CEU eTD Collection The effects of Israeli-Palestinian dialoguemeetings on In partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in Gender Studies. in Gender ofArts ofMaster degree forthe In partialfulfillment the self-conception of Sephardic women in Israel interms of identity and gender Department ofGenderStudies Supervisor: Professor Andrea Pet Central European University Central Moran Chen Budapest, 2010 Budapest, Submitted to By Ę CEU eTD Collection a genuine Israeli-Palestinian discourse. Israeli-Palestinian a genuine reach to analternative way constitute could patterns cultural common what extent these to and questions population Jewish Sephardic andlinks the betweenthePalestinian cultural possible analysis project The feminism. and post-colonialism as such fields theoretical on extensively elaborates thesis The women. Jewish of Sephardic patterns identification the on meetings dialogue Israeli-Palestinian of influence the with deals thesis present The Abstract CEU eTD Collection ilorpy...... i ...... Bibliography 49 ...... Appendix 47 ...... Conclusions 26 Findings...... The Sephardic 20 Identity- Post- colonial ...... thought Alternative Understandings of 14 the Feminist Discourse...... 9 Methodological Chapter...... Dialogue Meetings in the framework of the Israeli 4 Palestinian conflict...... 1 ...... Introduction The identity The identity of Sephardic Jewsin identities hybrid in Israel, setting26 a post-colonialist 22 post- colonialist ...... Understanding cultural-politicalthe lensthe in position of trough and Palestine Israel 12 ...... Sample 6 The seminar ‘Breaking ...... barriers’ CEU eTD Collection CEU eTD Collection today today in thatanswerdefinitions only complicated the partially to reality surrounds that us. meetings. Thus I would like to inquire this identity system inwhich my view, is 'caged' dialogue today from whichisconducted concerning discourse differentthe essentially is meeting in these my place Iraq, from isoriginally family whose Africa), North and East Middle inthe roots has that in Israel communities Jewish (Sephardim- woman, Sephardic As a meetings. in these identity' of 'fabric the of approach a complex me to brought inin in the conflict Sephardic Israelinparticular; women general, aboutthe and and meetings,those from very the beginning, raised many aboutwomen’squestions position initiativeindependent of a small numberyouth of from sides’.‘both My in experience in an and organizations feminist in is activity My women. Israeli and Palestinian between dialoguemeetings facilitate andlater to participate fewlastyearsIn the to Icontinued identifyingmy with, personal experience. speak about to not to comprehend, analyze and place no to was there Therefore, experience. my from differently entirely group in the Israelis other by perceived piecewere of Palestinian the traits cultural the that believe I homes. of their customs These without any women acted ininhibitions, presented mostthe natural way the mefulfilled shame with outside myhome, suddenlyappearedand aswarm legitimate. that before which acting, of way familiar A stage. the on acting ants my and mother stunned by of behavior the Palestinians,the whichwas likesee my to mygrandmother, at andlooked there, Palestinianthe inwomen, whoparticipated production,the Iwas and wedding ceremony and themeeting between the families of the groom and the bride. I sat Germany,not farfrom inKöln, 2005.The their Palestinians presented traditional Palestinian youth,is an evening of Palestinian the whichcultural event, placetook in with encounter first my from have I that remembrances dominant most the of One Introduction 1 CEU eTD Collection context than the dialogue meetings themselves. Though, I do intend to grant the necessary grant the intenddo to I Though, themselves. meetings thedialogue than context amuchmy whichreferwell broader upon crucial touches to aware that questions, project separation in'national- termsof sides, among ethnical' the two seemingly in I'm conflict. itfields. will Finally,perhaps achange inthepresumption enable conventional the of which isnot heard usuallyin conflict'sframe,neither the in nor in academicthe practical women, view of Sephardic of point and voice hearing the for for my part, importance, large is a there addition, In side. Palestinian the with meetings in the identities Sephardic The andinteresting question canbring onthenatureanalysis of acomplex of look the inand be could meetings? these respected thisidentity of identity it so that howcan and wouldand berespected we change gender, which dialoguein ofSephardicwomen inIsrael self the meetings conception effect terms in understandingand clarifyingmy If so, whatarethe meansquestion). in waysand the deal with this terminology/ definition of Sephardim in the Israeli society as a key conceptcultural and ethnic self-conception of Sephardic women. (In framework of the paper I will influence onthe meetings Israeli dialogue is: Palestinian- whether My researchquestion identity. static one of model a is more identity complex than is becauseaperson's this problematic according theory, to correctin isnot my view. which The meeting,is formed asitcategorization today identities to static and perception of to leads necessarily, approach This identity politics' which needs torecognize this difference fromand here, reachto a to more equal position. identities, national two between an encounter as meeting seesthe approach working the that reveals 'Neve-Shalom' in meetings dialogue such of An examination coordinators. question examine is to the goalsmeetings of these whichareset bythemeetings' Palestinians, and extentthe on its of influence onthe reality.answer way One to to this meetings between of Many areIsraelisand the outcomes dialogue on wondering 2 CEU eTD Collection for their immediate readiness to contribute to my research, and for who they for whothey my are. and to contribute to research, readiness immediate for their I wouldlike tothank the women were interviewedwho in of framework the this thesis, change. social and rights human values for in Israel stand social for inme, heracademic and for herbelief and in Jerusalem, from HebrewUniversity the Prof. Golan,my Daphna to deepacknowledgmentmy express Iwouldfor to project. like in the CEU, her asfor aswell comments Dr.Meghan for Simpson and input herprecious I would like to thank Prof. Andrea Pet by call motivated for change. desperate the environment of its deservedmine: approach of and context voicemy position, a more subjective personal much. The frame for in view,isenables aradical us work my change, needed which socio-cultural to very of Genderperspective feminist the that I believe Furthermore, self-explanatory. a certain extant, to Studiesis, women Sephardic with dealing work present the of reason the therefore and experience allowed me bymy is influenced my personal interest essentially foremost, and First reasons. academic to provide of anumber for of Studies framework Gender in the out carried research was the The present feministdiscourse. theoreticaland feminist theories and sociology of identities regarding the "Sephardic" Jewish meetingsrealms: research whichwasdevelopedin on dialogue since