DOCSLIB.ORG

Inquiries Into Economies of Violence in Israel/Palestine

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Inquiries Into Economies of Violence in Israel/Palestine INQUIRIES INTO ECONOMIES OF VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE DECEMBER 2016 By François-Xavier Plasse-Couture Dissertation committee 1. Michael J. Shapiro, chairperson 2. Kathy Ferguson 3. Jairus Grove 4. Samson Okoth Opondo 5. Laura Lyons Keywords: Israel, Palestine, violence, race, settler colonialism, biopolitics To Anouk, Romy, Mimi, and Laurence, generous, intelligent, unique and loving women who thought me the most and have always been with me, even in difficult times. You are my inspiration. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for the financial support that made this research possible. Additionally, I want to thank my supervisor and true friend Michael J. Shapiro for his patience, dedication, generosity, support, numerous and precious advices, his friendship, for nurturing such a young and inspiring scholarly open mind and be such a great inspiration. I am grateful to Samson Opondo for his time and generosity, for his wise comments, suggestions, discussions and encouragements on the various projects’ steps, from the proposal to the submission. I am thankful to Jairus Grove, Kathy Ferguson, and Laura Lyons for their useful and constructive comments on the various steps that lead to completion of this dissertation. I am also indebted to Philippe Beaulieu-Brossard, Samuel Vaillancourt, Joan Deas, David Grondin, Ben Schrader, Breanne Gallagher, Katie Brennan, Sharain Naylor, Rex Troumbley, Julia Guimaraes, Akta Kaushal, Noah Viernes, Nicole Grove, John Sweeney, Simon Hogue, Tani Sebro, Jimmy Weir, Yair Geva, Shiri Hornik, Amit Friedman, Avner Peled for their friendship, support, useful comments, suggestions, and generous help at various stages of the project be it during a seminar, a conference, or around a pint. My most profound debt of gratitude goes to my parents, Micheline Plasse and Norman Couture, for their dedicated care and support during my entire education, wandering and journeys of contemplation. I dedicate this project to Anouk, Romy, Mimi, and Laurence whose support, courage, strength, love and care remain my inspiration for this dissertation, for becoming a better son, husband, father, men, and for all the projects and becomings to come. iii Abstract This dissertation examines the different regimes and economies of violence producing the settler colonial present in Israel/Palestine. That is, by theorizing ‘society’ as the effect of warlike relations whereby particular tactics and strategies are employed as a way of organizing and policing forms of life necessary for the continuation of a particular European/Western settler colonial body politic and its actualization in the state-form (statization), this thesis aims at pluralizing the sites of political violence and resistance. It argues that the so-called “Israeli- Palestinian conflict” is in fact the effect of Israel’s and European societies’ gendered, racial, and settler colonial politics as the continuation of war by other means. To do so, the thesis explores the culturally specific processes of social identification through various institutions, dispositifs, and practices that allow certain representations of Israeliness and Jewishness in general to become dominant while disqualifying and policing others. More specifically, it examines the intrications between discourses on the Modern Jewish self, racial and colonial histories/rationalities, and Jewish modes of self-writing that emerge together with/against the modes of socialization and production of the “self” and “other(s)”. iv Tables of Content Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv Tables of Content .......................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. vii Dissertation Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Subjectivity, Violence, Modernity: A Theoretical Framework .......................................................... 5 Methodology: or the Intuition of Doing Away with Method ............................................................ 16 Foucault and Genealogy .................................................................................................................... 17 Chapters Outline ................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 1: From European Estrangement to Settlerness: A Brief Genealogy of the Sabra 25 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 25 The Sabra .............................................................................................................................................. 32 Colonial Desire: Enlightenment, Imperialism, Reform Judaism ..................................................... 36 Imperialism and Superfluity ................................................................................................................ 45 The Birth of Zionism: Nationalism and Settler Colonialism ............................................................ 48 On Settlerness ........................................................................................................................................ 51 Planting the Sabra Seeds in Palestine: Pioneers and the Yishuv ...................................................... 54 Frontiersmen: Sabra Aesthetics and the Aesthetics of the Land ..................................................... 57 The Sabra in Contemporary Israel and Zionist Cultural Governance ........................................... 64 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 68 Chapter 2: The Barracked Jewish Body, Shmoks, and Modernity’s Phallus ....................... 71 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 71 A (Very) Short Genealogy of the Jewish Body: Between European Estrangement and Self- Fashioning ............................................................................................................................................. 75 Rejuvenating the Jews’ “Shmok” to its Phallic Status ...................................................................... 