Université Charles De Gaulle Lille 3 (Lille, France) Uniwersytet Wrocławski (Wroclaw, Pologne) Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar, Sénégal) RELATIONS BETWEEN ARAB AND JEWISH STUDENTS A case study at the University of Haifa during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict MASTER 2 ERASMUS MUNDUS MITRA MEDIATION INTERCULTURELLE: IDENTITES, MOBILITES, CONFLITS BY: SUPERVISED BY: Tiphaine Guignat Patrick Picouet Ouzi Elyada Marcelina Zuber June 2015 Declaration The author hereby declares that, except where duly acknowledged, this thesis is entirely her own work and has not been submitted for any degree in University Charles De Gaulle Lille 3, University Wroclaw, University Cheikh Anta Diop or in any other University in France, Poland or Senegal. Signature 2 Table of Contents: Table of tables ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Table of figures ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter I: One country, two populations ................................................................ 13 A. Creation of minority-majority relations ..................................................................... 14 1. The Jewishness of the new Israeli state .................................................................................. 14 2. The Arab Israelis: a non-Jewish minority .............................................................................. 16 B. The Israelis: innergroup differences ............................................................................ 20 1. Jewish ethnicities: a multicultural Jewish society .............................................................. 20 2. The Arab Israelis: a dual identity .............................................................................................. 24 C. Common citizenship, distinct nationalities ................................................................ 28 1. Two different statuses within the Israeli state .................................................................... 28 2. Two national memories ................................................................................................................. 31 Chapter II: Daily interactions at the University of Haifa ................................... 37 A. Haifa: a mixed city in Israel? ........................................................................................... 37 1. Coexistence in Israel ....................................................................................................................... 37 2. Haifa: between coexistence and segregation ....................................................................... 42 B. The spatio-temporal context: inter-student relations, in time of conflict ....... 46 1. University: a space for intergroup contact ............................................................................ 46 2. Influence of the conflict on the daily life in Haifa ............................................................... 48 C. An ethnographic methodology, in and outside the university ............................ 52 1. Student semi-structured interviews ........................................................................................ 52 2. Casual and formal ethnographic fieldwork outside the university ............................ 58 Chapter III: Relations between Arab and Jewish students at the University of Haifa ............................................................................................................................... 62 A. Two distinct groups, different degrees of sociability ............................................. 63 1. “How do you consider yourself in Israel?” ............................................................................ 63 2. “You don’t become friend with someone in the street, like that” (Yonit) ................ 67 B. Relations at the university ............................................................................................... 72 1. “I don’t have any close Arab friends but I do have kind of friends.” (Ilan) .............. 72 2. “We don’t have many things in common” (Tal) .................................................................. 78 3 C. The situation above all differences ................................................................................ 86 1. “We are speaking the same language, culturally and literally” (Reema) ................. 86 2. “It is very hard to make any relation with the conflict over our heads” (Mary) ... 90 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................ 99 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................................................... 104 Annex .................................................................................................................................................................................... 108 4 Table of tables Table 1: Arab population per district ........................................................................... 19 Table 2: Interview setting with the Arab and Jewish students ..................................... 54 Table 3: Interview guide .............................................................................................. 55 Table 4: Jewish students’ self-categorization .............................................................. 63 Table 5: Arab students’ self-categorization ................................................................. 65 Table 6: Jewish students’ background ......................................................................... 69 Table 7: Arab students’ background ............................................................................ 70 Table 8: Jewish students at the university .................................................................... 73 Table 9: Arab students at the university ...................................................................... 73 Table of Figures Map 1: Arab Israelis in Israel ....................................................................................... 19 Map 2: University of Haifa .......................................................................................... 75 5 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thanks my three supervisors, Patrick Picouet, Marcelina Zuber and Ouzi Elyada, who followed my research from the conception to the final writing, while bringing essential comments and advice. In addition, this work would not have been possible without the commitment and support of the Israelis, Palestinians and others, who helped me to conduct the fieldwork in a particularly tense context. Finally, I am grateful to all the persons who stood beside me through the whole working process of this study on a daily basis. I include here the students I met thanks to the MITRA master, in France, Poland and Senegal. Moreover, I am thankful to my family and my dearest friends, they encouraged me to question myself and to keep going further. 6 Abstract Arab Israelis compose almost one quarter of the population in Israel. They represent the largest non-Jewish minority, in a Jewish state where Judaism is considered as a nationality and not only a religion. Arab Israelis generally differentiate themselves from the majority by their distinct language, religions, schools, areas of living, interpretation of the past and perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several studies approach the issue of relations between the Arab and the Jewish citizens, with one common conclusion: in general, the contacts are limited. This dissertation focuses on the students of the University of Haifa, one of the mixed cities in Israel. This research aims to analyze the way a selected number of Arab and Jewish students perceive intergroup relations at the university and outside of it. According to the perceptions of the interviewees, there exists a clear separation between the Arab and the Jewish groups, even more in time of conflict, as during the summer 2014. Keywords: Israel, Arab Israelis, intergroup relations, stereotypes, cultural identities, Palestinian-Israeli conflict Résumé: Les Arabes Israéliens composent presque un quart de la population en Israël. Ils représentent la plus importante minorité non juive, au sein d’un Etat où le judaïsme est considéré comme une nationalité et pas seulement une religion. Les Israéliens Arabes se différencient de la majorité au niveau du langage, de la religion, des écoles, des lieux de vie, de leurs interprétations du passé et de leurs perceptions concernant le conflit Israélo-Palestinien. Différentes études se sont penchées sur les relations entre