thenineties; Israel main in three writing in academic assisted be Iwill myresearch of framework the In East. well as to conceive it influenceas the formulationa andkey the position of Sephardicmatter Jewish identity inside Israel, as in termsof the 'place' of Sephardic Jews inof the Palestinian- Israeli theconflict. However, my wish is to analysis existence overall an make to strive not do I issue, the on literature existing the of ofanalysis Israel in the Middle Ę for the caring guidance and assistance in my work 3 CEU eTD Collection peace"], in peace"], leshalom" [Consciousness,Identity Challengingand the Reality- work approach the in theschool for 1 which have be to the ground of a useful meeting. According tothis approach, in only the relations and 'inter-group' participants the of identification the collective emphasis on the exactly it's that claims approach group' 'inter- the hand, other the On relationships. lack of knowledge of each group regarding the other, and personal connections can fix the from the derive people between is thatconflicts Theassumption andstereotypes. hate reduces belonging, group their from apart basis, apersonal on them between interactions we bring people sidessit from of various the to together conflictandthe creating meeting.mereassumesfact first approach thatthe that 'inter-group' approach' the to The dynamics inThe moves inconflict second approach group range from on the 'touch the participants as representativesthe of lesstheir groups, on a psychological ground. bridgebetweenfor groups; is ways goals to and the onseeing of emphasis the two the the between twogroups has in roots reality,the the and wayfor solvingit requires searching On the other hand, in workshops for 'conflict resolution' the assumption is that the conflict issues andmutual to participants, the between margins. 'pushing' conflictingthe the issues meetings;in the andexperience the of aspects thepsychological the on largely is goal focus the relations' of the meetings, accordingrelations' workshops to 'conflict resolution' workshops.to In workshopsthis of 'interpersonal approach, moves 'interpersonal on Theapproach first rangethe conflict. between Israeli-Palestinian is the emphasis Thereon are two main approachesconflict to meetings Palestinian the Israeli of framework inthe Meetings Dialogue between groups in the framework of the Rabach Halabi and Nava Zoneshein "Todaa, Zehut, veitgur hametziut, gishat ha'avoda be'beit hasefer be'beit ha'avoda gishat hametziut, veitgur Zehut, "Todaa, Zoneshein Nava and Halabi Rabach Dialogue between Identities , ed. Rabach halabi (Tel- Aviv: Ha Kibbutz Ha'Mehuad, 2000), 16. 2000), Ha'Mehuad, Kibbutz Ha Aviv: (Tel- halabi Rabach ed. , 4 1 CEU eTD Collection 4 3 2 participants. same the to belonging patterns, identification additional of respect suggestprojecta slightlylike Iwould alternative to which the attitude would enable present of the of conclusions the framework In the identity. static one based on a model is more identity complex than is becauseaperson's this problematic according theory, to in isnotcorrect my isa categorization The meeting, asitwhich view. to today, formed astatic This leadsnecessarily identity of to identitiesapproach and politics of perception position. more balanced reacha from andhere, to difference this recognize need to that identities national two between encounter as an meeting the sees which Shalom, of Neve- to that is similar 'Breaking-barriers' of The work-approach a'noise'". as interactions and wetreat these target, of areout interactions between the participants, since people sitin the group and talk. As far as we concern these interactions personal many are "there that explain They entity. essential an as group the facilitators in the group is that this meeting is between two national identities and they see identities." two groups, tonations,identitiesitleads a dialogue twobetween two and between these to is meeting "the that is participants, the to transmitted is which massage, The identities. Therefore the goal beof meetingthe can achieved onlyby sharpening these two individuals. between identities andnot national between people,two between two conflict isa and Palestinians Israelis between conflict the that itis understanding for the reason interaction. 'group-ness'focuses The It andinter- group approach. strengtheningon the of secondthe is to a model has closer which developed andIsraelis, between Palestinians whichmeetings institute, isorganizes aneducation Neve-peace) of (Oasis Shalom from meetingexperience the in reality. the of implantations personal the for to is an option meetings there 'inter-group' case of Ibid, Ibid Ibid, , 17 19 20 3 One of the basic principles which lead the interventions of the of interventions the lead which principles basic the of One 2 5 4 CEU eTD Collection which "occupied us and about the reality we live in". This is from the basis point that says that point basis the from is This in". live we reality the about and us "occupied which issues about enableanopen discussion fromand to environment conflict the region of the in meet, a distant youth to Palestinian and enable is Israeli to goal seminar the the of is is future explained that participant, to the which given In thebrochure seminar, of the take an active part in the workshops or in the facilitation of the seminaritself. Palestinian conflict. It is important to mention, that the members of the committee do not involvedbeinits more of Israeli- desire the support 'Breaking Barriers" out to decided to by private donors from Germany and from all over Europe to whose heart the issue of human rights is close. is of is: address website The rights its ofhuman issue the heart whose to Europe over all from and Germany from donors private by 5 Democracy". and Basic Rights for "TheCommittee organization German from the support economic 'Breaking Barriers' Barriers". is not an NGO or a official Since and 2005I'mpartof facilitators the ofseminars"Breaking the organizers of organization. Atin them. the moment it gets itssummer, and 600people some from all Israel around and the WestBankhave participated inamutual participating place seminars two now, Until team. took in every Germany youth of as a cooperation the of result place takes initiative the later, Today, nineyears them. for opportunity to meet and to hear the one, which so far, wascame to a the ideastranger of this initiative, and whose evengoal is to providean enemy to youth from both sides an of it.Meetingan international they delegation established inthe framework Jerusalem, Keren, ayoung Israeli from woman andTel-Aviv,young Rami, Palestinian from a 'Breaking is Barriers' an independentinitiative which is active from yearthe of 2001. The seminar‘Breakingbarriers’ The Committee forBasic Rights and Democracy is a Non- Governmental Organizationwhich is supported 5 The committee focuses on work with children from the Balkans, and has www.grundrechtekomitee.de 6 CEU eTD Collection most of of mostspeak Israelisthe language. others' the don't andthe Palestinians use not only English but Arabic and Hebrew as well. In addition, there is translation since comfortable from them to is speak the language