for the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE (as indicated by textual evidence from Kültepe/Kaneš and Mari) did not exist in the same way towards the last quarter of the millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most papers on the physical condition of birds during spring migration focused on food availability preceding migratory take-off. Only a few studies examined the effect of climate conditions at the wintering grounds upon autumn arrival on bird physical condition later on. Here, we hypothesized that environmental conditions upon arrival at the wintering grounds, and not necessarily upon departure, have a crucial carry-over effect on bird spring migration. Using 29,000 observations of the lesser whitethroat, Sylvia curruca, and the eastern Bonelli’s warbler, Phylloscopus orientalis, we found temperatures upon arrival at the African wintering grounds to be the only climatic variable correlated with birds’ body state upon spring stopover in Israel, six months later. Two different mechanisms could explain these results. One possibility is that high temperatures create favorable conditions for insect activity, which allows rapid recovery from autumn migration and hence successful winter survival and maintenance. Another possible scenario is that harsh conditions, due to the heat and dry environment, cause high mortality, permitting survival of larger individuals which, then, enjoy reduced inter- and intra-specific competition. Whatever the mechanism is, our findings suggest that conditions upon autumn arrival, and not necessarily at the end of winter as traditionally thought, may have a major impact on migrating birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper critically approaches the western epistemological tradition and its psychologized perspectives that pose identitarian and cultural categories as standing at the basis of societal conflicts. It suggests that staying attached to a conceptualization of identity as a, more or less, fixed cognizant entity and of culture as a, rather, fixed body of traditions and meaning might not allow multicultural, interfaith, or peace education initiatives geared towards soothing societal conflicts achieve their goals. It does so by reviewing data gathered at the integrated bilingual and multicultural schools in Israel which I have been studying for over a decade utilizing a variety of ethnographic tools. It concludes by locating the problems exposed within present social sciences theorizing and suggest possible ways to overcome these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of anthropology, charismatic individuals have often played a major role in the creation and institutionalization of the discipline. Although current Israeli anthropology has been greatly influenced by contemporary theoretical trends and professional genres, one can still observe the impact of Max Gluckman's Manchester School project of the 1960s and 1970s. The paper will examine the success and failure of this research endeavor, which sought to reveal the process of community and nation-building in the aftermath of mass immigration from Europe and the Middle East. The paper will also discuss the existing professional scene and the social constraints that influenced the development of anthropology in Israeli academia before and after the Manchester project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following feminist and postcolonial discourses, this paper uses the concept of ‘everyday experience’ as a tool to trace the social world of educated Palestinian women in Israel. The term refers to the complex array of these women’s experiences in racialised and gendered social sites, as well as within the class, religious, and ethnic contexts in the subordinated group and its relations with the dominant Jewish group. Based on 108 in-depth interviews with Palestinian women citizens of Israel, the paper claims that educated Palestinian women are located in a ‘third place’ between cultural, gender, class, national and racial structures that generates a continual ambivalence. Within this marginal, ‘unhomely’ space women negotiate their own identities and challenge dominant social definitions. Women create various modes of interim spaces and multi-dimensional, shifting identities for themselves. The ambivalent attitudes generated by the women’s experiences expose the possibility of shedding categorising markers. The omnipresent existence of the gendered, racialised regime of knowledge makes every place a potential site of subversion and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes my experiences teaching a 28-hour course on the bacterial world for undergraduate students in the humanities and the social sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This course was offered in the framework of a program in which students must obtain credit points for courses offered by other faculties to broaden their education. Most students had little biology in high school and had never been exposed to the basics of chemistry. Using a historical approach, highlighting the work of pioneers such as van Leeuwenhoek, Koch, Fleming, Pasteur, Winogradsky and Woese, I covered a broad area of general, medical, environmental and evolutionary microbiology. The lectures included basic concepts of organic and inorganic chemistry necessary to understand the principles of fermentations and chemoautotrophy, and basic molecular biology to explain biotechnology using transgenic microorganisms and molecular phylogeny. Teaching the basics of microbiology to intelligent students lacking any background in the natural sciences was a rewarding experience. Some students complained that, in spite of my efforts, basic concepts of chemistry remained beyond their understanding. But overall the students' evaluation showed that the course had achieved its goal., (© FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted ethnic minorities in the global north, evidenced by higher rates of transmission, morbidity, and mortality relative to population sizes. Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods in London had extremely high SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence rates, reflecting patterns in Israel and the US. The aim of this paper is to examine how responsibilities over health protection are conveyed, and to what extent responsibility is sought by, and shared between, state services, and 'community' stakeholders or representative groups, and families in public health emergencies. The study investigates how public health and statutory services stakeholders, Orthodox Jewish communal custodians and households sought to enact health protection in London during the first year of the pandemic (March 2020–March 2021). Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted across these cohorts. Findings demonstrate that institutional relations – both their formation and at times fragmentation – were directly shaped by issues surrounding COVID-19 control measures. Exchanges around protective interventions (whether control measures, contact tracing technologies, or vaccines) reveal diverse and diverging attributions of responsibility and authority. The paper develops a framework of public health relations to understand negotiations between statutory services and minority groups over responsiveness and accountability in health protection. Disaggregating public health relations can help social scientists to critique who and what characterises institutional relationships with minority groups, and what ideas of responsibility and responsiveness are projected by differently-positioned stakeholders in health protection. • COVID-19 produced diverse responses and relations around health protection in London. •Pandemic preparedness can be enhanced by mapping possible partners in localities. •Establishing public health partnerships requires adequate resources. •Public health services cannot defer responsibility entirely to local partners. •Households are key constituents of public health relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In its Deuteronomistic edition, Deuteronomy refers to itself as »the book of the Torah«, written by Moses himself. In Jos 1 and 23, this book is introduced as an element of the subsequent ›history of Israel‹ narrative. Despite other differences, current hypotheses of the formation of the Deuteronomistic History (DH) almost unanimously agree that these as well as other references to the book of the Torah in Deut - II Reg must be regarded as secondary additions. Contrary to this opinio communis, the present paper argues the case for the book of the Torah as an indispensable element of the first layer to be found in Jos 1 and 23. Their references to the book of the Torah, just like most of the pertinent parallels, serve an essential function in the DH from its beginning. Without that book, the DH's double aetiology - Israel winning and losing her land - is simply not comprehensible to the addressees Zusammenfassung: Das dtr edierte Deuteronomium bezeichnet sich selbst als »das Torabuch«. Niedergeschrieben von Mose, wird dieses Buch in Jos 1 und 23 als Element der anschließenden ›Geschichte Israels‹ eingeführt. Diese und weitere Erwähnungen des Torabuchs in Deut - II Reg gelten gegenwärtigen Hypothesen zur Entstehung des dtr Geschichtswerks (DtrG) unabhängig von allen sonstigen Unterschieden nahezu einmütig als sekundäre Ergänzungen. Entgegen dieser opinio communis wird hier die These vertreten, dass das Torabuch unverzichtbarer Bestandteil der ersten literarischen Schicht in Jos 1 und 23 ist. Den dortigen Erwähnungen des Buches kommt, ebenso wie den meisten ihrer Parallelen, schon im ursprünglichen Entwurf des DtrG eine tragende Funktion zu. Ohne das Torabuch müsste die doppelte Ätiologie von Israels Landgewinn und Landverlust den Adressaten des DtrG unverständlich bleiben. Résumé: Dans son édition deutéronomiste, le Deutéronome se présente comme »le livre de la Torah« écrit par Moïse lui-même. En Jos 1 et 23, ce même livre est introduit comme un élément du récit de »l'histoire d'Israël« qui suit. Les différentes hypothèses actuelles sur la formation de l'histoire deutéronomiste (HD) sont presque unanimes pour considérer ces références - ainsi que d'autres renvois - au livre de la Torah dans Deut -II Reg comme des ajouts secondaires. Contrairement à cette opinio communis, le présent article avance des arguments pour montrer que le livre de la Torah fait partie intégrante de la première couche littéraire en Jos 1 et 23. Les références au livre de la Torah, qui se trouvent dans ces chapitres, tout comme la plupart des autres parallèles, remplissent une fonction essentielle dans HD depuis le début de la narration. Sans ce livre, la double étiologie de HD - à savoir Israël qui gagne et perd sa terre - n'est tout simplement pas compréhensible pour les lecteurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the strong desire to ascribe the status of nation to the Israel of the Hebrew Bible – a tendency that makes sense in terms of how the biblical text is presented and in terms of contemporary discourse that seeks to advance theories of nations and nationalism – inevitably runs up against a number of theoretical challenges, which compound in light of biblical Israel's antiquity. Given these challenges, I propose an approach to the nation whereby the biblical Israel is "recrafted" according to an "ethnotechnical" dynamic: a neologistic attempt to fuse the schools of nationalist theory such that a primarily modernist social-science theory of the biblical nation of Israel still finds traction in the antiquity of ethnosymbolism and primordialism. Following Donna Haraway's literary assertion that "myth and tool mutually constitute each other" (a statement made in calling postmodern feminists to action), I argue that myth and artifice (and myth as artifice) combine in an ethnotechnical device by which nations are called to retroactively inscribe themselves, and then to continue reinscribing themselves. Such a move simultaneously enhances our biblical readings and informs our understanding of collective identities; in short, it satisfies the strong desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1948 and 1959, perceptions of Israeli water resources changed dramatically from a strong belief in water abundance in the prestate period to an equally strong and unequivocal belief in water scarcity after 1959. This paper tells the story of how the water resources of Israel came to be constructed as scarce. On the substantive level, the paper tells the story of the dismantling of a network of water abundance and the emergence, instead, of a network