CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland
Nationhood and Nationalism - The Case of Israel
Organiser: Dan Soen
Ghanem, As'ad (University of Haifa,
Israel) THE ATTITUDE OF THE PALESTINIAN-ARAB MINORITY IN ISRAEL TOWARDS THE
JEWISH MAJORITY AND THE STATE AS REFLECTED IN SURVEYS
The lecture will analyse the results of surveys conducted in recent years that
investigated the political orientation of the Palestinian citizens of Israel and
their satisfaction with their Israeli citizenship. The data are drawn from
public opinion surveys of representative samples of the Arab-Palestinian
population of Israel, aged 18 and up. The interviews were conducted face-to-face
using a closed questionnaire prepared for the study (in 1975, 1980, 1985, 1988,
1995 and 2001). The data clearly indicate that the Palestinians in Israel are
satisfied with their level of individual modernization but not with the level of
collective change in the situation of their group. They also show that for the
most part they want to continue to be citizens of Israel but do not accept its
ethnocratic (Jewish) character that shows preference for the Jews and demand
full equality in the state, manifested in its conversion to a bi-national state
which they share with the Jewish majority.
Soen, Dan (College of Judea &
Samaria and Kibbutzim School of Education, Israel) THE JEWISH-ARAB CLEAVAGE AS
REFLECTED IN JEWISH ATTITUDE SURVEYS IN ISRAEL
Israel is effectively a bi-national state, whose 6.5 million population is
roughly 80% Jewish and 20% Arab. The Declaration of Independence defines Israel
as a JEWISH state. Its Jewishness remains a corner stone ot its ideological
core. It had been the raison d'etre of its foundation. Most of its Jewish
inhabitants maintain vehemently that the state can be both democratic and
Jewish. There is no contardiction it terms there. Yet, recurring surveys carried
out along the years reflect the fact that the Jewish majority group has always
been strongly biased against the Arab minority group. The paper analyzes a whole
series of attitude surveys carried out in various sectors of the Jewish
populations and in various age-groups. It tries to evaluate the deep negative
attitude and intolerance of the Arabs common to all of them. It also tries to
interpret the socio-political climate in Israel in view of these consistent
illustrations of negative stereotypes. Finally, it tries to explain what is the
meaning of all this in so far as the concept of nationhood is concerned in
Israel.
Pedahzur, Ami and Canetti, Daphna
(University of Haifa, Israel) THE REVIVAL OF KAHANISM IN ISRAEL A PROPOSED MODEL
FOR EXPLAINING THE SUPPORT OF RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM IN A MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETY
In early June 2001 a horrible terrorist attack took place in a Tel-Aviv
discotheque. Twenty-one young people lost their lives in this attack. The hours
following the event were dramatic. The streets of Tel-Aviv were stormed by a
Jewish mob that demanded revenge. Most surprisingly, many of those who took part
in the events were wearing yellow t-shirts with the Star of David and the fist
sign - the symbols of the Quasi-Fascist Kach party, which was outlawed in 1994 -
printed on them. The turmoil did not stop for weeks. Walls in Jerusalem were
covered by the slogan 'Kahane [the leader of the party] was Right!' Yellow flags
were waved in many protest events and the demands for the writing of the racist
Rabbi Kahane grew higher. Many of those who observed the phenomenon interpreted
it as a reaction to the violence perpetrated by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs,
but is that really the cause for the revival of Kahanism in Israel? The aim of
this paper is to assess the support for the right-wing extremist Kach party in
Israel 2001 in comparison to the level of support in the early 1990s. Moreover,
based on theoretical frameworks developed in Europe for explaining the expansion
of right-wing extremism we developed an explanatory model for the expansion of
Kahanism. The model was tested on a representative sample of the Jewish
population in Israel (N=706) by applying Structural Equation Models (SEM)
technique. Statistical procedures yielded indicated that Kahanism is
significantly correlated with SES. However, to understand the phenomenon there
is a need to use mediating variables derived from theoretical frameworks such as
the realistic group conflict theory and the theory of psychological interests.
The fit indices of this mediated model showed high levels of fit and the R2 was
.76.
Court, Deborah (Bar-Ilan University,
Israel) DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION: VOICES FROM ISRAEL
Democracy offers no automatic principles for a decent and civilized life. Its
principles require interpretation and compromise, and must be balanced between
the welfare of individuals, groups and the state. One of the central challenges
of any democracy is managing the balance between the rights of various groups,
and the need for a unifying identity. Israel, surrounded by hostile forces,
attacked during the first moments of its existence and repeatedly thereafter,
must attempt not only to maintain peace and security but to offer democratic
rights to its various citizens. This paper is based on ethnographic interviews
with Israeli educators from the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze sectors.
Their differing views on Israeli democracy and the role of the schools in
teaching democracy are presented, together with specific concerns for the health
and well-being of each sector. Implications are suggested regarding education
for democracy in other settings.
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