Against all odds – the paradoxical victory of the West Bank settlers: interest groups and policy enforcement

Abstract

The settlers constitute a minority group whose goals are becoming increasingly unpopular among Israelis. As a result, the degree of legitimacy granted to them by the government gradually eroded over the years. However, their project still thrives. Their impressive success can be attributed to their focus on the bureaucracy. As early as the 1960s, the settlers engaged in a constant effort to identify actors in state and semi-state agencies that had common interests with them. At first they mobilized supporters from within those agencies. Later they made any effort to fill available positions with their own people. Today, the settlers' movement in Israel has fused itself with the relevant elements within the bureaucracy to a degree that many state agencies serve as extensions of the settler movement.

Keywords::

• West Bank
• settlers
• interest groups
• strategy
• bureaucracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. We will use the neutral term territories, rather than the politically contentious ‘occupied’, ‘held’, or ‘liberated’ territories.

^2. Most Israelis refer to these territories as Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. These names are considered politically loaded and are less well known beyond Israel. Hence, for the sake of non-Israeli readers as well as for the purpose of avoiding the use of terms which could be indicative of a certain political inclination, we chose to use the more neutral and better known appellations: the West Bank and Gaza.

^3. Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist–Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 (New York: Vintage Books, 2001).

^4. Jimmy Carter, Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006).

^5. This figure does not include the greater Jerusalem area. For further details see Ami Pedahzur, The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

^6. We use the term ‘settlers' movement’ in an attempt to break away from the scholarly tradition which focuses on a single group such as ‘Gush Emunim’ or the ‘Yesha Council’. Part of our argument is that the settlers could never have had such success if they had chosen to operate within the framework of a well-defined and static organization.

^7. See Yael Yishai, Land of Paradoxes: Interest Politics in Israel, SUNY series in Israeli studies (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991).

^8. Gideon Aran and Michael Fiege, “The Movement to Stop the Withdrawal in Sinai: A Sociological Perspective,” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 23, no. 1 (1987): 73–87. doi:10.1177/0021886387231006; Ian Lustick, For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1988), 6, 8–12, 32, 36, 89, 91, 111, 154, 182.

^9. Ehud Sprinzak, Gush Emunim: The Politics of Zionist Fundamentalism in Israel (New York: American Jewish Committee, Institute of Human Relations, 1986).

^10. Ehud Sprinzak, The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); Ehud Sprinzak, Brother against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination (New York: Free Press, 1999).

^11. Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger, Jewish Terrorism in Israel, Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).

^12. For some exceptions, see Israel Drori, Foreign Workers in Israel: Global Perspectives, Suny Series in Israeli Studies (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009); Oded Haklai, “Religious-nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration – Lessons from Jewish Settlers' Activism in Israel and the West Bank,” Comparative Political Studies 40 (2007); Anat Rot, Sod ha-koah: Moetset Yesha u-maavakeha be-geder ha-hafradah uve-tokhnit ha-hitnatkut [The secret of power: the Yesha Council and its struggle against the separation fence and the disengagement plan], Position Paper 61 (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute, 2005); Yishai, Land of Paradoxes.

^13. Alan Arian, The Second Republic: Politics in Israel (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1998).

^14. The various terms are used in the literature interchangeably.

^15. William A. Maloney, Grant Jordan, and Andrew M. McLaughlin, “Interest Groups and Public Policy: The Insider/Outsider Model Revisited,” Journal of Public Policy 14, no. 1 (1994); Kay Lehman Schlozman and John T. Tierney, Organized Interests and American Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1986); Edward C. Page, “The Insider/Outsider Distinction: An Empirical Investigation,” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 1, no. 2 (1999): 205–14.

^16. Maloney, Jordan, and McLaughlin, “Interest Groups and Public Policy.”

^17. Paul Burstein and April Linton, “The Impact of Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Social Movement Organizations on Public Policy: Some Recent Evidence and Theoretical Concerns,” Social Forces 81, no. 2 (2002).

^18. Yair Zalmanovitch, “Transitions in Israel's Policymaking Network,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 555 (1998).

^19. Ami Pedahzur, “The Golan Residents Committee: From an Ally to a Foe” [in Hebrew] (MA diss., University of Haifa, 1996).

^20. Robert H. Salisbury et al., “Who Works with Whom? Interest Group Alliances and Opposition,” The American Political Science Review 81, no. 4 (1987): 1217–34.