languagemore the choose that or freedom they havewant to to use. the It is common participants the that mention to thatimportant is it seminar the of duringlanguage the Regarding the workshops the participants‘the other side’ expectations,fears andtodiscuss andacquaintance from about with meeting wishes the for andIsraelis alone) (Palestinians before meet seminarseparately the The group Palestinian and one Israeli. one facilitators: two has group Each half. and half Israelis, and Palestinians men, The in work is seminarthe in carried out mixed groups fourteen of or sixteen women and involved in formal political frameworks and they have, naturally, the readiness to meet. Israel, all from Israelis and Palestinians men, the and women young to designed is seminar The West bank andgoal. East Jerusalempicture only. of itsfriendships seminarthe If out arecreated goodbutthisis main notthe in their know another we donothave sideof wewill liveinto opportunity the apartial truth, the twenties,face and faceto meetnot side" "other the isdo till that we approach initiative's from. The who arehonest and will notfit the emotionsnot of the participants and the places that they are coming necessarily issuesbeavoiding bypassing "conflict"sincewebelieve the that the will core benot or give listen anopportunity to and totalk. The discussionsdirectly touch issueupon the of to is goal The communication. sincere and open allow not does meeting a such Palestine, in in Israel or place takes suchameeting When sides. the between two game power the inthat is hardly this reality there a a possibility to meeting of is itthis kind, part unless of 7 CEU eTD Collection cultural cultural evening is which goal to present other the itsside ownculture. Palestinianorganizes a the andthe Israeli, each group, In addition,seminar, the during a uni-national environment. frame for working and theissues processing which arebrought upin but workshops the in isalsoa which well, place as meetings take seminar uni-national theentire Throughout in in are discussed.and present past etc., the the occupation the conflict, whichconstitute andissues variousthe aspects In thethirdpart as a central event in the history of the two nations. narrative of and Palestinians the includes the Israelis. This part around 1948 a discussion historical and identity collective the with deals days, three next the part, second The home. backat stress from the vacation wanted Israelis the and example, for check- points, weeks without two and to have some rest from the asincerecreate dialogue to each other, know get‘daily to same things:to wishthe participants life’. The Palestinians both years the group, Palestiniansthe that onecanobserve Israelis.From previous and explained that they wanted family stories. During this part there is also aplace for expressing expectations mostof of the group about the reality in Palestine and in Israel, as well as a place to tell personal and is inside This apretty personal between participants acquaintance the depth acquaintance. first three days andin its framework isthere an ‘ice breaking’ activity and activities of The seminar is two weeks long and it has three main parts. The first part takes place in the oftheseminar: The structure 8 CEU eTD Collection Qualitative Materials, 9 8 From Social Activism to Academic Discourse 7 Sage, 2003), 12-14. Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, 6 ones. allows dealing with social issuesparadigm as gender, this race, of class, emotionsform and life experiences as politicalcritical The paradigm. feminist the is paradigm theoretical method In my myhave chosen andin framework, research I qualitative the this Chapter Methodological happens in the case of method. happens quantitativeinthe caseof the frequently as hand, researcher's the in placed totally not is not, is what and relevant is define what to power the tool this of case the In interviewee. the and researcher between the relationship equal a relatively sincetheyenable advantage significant The methodological tool I'm that going use to is in-depthinterviews, which have a interviewees. lived of experience the theanalysis the analyticalthe whichallows of background with ancestry.Sephardic is Theanalysis description of descriptiveinterpretive and thick I assistedby analyticalthe method casestudy andIwill focus interviews on of 10 women andseeking causesof intelligence; the oppression" research in ways valuing people; empower that honoring experiential knowledge; female doing research; do women having them; on than rather people with research "doing "Breaking Barriers"- aninitiativein and of youth-Palestinian Israeli in past Germany the The interviewees arewomen in participated meetings by organized who dialogue similar concern, but in can be solved by a free and less constructed way of the interview. Andrea Fontana, and James H. Frey, “Interviewing, The Art of Science” ", in Shulamit Reinharz, "The Principle of Feminist Research, a Matter of Debate," in in Research", of Qualitative Field the Entering "Introduction. Lincoln, S. Yvonna and Denzin K. Norman Norman K.Denzin 6 As the researcher, Shulamit Reinhart emphasizes, the feminist paradigm enables 8 , Interpretative Interactionism ed. Norman Denzin K. and Lincoln Yvonna S. (London: Sage, 2003), 63-66. , ed. EllenMesser- Davidow (Duke University, 2002), 426. ed. Norman Denzin K. and Lincoln Yvonna S. (London: (London: Sage, 2001),113-114 9 9 7 In the case of interviews there is a Collecting and Interpreting , Disciplining Feminism. . CEU eTD Collection clarify that the answers to the research question are not necessarily valued as positive or valued aspositive necessarily not are research question the answersto the clarify that these difficulties, is first to explain the concept of thethat research it and inwill addition suitto that, to to my interest, they andthink believe butwould alsoadd maybeor even change in their answers order to my research question. way according tothe interview only duringanswer the questions won't the interviewees One possible way and the thanothers, would be'more' specificwelcome to that This biasmeansalso opinions cope with as intervieweran might occur; in wordingthe of questions and the language use. I that bias of aproblem perhaps me, to close is issue this Since - dilemmas ethical Concerning questions: The is follows: as plan interview The relevant. not are seminar the about impressions general thesis present the of purpose the for specifically- identifications self their on seminar the of influence meaningful and focus onthestrong interview to inorder structure use asemi to I prefer self- conception their on Palestinians the with meetings the of effect the understand to like would I Since in place Israel. took interviews long Theone-hour meetings. these sinceI'vefacilitated years. acquaintance wehave three previous Therefore 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Describe your feelingduring cultural the of Israeli the evening group Describe your feeling during the cultural evening of Israeli the group. your Tell relation about participantsthe with of Palestinianthe group. disagreements? your Tell relationabout of youwith Did participants havethe