of water scarcity and centralization, which helped to construct all of the following: water resource scarcity as 'fact'; centralized policy-making institutions as most 'efficient'; centralized technologies as 'appropriate'; the national space as the only source of identity; the national scale of water management as 'necessary'; a strong and centralized state as 'legitimate'; legal precedents for the use of state apparatus for surveillance, discipline, and control over water resources; and, consequently, a form of citizenship that is seen as at once heroic and disciplined. On the theoretical level, in this paper I argue that the ontological distinction often assumed between scientific (eg water scarcity) and political (eg centralized nation-state) fields of practice is exaggerated, especially in literature on water politics in Israel. I further demonstrate that technoscientific debates about water availability, efficient technologies for its utilization, and appropriate institutions for its management are constitutive of relations of power and government and are themselves implicated in the construction of an Israeli style of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state educational system in Israel functions effectively to maintain the cultural, socioeconomic, and political subordination of Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens through the imposition of aims, goals and curricula to which the students cannot relate, and the substandard and discriminatory provision of educational resources, programmes and services; all of which result in markedly poorer levels of educational achievement and lower rates of students qualified to enter higher education. As with every other aspect of the education system in Israel, these inequitable outcomes are not a matter of chance, but rather a matter of policy. In this paper, I will explore the ways in which racially derogatory attitudes towards the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel have been translated into discriminatory practices in the state-run educational system. I will examine the mechanisms by which these practices have placed Palestinian Arabs on an unequal footing with regard to their social, economic and political development vis á vis the Israeli Jewish majority, and have led to the institutionalisation of an education system that perpetuates racist attitudes and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical review and discussion of a major field of Israeli sociology — the study of immigration and absorption. It concentrates on the dominant school of Israeli sociology, that of S. N. Eisenstadt and his associates, and points to the close relation between this body of work and functionalist theory. The paper demonstrates the inadequacy of this approach for the study of the formation of Israeli society, and its inability to deal with important economic and political developments. It is argued that its omissions and conclusions both point to the basic affinity between this school of Israeli sociology and the dominant state ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a mineralogical analyses on a group of unique vessels found during excavations at the site of Hagoshrim in Israel. During the course of the study, the vessels were analyzed for mineralogical composition using polarizing and binocular microscopes as well as x-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the rock from its original structure. It indicates that material culture evidence of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic in the southern Levant suggests that communities had contacts with the northern parts of the Fertile Crescent.

Based on role theory suppositions, the following study explores how role stress which follows occupational insecurity influences the professional considerations of pre‐tenure faculty. In‐depth i nterviews were conducted with ten Israeli pre‐tenure and six tenured faculty members working at three different Israeli universities in the faculties of humanities and social sciences. The findings reflect pre‐tenure faculty’s stress, following their difficulty in determining to what extent individual professional conduct meets the institutional standards of excellence that make one eligible for tenure. Moreover, it was found that such circumstances encourage pre‐tenure faculty’s tendency to ‘play safe,’ which was evident in their inclination towards conservatism dominating their professional considerations. Conversely, tenured faculty who experience stress which results from their struggle for recognition and professional fulfilment reported they are less worried regarding their professional future, and are therefore more willing to take risks and become involved in more profound and speculative ventures. It is suggested that providing support through mentorship and periodical formative assessments are likely to make new faculty’s role stress more manageable. In addition it is argued that tenure and the security it provides is an important feature of academic life, and a major means for sustaining faculty members’ motivation to pursue new endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of the Israeli Palestinian peace process. The ongoing peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is the most crucial political development in the area since 1967. Despite the tremendous impact of the 1967 War, during the seventies, Israeli sociologists and political scientists failed to conceptualize and analyze the crucial role and meaning of the event. This paper is an initial attempt to begin a debate on the theoretical tools needed to analyze the ongoing peace process within an historical perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It further suggests that present Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations are the result of two crucial historical events that occurred in the eighties e the Lebanon War and the Intifada. These events influenced both gains and losses for Israel and also reshaped Palestinian internal politics. The historical argument suggests that a proper approach to the analysis of the peace process must take into account the dynamics that led to the conflict before the eighties, including the British colonial period, the status of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip after 1967.

