Tamir Sorek

Palestinian Commemoration in Israel

Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Tamir Sorek is Associate Professor of Sociology and Israel Studies at the University of Florida. He is the author of Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave (2007).

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 328
• Erscheinungstermin: 6. Mai 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 228mm x 154mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 442g
• ISBN-13: 9780804795180
• ISBN-10: 0804795185
• Artikelnr.: 41750516

Autorenporträt

Tamir Sorek is Associate Professor of Sociology and Israel Studies at the University of Florida. He is the author of Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave (2007).

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction
chapter abstract
The chapter demonstrates the centrality of commemoration as a form of
political protest among Palestinian citizens, as well as the historical
link between this commemoration and the adoption of Israeli citizenship as
part of their identity. It argues that Palestinian commemoration in Israel
is both a stage for displaying Palestinian national pride and a mobilizing
vehicle for struggle over civil equality, and its content is shaped to a
large extent by the tension between these two goals. The chapter
contextualizes the study in the relevant literature on collective memory
and explains the unique case of the Palestinians citizens of Israel
compared with other "trapped" minorities. Finally, the chapter outlines the
methodology used in the book.
1Commemoration under British Rule
chapter abstract
The chapter explores how political calendars and shared martyrology
provided important markers of identity and symbolic tools for political
mobilization in Mandate Palestine. The dates on the emerging Palestinian
calendar grew out of the politicization and nationalization of traditional
holy days, as well as the commemoration of politically significant events
of the period, including those involving local Palestinian martyrs.
Commemorative events were especially important for the advancement of
Palestinian particularism, which could not rely on a distinct language and
culture or a common religion. Although the Palestinian elite was well aware
of the importance of these markers to identity formation, its ability to
nurture them was limited by institutional weakness, lack of political
sovereignty, and British antagonism to this commemoration.
2The Kafr Qasim Massacre and Land Day
chapter abstract
The Kafr Qasim massacre in 1956 was only one out of several massacres
committed against Palestinians in the same historical period. The selection
of the event into the political calendar of the Palestinians in Israel and
the endurance of its commemoration are related to the status of the victims
and commemorators as Israeli citizens. The commemoration of the massacre
has been influenced by the need to prevent its reoccurrence and therefore
the emphasis on civil rights has been a central discursive tool. From 1976,
Land Day was added as a second anchor on the political calendar. Land Day
commemoration has been shaped by the tension between Palestinian
nationalism and a struggle for civic equality. Until the 1990s, the Israeli
Communist Party has dominated the commemoration of both events, and
accordingly, the status of Jewish citizens as speakers, chorographers, and
potential audience had been salient.
3The Political Calendar in the Twenty-First Century
chapter abstract
The twenty-first century has witnessed the addition of two dates to the
political calendar of the Palestinians in Israel-a memorial day for the
Nakba and al-Aqsa Day, commemorating the events of October 2000 during
which Israeli police killed thirteen Palestinians inside Israel. Both
events have become a sphere of contention not only between Palestinian
citizens and the state but also between religious and secular forces within
Palestinian society, which even commemorate the Nakba in different days.
The October 2000 events have pushed Palestinians in Israel to reconsider
the meaning of citizenship, not necessarily to withdraw from a shared
Israeli public sphere, and this complicated approach is reflected in all
the four major commemorations on the political calendar.
4Memorials for Martyrs, I (1976-1983)
chapter abstract
Memorial monuments have been added to commemorative repertoire of
Palestinians in Israel since 1976. This chapter begins by explaining the
delay in their appearance. In the first wave of commemoration (1976-1983),
six monuments were built, which reflected the high level of caution
practiced by their creators. The caution was expressed by locating some of
these monuments in cemeteries rather than in central visible sites, by
inscribing sanitized text on the monuments that did not identify a
perpetrator, by including Jewish citizens as creators or commemorated
subjects, by avoiding explicit contextualization of the commemoration in
the broader Palestinian national narrative, and by emphasiziing loyalties
that were considered less political such as local, religious, and communal
identities.
5Memorial Monuments for Martyrs, II (1998-2013)
chapter abstract
A second wave of monuments began slowly in 1998, to commemorate the
fiftieth anniversary of the Nakba, and it drastically increased following
October 2000. The monuments in this wave reflected a limited decline in
caution and self-censorship, expressed not only by the number of monuments,
but also by their location in highly visible sites. In addition, there was
a mildly growing tendency to frame local pride as an aspect of national
pride, and a decline in the attempts to use localism as a protective
measure from the state's antagonism to Palestinian national identity. This
trend was expressed unevenly across different localities, and old prudent
tactics were still evident, especially around monuments referring to 1948.
In addition, Palestinians who were not citizens were mostly excluded from