85 The “Chosen Body”: The Sabra and the Policing of the Bio/Necro-political Boundaries in Contemporary Israel ............................................................................................................................ 91 Eugenic Anxieties ............................................................................................................................... 92 Military Grade Incitement ................................................................................................................ 102 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 3: Pornotroping and the Bio/Necropolitics of Israel’s Racial Libidinal Violence 109 Introduction: Biopower, Necropolitics, and Pornotroping ............................................................. 109 Pornotroping: Expenditure, Transgression, and Sovereignty ........................................................ 112 War, the Gendering, and Ungendering of Bodies ............................................................................ 116 Gendered Bodies .............................................................................................................................. 116 Ungendered Palestinian/Arab/Terrorist Flesh ................................................................................ 125 Conclusion: Eroticism and Life Beyond Sovereignty ...................................................................... 140 Chapter 4: Effective Abandonment: The Neoliberal Economy of Violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories ................................................................................................................. 146 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 146 v Biopolitics, Race and Sovereignty in Israel/Palestine ...................................................................... 153 Biopolitics , Neoliberalism and Security ........................................................................................... 155 Abandonment and Neoliberalism ...................................................................................................... 159
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Israel: Background and U.S
    Israel: Background and U.S. Relations Casey L. Addis Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs February 14, 2011 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL33476 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Israel: Background and U.S. Relations Summary On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its independence and was immediately engaged in a war with all of its neighbors. Armed conflict has marked every decade of Israel’s existence. Despite its unstable regional environment, Israel has developed a vibrant parliamentary democracy, albeit with relatively fragile governments. The most recent national elections were held on February 10, 2009, ahead of schedule. Although the Kadima Party placed first, parties holding 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset supported opposition Likud party leader Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, who was designated to form a government. Netanyahu’s coalition includes his own Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home), Shas, Habayet Hayehudi (Jewish Home), the United Torah Judaism (UTJ), and the new Ha’atzmout (Independence) party. The coalition controls 66 of 120 Knesset seats. Israel has an advanced industrial, market economy with a large government role. Israel’s foreign policy is focused largely on its region, Europe, and the United States. Israel’s foreign policy agenda begins with Iran, which it views as an existential threat due to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism. Achieving peace with its neighbors is next. Israel concluded peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, but not with Syria and Lebanon. Recent unrest in Egypt is rekindling latent anxiety in Israel about the durability of the peace treaty Egypt and Israel have relied upon for 30 years.
    [Show full text]
  • When Scholarship Disturbs Narrative: Ian Lustick on Israel's Migration
    FORUM When Scholarship Disturbs Narrative Ian Lustick on Israel’s Migration Balance Comment by Sergio DellaPergola ABSTRACT: In response to Ian Lustick’s article on Israel’s migration bal- ance in the previous issue of Israel Studies Review, I question the author’s (lack of) theoretical frame, data handling, and conclusions, all set up against a robust narrative. I show that, until 2010, Israel displayed a posi- tive, if weakened, migration balance and that immigration trends contin- ued to reflect conditions among Diaspora Jewish populations more than Israel’s absorption context. Emigration rates from Israel, while admittedly difficult to measure, were objectively moderate and proportionally lower, for example, than those of Switzerland, a more developed country of similar size, or those of ethnic Germans returning to and then again leav- ing Germany. The main determinants of emigration from Israel—namely, ‘brain drain’—consistently related to socio-economic changes and not to security. I also reject Lustick’s assumptions about the ideological bias of Israel’s research community when dealing with international migration. Scholarship about Israel should not ignore global contextualization and international comparisons. KEYwords: aliyah, economy, emigration, immigration, Israel, Lustick, security, yeridah, Zionism The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. Man must prove the truth—i.e., the reality and power, the this-sidedness of his thinking, in practice. The dispute over the reality or non-reality of thinking that is isolated from practice is a purely scholastic question. — Marx, Theses on Feuerbach Don’t confuse us with your data: we know the situation.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Towards a Visualisation of the Zionist Sabra 1930-1967 JC Torday
