Israeli society and Jewish-Palestinian reconciliation: 'Ethnocracy' and its territorial contradictions

Middle East Journal

Volumn 51, Issue 4, 1997, Pages

  Yiftachel, Oren ^a  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

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EID: 0000251189     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. The argument here does not imply any artificial symmetry between the various peripheries, and acknowledges that the Palestinians have been far more affected by marginalization than Mizrahi or Haredi Jews.
2. Ashkenazi Jews (Ashkenazim in plural, also called 'Western' or 'European' Jews) are of European or American origins. Mizrahi Jews (Mizrahim in plural, also known as Oriental, Sephardi or Arab Jews) arrived in Israel mainly from Arab or Muslim countries. Haredi Jews (Haredim in plural) are ultra-orthodox; they maintain high levels of segregation from the surrounding society and attempt to preserve a pre-modern way of Jewish life.
3. Other major forces are also at work in shaping Jewish-Palestinian relations, but the aim here is to go beyond previous analyses and focus on an under-researched, yet important, area.
4. For more detailed accounts, see, for example, Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, Trouble in Utopia: The Overburdened Polity of Israel (Albany, NY: State University of New York [SUNY] Press, 1990); and Baruch Kimmerling, "Boundaries and Frontiers in the Israeli Control System: Analytical Conclusions," in Baruch Kimmerling, ed., The Israeli State and Society: Boundaries and Frontiers (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989), pp. 267-88.
5. For more detailed accounts, see, for example, Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, Trouble in Utopia: The Overburdened Polity of Israel (Albany, NY: State University of New York [SUNY] Press, 1990); and Baruch Kimmerling, "Boundaries and Frontiers in the Israeli Control System: Analytical Conclusions," in Baruch Kimmerling, ed., The Israeli State and Society: Boundaries and Frontiers (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989), pp. 267-88.
6. The term 'secular Jews' pertains not only to those conducting a completely non-religious life-style, but to all Israeli Jews who do not identify themselves as Orthodox, including a wide range of religious orientations, from Messorti (traditional) to atheist.
7. This continuing segregation and inequality must be analyzed in the context of the desire of most peripheral groups to be incorporated into the Israeli polity, and the gradual process of assimilation which has taken place, especially among educated and affluent Mizrahim.
8. The term 'Arabs in Israel' is largely interchangeable with 'Palestinians in Israel', and is used to make unambiguous the inclusion of Druze and Bedouin populations and stress the distinction between them and the disenfranchised Palestinian in the Territories.
9. 'Development towns' connote the localities built or largely expanded during the 1950s to accommodate new immigrants mainly from Middle Eastern countries.
10. When referring to the recent political moves between Jews and Palestinians, the term 'reconciliation' is used as an appropriate reflection of the evolving reality. See Lev Grinberg, Split Corporatism in Israel (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991); Michael Shalev, Labour and the Political Economy of Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); and Juval Portugali, Implicate Relations: Society and Space in Israel (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993).
11. When referring to the recent political moves between Jews and Palestinians, the term 'reconciliation' is used as an appropriate reflection of the evolving reality. See Lev Grinberg, Split Corporatism in Israel (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991); Michael Shalev, Labour and the Political Economy of Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); and Juval Portugali, Implicate Relations: Society and Space in Israel (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993).
12. When referring to the recent political moves between Jews and Palestinians, the term 'reconciliation' is used as an appropriate reflection of the evolving reality. See Lev Grinberg, Split Corporatism in Israel (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991); Michael Shalev, Labour and the Political Economy of Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); and Juval Portugali, Implicate Relations: Society and Space in Israel (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993).
13. Yoav Peled and Gershon Shafir, "The Roots of Peacemaking: The Dynamics of Citizenship in Israel, 1948-93," International Journal of Middle East Studies 28, no. 3 (August 1996), pp. 391-413.