Presents an overview of articles introduced in the January 2004 issue of "Social Identities." Focus on racism in Israeli society; Issues on the historic and socio-political roots of racism; Discussion on the transformation and discriminatory practices in Israel.

The debate around ethics review boards (IRBs) has assumed an increasingly central place in academic practice and discourse. In this article, we summarize a unique workshop (study-group) that convened at the University of Haifa, attended by 27 academics from around the globe, representing nine countries in four continents. The participants presented data and points of view, which served as the basis for an open, interdisciplinary discussion. The group developed a set of recommendations, including working toward a transition from a review system to an advisory and validation system; focusing on respectful research approach to participants, rather than "ethical" research; building a procedure that focuses on feedback, rather than the process itself; recognizing that a unified examination need not necessarily be standardized; and constructing a feedback procedure in which researchers can respond to the review of their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research–practice relationship enables practitioners and non-academic researchers to contribute in creating knowledge and form partnerships with academic researchers. Despite the availability of conceptual frameworks and literature describing relations between researchers and practitioners in several disciplines, including social work, descriptions of the inner workings of these relations in the area of child sexual abuse are lacking. The present article presents such a relationship between researchers from a school of social work and practitioners from a Child Advocacy Centre (CAC) in Israel, in the specific context of studying sibling sexual abuse (SSA). It highlights the unique aspects of the relationship and analyses its development based on the first three stages proposed by Jones and Sherr. Specifically, (i) the practitioners-as-subjects stage, characterised by researched dominance, focused on document analysis of SSA cases; (ii) the engaged research stage, characterised by rapport between the two parties, developed in focus groups with CAC staff and (iii) the practitioner-involved research, characterised by joint creative work, included co-authoring a booklet for professionals dealing with sexual abuse cases. The article concludes with a discussion of the necessary conditions for and benefits of forming such relationships in the context of studying complex phenomena such as SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration studies emphasize the role of economic, social and cultural capital in shaping out-migration decisions. Yet, little attention is paid to the effect of capital endowment on return migration, particularly among the highly educated. This article examines the extent to which different forms of capital determine return decisions of early-career researchers (ECRs). We hypothesized that individuals from more privileged backgrounds would repatriate at higher rates, due to the benefits that their capital stock might offer them upon homeland re-integration at home. Drawing on a sample of 223 early career Israeli scholars in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines, we used logistic regressions to analyze the effects of material wealth, social ties, and family-oriented cultural capital on their return propensities. No significant differences were found between repatriating and non-repatriating scholars with respect to cultural capital. However, accumulating social and economic capital was positively correlated with the decision to repatriate as was marrying into academic families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, much of the recent efforts dedicated to the Levantine Middle Paleolithic has concentrated on the role of open-air sites in the settlement system in the region. Here focus on the site of ‘Ein Qashish as a cases study. Located in present-day northern Israel, the area of this site is estimated to have been >1300 m2, of which ca. 670 were excavated. The site is located at the confluence of the Qishon stream with a small tributary running off the eastern flanks of the Mt. Carmel. At the area of this confluence, water channels and alluvial deposits created a dynamic depositional environment. Four Archaeological Units were identified in a 4.5-m thick stratigraphic sequence were dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to between—71 and 54 ka, and probably shorter time span–~70-~60 ka. Here we present the diverse material culture remains from the site (lithics, including refitted sequences; modified limestone pieces; molluscs; faunal remains) against their changing paleogeographic backdrop. Skeletal evidence suggests that these remains were associated with Neanderthals. The large-scale repeated accumulation of late Middle Paleolithic remains in the same place on the landscape provides a unique opportunity to address questions of occupation duration and intensity in open-air sites. We find that each occupation was of ephemeral nature, yet presents a range of activities, suggesting that the locale has been used as a generalized residential site rather than specialized task-specific ones. This role of ‘Ein Qashish did not change through time, suggesting that during the late Middle Paleolithic settlement system in this part of the southern Levant were stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New discoveries of legumes in the lower Galilee at the prehistoric site of Ahihud in Israel shed light on early farming systems in the southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating of twelve legumes from pits and floors indicate that the farming of legumes was practiced in southern Levant as early as 