The Gulf of Aqaba-Eilat is a unique pocket-sized tropical coral ocean, functioning in a subtropical environment. This book, the first one to treat the Gulf in an interdisciplinary collection of contributed chapters, celebrates also the 40 years of existence of the Heinz Steinitz Marine Biology Laboratory in Eilat. The authors of the 28 chapters are mainly Israeli scientists , but many are also from abroad, chiefly from Germany. The results presented, relate to Israeli, Jordanian and Egyptian waters. In presenting the Gulf, virtually unknown some 50 years ago and today a major diving tourist hub , the issues of coral reef preservation and restoration are predominant in this richly illustrated book. How many marine biological laboratories are there in the world where you have clear water, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and deep reefs off your door step? This multiple-author volume edited by Dov Por deals optimistically with the elimination of the sources of pollution and the challenge of restoration of the marine habitats of the Gulf, especially the coral reefs. (John E. Randall, Bernice Bishop Museum Hawaii)

This book deals with the arrival of modernity in the Holy Land in the form of the 86 km Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway. Befitting the completion of such a substantial undertaking, the inauguration, in September 1892, was a grand affair, attended by representatives of the Ottoman Empire, consuls, religious leaders, and foreign delegations. The tracks approached Jerusalem from the southwest through the Judean Mountains, taking advantage of the deep, winding river bed of the Soreq Valley. This afforded the least steep route, though even then the grades were a challenge for the locomotives. Since the tracks were of narrow meter-gauge they could easily follow the natural contours of the land on the ascent to Jerusalem, the highest point, at about 700 meters above sea level. . The railroad was the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken in the modern Holy Land. It was built to exploit the tremendous growth of pilgrim traffic and tourism during the second half of the nineteenth century. Though several proposals had been put forward since the 1850s, it was only in the 1880s that two young Jewish entrepreneurs, Joseph Navon of Jerusalem and Joseph Amzalak of Jaffa, backed by the Protestant banker Johannes Frutiger, were enabled to take the first steps leading to the acquisition of a license from the Ottoman government for laying down the iron rails. Unable to raise sufficient capital in Europe, Navon sold the license to a group of Catholic businessmen in Paris, who established the Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et Prolongements. When the first locomotive was tested on a short length of track at Jaffa half the population turned up to witness the event, such was the novelty of the sight and sounds of the horse of fire and iron. Despite difficulties due to the low cost of construction and poor traffic during the early years, the railroad opened up Jerusalem to modern tourism, brought greater numbers of pilgrims, and contributed to the growth of the city. It also delivered fresh water in times of drought. This is the most thoroughly researched publication ever to appear on the first railroad in the Holy Land. Moreover, it relies extensively on the one resource that best captures the spirit of the Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway: magnificent photographs, mainly taken between 1891 and 1914. These early photographs, gathered from archives in Israel, the United States, England and Germany, are supplemented with those taken by British forces from December 1917 on, from Israel, Australia and England, and a number of color images dating from the mid-1980s. Details of locomotives and rolling stock, maps, tables of statistics, track plans, extensive notes, a bibliography, and index are included. The intended audiences, apart from general readers and railway enthusiasts, are historical geographers, historians of the Holy Land in modern times, and transport and tourism historians.

André Chouraqui fut-il un traducteur, un « passeur », un homme politique, un poète ? Sans doute fut-il tout cela, mais peut-être aussi et surtout « un homme qui aidait à vivre » comme l’aurait dit Camus qu’il connaissait bien. Perspectives a tenu à lui rendre hommage, un an après sa disparition, en s’arrêtant à chacune des grandes étapes d’un itinéraire hors du commun.

