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Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism Among Arabs in Israel Author(S): Oren Yiftachel Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol

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Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism Among Arabs in Israel Author(S): Oren Yiftachel Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol The Political Geography of Ethnic Protest: Nationalism, Deprivation and Regionalism among Arabs in Israel Author(s): Oren Yiftachel Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 1 (1997), pp. 91-110 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623053 Accessed: 19/04/2010 02:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. 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Blackwell Publishing and The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. http://www.jstor.org 91 The political geography of ethnic protest: nationalism, deprivation and regionalism among Arabs in Israel Oren Yiftachel Past research on protest and conflict among 'homeland' ethnic minorities has concentrated mainly on ethno-national and socio-economic deprivation and has focused only rarely on the influence of politico-geographical factors such as planning policies, ethnic geography, the human reconstruction of social and political space, and the emergence of ethnic regionalism. This paper shows that Arab protest in the Galilee has been influenced by the former set of causes as well as by the region's evolving ethnic geography and by Israel's discriminatory planning policies. The combination of these factors and the continuing (social, cultural and political) reconstruction of Arab space as 'Israel' are spawning Arab regionalism on both state-wide and regional-specific levels. Arab regional protest is focused on national, deprivation and regional land issues, and on recent Arab calls and actions for increased ethnic autonomy which have taken concrete-territorial form in Arab places and regions. These phenomena represent the foundation of a new Arab-Palestinian collective identity in Israel. key words ethnic protest ethnic regionalism spatial policy Israel Arab-Jewish relations Palestinians Departmentof Geographyand EnvironmentalDevelopment, Negev Centrefor RegionalDevelopment, Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev, BeerSheva, Israel84105 revised manuscript received 2 November 1995 Introduction This paper aims to make a geographical contri- bution to the study of ethnic protest and minority Ethnic minorities around the world have recently self-assertion. It begins with a theoretical discus- increased their political self-assertion, thereby sion on the causes of ethnic protest in general and generating a wave of research into the causes and on the impact of geographical factors on the devel- consequences of ethnic protest and conflict (see opment of that protest in particular. It then docu- Gurr 1993; Horowitz 1985; Lichbach 1989). The ments, analyses and interprets the evolution of voluminous work on the subject has, however, protest staged by the Palestinian-Arab minority in focused mainly on political and socio-economic the Galilee region, paying particular attention to and aspects, touched only sporadically on the the impact of spatial planning policies and the influence of geographical factors such as spatial region's ethnic geography. The Arabs in the Galilee state and the policies dynamics of ethnic geogra- constitute a 'homeland' regional minority within a A void exists in phy. particular studies of the links unitary 'ethnic (Jewish) state'. As such, the findings between the social and political construction and and analysis may be widely relevant and com- reconstruction of ethnic geography, and the evolu- parable to a large number of regional ethnic tion of ethno-political relations (for a notable minorities within similar politico-geographical exception, see Jackson and Penrose 1993). circumstances. Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 22 91-110 1997 ISSN 0020-2754 ? Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) 1996 92 Oren Yiftachel Key: 0 Arab town > 20 000 Regional service centre 0 Arab settlement > 5000 Industrialestate 0 Arab settlement < 5000 Major road o Jewish rural settlement (pre 1978) Boundary of Misgav Council Jewish settlement (post 1978) International border 01 23 DII Jewish development town . 45kmI Figure 1 Arab and Jewish settlements in the Galilee, 1993 The Galilee region was chosen as a case study the 'Arabs in Israel' and the 'Palestinians in Israel' because it forms the main regional concentration of are terms referring to the same group (with Palestinian-Arab citizens in the biethnic state of 'Arabs' being generally used in the paper in order Israel. In 1994, the region accommodated some to be unequivocally inclusive of sub-groups 415000 Arabs, who formed 78 per cent of the such as the Druze and the Bedouins). The 'state' is region's population (Fig. 1). The Israeli govern- the sovereign body over a given territory, forming ment has attempted continuously to counter the a network of institutions and authorities which Arab character of the region by increasing the formulate and implement public policies. 'Plan- region's Jewish population. Thus the study of ning (or spatial) policy' is the combination of Arab protest in the Galilee addresses the dynamic state activity and regulation dealing with all relations between public policy, ethnic regional land-use changes, including settlement, develop- geography and political mobilization. ment, infrastructure and building matters. It The term 'minority' is used in this paper inter- is, of course, acknowledged that all categories changeably with 'ethnic minority', denoting a and definitions used in this paper are socially culturally distinct group of people, united by a constructed and that their use reflects my own belief in a common past (Smith 1992). Likewise, biases. The political geography of ethnic protest 93 Explaining ethnic protest often driven by a multitude of fluctuating causes in particular times and places. Public protest is a declaration of disagreement, dissent, objection and unwillingness to comply Relative ethnic nationalism and (Lofland 1985). On a political level, it is one of the deprivation, ethnic most commonly used vehicles of change in a regionalism democratic society, ranging from rhetoric to illegal action and violence (Hermann 1995). Minority pro- The relative deprivation approach claims that test is defined here as the combination of all persisting gaps and disparities between minority anti-government and anti-majority acts of demon- and majority create increasing tension between stration, dissent and violence staged by a minority the groups, born out of a 'frustration-aggression group (Gurr 1993). Clearly, a large part of societal nexus' (Gurr and Lichbach 1986, 3). Ethnic conflicts protest rhetoric and activity is a legitimate ingredi- often revolve around the distribution of national ent of the 'tug and push game of democratic policy resources. Ethnicity is perceived as instrumental, making' (Lindblom 1973, 154). However, in forming an effective core around which to mobilize bi-ethnic (or multi-ethnic) democracies like Israel, support for civil struggles (see Glazer 1983; Gurr protests staged by an ethnic minority against the 1970; Horowitz 1985). Accordingly, protest will be government have been used as an early indicator staged mainly against issues of socio-economic of potential political instability (Gurr and Lichbach deprivation and will not generally challenge the 1986; Lane and Ersson 1991). This is illustrated by prevailing structure and character of the state. the examples of Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka In situations of perceived relative deprivation, where outbreaks of inter-ethnic violence were pre- the state becomes a key target for minority protest. ceded by lengthy periods of minority demonstra- Given the assumed link between socio-economic tions and protest (Douglas 1983; Manogaran 1987). deprivation and public policies, protest against The study of protest is thus of critical importance ethnic deprivation may frequently form a reaction for students of ethnic relations and for public to public policies in general and the distribution of policy-makers. public resources in particular. In that context Gurr Most commentators agree that collective ethnic (1993), in the most comprehensive study to date on protest constitutes a stage in the political mobiliz- global patterns of minority protest, finds a direct ation of deprived ethnic minorities, reflecting a link between state policy, ethnic deprivation and challenge to the existing
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