Israeligroup. the in? youthat participated Could andpointof view you tell yourabout experience in dialoguethe meeting Couldyou tell yourself?generally about 10 CEU eTD Collection understanding of understandingand of its conflictthe probable solution. which leadadifferentandcan meaningful and to and discourse alternative to is anditin becomes claim identity stronger, the ethnical that meetings dialogue a move my strengthen to able be will I women Sephardic with interviews on Based situation. lens, and itisimportant tome tounderstand actually their subjective understanding of the me,understand howthey to theirmeaningful see thereality asresearcher, to own through questions that it wouldnegative fit the research and thereforequestion. Finally they to explain,do not havethat above to feelall it isin any sense obligated to answer the 11 CEU eTD Collection from. votingthere aretraditional Meaning, that wing patterns orientation,right an arrive they context socio-cultural the of views political the with congruent today, till extent a decisive is to and was, conflict Israeli-Palestinian the of interpretation political They did not havePalestinians in kind this frame of and participating in a dialogue meeting of this kind. any meeting time first political their was this them of all for that mention to important is It ancestry. awarenesstwenty on the Sephardicto thirty of ages the between are women ten the of all details: biographical their of In terms criticalyears this limited amount of Sephardic in participants seminars. the old. discourse. They to leaded community Sephardic the from meeting of kind livethis of distance basicsocial the Their in Israelof leftist NGOs in Israel,and which Sephardic women, generally,their are not exposed to. Second, and participants the connection is netof previous mainly social the It through published parents are is means, result theof existence made. bywhich of about publication the seminars the the from SephardicIsraelis). The absence abovethe part of time in period only women 14 Sephardic seminars took of (out the 160 of these women from in since instance.was highlynecessary for This ineffort Sderot, Sephardic community the seminars can be understood,Sephardic first, for look to myself, especially asorganizers, by the has beendone effort a directed women that a for theorganizers of seminarthe a classification through Itisprocess. important toexplain here seminars. lastthe threeyears 2006-2008.They partin chosen take were to seminarsby these the I’ve in Barriers" turned "Breaking initiation the of framework in the meetings dialogue Palestinian to various in Israeli- participants were presentpaper for the interviewed were who The women NGOs who work with a Sample 12 CEU eTD Collection women during the meetings, which were explicitly contradicting to their political views. these of experience cultural of the significance the enhances fact This elite. Ashkenazi the orientation which, in my view, is entirely the result of an orientalistimage construction of 13 CEU eTD Collection 12 11 10 group". its identity thatconstitute as a as"a is attributes setof framea group essential understood this understanding mistaken is based on logicthe of in substance groups.In defining this argues Young differences partof that discourse. an 'identity interpretingpolitics' as group by analysis their in misleading are criticisms these all that explains Young Marion Iris identities. ossifies politics' 'identity that explains She women. class lower and class middle women, white and as answer the beenfoundwhich has focusesdifferences race and class: black on essential few in movements thelast years. abovewasinwomen's discussed However recognized consciousness". raised of stages different of reflections mainly as movement the within power hegemonic the holding those by interpreted been have acknowledged, being than rather differences, whereas "Women's individual identities havebecomewith equate women's collective identity, a homogenous understanding offeminine identity: intoaccount'consciousness- socio-cultural various raising' and didnot take adopted traits of model feminist the that She explains this difficulty. on stresses and Nation", "Gender movements particularly, andin generally.societies Yuval- Nira Davis in her book feminist in the dynamics economic and political social- in the role its of examination Contemporary feminist model criticize scholars 'identity the of based on politics', the Discourse Feminist the of Understandings Alternative this understanding andstresses on the main which her,one, according to is tendencythe need findin to attributes essential specific all its counts problems members.Young the of Nira Yuval- Davis Yuval- Nira Ibid, Ibid , 87. ibid. 12 Meaning, that in order to identify a group of Latinos or gay, for instance, we , Gender and Nation 11 10 Yuval- this understanding clarifies Davis erroneous that (London: SAGE Publications, 1997),119. 14 CEU eTD Collection 15 16 14 'standpoint',epistemology positioning thatdifferent toacknowledge of enforces which it isappreciations basis in stand of feminist First, the understanding of politics. the this "unfinished" identity concepts instead of fixed notions of identification. of notions fixed of instead concepts identity "unfinished" Yuval-Davis,according is to that of asuitable alternative to "identity politics", employing "transversal frame of politics", conceptual "transversaladopt The politics". suggests to Yuval-Davis politics" of"identity framework in the discourse the to As analternative social relationships. different and leadexperiences perception insocial on positions to the differentstructures 13 actionsother involvingand interactions people instructural positions". available for recourses and rules the situation inreinforce position one conditioning that interactions actions and thethat way of because occurs Thisconditioning lifeprospect. inpositioned interactive andinstitutional condition that relations andtheir opportunities similarly (are) who persons of as follows. "Collection(s) in fact are, andthese created, are social hegemonic structural groups andasaresult- distribution or discourse, resource in in society peopleplace Structures the of power, difference. unequally practices The logic. keyform issubstantive from part, social Young's structural of difference, differentiationgroup fixing'without it',is througha logic relational rather than a preserve YoungarguesunderstandIf so, way and thatthe adefinition to to social of of theirand group alsoto denialthe of withindifferentiations group. the considered members aspart not membersother are which with group's of the similarities Buttler the affixing that, aswell. identity group In addition denialto leads of to of others'. silencing or marginalizing time same normalizingof members' of some group the experiences andperspectives, andin the Nira Yuval- Davis I Ibid Ibid, bid , , 89. 