14. See Yinon Cohen and Yoav Haberfeld, "Second Generation Immigrants in Israel: Have the Ethnic Gaps in Schooling and Earnings Declined?" Ethnic and Racial Studies 20, no. 3 (1997); Hubert Law Yone and Rachel Kalus, Diyyur Ve'i'shivyon Beyisrael (Housing Inequalities in Israel) (Tel Aviv: Adva Centre, 1995); and Shlomo Hasson, Urban Social Movements in Jerusalem: The Protest of the Second Generation (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994).
15. See Yinon Cohen and Yoav Haberfeld, "Second Generation Immigrants in Israel: Have the Ethnic Gaps in Schooling and Earnings Declined?" Ethnic and Racial Studies 20, no. 3 (1997); Hubert Law Yone and Rachel Kalus, Diyyur Ve'i'shivyon Beyisrael (Housing Inequalities in Israel) (Tel Aviv: Adva Centre, 1995); and Shlomo Hasson, Urban Social Movements in Jerusalem: The Protest of the Second Generation (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994).
16. See Yinon Cohen and Yoav Haberfeld, "Second Generation Immigrants in Israel: Have the Ethnic Gaps in Schooling and Earnings Declined?" Ethnic and Racial Studies 20, no. 3 (1997); Hubert Law Yone and Rachel Kalus, Diyyur Ve'i'shivyon Beyisrael (Housing Inequalities in Israel) (Tel Aviv: Adva Centre, 1995); and Shlomo Hasson, Urban Social Movements in Jerusalem: The Protest of the Second Generation (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994).
17. These men are the owners of some of Israel's largest corporations, and are vocal advocates of free market, small government, policies.
18. Asher Arian, Security Threatened: Surveying Israeli Public Opinion on Peace and War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); and Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Results of the 1996 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections (Jerusalem: Government Printers, 1996).
19. Asher Arian, Security Threatened: Surveying Israeli Public Opinion on Peace and War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); and Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Results of the 1996 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections (Jerusalem: Government Printers, 1996).
20. Hapoalim Bank, Economic Review No. 82 (Tel Aviv: Hapoalim Bank, 1996).
21. See Eran Razin and Anna Hazan, "Industrial Development and Municipal Organisation: Conflict, Cooperation and Regional Effects," Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 13, no. 2, pp. 297-314.
22. Israel, Social Security Institute, Annual Income Surveys 1992-96 (Jerusalem: Social Security and the Welfare Ministry, 1996).
23. Ibid.
24. The Ginni Index measures the unevenness of grouped phenomena by calculating the degree of deviation from even distribution, with scores ranging between 0 (perfect equality) and 1 (extreme inequality).
25. Hapoalim Bank, Economic Review, no. 82, pp. 1-3.
26. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
27. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
28. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
29. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
30. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
31. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
32. For different views on the identity and situation of the Palestinians in Israel, see Majd al-Haj, "The Changing Strategies of Mobilization Among the Arabs in Israel: Parliamentary Politics, Local Politics, and National Organizations," in Efraim Ben Zadok, ed., Local Communities and the Israeli Polity (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993), pp. 67-88; Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Democracy and the Legal Construction of Citizenship: Arab Citizens of the Jewish State," The American Political Science Review 86 (1992), pp. 432-43; Dan Rabinowitz, Overlooking Nazareth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities and Conflict (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); Sammi Smooha, Arabs and Jews in Israel: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992); Oren Yiftachel, Planning a Mixed Region in Israel: The Political Geography of Arab-Jewish Relations in the Galilee (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); and Oren Yiftachel, "The Internal Frontier: The Territorial Control of Ethnic Minorities," Regional Studies 30, no. 5 (1996), pp. 493-508.
33. See Peled and Shafir, "The Roots of Peacemaking: The Dynamics of Citizenship in Israel."
34. See Kimmerling, "Boundaries and Frontiers in the Israeli Control System: Analytical Conclusions."
35. See Walter A. Laqueur, A History of Zionism (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972).
36. See Moshe Friedman, "The Structural Foundation for Religio-Political Accommodation in Israel: Fallacy or Reality?" in Selwyn Ilan Troen and N. Lucas, eds., Israel: The First Decade of Independence (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1995), pp. 51-82; and Charles Liebman and Eliezer Don-Yehya, Religion and Politics in Israel (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984).
