ABSTRACT
The wars which Israel fought were all defined as defensive wars and its armed forces designated defence forces. The attitude of Israeli institutions and of the public towards new immigrants revealed an even more blatant inconsistency in Tsabar identity than did that towards the Arab minority. The ambivalent treatment and attitude towards Palestinian Arabs during the war provides further evidence for the impossible attempt to mete out justice to the party whose rights one denies. Labour Zionism had transformed the elements of the Messianic idea to mean national redemption by a return to Palestine, social salvation by instituting an egalitarian socio-economic system of perfect justice, and personal salvation as a merging with God by tilling the Holy Soil. Tying the Palestinian refugee problem to peace with the Arab states rather than with the Palestinians proper shows clearly that Israel no longer regarded Palestinian Arabs as a party to the conflict which was to be settled.
