The Subordinate Integration of Palestinian Arabs Into Israeli Society, 1948-1967
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Both Arab and Israeli: The Subordinate Integration of Palestinian Arabs into Israeli Society, 1948-1967 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Arnon Yehuda Degani 2018 © Copyright by Arnon Yehuda Degani 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Both Arab and Israeli: The Subordinate Integration of Palestinian Citizens into Israeli Society, 1948-1967 by Arnon Yehuda Degani Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor David N. Myers, Co-Chair Professor Gershon Shafir, Co-Chair The dissertation offers new insights into the daily life, political status, and worldviews of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel between 1948 and 1967. During this period, the state endowed this community with nominal citizenship while at the same time subjecting it to martial law and a wide array of discriminatory policies. My work constitutes a careful reconstruction of the daily interactions between the Palestinian Arab citizens and Israeli state organs in four realms: movement restrictions, labor unionism, health care, and political expression. The dissertation focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian encounter at the military checkpoint, in the doctor’s examination ii room, in the everyday tasks of the Palestinian Histadrut member, and in the worldview of the pro- Nasser café patron. Along with newly declassified and previously inaccessible Israeli archival material, the dissertation also makes use of oral history interviews, private memoirs, and the printed press. In particular, this study disrupts the current scholarly and public discussions on the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, which pit one claim against another: either the State of Israel has consistently oppressed and persecuted the Palestinians under its control, or it has overall functioned as a model democracy. In contrast, this research concludes that until 1967, Israeli officials of different ranks largely targeted Palestinians Arab citizens for absorption into the Israeli body politic through a protracted project of “subordinate integration.” The Palestinians Arabs for their part recognized the state by engaging in civic struggles premised on their citizenship and in the hopes of being treated as equals. The net effect was that the Palestinian Arab citizens became “Arab-Israelis.” Analytically, the dissertation situates the Israeli-Palestinian case in the context of colonial and settler-colonial histories. The dissertation demonstrates how the historical pattern of Palestinian Arab subordinate integration into Israeli society differs from the experiences of other Arab societies subject to a European colonial power. The Jewish-Palestinian relationship in Israel during the years 1948-1967 is more comparable to settler-colonial patterns, such as the ones in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In other words, I contend that the integration of Palestinians into Israeli society is a manifestation of a settler-colonial assimilationist agenda. iii The dissertation of Arnon Yehuda Degani is approved . Caroline Cole Ford Suszanne E Slyomovics Gershon Shafir, Committee Co-Chair David N. Myers, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv Table of Content List of Figures and Tables vi List of Abbreviations vii Note on Transliterations and Translations viii Acknowledgments ix Vita xii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Permit Regime 34 Chapter 2: The Histadrut: The Zionist Settler 77 Spearhead Chapter 3: From Doctors to Clinics: The 122 Israeli Health System Chapter 4: Heart and Minds 176 Conclusion and Epilogue 227 Bibliography 238 v List of Figures Page Figure 1: Map of Military Government North, 30 September 1952 75 Figure 2: Map of Military Government North, 21 February 1954 76 Figure 3: Letter from Elias Saba 121 Figure 4: “Dr. Daniel Elkana the government doctor in the Tayibe 175 region examines one of the inhabitants” Figure 5: “Medicine Comes to the Desert” 175 Figure 6: The road from Sumei to Kisra 175 Figure 7: Dr. Ben-Assa with a Bedouin. 175 Figure 8: Dr. Ben-Assa vaccinating a small child in a Bedouin tent 175 Figure 9: Yaacov Shilo, “Nasser and Al-Ard,” Davar 226 List of Tables Page Table 1: Exit Permits Issued by Military Government Negev 57 vi List of Abbreviations AWC Arab Workers’ Congress (Mu’tamar al-‘Ummal al-‘Arab) GSS General Security Service (Sherut Bitahon Klali) HSM Health Service for Minorities (Sherut Refu’i le-Mi‘utim) MAKI Communist Party of Israel (ha-Miflaga ha-Komunistit ha-Yisra’elit) MAPAI The Land of Israel Workers’ Party (Mifleget Po‘ale Erets-Yisra’el) MAPAM The United Workers’ Party (Mifleget ha-Po‘alim ha-Me’uhedet) MG The Military Government MK Member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament MoD Ministry of Defense MoE Ministry