^21. We borrow the term fusion from the psychological literature. See Ángel Gómez et al., “On the Nature of Identity Fusion: Insights into the Construct and a New Measure,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100, no. 5 (2011).

^22. Yael Yishai, “Interest-Groups and Bureaucrats in a Party-Democracy – The Case of Israel,” Public Administration 70, no. 2 (1992): 269–85.

^23. G. Auerbach and I. Sharkansky, Politics and Planning in the Holy City (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2007).

^24. Haklai, “Religious-Nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration”; David Lehmann and Batia Siebzehner, Remaking Israeli Judaism: The Challenge of Shas (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

^25. Ira Sharkansky and Yair Zalmanovitch, “Improvisation in Public Administration and Policy Making in Israel,” Public Administration Review 60, no. 4 (2000): 321–9.

^26. Ira Sharkansky and Asher Friedberg, “Ambiguities in Policymaking and Administration: A Typology,” International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior 1, no. 1 (1998).

^27. Oded Haklai, “Religious—Nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration: Lessons From Jewish Settlers' Activism in Israel and the West Bank,” Comparative Political Studies 40 (2007): 715. doi:10.1177/0010414006290109

^28. Nadav Shelef, Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel, 1925–2005 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010).

^29. Michael Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (New York: Ballantine Books, 2003).

^30. Tom Segev, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007).

^31. Reuven Pedatzur, The Triumph of Embarrassment: Israel and the Territories after the Six-Day War [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Bitan, 1996).

^32. For an elaboration of the concept, see M. Mintrom, “Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation,” American Journal of Political Science 41, no. 3 (1997); M. Mintrom and S. Vergari, “Policy Networks and Innovation Diffusion: The Case of State Education Reforms,” Journal of Politics 60, no. 1 (1998).

^33. Segev, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East.

^34. Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, Lords of the Land: The War over Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967–2007 (New York: Nation Books, 2007).

^35. Segev, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East.

^36. From 1967 until 1980 more than 40 settlements were established by the Nahal in areas seized by Israel in 1967.

^37. For elaboration see Zertal and Eldar, Lords of the Land.

^38. Rael Jean Isaac, Israel Divided: Ideological Politics in the Jewish State (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976).

^39. Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook developed the ideology of his father, Abraham Isaac Kook. According to Kook senior, the formation of the state of Israel was the first step in the redemption of the Jewish people. His son considered the outcomes of the Six Day War as yet another step in the redemption process and encouraged his followers to settle in every part of the territories.

^40. Gideon Aran, Erets Yisrael ben Dat u-Politikah: ha-tenuah la-atsirat ha-nesigah be-Sinai u-lekaheha [The Land of Israel between politics and religion: the movement for stopping the withdrawal from Sinai and its lessons] (Jerusalem: The Jeruslaem Institute for Israel Studies, 1985); Gideon Aran, “From Religious Zionism to Zionist Religion: The Roots of Gush Emunim and its Culture” (PhD diss., The Hebrew University, 1987); Michael Feige, Settling in the Hearts: Jewish Fundamentalism in the Occupied Territories (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2009); Lustick, For the Land and the Lord; Sprinzak, The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right.

^41. Zertal and Eldar, Lords of the Land.

^42. Earlier protests of Kook's followers against Golda Meir's cabinet were linked to the armistice talks with Syria.

^43. Yitzhak Rabin and Dov Goldstein, Pinkas Sherut [An army service notebook] (Tel Aviv: Sifriat Maariv, 1979).

^44. For elaboration see Pedahzur, The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right.

^45. Aran, Erets Yisrael ben Dat u-Politikah; Sprinzak, Gush Emunim.

^46. Aran, Erets Yisrael ben dat u-politikah; Haggai Segal, Yamit, sof: ha-maavak la-`atsirat ha-nesigah be-Sinai [Yamit, the end: the struggle against the withdrawal in Sinai] (Mizrah Binyamin: Sifriyat Bet El; Gush Katif: Midreshet ha-Darom, 1999).

^47. Nir Hefez and Gadi Bloom, ha-Roeh: sipur hayav shel Ariel Sharon [Ariel Sharon: a life] (Tel Aviv: Yediot Aharonot; Sifre Hemed, 2005).

^48. For more about the strong state theory, see Haklai, “Religious-Nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration”; Joel Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State–Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).

^49. See Feige, Settling in the Hearts; Rot, Sod ha-koah; Yishai, Land of Paradoxes.

