This special edition of the Chicago Tribune Magazine explores the breathtaking diversity that is Israel as the Jewish state marks its 50th anniversary, a country awash in change even as it remains afflicted by old blood feuds.
Drawing upon the expertise of seasoned Tribune correspondents and the insights of guest writers, we set out to examine the intricate complexity of a remarkable nation, a major world player smaller than the state of Illinois, an immigrant society born of controversy and nurtured by adversity.
Fifty years into its experiment, Israel has fought five wars, endless smaller conflicts and a constant sense of daily distress. But Israel is a fixture in the world’s imagination not only because of its inherent drama or the excruciating 20th Century experience of the Jewish people, darkened forever by the memory of the Holocaust. There is also an intense, age-old fascination with the Holy Land, a spiritual place for Christians and Muslims and Jews alike.
Many Americans tend to think of Israel and its unique circumstances through stereotypes and symbols: the kibbutz, the warrior culture, the seemingly endless conflict with the Arabs.
Palestinians too often are depicted wailing, goat-herding or throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Israelis invariably are pictured crying in grief, praying in the Old World clothes of the ultra-Orthodox or dressed in military garb, shooting at Palestinians.
In the Middle East, everything about Israel and its stereotypes is used by someone for political or religious advantage. Today we reflect upon some of these stereotypes and how they contrast with reality.
In the process, we offer our readers a vivid portrait of this tiny nation and its history, the rich texture of Israel’s kaleidoscope of new faces and cacophony of competing voices. We examine Israel’s internal conflicts, but also its storied institutions and achievements.
An integral part of our portrait of Israel at 50 is the emotionally close yet complicated relationship between the Jewish state and its American supporters, especially those in Chicago. Yet we consciously do not linger long on the fluid dynamics of the Middle East peace process, with its tortured twists and turns and, too often, disappointments. This we more properly address in our daily news pages.
Instead, this special report focuses on Israel, its people, their dreams and aspirations–and those of their Palestinian neighbors. We end, fittingly, with visions offered by Israel’s children.
Special Contributors
Ron Grossman, a reporter on the Tribune’s metropolitan staff, is a prize-winning writer and educator whose work spans a wide range of subjects, from Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods to the life of the mind. A former history professor and a frequent visitor to Israel, he recently returned there on assignment to report the cover story for this magazine.
Storer H. Rowley is the Tribune’s Middle East correspondent. He also has served as the paper’s White House correspondent and bureau chief in Dallas, Mexico City and Toronto, covering politics and conflict in Latin America, in the former Yugoslavia and throughout the Middle East. His journalism honors include the 1997 Overseas Press Award for distinguished foreign correspondence on the human condition.
Judy Peres, a reporter on the Tribune’s metropolitan staff, lived for more than a decade in Israel, where she was an editor at the Jerusalem Post. She has held a variety of editing positions at the Tribune, including national editor and associate foreign editor. She was awarded the prestigious Knight Fellowship for Journalists at Yale Law School in 1996.
Wilbur G. Landrey, a veteran foreign correspondent, covered the United Nations debate on the creation of Israel in 1947 for United Press. Over five decades, Landrey reported with distinction from Latin America, the Middle East, Washington and Europe before retiring in 1997 as the Paris-based foreign correspondent of the St. Petersburg Times.
Stephen Franklin, the Tribune’s labor writer, was the paper’s Middle East correspondent in the late 1980s. He has returned to the region frequently on assignment, covering stories ranging from the 1991 Persian Gulf war to the early months of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Franklin covered the Israeli war in Lebanon in 1982 for the Detroit Free Press before joining the Tribune as its Detroit bureau chief.
Leah Rabin is the widow of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Like her late husband, her life story is intertwined with that of Israel, from her days as a soldier fighting British rule to her more recent role as an outspoken voice in Israeli affairs since her husband’s assassination.
Rashid Khalidi is professor of Middle Eastern history at the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago. A prominent Middle East scholar, Khalidi is a respected Palestinian analyst of the region whose views often are sought by Jews and Arabs alike. A member of a prominent Palestinian family in Jerusalem, Khalidi has served as an adviser to Palestinian negotiators in their peace talks with Israel.
Timothy J. McNulty was the Tribune’s Middle East correspondent from 1982 to 1985, covering Israel’s war in Lebanon, the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the Iran-Iraq war. Currently the editor of the Tribune’s Tempo section, he also has served as the paper’s White House correspondent and its bureau chief in Beijing and Atlanta, earning various awards for distinguished journalism.
Chuck Berman is an award-winning Tribune staff photographer whose work over the last 20 years has ranged from Chicago news to national political conventions. Berman traveled with Tribune writers on assignment to Israel for many of the photographs in this magazine.
