Zionist Dialectics and Palestinian Paradoxes: An Israeli Response to Nils A. Butenschøn

My response to Nils Butenschøn's article on the question of Israeli state-building raises some qualifications concerning his empirical and theoretical format. The complexity and nuances of Israeli rule over the areas of Judea-Samaria and the Gaza Strip since 1967 have been largely ignored by most scholars and commentators. It seems that Israel has been unable to convey the fact of a Jewish-Palestinian virtual trade-off in their problematic relationship, for those examining the processes and influences from the state-building enterprise beyond Israel's Green Line border. Absent as well from adequate recognition and perception in this respect is the exigency of the Middle East political environment and its relevance for the Israeli case. Lastly, it is indeed the state-building expansive Israeli effort which contains within it the power to determine the outcome of the Israeli-Palestinian competition when all is said and done.