Like most 19th and 20th century national movements, culture played a focal role in the shaping of Jewish-Israeli national identity, and with Zionism being the secular movement that it is, culture became the effective prism through which religious and historical notions of Jewish nationalism were filtered. As Israel reaches its 50th year of statehood, Israeli society faces a deepening crisis of identity. This is particularly evident in Israeli culture which, for quite some time, has been effectively disintegrating into several simultaneous sub-cultures. This process has gained momentum during the 1990s due to a relaxation of national cohesiveness following the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations on the one hand, and the growing post-modern influences on Israeli culture, on the other. This, in turn, has brought to the fore a whole range of questions which have hitherto been ignored, not least the inter-relationship between the Hebrew and Jewish aspects of Israeli culture.

Any discussion that incorporates two such very different cultural institutions as the Jewish-Israeli theatre and the Palestinian theatre, must of necessity entail separate approaches, while at the same time also encompass the inherent ties between the two cultures. The Jewish-Israeli theatre is a complex and developed system in which the dispute with the Palestinians constitutes just one of the important components in its repertoire; while the Palestinians theatre, both within and outside of Israel, is still in the initial stages of consolidation. Dan Urian brings together these two approaches in the introduction of this special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review, by relating to the Palestinian theme as it appears in the Jewish-Israeli theatre and by attempting to characterize the Palestinian theatre in general.

Theatre has, since the time of the Jewish Enlightenment, served the secular community in its conflict with the religious. This book surveys the secular-religious rift and then describes the enhanced concern of the secular community in Israel for its own Jewishness and its expression in the theatre - especially following the 1967 War. It then moves on to a specific study of the play Bruira and finally reviews the phenomenon of the return to Orthodox Judaism by secular individuals.

Like most 19th and 20th century national movements, culture played a focal role in the shaping of Jewish-Israeli national identity, and with Zionism being the secular movement that it is, culture became the effective prism through which religious and historical notions of Jewish nationalism were filtered. As Israel reaches its 50th year of statehood, Israeli society faces a deepening crisis of identity. This is particularly evident in Israeli culture which, for quite some time, has been effectively disintegrating into several simultaneous sub-cultures. This process has gained momentum during the 1990s due to a relaxation of national cohesiveness following the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations on the one hand, and the growing post-modern influences on Israeli culture, on the other. This, in turn, has brought to the fore a whole range of questions which have hitherto been ignored, not least the inter-relationship between the Hebrew and Jewish aspects of Israeli culture.

The Jewish-Israeli theatre is a complex and developed system in which the dispute with the Palestinians constitutes just one of the important components in its repertoire; while the Palestinian theatre, both within and outside of Israel, is being consolidated. This work brings together these two approaches by relating to the Palestinian theme as it appears in the Jewish-Israeli theatre and by attempting to characterize the Palestinian theatre in general.

What is Israeli theatre? Is it only a Hebrew theatre staged in Israel? Are performances by Arab Israelis working in an Arabic theatre framework not part of the repertoire of Israeli theatre? Do they perhaps belong to the Palestinian theatre? What are the "borders" of Palestinian theatre? Are not theatrical works created in East Jerusalem by Arab Israeli playwrights and actors, and staged on occasion before Jewish Israeli audiences, part of a dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli cultures? Does "theatre" only include works staged under that title?
These and other similarly absorbing questions arise in Dan Urian's wide-ranging and detailed study of the image of the Arab in Israeli drama and theatre. By the use of extensive examples to show how theatre, politics and personal perceptions intertwine, the author presents us with a model which can be used as a basis for the further discussion and study of similar social and artistic phenomena in other cultures in relation to their theatre and drama.