37. See Moshe Friedman, "The Structural Foundation for Religio-Political Accommodation in Israel: Fallacy or Reality?" in Selwyn Ilan Troen and N. Lucas, eds., Israel: The First Decade of Independence (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1995), pp. 51-82; and Charles Liebman and Eliezer Don-Yehya, Religion and Politics in Israel (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984).
38. See Uri Ram, "Zionist Historiography and the Invention of Modern Jewish Nationhood: The Case of Ben Zion Dinur," History and Memory 7, no. 1 (1995), pp. 91-124.
39. Friedman, "The Structural Foundation for Religio-Political Accommodation in Israel: Fallacy or Reality?"
40. Israel, CBS, Results of the 1996 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections.
41. For the evolution of Jewish settlements, see Elisha Efrat, Urbanisation in Israel (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Amiram Gonen, From City to Suburb (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995); David Newman and Levia Applebaum, "Defining the Rurban Settlement: Planning Models and Functional Realities in Israel," Urban Geography 10, no. 2 (1989), pp. 281-95; and David Newman, "The Territorial Politics of Ex-urbanisation: Reflections on 25 Years of Jewish Settlement in the West Bank," Israel Affairs 3, no. 1 (1996), pp. 61-85.
42. For the evolution of Jewish settlements, see Elisha Efrat, Urbanisation in Israel (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Amiram Gonen, From City to Suburb (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995); David Newman and Levia Applebaum, "Defining the Rurban Settlement: Planning Models and Functional Realities in Israel," Urban Geography 10, no. 2 (1989), pp. 281-95; and David Newman, "The Territorial Politics of Ex-urbanisation: Reflections on 25 Years of Jewish Settlement in the West Bank," Israel Affairs 3, no. 1 (1996), pp. 61-85.
43. For the evolution of Jewish settlements, see Elisha Efrat, Urbanisation in Israel (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Amiram Gonen, From City to Suburb (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995); David Newman and Levia Applebaum, "Defining the Rurban Settlement: Planning Models and Functional Realities in Israel," Urban Geography 10, no. 2 (1989), pp. 281-95; and David Newman, "The Territorial Politics of Ex-urbanisation: Reflections on 25 Years of Jewish Settlement in the West Bank," Israel Affairs 3, no. 1 (1996), pp. 61-85.
44. For the evolution of Jewish settlements, see Elisha Efrat, Urbanisation in Israel (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Amiram Gonen, From City to Suburb (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995); David Newman and Levia Applebaum, "Defining the Rurban Settlement: Planning Models and Functional Realities in Israel," Urban Geography 10, no. 2 (1989), pp. 281-95; and David Newman, "The Territorial Politics of Ex-urbanisation: Reflections on 25 Years of Jewish Settlement in the West Bank," Israel Affairs 3, no. 1 (1996), pp. 61-85.
45. David Newman, "Creating Homogenous Space: the Evolution of Israel's Regional Councils," in Troen and Lucas, eds., Israel: The First Decade of Independence, pp. 495-522.
46. The settlement of many Mizrahim in the Palestinian-dominated periphery (and often on land confiscated from the Palestinians) may also be interpreted as driving a wedge between the two peripheral groups that could have threatened Ashkenazi dominance. Since the mid-1950s Ashkenazi Jews have become a minority in the state of Israel. For inter-ethnic processes in the periphery, see Lev Grinberg, "Peripheral Ethnicity: Trends in Local Representation," in Oren Yiftachel and Avinoam Meir, eds., Ethnic Frontiers and Peripheries: Landscapes of Development in Inequality in Israel (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997), pp. 213-42; and Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Exclusionism in Peripheral Towns," in ibid., pp. 198-212.