The book "Sabras don’t age" explores the inner world and identities of 23 senior officers from the founding Israeli 1948's generation, at their seventies. As human representations of the "Sabra" – the mythological "new Jew" – these officers embody the extreme opposition between youthfulness and old age; between hegemony and marginality. Those persons who once constituted the ultimate symbols of the Hebrew youngster, the agile commander, the powerful masculine body, and the Western ideal of eternal youth – are presently facing the deterioration of their bodies, their approaching death, and most painfully – the current cultural meanings of being old. Their personal aging process is accompanied by major changes that took place in the Israeli society, primarily the move from collectivistic toward individualistic ideologies, with the consequent undermining of their status. How do these Israeli heroes settle the wide contradiction between the values which they have symbolized throughout their lives and their present situation? Are they able to preserve their status as national pantheon heroes, while coping at the same time with the various demands posed by their advanced age? Already at their eight life decade, the Israeli officers identify themselves – in their "narrative identity cards" – as Sabras, men and heroic commanders who have dedicated their lives to their homeland, and above all –as non-old. Yet, as opposed to the ceased time in the narratives, time incessantly flows in their private lives. Indeed, the officers do not deny their aging. Rather, they are completely aware of the changes that took place in their lives and bodies and directly cope with the new needs. Through the mechanism of compartmentalization, they are able to preserve a public heroic young self, while coping - in private - with old age. In this way, they succeed to maintain a valued identity in a world that worships youth. These officers' identity management sheds light not only on the first Israelis at their advanced years, but also on the founding ethos of the Israeli collective identity. However, as the youth ideal is by no means bounded to the Israeli case, but encompasses the Western world as a whole, the identity strategies employed by the Sabra Generals possess major implications for all elders, and especially for older men, in the post-modern era. Thus, this book is aimed not only at readers interested in the Israeli society and culture, and not only at those concerned with the aging of army officers, but to anyone that wonders how is it possible to age keeping a respected and continuous self in a world that relates to old people as the ultimate "other".

JUDGES AND LAWYERS IN ERETZ-ISRAEL tells the story of the local Judicial System – Judges, Courts, Lawyers – in the last 18 years of the Ottoman rule (1900-1918) and the first 12 years of the British rule (1918-1930) in Eretz-Israel (Palestine). The book answers, amongst others, the following questions: • Why is the Israeli Judicial System built in its present structure? • Who was the first Jewish lawyer in Eretz-Israel (Palestine)? • Was the Ottoman Judicial System really so infested with corruption? What were the relations between David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharett (Shertok) when they were Law students in Constantinople before the First World War? • Who established the new Judicial System in Jerusalem after the British conquest of Eretz-Israel (Palestine) in 1918? • How were “Native” judges – Arabs and Jews – nominated for the first time in Eretz-Israel (Palestine)? • Who was the first President of the Supreme Court of Eretz-Israel (Palestine) and why he was forced to resign? • How did the Judicial System of Eretz-Israel (Palestine) fight for its independence? • Who was the Jewish judge that was dismissed from the Judiciary in 1930? • What is the connection of the Eretz-Israel (Palestine) Judicial System and the love-affair between an elderly millionairess from Philadelphia (U.S.A.) and a dashing farmer-politician from Zichron-Yaakov who was 25 years youngrer than her ? The book is based mainly on primary sources – letters, documents, protocols etc. - discovered by the author in public and private archives in Israel and England.

Contents: Zvi Ben Avraham and Michael Lazar- The structure and development of the Dead Sea basin Gideon Baer- A view from space on movements in the earth’s crust at the dead sea basin Shmuel Marco- Lake sediments of the Dead Sea basin as paleoseismometers Abraham Kaplan- Bromine of the Dead sea – production and applications Aharon Oren- Life in the Dead Sea – past, present and future Gideon Hadas- ‘Ein Gedi, where they grow the best dates and the opobalsamum (balsam)’

The two volumes of this work comprise the first comprehensive history of the kibbutz movement in any language. 'Origins and Growth' covers the first thirty years of this fascinating story, from the formation of the first kibbutz in the opening years of the twentieth century to the eve of the second world war. It is a masterly analysis of the genesis and expansion of the kibbutzim and their relations with the world around them. Professor Near's analysis of the ideological, political, economic and social development of the kibbutz movement is illustrated throughout by excerpts from historical sources, affording a wealth of colorful insights into the changing quality of kibbutz life as experienced by its members.

This volume takes up Near's narrative account of the history of the kibbutz movement from the outbreak of the Second World War. He considers the effects of the war and the holocaust on the kibbutzim and their youth movements; the political struggles which led to the end of the British Mandate; the War of Independence; including the role of the Palmach and the political controversy it engendered; the crises which followed the establishment of the State of Israel and the politics of the kibbutz movement in the early years of independence; and the kibbutzim's gradual adaptation of their new position in Israeli society and the challenges of a multi-generational society in the late twentieth century.