Book Reviews : Jewish Settler Violence: Deviance As Social Reaction, by David Weisburd. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989. 164 pp. cloth

• Author: Derek B. Cornish
• DOI: 10.1177/088740349000400307
• Published date: 01 October 1990
• Date: 01 October 1990

281

original

intention

redoubles

the

responsibilities

of

Congress

and

legislatures

in

shaping

legal

reform

and

no

doubt

encumbers

the

process

even

more.

The

vitality

of

American

law

springs

from

the

responsive

ways

in

which

the

law

links

with

fundamental

political

and

economic

processes

in

the

society

as

a

whole.

At

the

foundation

of

the

American

democracy

rest

several

Enlighten-

ment

ideas:

the

social

contract,

the

balance

of

powers,

the

rule

of

law,

and

the

Commonwealth,

none

of

which

is

explicitly

endorsed

in

our

Constitution,

but

all

of which

have

nourished

the

Constitution

as

well

as

our

fundamental

political

beliefs

even

unto

the

modem

era.

A

focus

that

limits

the

judiciary

to

a

literal

interpretation

of

the

law

robs

it

of

these

peripheral

but

absolutely

essential

themes

that

lend

versatility

and

meaningfulness

to

our

law.

The

fault

lies

not

simply

with

an

innovative

Supreme

Court,

but

with

the

cumbersome

ways

wherein

innovative

constitutional

views

can

be

promulgated.

If

this

process

of

review

were

more

rational,

perhaps

we

could

tap

the

full

vitality

and

versatility

of

American

law

without

also

suffering

a

crippling

loss

of

legitimacy

or

the

misguided

moralism

of

politicized

justices.

Theodore

N.

Ferdinand

Southern

Illinois

University

at

Carbondale

Jewish

Settler

Violence:

Deviance

As

Social

Reaction,

by

David

Weisburd.

The

Pennsylvania

State

University

Press,

1989. 164

pp.

cloth.

Special

problems

arise

when

the

State

is

required

to

regulate

the

activities

of

a

social

movement

whose

long-term

objectives

may,

at

least

in

principle,

be

shared

by

the

larger

society

from

which

it

has

emerged.

Under

these

circumstan-

ces

the

State’s

ability

to

control

illegalities

may

be

compromised;

or

its

responses

may

vacillate,

as

it

finds

itself

unable

either

to

disassociate

itself

from

the

ends

in

question

or

to

condone

the

means

used

to

attain

them.

Some

two

years

after

the

Yom

Kippur

War

of

1973,

illegal

Jewish

settlement

of

the

West

Bank

commenced.

The

Gush

Emunim

settlement

movement

posed

a

difficult

dilemma

for

the

Israeli

State.

On

the

one

hand,

it

represented

an

expression

of

nationally,

historically

and

religiously

sanctioned

claims

on

the

lands

of

a

&dquo;Greater

Israel.&dquo;

On

the

other

hand,

while

threats

to

settle

occupied

territories

might

conceivably

further

peace

negotiations,

allowing

settlement

to

become

a

political

reality

might

irretrievably

damage

such

prospects.

Israel’s

Gush

Emunim

settlers

have

ingeniously

exploited

this

predicament

for

successive

govenments

in

order

to

advance

their

political

agenda,

their

objective

to

gain

sovereignty

over

the

lands

of

the

West

Bank

both

through

illegal

establishment

of

settlements,

and

also

through

vigilante

activity

to

secure

their

subsequent

protection

against

the

protests

of

Palestinian

Arab

residents

of

the

disputed

territory.

Professor

Weisburd’s

important

and

timely

study

is

neither

primarily

a

chronicle

of

the

Gush

Emunim

settler

movement,

nor

a

detailed

exploration

of

its

complex,

manipulative

and

at

times

collusive

relationship

with

the

Israeli