The Land Narrative: Rethinking Israel's National Land Policy

•By analyzing the protocol of the ILC deliberations, the study explores Israel's unique land policy.•The land narrative is based on the distinction between the urban and the rural sector.•The land narrative expressed a clear preference for the rural-agricultural sector.•Over time the urban residents’ have received more land rights de facto.•This study provides an explanation of this dissonance, by exploring the land narrative.•The land narrative has broad present and future implications for Israeli society.

The land narrative tells the unique story of Israel's national land policy. Its historical and ideological roots are in the early 1900s, when the Zionist movement and the Jewish National Fund were founded, but it continues to influence spatial policy and land allocation in Israel today. The land narrative is based on the distinction between the urban sector and the rural-agricultural sector and on the clear preference—at least at the ideological level—for the rural-agricultural sector. However, despite the decision-makers’ clear preference for the members of the cooperative and communal rural sector, over time the urban residents’ have received more land rights de facto. This study provides an explanation of this dissonance by exploring the land narrative, examines its broad implications for Israeli society, and discusses its future implications.