10.240–10.200 (1σ) ago. The legumes were collected from pits and other domestic contexts dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The legumes identified include Vicia faba L. (faba bean), V. ervilia (bitter vetch), V. narbonensis (narbon vetch), Lens sp. (lentil), Pisum sp. (pea), Lathyrus inconspicuus (inconspicuous pea) and L. hirosolymitanus (jerusalem vetchling). Comparison with coeval sites in the region show how the presence of peas, narbon vetches, inconspicuous peas, jerusalem vetchlings and bitter vetches together with faba bean and lentils is unique to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and might indicate specific patterns in farming or storing at the onset of agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Use-wear analysis of five glossed flint blades found at Ohalo II, a 23,000-years-old fisher-hunter-gatherers’ camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Northern Israel, provides the earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools. The wear traces indicate that tools were used for harvesting near-ripe semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains are ripe and disperse naturally. The studied tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted in a handle. The finds shed new light on cereal harvesting techniques some 8,000 years before the Natufian and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East. Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site and the use of stone-made grinding implements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the perceptions and experiences of Israeli art therapists regarding the use of silence during art therapy, and its effects on the art therapist, the client and the therapeutic relationship. The researchers interviewed 15 art therapists using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) analysis method (Hill, C. E. [2012].Consensual qualitative research: A practical resource for investigating social science phenomena. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association). The interview covered five primary domains: (1) silence as an art therapy tool—the art therapist’s depiction of a therapist who uses silence in therapy; (2) reasons for using silence in art therapy—the rationale for using silence as an intervention tool and the therapist’s perceptions regarding the client’s use of silence; (3) the art therapist’s perceptions of the effects of silence on the client, the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic dialogue; (4) the role of the art therapist during moments of silence in the therapy room; and (5) the art therapist’s perception of the uniqueness of the art medium during moments of silence in therapy. These findings can lead to a greater understanding of the importance and contribution of silence in art therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study focuses on Kaizer Hill, a quarry site located in the vicinity of the city of Modiin where remains of a single prehistoric cultural entity assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A were discovered. A systematic survey revealed that large-scale quarrying activities have left damage markings on the bedrock of the Hilltop and its slopes. We aim to present here our findings from the Hilltop, which are concerned with the human impact on rock surfaces and the lithic artifacts retrieved during the survey. It is evident that the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A inhabitants of the area changed their landscape forever, “stripping” the caliche surface and penetrating it in search of flint bedded in the bedrock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

dging from contemporary internal and external developments, India and Israel--currently strategic partners--are poised to grow into a partnership of strategic allies within the international arena in the near future. This article studies the relationship between India and Israel, focusing on politics and defense, from 9/11 to the present day. It gives a brief overview of the historical relationship between India and Israel, especially in the political and military realms, establishing that relationship within a continuous trajectory which has led to the current flurry of bilateral engagements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although human activity is considered to be a major driving force affecting the distribution and dynamics of Mediterranean ecosystems, the full consequences of projected climate variability and relative sea-level changes on fragile coastal ecosystems for the next century are still unknown. It is unclear how these waterfront ecosystems can be sustained, as well as the services they provide, when relative sea-level rise and global warming are expected to exert even greater pressures in the near future (drought, habitat degradation and accelerated shoreline retreat). Haifa Bay, northern Israel, has recorded a landward sea invasion, with a maximum sea penetration 4,000 years ago, during an important period of urban development and climate instability. Here, we examine the cumulative pressure of climate shifts and relative sea-level changes in order to investigate the patterns and mechanisms behind forest replacement by an open-steppe. We provide a first comprehensive and integrative study for the southern Levant that shows that (i) human impact, through urbanization, has been the main driver behind ecological erosion in the past 4,000 years; (ii) climate pressures have reinforced this impact; and (iii) local coastal changes have played a decisive role in eroding ecosystem resilience. These three parameters, which have closely interacted during the last 4,000 years in Haifa Bay, clearly indicate that for an efficient management of the coastal habitats, anthropogenic pressures linked to urban development must be reduced in order to mitigate the