    Towards a visualisation of the Zionist Sabra 1930-1967 JC Torday A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2014 1 Declaration I declare that the research contained in this thesis, unless otherwise formally indicated within the text, is the original work of the author. The thesis has not been previously submitted to this or any other university for a degree, and does not incorporate any material already submitted for a degree. Signed JC Torday Dated February 2014 2 Abstract (page 3) Introduction (page 5) Research Approach (page 16) Arab Villages and colonisation (page 24) Cultural Memory and collective memory (page 31) Chapter 1: Theoretical considerations and influences on Zionist photographs (page 39) Critics of and theories about photographs (page 39) Influences on Israeli photography (page 45) Chapter 2: Zionism and colonialism (page 71) The rise of Zionism (page 71) The Iron Wall (page 76) A view from 1947 (page 81) Zionism and anti-Semitism (page 84) Zionism and Fascism (page 87) Zionism and nationalism (page 90) Colonialism (page 93) Colonialism and Zionism (97) Three waves of Jewish immigration (page 102) The Sharon Plan (page 105) Colonialism and photographs (108) Biblical archaeology (page 113) Ethnocentric myth (page 119) Chapter 3: Photography in the Holy Land and beyond (page 121) Beginnings (page 121) Photographs in the Yishuv (page 130) Photographs in Israel (page 147) Chapter 4: The Sabra (page 174) The myth of the Sabra (page
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
    Leap of Faith: Israel’s National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Middle East Report N°147 | 21 November 2013 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Religious Zionism: From Ascendance to Fragmentation ................................................ 5 A. 1973: A Turning Point ................................................................................................ 5 B. 1980s and 1990s: Polarisation ................................................................................... 7 C. The Gaza Disengagement and its Aftermath ............................................................. 11 III. Settling the Land .............................................................................................................. 14 A. Bargaining with the State: The Kookists ................................................................... 15 B. Defying the State: The Hilltop Youth ........................................................................ 17 IV. From the Hills to the State ..............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Israel at 70
    Israel at 70 Israel as a Double Gift Dr. Ari Berman, President, Yeshiva University Our generation is blessed to witness the 70th birthday of the modern State of Israel. While the State of Israel is of profound importance to Jews everywhere, it holds unique resonance for us as religious Zionists, for it potentially signals the coming of a long-hoped-for redemption. Consequently, as we reflect upon the seven decades since Israel’s birth, it is useful to clarify the way in which a modern nation-state like Israel can herald redemption. Of the many foundational ideas that Biblical Israel has contributed to the history of civilization, perhaps the most ambitious is the concept of a collective redemption—the notion that not only should individuals strive for their ultimate betterment, but that society can and must move history forward together. Reflections on this theme are most concentrated in the Bible’s prophetic literature. Broadly speaking, one finds therein two contrasting models for what redemption entails, the first represented in the book of Ezekiel, the second in the book of Isaiah. Ezekiel, in chapter 37, envisions redemption as a project fundamentally benefitting the Jewish people. Although dispersed throughout the world, and oppressed throughout history, this paradigmatic minority will one day be revived. The climax of Ezekiel’s best known eschatological prophecy—his vision of the valley of the dry bones—is God’s promise to His people: “I will bring you back to the land of Israel” (37:12). For Ezekiel, the goal of the redemptive process is internally oriented. Isaiah, by contrast, consistently articulates a redemptive vision that encompasses all of humanity.
    [Show full text]
  • Yitzhar – a Case Study Settler Violence As a Vehicle for Taking Over Palestinian Land with State and Military Backing
    Yitzhar – A Case Study Settler violence as a vehicle for taking over Palestinian land with state and military backing August 2018 Yitzhar – A Case Study Settler violence as a vehicle for taking over Palestinian land with state and military backing Position paper, August 2018 Research and writing: Yonatan Kanonich Editing: Ziv Stahl Additional Editing: Lior Amihai, Miryam Wijler Legal advice: Atty. Michael Sfard, Atty. Ishai Shneidor Graphic design: Yuda Dery Studio English translation: Maya Johnston English editing: Shani Ganiel Yesh Din Public council: Adv. Abeer Baker, Hanna Barag, Dan Bavly, Prof. Naomi Chazan, Ruth Cheshin, Akiva Eldar, Prof. Rachel Elior, Dani Karavan, Adv. Yehudit Karp, Paul Kedar, Dr. Roy Peled, Prof. Uzy Smilansky, Joshua Sobol, Prof. Zeev Sternhell, Yair Rotlevy. Yesh Din Volunteers: Rachel Afek, Dahlia Amit, Maya Bailey, Hanna Barag, Michal Barak, Atty. Dr. Assnat Bartor, Osnat Ben-Shachar, Rochale Chayut, Beli Deutch, Dr. Yehudit Elkana, Rony Gilboa, Hana Gottlieb, Tami Gross, Chen Haklai, Dina Hecht, Niva Inbar, Daniel A. Kahn, Edna Kaldor, Nurit Karlin, Ruth Kedar, Lilach Klein Dolev, Dr. Joel Klemes, Bentzi Laor, Yoram Lehmann RIP, Judy Lots, Aryeh Magal, Sarah Marliss, Shmuel Nachmully RIP, Amir Pansky, Talia Pecker Berio, Nava Polak, Dr. Nura Resh, Yael Rokni, Maya Rothschild, Eddie Saar, Idit Schlesinger, Ilana Meki Shapira, Dr. Tzvia Shapira, Dr. Hadas Shintel, Ayala Sussmann, Sara Toledano. Yesh Din Staff: Firas Alami, Lior Amihai, Yudit Avidor, Maysoon Badawi, Hagai Benziman, Atty. Sophia Brodsky, Mourad Jadallah, Moneer Kadus, Yonatan Kanonich, Atty. Michal Pasovsky, Atty. Michael Sfard, Atty. Muhammed Shuqier, Ziv Stahl, Alex Vinokorov, Sharona Weiss, Miryam Wijler, Atty. Shlomy Zachary, Atty.
