From Middle Israel to Middle Palestine

Israel, too, has its "Middle Israel," but it is very different from the place that Americans and Britons describe.

Rather than being somewhat provincial, Middle Israel is educated, bilingual or multilingual, and extremely well connected to the wider world. It has provided Israel with the high-tech success that it has enjoyed over the last decade. Middle Israel is mostly secular, though it also includes the moderately religious. It is liberal, and despises any sort of fanaticism, whether orthodox or nationalist. It is based on a strong, legally entrenched (though never perfect) ethos of gender equality that has typified Zionism from its start.