Download or read book Local Communities and the Israeli Polity written by Efraim Ben-Zadok and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents the first systematic effort to analyze the role of local communities and regions in Israel's national politics. Traditionally portrayed as either elitist and highly centralized, or as pluralistic with very active interest groups, Israeli politics have seldom accounted for local and regional forces. The authors demonstrate the growing importance of these communities in the politics of the country. Their analyses are based on the concept of "spatial sector," and eight sectors are covered: The West Bank and Gaza Strip Arabs, Israeli Arabs, development towns, renewal neighborhoods, religious neighborhoods, Gush Emunim settlements, kibbutzim and moshavim, and Jerusalem.