of Education MoH Ministry of Health MoL Ministry of Labor PLL/ILL Palestine/Israel Labor League (Ittihad ‘Ummal Filastin/Isra’il, Brit Po‘ale Erets-Yisra’el/Yisra’el) vii Note on Transliterations and Translations When transliterating Arabic I follow the guidelines of the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and for Hebrew, I use the Library of Congress’ transliteration chart while omitting all diacritical marks for both languages. The symbol ‘ is used to represent the Arabic letter ‘ayn and Hebrew letter ‘ayin, and the symbol ’ is used to represent the Arabic letter Hamza and the Hebrew Alef. For well-known places, like Acre and Nazareth, I use common English spellings. For all other name places, I am using the official Israeli transliteration used by the Central Bureau of Statistics.1 For well-known historical figures (or for common Hebrew and Arabic names), Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Darwish for example, I have opted to use the common form of transliterations. 1 One exception is my transcription of the village Shefa-‘Amr instead of the Hebrew form, Shfar‘am, which I use only when quoting Israeli officials. viii Acknowledgments I’ll start at the beginning and progress from there. The road to this dissertation began with a conversation between myself and my father, Gabriel Dov Degani, in the summer of 2003. I had just been discharged from the military and could not stop mulling over my experiences and the things that I had witnessed while serving in the northern West Bank, near the city of Jenin. I was restless and constantly reflecting on the arbitrary nature of my daily actions as a soldier. I was angry at the ignorance of Israelis who seemed to have no clue about what was transpiring a few kilometers away from their malls and cafes. At this moment of my life, I was also facing a choice: I had just been accepted to study physics at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, but my mind was somewhere else. I remember pacing and telling my dad about the things that are so wrong in “the occupation,” the things that I would like to tell others and things I wanted to figure out. My father, whom I had thought only really cared about my grades in the sciences, stopped my rant and said: “then why are going to study physics?” With my father’s blessing, which meant the world to me, I enrolled in the Middle East Studies Department at Ben-Gurion University. During my first semester at BGU, I encountered scholarship and scholars who were able to scrape much of the political and historical plaque that materialized over my consciousness after 18-years in the Israeli education system and then galvanized more by three more years in the Israeli military. I owe my fundamental scholarly temperament to the following teachers: Haggai Ram, Iris Agmon, Benny Morris, Kobi Peled, Ze’ev Tzahor, Mahmoud Yazbak, Yoram Meital, Haya Bambaji- Sasportas, and Dafna Poremba. All of these scholars were also very kind to me. They gave me the time of day beyond their duties, and I thank them for that as well. During my BA studies, I had also started dating my future wife, Bat-hen Zeron. Bat-hen is the love of my life and words cannot express my feelings towards her, and those that come close should not be written here. Bat-hen is by far the best choice I have made in my life and not a day goes by in which I am not confronted with that fact. Through many conversations with Bat-hen, I have also gained a better understanding of my arguments, and the encouragement to strive to get them into this dissertation. Thank you Bat-hen so much. Many of these conversations happened in the rented apartments we lived in as a young couple in Tel Aviv, where between walks on the beach and enjoying the night-life I also studied for my M.A. At Tel Aviv University, I encountered mentors who fundamentally shaped me as a researcher. I am particularly indebted to Israel Gershoni and Ami Ayalon who have nurtured me as a scholar, endowed me with their advice, and supported my career. During my years in Tel Aviv, I had the honor to be Israel Gershoni’s research assistant and witness a true scholar and a gentleman in action. Ami was and is always there for me, when things are going well and when things seem to collapse. Both Gershoni and Ayalon endorsed my applications to graduate school in the US – thanks for that. I am not aware of one junior scholar in the humanities that has had a crisis-free doctoral experience. Alas, I was no exception and maybe even a particularly harsh example. Fortunately, I encountered ix professors who saw through the anxieties and believed I had something to offer. Gabriel Piterberg, my second adviser, faithfully cultivated me as a scholar and introduced me to settler-colonial studies which will be sparingly referred to in this dissertation. Susan Slyomovics has given me copious amounts of time, encouragement to pursue my ideas, and many hours of teaching.