47. The settlement of many Mizrahim in the Palestinian-dominated periphery (and often on land confiscated from the Palestinians) may also be interpreted as driving a wedge between the two peripheral groups that could have threatened Ashkenazi dominance. Since the mid-1950s Ashkenazi Jews have become a minority in the state of Israel. For inter-ethnic processes in the periphery, see Lev Grinberg, "Peripheral Ethnicity: Trends in Local Representation," in Oren Yiftachel and Avinoam Meir, eds., Ethnic Frontiers and Peripheries: Landscapes of Development in Inequality in Israel (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997), pp. 213-42; and Yoav Peled, "Ethnic Exclusionism in Peripheral Towns," in ibid., pp. 198-212.
48. See Oren Yiftachel and Naomi Carmon, "Regional Mix and Inter-Ethnic Attitudes: Jewish Newcomers and Arab-Jewish Issues in the Galilee," European Planning Studies 5, no. 2 (1997), pp. 219-38.
49. See Yoav Peled, "Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian Arabs: Exclusionist Attitudes in a Development Town," in Yiftachel and Meir, eds., Ethnic Frontiers and Peripheries: Landscapes of Development and Inequality in Israel, pp. 98-114.
50. See figure 1.
51. Gush Emunim (Loyalty Bloc) is a militant religious-national organization which has spearheaded Jewish colonization in the West Bank since the 1970s. See Ian Lustick, Unsettled States, Disputed Lands (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993);
52. and Newman, "The Territorial Politics of Ex-urbanisation: Reflections on 25 Years of Jewish Settlement in the West Bank."
53. For a comprehensive review of Israeli immigration absorption policies, see Rochelle Alterman, "Can Planning Help in Times of Crisis? Responses to Israel's Recent Wave of Mass Immigration," Journal of the American Planning Association 61, no. 2 (1995), pp. 156-77.
54. Anthony Coon, Town Planning Under Military Occupation: An Examination of the Law and Practice of Town Planning in the Occupied West Bank (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1992).
55. For a comparative inter-racial segregation process, see Doug Massey and Nancy Denton, American Apartheid (New York: Verso, 1993).
56. See Tamar Herman, "Do They Have a Chance? Protest and Political Structure of Opportunity in Israel," Israel Studies 1, no. 1 (1996), pp. 144-70.
57. The Black Panthers was a movement of second generation Mizrahim, which in the early 1970s campaigned for social equality in education, housing and other state policies. The Panthers, who hailed from Jerusalem's poor neighborhoods, were the first to raise the issue of Ashkenazi-Mizrahi disparities in the Israeli public discourse.
58. Israel, CBS, Results of the 1996 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections.
59. While a change in Israel's electoral system, which allowed vote-splitting for the first time, can account for some of this change, this author suggests that the vote also represented a backlash against the country's dominant Ashkenazi core.
60. See, for example, Steinmetz-Institute, The 'Peace Index' Project: Findings and Analysis (Tel Aviv: Tammi Steinmetz Institute for Peace Research, 1996).
61. Israel, CBS, Results of the 1996 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections.
62. Oren Yiftachel, "The Political Geography of Ethnic Protest: Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism among Arabs in Israel," Transactions: Institute of British Geographers 22, no. 1 (1997), pp. 91-110; and Ghazi Falah, "Israeli Judaisation Policy in Galilee and its Impact on Local Arab Urbanisation," Political Geography Quarterly 8 (1989), pp. 229-53.
63. Oren Yiftachel, "The Political Geography of Ethnic Protest: Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism among Arabs in Israel," Transactions: Institute of British Geographers 22, no. 1 (1997), pp. 91-110; and Ghazi Falah, "Israeli Judaisation Policy in Galilee and its Impact on Local Arab Urbanisation," Political Geography Quarterly 8 (1989), pp. 229-53.
64. Yiftachel, "The Political Geography of Ethnic Protest: Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism among Arabs in Israel."