predicted effects of Global Change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contends that an emerging ‘mobilities paradigm’ within the social sciences reproduces an analytical gaze that is predominantly fixated on the movement of people across national borders. This privileging of state borders and categories in many of the mobilities studies should alert us to the extent to which it brings novelty to our examination of human mobility in the world. By analysing the flow of migrant workers from rural China to Israel, this article demonstrates how new insights regarding the importance and meaning of crossing national borders can be generated by looking at mobilities through the eyes of those involved in them, allowing state categories and national borders to prefigure in the analysis to an extent and form that are relevant for migrants. The article depicts the mobility-ridden life of Tseng, who comes from a small village in Fujian province and who, after migrating internally in China several times, decides to go to Israel. Highlighting the importance of unequal capital accumulation in shaping human mobility, the article questions some taken-for-granted assumptions about the motivation and situation of those who exercise international mobility; it particularly upsets a prevalent association in migration studies between physical and socio-economic mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This section introduces the March 2004 issue of the periodical Asian Journal of Social Science. This issue will be followed by two special focus issues, one on religion and the other on Arab communities in the Indian Ocean. The Trends in the Social Sciences section of this issue carries an article by Ahmad H. Sa'di on social science research in Israel. This paper analyzes the epistemologies and ideologies informing studies of the national identity of the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The community of academic geographers in Israel is tiny compared to countries with which Israeli geographers have close contacts, with around half this small contingent--round 60 people in all over the past six decades--working in human geography. Nevertheless, they have authored well over 2,000 articles and books, not including technical reports and book reviews. Israeli human geography has constantly stressed a need to conduct applied research, a result of adopting a paradigm that views geography as a "practical" discipline and geographers as servants of the state. Though this has provided many Israeli human geographers with kudos, promoting geography with a problem-solving subject matter rather than as an academic branch of learning has not necessarily worked to the benefit of the discipline. In order to feed a voracious appetite for exposure to "real issues" of "importance" and "socially valuable" and "politically relevant" research, non-geographers are appropriating the discipline with the distinct possibility that departments of geography as we know them may self-destruct sooner rather than later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paradigm shift has occurred in the scholarly literature concerning the Arab/Jewish conflict over Palestine/Israel. From the pre-1948 period until the 1970s the Zionist position was widely supported in scholarship. Jews were enjoined to 're-constitute', 're-turn', 're-claim', and 're-build' their ancient land. The 're' represented recognition of the historic connection between Jews and the country. From Antonius in the 1930s, subsequently Toynbee, and most recently Said, systematic attempts have been made to sever this relationship. Minimalist biblical scholarship, revisionist archaeology and liberation theology, often with reference to Said, attempt to give scholarly weight to this position. In addition, the 'settler society' model found in the social sciences casts Zionism as but another form of colonialism by incorrectly drawing on the writings of D.K. Fieldhouse and thereby likewise distorts the historic relationship between Jews and Palestine/Israel. In drawing on dubious and contentious scholarship, a new paradigm of the historic record has gained wide currency and serves to delegitimate Israel and the Zionist position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking up the challenge to develop a new study of the economic patterns in the ancient Near East, including what passes for ancient "Israel" (the Persian province of Yehud), this article proposes a model of the "sacred economy." A study in economic history, it seeks to map out the broad contours of this sacred economy in light of the neglected but crucial economically-informed scholarship from the Soviet Union on the ancient Near East. The article identifies the key nodes of the sacred economy as the village-commune, the temple-city complex, the formation of the despotic state, the tensions between labour and class, and mediations between empire and village commune. It traces the development of the State to the tensions between the village commune and the city-temple complex. It also argues that the key features of this sacred economy may be described as regimes of allocation and regimes of extraction. The unique combination of these regimes and the tensions between them make up the sacred economy. The underlying logic of the regimes of allocation was to provide a rationale for the allocation of productive units such as land and fertility by means of kinship, the war machine, patron-client relations and the judiciary. All of this was posed in the language of the sacred, for the deity is the ultimate arbiter of allocation. By contrast, the regimes of extraction undermine the allocatory economic logic by means of a pattern of exploitation in terms of tribute and trade. This article insists upon the necessary centrality of economic analysis in any historiography of the Ancient Near