97 ibid. , Gender and Nation (London: SAGE Publications, 1997), 125-130 15 13 Similar arguments are claimed byJudith areclaimed arguments Similar 14 15 Consequently, 16 Three main Three CEU eTD Collection 21 20 19 various alternatives for the creation of coalitions inside the society.inside the forof thecreation coalitions alternatives various 18 andidentities". positionings which canbe "differential transversely finding values option common of the enables politics this In practice, today. conducted struggles against oppression and discrimination andresolutions conflictbe could In developing amajor this kind Yuval-politics, of Davis suggests inthe change ways that hegemonic discourse. rejection of group the which is notion the homogeneousness of of influencedby the andtothe members group, differentof the to relevant whichare categories different different social and political values." identity, have very and/or can At positioning, sametime,etc). people the similar with whole range of social divisions (e.g. class, gender, ability, sexuality, stage in the life cycle a to in relation very differently bepositioned can category or collectivity same to the as insideYuval- thegroup identify who Davis"People explains: belonging themselves as coming understandingfrom.identity third tothe refers The positioning of concept and are groups forthe which membersof be thevariedthe locations There should arespect hierarchy. existence of the without differences of principle the of accepting politics isthe 17 knowledgeis 'unfinished' (todifferentiate from invalid)" knowledge.because itsas its Buteachgroupperceives own situated partial,truth partial, own its and shares standpoint own its from speaks group "Each stresses: Collins Hill- is in terms of the creationfor from participants genuinely positionings.different of knowledge throughis aneed there asincerecreate dialogue to in order hence, differentknowledge, to leads dialogue between groups. As Patricia Nira Yuval- Davis, Yuval- Nira Nira Yuval- Davis, "What is 'Transversal Politics'?", 95. Nira Yuval- Davis, Yuval- Nira Nira Yuval- Davis, "What is 'Transversal Politics'?," Ibid , 131. Gender and Nation Gender and Nation 20 , 127. , 129 19 This concept contributes to the acceptance of acceptance to the contributes This concept 16 Sounding issue 17 Theimportance of this approach 18 12(summer 1999): 94-95. . The second idea of transversal idea of second . The 21 In this way there are CEU eTD Collection the theoretical basis of the political premises suggested by the three scholars. understand the actual and a possible socio-political identity of Sephardic Jews in Israel on mainthe on argument issuethe this Anzaldua.Iwillof to I will present of principles try femininethe andhybrididentity, aswell its politicalas consequences. stress Inorder to 23 22 her book, "Borderlands/ La Frontera", A specific 'post-traditional' case of identity ispolitics by presented Anzaldua,Gloria in extremely important formy thesis, and I will elaborate on in the final stages of this paper. is suggestion this that believe I indeed, values, common of basis the on coalitions political traditional politics.according forming the Yuval-Davissuggests identity to schemes of feasible not could which political, necessarily not values, cultural common inter-ethnic of possibility Jewishone.Second,the insideof Israeli the and identity Sephardic respect the acknowledgement the to mainly, here, refer I gender. and identitification, ethnic class, Israeli the of group women, arevarious there in inside dimensions group the terms of women with their Palestinian counterpart on twogrounds. First, the fact that in the case of Sephardic of encounter the on discussion the for relevant highly is It politics. identity Yuval- Davis dealswith dialogue meetings women between and challengesthetraditional or anti- racist kinds". nationalist feminist, the of politics' 'identity of pitfalls the into fall to not as so principles, transversalist is on it based that is important it is possible, solidarity "when However people. between interests contradictory are when there be implemented cannot politics transversal that possibility the on stresses Davis Yuval- discussed, above the Considering Gloria Anzaldua, Ibid, ibid. Borderlands/La Frontera Borderlands/La 22 .(1987), 1017-1030 17 23 where the author raises the issue of issue the raises author the where CEU eTD Collection 26 25 24 depictsaseparation which aterm only as not borderlands describes new understanding dynamics of identity which leads also to a new understanding of the borderlands. This them". transmit andlaws; women rules the make fact "Males Anzalduais by with discussion the opens the assumption men,in culture that constructed Gloria Anzaldua andanew understanding of the concept of'borderlands' cultures with variouscultures with Angloness". ofMexicanness degrees or that they are not Mexican and theyadditional isin theAmerican option, context, American, Mexican-meaning definition the are not AmericanAn Latin. or American Latin or either-American Spanish- or Hispanic, themselves call theyChicanos are "a synergythe environment of social Western two a In Spanish. itself defines collectivity ethnic the Anzaldua's the the Chicanosdemonstrates ownethnic As point. group a linguistic group instances inavariety Thevariousof of definitions iscategorization problematic. rigid above the of existence the and identity one than more have persons that explains frameidentities ismadeShe in and affixing which conceptual the goesagainst this of writhing serpentmovement, the very movement of life, swifter than lightning, frozen". protection. Blocked, immobilized,move (they) move can't forward, can't backwards. That since "(their) pointscultures out is the affixed take place sufferwhichaway is set from (their)for women men and intheir abilitycourse.their difficulty Anzalduaown to astaketo well actionact-demonstrates as of culture in dominant the andculture intheir own place unsecured in unstable and an shacklein other her feel claim they that cultures. explains she and (them) throughborderlands, in the live who women on focuses Anzaldua the in Thesituation theproblem name of women that of ofit. to provide an to alternative tries Anzalduacolor, who she continues with her analysis which aims to diagnose the problems of this situation and Ibid Ibid Ibid, , 1021. , 1018 1029. 18 24 26 Based on this assumption this on Based Anzaldua outthe points 25 CEU eTD Collection inside the dominant society and the reference to it. multi-belonging one; and adifferentway identity understand to and the location of groups and multifaceted as a identity on anew perspective suggests her writing sense In this definitions toculture and belonging have emerged. anddifferent in newidentities butasaspace which between cultures, line between states, 19 CEU eTD Collection to, originally, the geographical unit of Spain. (Of course, this term ifstand not for, course, this could term Spain. unitof (Of to, originally, geographical the the Jewish population from Spain,of back1492expulsion before the to be traced origins could between Jews whose the Iberian Peninsula. – andAshkenazi descent a European from between Jews basicthe on differentiation The word Sepharad in Hebrew based wasSephardic, IsraeliState, inthe from 1950son, the terminology The dominant refers theoreticians of Zionism to an immediate action as in the case of Eastern European Jews. situation of Jews inArab countries, in didgeneral, notwarn Central the European