^50. Lars Christiansen and Keith Dowding, “Pluralism or State Autonomy? The Case of Amnesty International (British Section): The Insider/Outsider Group,” Political Studies 42, no. 1 (1994); Maloney, Jordan, and McLaughlin, “Interest Groups and Public Policy.”

^51. By 2010 the population of the city was over 36,000 with an average annual increase rate of 6.5%.

^52. By 2010 the population of the city was over 48,000 with an average annual increase rate of 7.9%.

^53. Yoel Bin-Nun, “We did not Succeed to Settle in the Hearts” [in Hebrew], Nekuda (April 1992).

^54. Oded Haklai, “Religious-Nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration – Lessons from Jewish Settlers' Activism in Israel and the West Bank,” Comparative Political Studies 40, no. 6 (2007).

^55. For detailed examples see Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal, Adone ha-arets: ha-mitnahalim u-medinat Yisrael, 1967–2004 [Lord of the land: the settlers and the state of Israel] (Or Yehudah: Kineret, Zemorah-Bitan, Devir, 2004); Haklai, “Religious-Nationalist Mobilization and State Penetration”; Menachem Klein, “The Next Big Confrontation,” Ha'aretz, March 8, 2010.

^56. A third party – Tzomet – departed from the coalition earlier as a result of Shamir's refusal to lead the comprehensive electoral reform to which he committed when the party was lured to join his coalition.

^57. See Ami Pedahzur, The Extreme Right-Wing Parties in Israel: Emergence and Decline? [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ramot: Tel Aviv University, 2000).

^58. Yoram Peri, Yad ish be-ahiv: retsah Rabin u-milhemet ha-tarbut be-Yisrael [Brothers at war: Rabin's assassination and the cultural war in Israel] (Tel Aviv: Bavel, 2005).

^59. Eldar and Zertal, Adone ha-arets; Avraham Shevut, “The Jewish Settlements in Judea and Samaria in Oslo Era,” in Ascent to the Mountains: Renewal of Jewish Settlement in Judea and Samaria, ed. Avraham Shevut (Jerusalem: Sifriyat Bet El; Ari'el: ha-Mikhlalah ha-akademit Yehudah ve-Shomron, 2002); Avraham Shevut, “The ‘Temporary Center’ as an Element in the Evolution of Yesha Settlements,” in Ascent to the Mountains: Renewal of Jewish Settlement in Judea and Samaria, ed. Avraham Shevut (Jersualem: Sifriyat Bet El; Ariel: ha-Mikhlalah ha-akademit Yehudah ve-Shomron, 2002).

^60. Talya Sason, “Summary of the Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts” [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: State of Israel, Office of the Prime Minister, 2005).

^61. Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985).

^62. Aaron David Miller, The Much too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab–Israeli Peace (New York: Bantam Books, 2008).

^63. Daphna Canetti-Nisim, Gustavo Mesch, and Ami Pedahzur, “Victimization from Terrorist Attacks: Randomness or Routine Activities?,” Terrorism and Political Violence 18, no. 4 (2006); Yariv Feniger and Ephraim Yuchtman-Yaar, “Risk Groups in Exposure to Terror: The Case of Israel's Citizens,” Social Forces 88, no. 3 (2010).

^64. Sammy Smooha, “The Mass Immigrations to Israel: A Comparison of the Failure of the Mizrahi Immigrants of the 1950s with the Success of the Russian Immigrants of the 1990s,” Journal of Israeli History 27, no. 1 (2008): 1–27.

^65. Jonathan Rynhold and Dov Waxman, “Ideological Change and Israel's Disengagement from Gaza,” Political Science Quarterly 123, no. 1 (2008); Dov Waxman, “From Controversy to Consensus: Cultural Conflict and the Israeli Debate over Territorial Withdrawal,” Israel Studies 13, no. 2 (2008): 73–96.

^66. Sason, “Summary of the Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts.”

^67. Both Shas and Yisrael Beitenu were members of Olmert's cabinet, the latter for a relatively short period of time. However, based on their agendas and actual policies, neither of these parties can be considered settler parties.

^68. Akiva Eldar, “The End of Oslo” [in Hebrew], Ha'aretz, October 25, 2010.

^69. Sprinzak, Brother against Brother.

^70. See Ephraim Ya'ar and Tamar Hermann, “The ‘Peace Index’” (The Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute, 2011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ami Pedahzur

Ami Pedahzur (PhD) is Arnold S. Chaplik Professor in Israel and Diaspora Studies, Institute for Israel Studies and Department of Government. The University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Holly McCarthy

Holly McCarthy is a PhD candidate in the Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, USA.