The Struggle for Democracy in "the State of Greater Israel" In
1967, a new state was born in the Middle East on territory that
was known by the Jews as the "Land of Israel" and by the Arabs
as "Palestine." This state was established as an outcome of the
forced unification of a number of territories that before then
had been ruled by different states. The three most populated
areas in the new state were: the territory ruled by Israel from
1948-67, the West Bank, formerly under Jordanian rule, and the
Gaza Strip, formerly under Egyptian rule. The administrative and
symbolic contiguity that was established between the state of
Israel and the new state caused many to assume that these two
political bodies were identical. In fact, June 1967, led to such
a qualitative change that it is necessary to look at the new
body as a different state entirely. This is in reference not
only to the tremendous territorial gains nor to the fact that
its population was about 1/3 the size of the state of Israel.
The most important