    [Show full text]
  • Sept. 30 Issue Final
    UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Tuesday September 30, 2003 Volume 50 Number 6 www.upenn.edu/almanac Two Endowed Chairs in Political Science Dr. Ian S. Lustick, professor of political director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study ternational Organization, and Journal of Inter- science, has been appointed to the Bess Hey- of Ethnopolitical Conflict. national Law and Politics. The author of five man Professorship. After earning his B.A. at A specialist in areas of comparative politics, books and monographs, he received the Amer- Brandeis University, Dr. Lustick completed international politics, organization theory, and ican Political Science Associationʼs J. David both his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Middle Eastern politics, Dr. Lustick is respon- Greenstone Award for the Best Book in Politics California, Berkeley. sible for developing the computational model- and History in 1995 for his Unsettled States, Dr. Lustick came to ing platform known as PS-I. This software pro- Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France Penn in 1991 following gram, which he created in collaboration with and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza. In 15 years on the Dart- Dr. Vladimir Dergachev, GEngʼ99, Grʼ00, al- addition to serving as a member of the Council mouth faculty. From lows social scientists to simulate political phe- on Foreign Relations, Dr. Lustick is the former 1997 to 2000, he served nomena in an effort to apply agent-based model- president of the Politics and History Section of as chair of the depart- ing to public policy problems. His current work the American Political Science Association and ment of political sci- includes research on rights of return in Zionism of the Association for Israel Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13864-3 — the Israeli Settler Movement Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler , Cas Mudde Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13864-3 — The Israeli Settler Movement Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler , Cas Mudde Index More Information Index 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the, 2 Ariel, Uri, 76, 116 1949 Armistice Agreements, the, 2 Arutz Sheva, 120–121, 154, 205 1956 Sinai campaign, the, 60 Ashkenazi, 42, 64, 200 1979 peace agreement, the, 57 Association for Retired People, 23 Australia, 138 Abrams, Eliott, 59 Aviner, Shlomo, 65, 115, 212 Academic Council for National, the. See Professors for a Strong Israel B’Sheva, 120 action B’Tselem, 36, 122 connective, 26 Barak, Ehud, 50–51, 95, 98, 147, 235 extreme, 16 Bar-Ilan University, 50, 187 radical, 16 Bar-Siman-Tov, Yaacov, 194, 216 tactical, 34 Bat Ayin Underground, the, 159 activism BDS. See Boycott, Divestment and moderate, 15–16 Sanctions transnational, 30–31 Begin, Manahem, 47, 48, 118–119, Adelson, Sheldon, 179, 190 157, 172 Airbnb, 136 Beit El, 105 Al Aqsa Mosque, the, 146 Beit HaArava, 45 Al-Aqsa Intifada. See the Second Intifada Beitar Illit, 67, 70, 99 Alfei Menashe, 100 Beitar Ironi Ariel, 170 Allon, Yigal, 45–46 Belafonte, Harry, 14 Alon Shvut, 88, 190 Ben Ari, Michael, 184 Aloni, Shulamit, 182 Bendaña, Alejandro, 24 Altshuler, Amos, 189 Ben-Gurion, David, 46 Amana, 76–77, 89, 113, 148, 153–154, 201 Ben-Gvir, Itamar, 184 American Friends of Ariel, 179–180 Benn, Menachem, 164 American Studies Association, 136 Bennett, Naftali, 76, 116, 140, 148, Amnesty International, 24 153, 190 Amona, 79, 83, 153, 157, 162, 250, Benvenisti, Meron, 1 251 Ben-Zimra, Gadi, 205 Amrousi, Emily, 67, 84 Ben-Zion,
    [Show full text]
  • Israel and the Occupied Territories 2015 Human Rights Report
    ISRAEL 2015 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Although it has no constitution, the parliament, the unicameral 120-member Knesset, has enacted a series of “Basic Laws” that enumerate fundamental rights. Certain fundamental laws, orders, and regulations legally depend on the existence of a “state of emergency,” which has been in effect since 1948. Under the Basic Laws, the Knesset has the power to dissolve the government and mandate elections. The nationwide Knesset elections in March, considered free and fair, resulted in a coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security services. (An annex to this report covers human rights in the occupied territories. This report deals with human rights in Israel and the Israeli- occupied Golan Heights.) During the year according to Israeli Security Agency (ISA, also known as Shabak) statistics, Palestinians committed 47 terror attacks (including stabbings, assaults, shootings, projectile and rocket attacks, and attacks by improvised explosive devices (IED) within the Green Line that led to the deaths of five Israelis and one Eritrean, and two stabbing terror attacks committed by Jewish Israelis within the Green Line and not including Jerusalem. According to the ISA, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militant groups fired 22 rockets into Israel and in 11 other incidents either planted IEDs or carried out shooting or projectile attacks into Israel and the Golan Heights. Further