was not considered as potential contributors to the Palestine to territories from these Zionist Jews of immigration the considerations of racial out project. It also shows, that the movement,residing primal werenotthe populationcountries ofthe inArab Zionist target the Zionist movement as beginningsJews of from very referred (European) Africathe MiddleEastwere the North and with an ancestryin countries from communities Jewish immigrant fromChronologically, respectively. them Arab/Muslim countries. connected to consider political connotations, andtopositions understand political their The Jews andto discourse, political Israeli in the and thesis in thepresent which areused etc., Jews), (Eastern ‘Mizrahim’ ‘Sephardim’, terms various stress on the to In isimportant category Adiscursive Sephardim- populations in general and tothe Jewish in population Arab countries in particular. consideration the historical development of the Zionistidea and its relationship toArab withoutinto taking cannotbeunderstood JewsofthePalestinians Mizrahi the of perception The population". "Palestinian the vis-à-vis and project Zionist of the context in the Jews Sephardic situating of in terms important is chapter theoretical following The thought colonial Post- Identity- Sephardic The 20 CEU eTD Collection Metamorphosis of a term], of a Metamorphosis 29 Press, (1999): 13-14 28 weakened: Mizrahim and Ashkenazim in Israel ], (Haifa: Mahbarot LeMehkarve Bikoret, 1981), 18-20 27 by accepted but fora surenot institutions, Jewishacademic fraction the academic tiny of rightness, mightagree with its historical sociological and is messageandits personally political, considered I Jew’,though ‘Arab The term Jews. ‘Mizrahi’ or ‘Sephardic’ as,either themselves deeply identify will today, in Israel ancestry non-Ashkenazi radicalfrom Jews that emphasize to like I’d in the surroundings. Israeli context,Arab ofitsin face the exactly, Jewish society, narrative of a homogeneous Zionist if at all the with incongruence from fundamental of the term the derives nature of. radical The known outside heritage ofJewscultural the societies from Arab inwith countries they the midst dwelled beginningthe of 2000s: “Arab-Jews”. indeed term This alludes tothe common socio- at only appeared terminology radical genuinely the butbe used, Jews,to of commenced In-between terms as ‘Mediterranean’, though referring mainly to the cultural contribution as term. establishment aderogatory with Ashkenazi the became associated blurred, andit became itself term ‘Mizrahi’ originsthe of the Furthermore, of eyes establishment. the the Israel. The term ‘Mizrahi’ by in Jews usedinterchangingly were ‘Mizrahi’ and terms ‘Sephardic’ the Till recently, did not achieve its goal Jewsthemselves. by ‘Sephardic’ the also asaconsequence and elite- Zionist Ashkenazi in constituting a challengingprovocation in order to substitute the above term of term“Sephardic” used by the intraditionally of asanact by protest, theoreticians, non-Ashkenazi was introduced Israeli radical literally:– Eastern meaning inHebrew, – ‘Mizrahim’ category, In the1990saalternative which communities were not descendents of the 1492 expulsion.) taken literally, Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries or Rome for example, Hanan Hever and Yehuda Shinhav, “Hayhudim-aravim, gilgulo shel munach” [The Jewish –Arabs, Mizrahim." ofthe invention “The Shohat, Ella Shlomo Svirski, Shlomo 29 Lo Nechshalim Ela Menuchalim: Mizrahim veAshkenazim Be Israel Peamim 118 , (2009): 5-7. Journal of Palestine 21 29, No.1, University of California University No.1, 29, 27 [ Not faltering but 28 CEU eTD Collection Brandeis University Press, 2005), 162. Orientalism and the Jews 30 other. from orientalistic the were taken Jews of the characteristic negative The discourse. Orientalistic the than non other was Raz-Krakotzkin, to basis, according conceptual Its nation-states. European formatted newly inthe of Jews the status civil the over a debate about brought nationalism modern of age the and Enlightenment the of rise The culture". and race ethnicity, of notions on based discourse to to Christianity,marked the transition from theological discourse and Christian- disputation Jewish the Marranos who maintained or were perceived to maintain Jewish qualities despite conversion was casttermsof anethnic and a religious difference. The discourse generated by the question of genesis of the Marranos. Raz- Krakotzkin explains as follows: back tothe early modern period, subsequent the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, be inabout transformation Jews thediscourse markedout can sociologist Israeli the According to its discourse. of follow creation the to and society Zionist of the of establishment the narrative historic the torecall begin to necessary In order colonialist post- to discussUnderstanding the cultural-political in position trough Israel and Palestine lensthe of the figure of the 'other' Jews themselves. bynon-Ashkenazi terms in the This understanding ofmine,is indeed justified by usagethe of, seemingly,prerogativeframecounts. that reality Jewish of non-Ashkenazi of understanding overall thethe rather terms, the of Israeli society,aspects, meaning which term I adopt, especially since there is no unequivocal clarification semiotic the not is it that believe I alternatives. equal viable it as ‘Arab-Jew’ and ‘Mizrahi’ is ‘Sephardic’, I usethe terms of this in paper, framework the Therefore, establishment. "it wasthen that the Jewish- Muslim link, which been had first made earlierin the Middle Ages, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, "The Zionist Return to the West and the Mizrahi Jewish Prespective," in Prespective," Jewish Mizrahi the and West the to Return Zionist "The Raz-Krakotzkin, Amnon , ed. Ivan Davidson Klamar and Derek J. Penslar (Waltham, Massachusetts: (Waltham, Penslar J. Derek and Klamar Davidson Ivan ed. , 22 30 CEU eTD Collection 33 Exclusion in Israel," 34 32 31 European the 'new Jew', the image of the Jewscontradicts 'eastern' identity of the that the of Zionist project.implementation the Onein clear explanation difficulty forcreated it this difficultyculture, this thatof Raz-Krakotzkin part feel and points outdialects, is in its different Arabic speak they that understanding, basedthe on Arab with culture, in not Jewsbut contrast as themselves identified of Mizrahim most Sincethe chapter.) on the development of the term “Mizrahi” I intend toelaborate further, later in the present Based on EdwardandOrient towards Arabsthe from in particular, an aspiration romantic to overall denial. Said's Zionist thinking andinits various practices. Zionism elaborated attitudes towards the in dimension orientalist an see to likely is It discourse. Jewish the of secularization seemingly, the, and nationalization the of characteristic as asignificant discourse, This background understand helpsto rolethe of in orientalism shapingthe ofthe Zionist from them. societies demanded as theirwestern host The Jews in turn, strived to get rid of these orientalistic characteristics and become became known in the Israeli society as "Mizrahim": 'Eastern'. "Mizrahim": as society Israeli inthe known became Jewish communities of non-European Thedescendents Africa. and North East Middle summoned: betweenJews had inwhom roots andEurope Jews whom had in roots the was division ideology another in Zionist frame the of aspect Based onthis orientalist oriental. an not and European, define anew as to hoped Zionists the whom "new Jew", figure the the of create served to concepts orientalistic the that asserts Raz-Krakotzkin one, with oriental the contrast Aziza Khazzoom, "The Great Chainof Orientalism: JewishIdentity, Stigma Management, and Ethnic Ibid Ibid, Edward. Said, Edward. ,167. 