In 2018, the Helen Diller Institute hosted the 34th Annual Conference of the Association for Israel Studies. Please click here to see the full conference brochure, which includes specific information about the dozens of panels that took place.
2018 marks the seventieth anniversary of the State of Israel, inspiring the title of this year’s conference. In its seven decades of independence, Israel has experienced social, political, economic, environmental, cultural, and religious growth, transformations, and upheavals, many of which continue to shape and redefine Israel today. At the same time, Israel remains at the epicenter of regional and international politics in the Middle East. The marking of seventy years of Israeli independence calls for a deeper reflection on the social, historical, cultural, and other contexts of the past seven decades, the current historical juncture, and the possible ways forward. It includes a multifaceted evaluation of the challenges as well as the possibilities, as Israel moves into its next decade. The papers and panels at this conference reflect deeply on these and other pertinent issues relating to Israel’s past, present, and future.