    [Show full text]
  • State of the //ART// of the State
    State of the //ART// of the State A Political Economy of Assisted Reproduction in Palestine/Israel Sigrid Vertommen Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Political and Social Sciences, option Political Sciences. Middle East and North Africa Research Group - Department of Conflict and Development Studies, Ghent University March 2017 Supervisor: Prof. dr. Sami Zemni Cover design by Aïlien Reyns TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................ v Samenvatting ..................................................................................................................................................................... vi List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................................... xi Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 State of the ART ............................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Session of the Zionist General Council
    SESSION OF THE ZIONIST GENERAL COUNCIL THIRD SESSION AFTER THE 26TH ZIONIST CONGRESS JERUSALEM JANUARY 8-15, 1967 Addresses,; Debates, Resolutions Published by the ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT OF THE ZIONIST EXECUTIVE JERUSALEM AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE n Library י»B I 3 u s t SESSION OF THE ZIONIST GENERAL COUNCIL THIRD SESSION AFTER THE 26TH ZIONIST CONGRESS JERUSALEM JANUARY 8-15, 1966 Addresses, Debates, Resolutions Published by the ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT OF THE ZIONIST EXECUTIVE JERUSALEM iii THE THIRD SESSION of the Zionist General Council after the Twenty-sixth Zionist Congress was held in Jerusalem on 8-15 January, 1967. The inaugural meeting was held in the Binyanei Ha'umah in the presence of the President of the State and Mrs. Shazar, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, Cabinet Ministers, the Chief Justice, Judges of the Supreme Court, the State Comptroller, visitors from abroad, public dignitaries and a large and representative gathering which filled the entire hall. The meeting was opened by Mr. Jacob Tsur, Chair- man of the Zionist General Council, who paid homage to Israel's Nobel Prize Laureate, the writer S.Y, Agnon, and read the message Mr. Agnon had sent to the gathering. Mr. Tsur also congratulated the poetess and writer, Nellie Zaks. The speaker then went on to discuss the gravity of the time for both the State of Israel and the Zionist Move- ment, and called upon citizens in this country and Zionists throughout the world to stand shoulder to shoulder to over- come the crisis. Professor Andre Chouraqui, Deputy Mayor of the City of Jerusalem, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the City.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Ultra-Orthodox Political Parties in Israeli Democracy
    Luke Howson University of Liverpool The Role of Ultra-Orthodox Political Parties in Israeli Democracy Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy By Luke Howson July 2014 Committee: Clive Jones, BA (Hons) MA, PhD Prof Jon Tonge, PhD 1 Luke Howson University of Liverpool © 2014 Luke Howson All Rights Reserved 2 Luke Howson University of Liverpool Abstract This thesis focuses on the role of ultra-orthodox party Shas within the Israeli state as a means to explore wider themes and divisions in Israeli society. Without underestimating the significance of security and conflict within the structure of the Israeli state, in this thesis the Arab–Jewish relationship is viewed as just one important cleavage within the Israeli state. Instead of focusing on this single cleavage, this thesis explores the complex structure of cleavages at the heart of the Israeli political system. It introduces the concept of a ‘cleavage pyramid’, whereby divisions are of different saliency to different groups. At the top of the pyramid is division between Arabs and Jews, but one rung down from this are the intra-Jewish divisions, be they religious, ethnic or political in nature. In the case of Shas, the religious and ethnic elements are the most salient. The secular–religious divide is a key fault line in Israel and one in which ultra-orthodox parties like Shas are at the forefront. They and their politically secular counterparts form a key division in Israel, and an exploration of Shas is an insightful means of exploring this division further, its history and causes, and how these groups interact politically.
    [Show full text]