163-165. Orientalism American Sociology Review , (New York: Vintage Books,1979) 32 theory about the construction of the European subject in subject European the of construction the about theory 33 68,No. 4 (2003): 482-483. 23 31 34 (On the significance and significance the (On CEU eTD Collection 37 edition/features/adding-insult-to-injury-1.205174 36 35 treatment. fora 'tinea thatreasonof of and dermatitis the rigid capitis' they exaggerate and got carriers as considered were community this of children mostthe of instance, For diseases. her different with carries who asacommunity treated and of Israel, State the their arrival checked,upon medically African Jewswere andNorth Eastern Middle way. different example Zionistfrom practices beginningthe ofthe 1950smighthelp see us itto in a bourgeoisin the medicine of society, science the of position the about theory, Foucault's of connection could seem somewhatout inodd theirin the criticcontextby various practices, which same means, the Michel Foucault onof theZionism. bourgeois But society inthrough Israeli “other” the image of the the constructed therefore The Zionists taking and onas the colonialist Israeli challenge existence tothe of a homogeneous culture. a be could that connection a basis, discourse,cultural a on Jews eastern Middle the and Palestinians respectively.Jew. The they suffered from a "secondary retardation", but their situation is not "absolute" and it is it and "absolute" not is situation their but retardation", a"secondary from suffered they Israeli the education arguedin system. onchildren He discussions Jews, that oriental of in and asin came Palestinein an University 1935,worked educator psychology Berlin to educationKarl Frankenstein, system.born in andstudied who was Germany philosophy Another exampleinand accepted this atmosphere.) pseudo-scientific orientalistic, of exploitingrespected care folk wasnot it of remedy, through which took time, this and community the pretext of science and experts was in the Israeli Michel Foucault, Relly Sa'ar, " Amnon, Raz-Krakotzkin, 172-173. 35 Second, I believe that the Zionist elite was afraid from a connection betweenthe from a connection afraid elite was Zionist the I believethat Second, 37 (It is important to mention that this disease was common in North Africa that Adding insult to injury", in injury", to insult Adding TheHistory of Sexuality, Vol. I, (New York: Random House, 1978), Part 2, 3 Haaretz, 24 14.11.2006 http://www.haaretz.com/print- 36 and Said Edward pointed CEU eTD Collection 40 39 38 African". north- a remain necessarily not should African north- "the that he claimed children "universal",the to and"democratic" "modern", "progressive" Israelieducation, these integrate to is apossibility there whether question the to Referring University. from this Reuven Feurstein whogothisPhDinpsychology discussion was Geneva and disturbed". mentally the retarded children, the "the mentality"describing itof "primitiveto primitive compared and expression their by this analysis Hecontinued which causedtheirstagnation. resultof the oriental culture, creation of a Europe in East." Middle of the a Europe creation the to ultimately, lead will that regeneration of like a)process Palestine: (is to emigration visionary of the Zionist state described: "the transformation of the exilic Jews Herzl, the throughAs Theodor of European. the figureof in theconstruction 'Other' servedthe as his culture building in process Israel in the 1950's the figureas of non-European the who and in task thenation fulfilled asimilar Jew non-European the of Indeed, thefigure system since the 1950's. education Israeli inthe assumptions dominant werethe these mention that to important Ibid Ibid, ibid Amnon, Raz-Krakotzkin, 174 , 170 40 25 38 Another educator who contributed to 39 It is CEU eTD Collection reactions in this community: denial,eliminate every Arab/ Easternrepression element of its identity mosaic.or explicit This lead to a wide rangein of rejection the of Israelitheir ways of life ones hegemonic which arethe approaches / Orientalistic of Eurocentric In the framework culturalsetting identities in in hybrid The identity a post-colonialist Jews of Sephardic Israel, scene, the vital demand from the Sephardic as participants the historical a consequencethe development. of community Third,by politicalcultural the group. sphere Israeli of andleftthe division rightbetween was to Arabic ofidentification the with sort denial any the of Second, Jews and Palestinians. Sephardic between similarity cultural the theissueof First, main three topics. around from wouldlike organizepresent evidence the paper.) Ito seminars theanalysis of tothe inthe conclusions as aswell background, infollowing theoretical elaborate the politicalof context cultural the mutuality between Sephardic Jews and Palestinians Iwill (On the conflict. to the connected they are deeply though realized, necessarily not to focus on the cultural aspects of the interaction, aspects whose political connotations are intend I themselves. meetings dialogue in the experience the of analysis the to advance to identity and history, its Iwould like Israeli-Sephardic around essential conceptualization Palestinian sideinspiring would be important and aswell.After dealing some with culinary I etc. customs, have inmindtofocus onthe research Israeli side; a future on the orientation, musical tradition, habits, meta-communication, of elements through is women. identification basedoncommon cultural which This patterns are discernable Sephardic Israeli and Palestinian for etc., be cultural, defined,ethnic, isto its nature identification, ofcommon features are there argue that intend I to chapter In thepresent Findings 26 CEU eTD Collection 41 The interviews: different vision of self-identification from that of Jews with European origins in Israel exactly 'in aborderland' situation, portrayed byAnzaldua, experiencing an essentially leave space for any discrepancy from the classic French model. Sephardic Jews live forstrife a membership butuniform universal in theJewishnational body; not and does inoriginsnationalism ideologiesmodern Jewish national theEuropean of explain the identity myth Zionistthe national movement propagatedfrom its very beginning. The This hybrid is identity at agenuine with contradiction fixed,the rigid andhomogenous society. Muslim the with identification social and mental linguistic, of aspect essential less not a and element core Jewish a of amalgamation an being hybrid, inherently is Arab of Jews Theidentity otherwise. be couldnot conceived social any context, other is The identity' highly appropriate. legacycultural of Sephardicthe Jewsin Israel, andin as a'borderland- identity Jewish of Sephardic way.in interpretation reality The right the cultural position occupied by isthese women indeed elementary in perceiving the Israeli socio- The women. Sephardic of (self)-understanding necessary social tothe guideline In my understanding, Gloria Anzaldua's embodiments. possible participate in her political inactivities genuinewith various self-identification- its to for aSephardic is Jewishwoman hard itwas and extremely conditions still these according which live they native to intheirused to Ibelieve Arabcountries. under that Gloria Anzaldua, Gloria Borderlands/La Frontera .