the monuments.
6On the Margins of Commemoration
chapter abstract
Beyond the canonic events on the political calendar, the historical
remembrance of Palestinians in Israel includes many other dates and events
situated in various degrees of distance from the core of the cannon. Some
events have been commemorated mainly locally, without continuous
cross-regional participation; others mostly by a specific party or
movement; still other commemorations have been limited to press coverage,
and the memory was not embodied by mass rallies; or the embodied
commemoration in the form of mass rallies did not last more than a decade.
There are three major dimensions of marginalization. First, temporal -
teaching pre-1948 Palestinian history is an intellectual project with
marginal public resonance so far; second, thematic, Palestinians in Israel
have remained at a safe distance from the armed struggle, especially if it
targeted civilians; third, geo-political, Palestinians who are not citizens
of Israel have been extremely marginal in the public commemoration.
7Disciplining Palestinian Memory
chapter abstract
The anxiety of the Jewish public in Israel regarding the public appearance
of a Palestinian national narrative has led to continuous attempts to
discipline the public display of Palestinian political memory. In the rst
decades after 1948 this discipline was imposed mainly by strict monitoring
by the security services. As the Jews' siege mentality abated and Arab
self-condence and organizational ability increased in the 1980s and 1990s,
elements of the Palestinian national narrative gained more public
visibility. From 2000, the Second Intifada reversed the abating anxiety,
but it was too late to restore the old modes of disciplining memory. In the
new era, disciplining memory is based on a combination of restrictive
legislation, public intimidations by government ofcials, and the watchful
civic gaze of ordinary citizens. These modes are not completely ineffective
but they are far from pushing national historical remembrance back to the
private sphere.
8The Struggle over the Next Generation
chapter abstract
The official curriculum in Israeli schools has long excluded the
Palestinian national narrative. The chapter presents evidence that although
Palestinians in Israel do not tend to see the formal education system as a
main source of their historical knowledge, this system is still influential
in shaping historical remembrance. Given the uniqueness of public education
as an extremely imbalanced political battlefield, activists, educators, and
parents developed diverse tools aimed to bypass, alter, or confront the
curriculum of the formal education system. The chapter discusses some of
these tools, including increasing the role of private schools, developing
alternative teaching materials, and disseminating these materials either
inside the public education system or thorough extracurricular activities.
9Political Summer Camps
chapter abstract
Summer camps became an important element in the alternative education
system of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and a space for processing
national memory and transmitting it to children. All major parties and
movements organize summer camps, in which the development of collective
memory has a central place. Themes banned at school are openly discussed in
an environment considered relatively safe. At the same time Israeli state
agencies, through trial and error tactics, check the limits of their
ability to monitor and discipline the curriculum of these camps. Summer
camps, however, are not equivalent to a mandatory education system. The
ability of Palestinian agents of memory to inculcate their own version of
history to the next generation is limited as they lack the coercive power
of a central government that can impose universal "required knowledge."
10The Quest for Victory
chapter abstract
The chapter examines the semiotic structure of Palestinian collective
memory in Israel and identifies a continuous tendency to balance themes of
victimhood with themes of prowess. Modern Palestinian and Arab histories
make themes of victimhood significantly more available and the frequent
attempts to construct various events as victories is a common thread that
links the "literature of resistance" under the military regime, with the
widespread satisfaction from the Israeli failure in Lebanon in 2006. The
attraction to triumphal themes is even more evident among those Arab
citizens who define themselves as both Palestinians and Israelis, probably
because Israeli defeats at the hands of Arabs pave the way for imagining a
more egalitarian interaction with Jews.
11Latent Nostalgia to Yitzhak Rabin
chapter abstract
As one of the major figures responsible for the Nakba, the way the late
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is remembered by Palestinian citizens of
Israel after his assassination in 1995 is a very good example for a
strategic suspension of the Nakba memory. The chapter suggests the
existence of a latent nostalgia for Rabin's second term as prime minister
(1992-1995) as a period when being Israeli looked like a realistic option
for Palestinian citizens of Israel. This nostalgia is "latent" because in
the post-2000 era it can be found only in responses of individuals to a
survey questionnaire, but not in the public sphere.
Conclusion
chapter abstract
The chapter identifies the tension between being Palestinian and being an
Israeli citizen as a major force that shapes Palestinian commemoration in
Israel. While some other axes of conflict (integration-separation;
local-national; elite-masses; intra-Palestinian communal relations) are not
simple derivative of this tension, they are commonly related to it in one
way or another. Together, these tensions create frequent discrepancies
between various forms and spheres of historical remembrance and
commemoration, as well as internal inconsistencies in the commemorative
rhetoric.