East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other developed nations, Israel has rapidly aged. This demographic revolution has created new challenges for Israeli society. We describe the societal background, including the emerging societal needs, solutions, and problems, as well as the professional principles, which guided us in developing the first two Israeli academic programs in gerontology in Beer-Sheva and Haifa. We further discuss the structures of both programs and their accomplishments. Although both programs were guided by identical needs and principles, geared toward the same multidisciplinary target population, and are dynamic and responsive to the emerging needs and difficulties, they differ in structure. While Haifa's program is flexible, Beer-Sheva's program is structured and divided into three distinct programs, of which only one-the research track-is designed and tailored to the students' interest. The two programs have contributed to increasing interest and research in aging in Israel, enhancing professional cooperation within the universities and with the international scientific community, opening the labor market for the programs' graduates, creating fruitful collaborations with community services, and accelerating the improvement of elderly quality of care. doi:10.1300/J021v27n03_04 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In ethnically non-neutral states, why do some disadvantaged minorities protest their status, while others acquiesce? Given the difficult circumstances in many cases, why do they not protest more than they do, or turn to violence? This article argues that the key to ethnic protest is the identity that one holds: state-bound identities weaken the grievance- protest relationship. The closer one identifies with the state, the less likely one is to protest, even when significant grievances exist. The case of Israel and its Arab citizens is used to illustrate this relationship. When Arabs identify themselves as more "Israeli," they are less protest-prone than other Arabs with more anti-establishment identities. This article provides empirical evidence that fostering state-friendly identities may be a desirable goal for many ethnically tense states, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a Jewish social study by Doron Bar entitled "Holocaust Commemoration in Israel During the 1950's: The Holocaust Cellar on Mount Zion." It states that at the end of World War II the magnitude of the Holocaust became clear, Jews began thinking about the most appropriate ways to solemnly honor it. The Holocaust Cellar was one of the first commemoration sites for the Holocaust's victims, it is positioned on Mount Zion near King David's Tomb overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. General Shmuel Zanwil Kahana, Ministry of Religious Affair's, created Mount Zion an independent mode of commemoration while refining the Holocaust Cellar as the main traditional commemoration site in Israel.

Why do Israeli social scientists treat religion primarily through theoretical frameworks developed in other areas of sociology or the social sciences, but rarely draw on insights from the sociology of religion, and even more rarely make a theoretical contribution to the development of the sub-discipline? And, why are Israeli social scientists who do contribute to the sociology of religion primarily Orthodox and foreign-born Jews, while most sociologists in Israel are secular Jews and born in the country? To answer these questions we focus on the fact that the questions asked and theories developed by sociologists of religion tend to treat religion as a phenomenon that is primarily limited to the private sphere. By private, we mean religion as a voluntary activity that is the result of choices made by individuals in their everyday lives. This contrasts to religious practices in the public sphere that are shaped by state legislation or by involuntary interactions with others. The focus of sociologists of religion on the private, voluntary realm means that the theoretical insights offered by the discipline are deemed irrelevant by secular Jewish Israeli social scientists, who tend to conceptualize religion as a state driven and/or public phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Brief Communication examines the extent of publications written by a single author in different disciplines in Israeli universities. In the natural sciences the share of single-authored articles in the total amount of publications varies slightly between the different fields of science. A significant difference was found while comparing natural sciences as a whole with mathematics and a major one when compared with the social sciences and humanities. The conclusion is that the more theoretical is the research and the greater the share of the initial idea in the finished article, the higher the probability that a single person will publish it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last ten years, a sizeable body of social science research has been devoted to two troubling phenomena--right-wing extremism and religious fundamentalism--both of which have seen a recrudescence in the last two decades. While the first is largely a secular phenomenon, the latter is, by definition, religious in orientation. Although most literature has treated these phenomena separately, in Israel the overlap between the two is so extensive that it could very well serve as the basis for a generating hypothesis. Utilizing features of both European right-wing extremism and characteristics of fundamentalism, Bermanis, Canetti-Nisim and Pedahzur attempt to demonstrate how the extreme right, with its secular underpinnings, has withdrawn from the larger picture, and how a new, complex and more extremist approach, based on fundamentalist ideals, has taken its place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]