52 No. 69 JUSTICE he relationship between land and identity has been discussed in scholarly writings from many different angles.1 In his book, law Professor Haim Sandberg chose to study the connection through the prism of land laws. Sandberg’s main argument, presented clearly and convincingly, is that the analysis of land laws, especially the changes they underwent in a particular society, sheds light on the characteristics of that society and its fundamental challenges. The book, formulated in an accessible style and clear English, deals with six main aspects, some of which have been previously discussed in various formats.2 Although each aspect is important on its own merit, what makes the book particularly noteworthy and interesting is the integration of all aspects within the framework of a monograph. The manner in which the arguments are presented goes far beyond the legal discussion of land law; it is done in a way that provides the reader with an image of Israeli society and the challenges it faces. The book is thus relevant not only to jurists and academic researchers, but also to a broad public outside the legal world and the borders of Israel. In fact, the questions the book deals with are some of the same questions that have been at the center of Israeli public discourse for many years: Jewish-Arab relations, majority-minority issues, the debate over Israel’s being both a Jewish and democratic state, the relations between the State of Israel and the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeYisrael),3 judicial activism, privatization, the relations between capital and governance, and more. Hence, although written by a jurist, Sandberg’s contribution extends to fields of planning and geography, political science, economics, sociology, etc. The observations beyond the legal study are also reflected in the opening of some chapters with quotations from literary sources, which enriches the reading and helps connect the reader to broader contexts. For example, a passage by Shaul Tchernichovsky opens the introduction: “What is Man but the earth of his small domain, the imprint of his native land” (p. 1), and the second chapter begins with a quotation from Theodore Herzl’s Altneuland (p. 45). In the introduction to the book, Sandberg presents his broad use of the term “identity,” after which he lays out six main themes: n Israel's coping with history – or with the “burden of history"; n The transition from socialism to capitalism and a free market economy; T Reviewed by Havatzelet Yahel Land Law and Policy in Israel: A Prism of Identity By Haim Sandberg (University of Indiana Press, 2022, 254 pp., Notes, Bibliography, and Index) 1. Edward Relph, PLACE AND PLACELESSNESS (London: Pion, 1976); David W. Orr, EARTH IN MIND (Washington DC, 1994); Simon Schama, LANDSCAPE AND MEMORY (London: Harper Perennial, 1995); Erica-Irene Daes, “Indigenous Peoples and their Relationship to Land,” UNE/CN.4/ Sub.2/2001/21, UN Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, 2001, available at https://www.refworld.org/ docid/3d5a2cd00.html; Christine Berberich, Neil Campbell, and Robert Hudson, LAND & IDENTITY: THEORY, MEMORY, AND PRACTICE (Amsterdam & New York, NY: Rodopi B.V., 2012). 2. Haim Sandberg, “Distributive Justice vs. the Denial of the Jewish Nation State,” in Yitzhak Schnell et al., eds., LAND, DEMOCRACY AND THE RELATIONS OF THE MAJORITY-MINOR 23 (Tel Aviv: Walter Leach, Tel Aviv University, 2013, Hebrew); id., “Expropriations of Private Land of Arab Citizen in Israel: An Empirical Analysis of the Regular Course of Business,” 43 ISRAEL LAW REVIEW 590 (2010); id., LAND TITLE SETTLEMENT IN ERETZ-ISRAEL AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL (Jerusalem: Sacher Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2001, Hebrew); id., THE LANDS OF ISRAEL: ZIONISM AND POST-ZIONISM (Jerusalem: Sacher Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2007, Hebrew); id., “The Politics of ‘Over-victimization:’ Palestinian Proprietary Claims in the Service of Political Goals,” 19 ISRAEL AFFAIRS 488 (2013); id., “Strategic Considerations behind Normative Explanations: Lessons from Israel’s Supreme Court Expropriations Case,” 11 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 751 (2013). 3. The Jewish National Fund was founded by the Zionist organizations in 1901 for the purpose of buying and developing land for Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel (the land of Israel).
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