ABSTRACT
From Civil Society to Sovereign State: The Israeli Experience and the Palestinian Quest
Donna Robinson Divine
This article examines the organizations critical to Israel's establishment in 1948 and those institutions now dominating Palestinian society in the 246post-Oslo era, with a view to explaining the dynamic between state and civil society. It argues that there are many common links between the Zionist state-building experience half a century ago and the present situation facing the Palestinians. For example, it draws parallels between the role of the Histadrut — the General Federation of Workers in the Yishuv and the State of Israel — and the role of Hamas and other voluntary bodies in the Palestinian entity at the present. The article concludes by arguing that by placing the Zionist and Palestinian experience in the context of civil society, one can get a new perspective of state-building and political sovereignty in both cases.
