Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that the incidence of armed violence closely follows the political calendar in Israel: military action increases during the year or so immediately before the elections. It describes that the map of Israel has been widely used in political symbolism since before the establishment of the state. The book looks at the effect of the protracted Israeli-Arab conflict on the Israeli electorate in 1988. It focuses on the Arabs participated in the elections in order to further their individual preferences; that they were divided among themselves explains the blurred effect of their vote. The 1988 election was a curious mixture of business as usual plus the highly unusual features of the intifada and the surging strength of the non-Zionist ultra-orthodox parties.