Book Reviews : A Crisis of Identity: Israel and Zionism, by Dan V. Segre, Oxford Uni versity Press, 1980. £6.50
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788100700120 |
| Author | M.R. Brett-Crowther |
| Published date | 01 April 1981 |
| Date | 01 April 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1082
since
the
end
oaf
the
Second
World
War&dquo;
as
Kenneth
Twitchett
puts
it,
in
his
introductory
essay,
is
certainly
a
vital
and
interesting
one.
Yet
the
concept
is
only
vaguely
used
as
a
device
to
bring
cohesion
to
the
book.
That
is
not
to
detract
from
the
merit
of
some
of
the
individual
papers
but
to
suggest
only
that
an
opportunity
has
been
missed.
Moreover
regionalism
is
seen
as
it
were
in
global
terms-the
subject
is
Europe,
mostly
Western
Europe,
and
sub-regions
are
therefore
not
considered
des-
pite
the
resurgence
of
a
regional
or
sub-national
identity
in
many
parts
of
Europe
over
the
last
few
years.
The
ten
essays
cove
a
great
number
of
European
issues.
As
in
all
such
collections
the
quality
varies.
This
may
in
part
be
due
to
the
absence
of
any
clear
idea
of
the
audience
to
which
the
book
is
directed.
The
essays
range
therefore
from
little
more
than
a
basic
description
of
the
formal
institutions
of
the
EEC
(Carol
Cosgrove
Twitchett)
which
is
in
many
ways
misleading
and,
in
the
genesis
of
the
political
co-operation
machinery,
actually
inaccurate,
through
useful
historical
analysis
of,
for .
example,
European Monetary
Co-operation
(Geoffrey
Dennis),
to
highly
pertinent
discussions
of
the
problems
of
cultural
co-operation
(John
Townshend)
and
the
achievements
of
the
Council
of
Europe
in
the
field
of
human
rights
(Ian
Fletcher).
There
is
in
addition
a
delightfully
self-
indulgent
piece
by
F.
S.
Northedge
on
British
attitudes
towards
European
co-operation
and
a
beautifully
succinct
account
of
the
Council
for
Mutual
Economic
Assistance
and
the
Warsaw
Pact
by
Ieuan
John.
Clive
Archer’s
piece
on
the
often
forgotten
EFTA
and
the
Nordic
Council
is
somewhat
stolid
and
Carol
Cosgrove
Twitchett’s
paper
on
the
European
Community’s
contribution
to
regional
development
in
the
Third
World
could
have been
extended,
at
least
as
far
as
the
ACP
countries
are
concerned.
Phillip
Williams’
piece
on
NATO
and
the
Eurogroup
is
an
interesting
essay
on
the
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
Europe’s
thinking
on
a
greater
European
defence
identity,
though
greater
attention
might
have
been
given
to
the
IEPG
and
the
attempts
especially
within
the
European
Parliament
for
a
greater
involvement
of
the
Community
in
defence
and
security
matters.
He
also
omits
the
possible
evolution
of
political
co-operation
which
was
forced
to
confront
the
possibility
of
separating
security
policy
from
foreign
policy
as
soon
as
it
was
set
up.
All
in
all
therefore
this
collection
presents
an
interesting
but
mixed
bag
of
papers.
—G.
Edwards.
A
Crisis
of
Identity:
Israel
and
Zionism,
by
Dan
V.
Segre,
Oxford
Uni-
versity
Press,
1980.
£6.50.
Segre
reflects
the
crisis
fully,
but
his
arguments
do
not
add
up
to
a
solution.
A
major
weakness
is
that
he
completed
his
book
before
Begin’s
election.
A
postscript,
including
an
interesting
passage
on
the
contradic-
tions
of
Begin,
takes
matters
up
to
the
Treaty
of
Washington.
Segre
argues
that
though
Zionism
originated
in
European
history
and
ideology,
neither
it
nor
the State
of
Israel
can
properly
be
assesed
in
that
context.
Yet
the
particularism
of
Israel
prevents
it
from
belonging
to
any
other
context.
In
other
words,
how
can
the
values
of
Jewry
become
a
means
to
political
compromise
in
the
Middle
East?
Segre
does
not
answer
this
question.
He
rests
his
case
on
assumptions
about
the
alienating
effect
of
colonization,
and
compares
the
Jewish
historical
experience
with
that
of
Africans
and
others.
The
mere
fact
that
so
much
of
his
book
is
a
re-
statement
of
the
politico-religious
precepts
of
the
Torah
should
suffice
to
show
that
comparison
with
Africa
is
rather
false.
Segre
does
not
show
that
the
African
system
was
strictly
comparable
with
the
French
(or
any
other
colonial
power’s);
indeed,
he
could
not.
Nor
does
he
show
that
in
the
Diaspora
before
Zionism
there
was
a
Jewish
system.
Assimilated
or
living
in
submission,
Jewry
before
Zionism
did
not
have
a
polity.
Nor
does
it
help
Israel
at
this
time
to
gain
a
new
way
forward
by
reference
to
the
principles
of
the
Torah
in
so
narrow
a
framework
of
interpretation.
There
are
several
pejorative
mirror
images of
Islam
and
Christianity
in
this
book.
The
words
on
Zionism
at
p.7
(para.
2)
could
have been
written
of
Islam
by
Sir
Muhammad
Iqbal.
Segre
says
(p5)
that the
two
ideas
of
Zionism
should
be
described
as
secular
and
non-secular
because
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