Also from a recent issue of The Nation, http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050110&s=kimmerling Israel's Culture of Martyrdom by Baruch Kimmerling he Israeli historian Idith Zertal argues that the nexus of death and nationalism is essential to understanding Israeli society today. In her powerful new book, Death and the Nation (which will be published in an English translation this summer by Cambridge University Press under the title Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood), she demonstrates how the catastrophes of Jewish history have been transformed into nationalist fables of heroism, victory and redemption. In debunking the official nationalist historiography, Zertal's book follows in the footsteps of works such as Nachman Ben-Yehuda's The Masada Myth and Yael Zerubavel'sRecovered Roots, both of which explored how ancient Jewish history was distorted to serve the needs of the Zionist movement. What sets Zertal's book apart is her focus on death. She believes that an obsession with death and martyrdom has vitally shaped the way Israelis understand themselves and their state. One of her recurring themes is "ancient graves produce fresh graves." <SNIP>
And the current Harpers, Saving Israel from Itself A secular future for the Jewish state Bernard Avishai -- Michael Pugliese