(1987), 1017-1030 41 interpretation asabasiccan be very useful interpretation 27 CEU eTD Collection The feeling of cultural The feeling ofbetween Sephardic Jewsandcultural Palestinians resemblance the in Hebrew. Theinterviews were conducted participants. of the identification 'cultural' the with interfere necessarily not did stances political/ideological inwhich instances werecritical these that sinceIthought events these I havechosen feltduring Palestinian's the cultural andpresentation during Israeli's the cultural evening. the participants are fictional, but they were chosen still as to represent their cultural background. cultural their to represent as still chosen were butthey fictional, are participants the 43 42 contradictions: political theobvious linkage despite confirmsof cultural the instinctual The account Toledo Yifat experience. is itan rather all-embracing events, cultural specific from itsbeing manifestations are far because to intriguing, constrained especially, is likeness cultural this of matter The example. an exclusive not was it but Palestinians, instances of the meetings. These instances were explicit during the cultural evening of the in Jews and many between The cultural Palestinians apparentthe Mizrahi similarity was have relate askedthem specificallyto tothecultural evenings I Then participants. Israeli the with relation their and group, Israeli the with relation their they women.wereaskedabout Later, with meetings Palestinian experienced the during they that moments meaningful events, the explain about to asked were The interviewees meeting of kind.this in a participation it first years.For allthe four in women was the past Barriers" the in organized meetings Sephardic women participated by"Breaking who'd dialogue In I present part findingsthis the interviews from in-depth the with I'veconducted that The translations to Englishwere made by myself. Inaddition, I would like to mention above. that the Described names of 28 43 42 and to describe how they how describe to and CEU eTD Collection might argue that Sephardic Jewish families are less prone to follow, speaking again in again follow, speaking to prone less are families Sephardic Jewish that argue might we to that, In addition scene. family abroader rather seen, European the of characteristic more of a as seen family, nuclear isnotthe Jews of Sephardic understanding of social Thebasis the patterns. European from parallel the radically different is - well as level practical the on discernable much very though level, a theoretical – letters etc. guttural behaviorthe of and the social Jews–speaking in outlook Sephardic likethan totheArabiccloser patterns linguistic of that Ashkenazi Jews – usageof the much is which pronouncingHebrew, of Sephardic way theschool.Beyond the meals to mentioning of Sephardic names in theirfamily trees, or bringing traditional Sephardic space- especially children used to, and sometimes even today, be embarrassed because the in public of frequently ashamed Israeli the were cultural thatthese patterns emphasize to is homes. important It very their from familiar with they were which and culture Palestiniansthe in a highlysympathetic recognizing tone, patterns numerous of behaviour participants were not aware of before the seminar the of before aware werenot participants Jewish Sephardic which the mutuality, acultural describe accounts The following Sephardic man) connection with them. with connection man) Sephardic denominator that we succeeded to find and it was basically mine and Eliran'sIt started (a to greata extent from the songs, the music,it was a kind of a common that I was attacked personally. It was mutual, they also felt the same. felt I haven't bythem, said were things hard and disagreed we and workshop the workshops andthe matters.personal Forexample, when we had argument an in Palestiniansand Israelis between only not personal- more be to grew acquaintance the on, Later Check-Points. in been had we if know to was in interested - we most were they knew that thing the workshop, first in the was shock opening The to separate between the national attacks in the 29 . They cultural the to referred evening of CEU eTD Collection legitimizing factor, for embracing Mizrahi culture, in the context of the meetings. I would was the researchwhat future a of be subject It might the before. acknowledge not they did decisive event for them, bringing about a reconnection with theirfamiliar traditions which wasa meeting Palestinians with the the even, that out pointed A fewinterviewees say quotes below: following the as scenes, family their of simply them reminding were side, Palestinian the from meetings in the saw participants Sephardic the that patterns behavioral and cultural of familiarity striking The of. midst in the lived they populations non-Jewish Eastern cultural co-constitution of Sephardic Jewish population and the North African and Middle a of is aresult Jews of Sephardic language and rhythms forms, Musical context. cultural socio- Middle Eastern the to similarities essential bear Jews Sephardic of expressions might basicsame vain, the andformalargue, that attitude cultural cultural one In the Jews. Israeli of populations different the amongst differences significant reflects itdoes nevertheless sure, for dichotomist isquite differentiation previous (The Israel. of population Ashkenazi the of muchtypical very organization, typesocial of western is morea of which bourgeois' society, a of pattern 'alienated terms, largely the theoretical connected us. (Keren Alfasi) (Keren us. connected exactly like a family celebration wasand it lovely. We felta family. Itreally they presented their customs, example for the ceremony,Henna made they It was not that far from us, not that different from ours. (Irit Iben Ezra) the music, the dancing". (Sharon Swisa) it was something that you know from home,in terms of culture: the songs, 30 CEU eTD Collection concern about concern absence the about Israeli of feelings insidethe these group. Whenfeelings describing Sephardicfamily the of expressedconnection, participants their family occasions, and they are the main junctures of social interaction. social of junctures main the are they and occasions, family fundamentally are occasions These individual. an of life in the significant extremely touched upon family occasions,Palestinians which, in the with encounter the that feelings familiar warm the demonstrate experiences three the case arose of Sephardic inThe following sense. influence inthis decisive the was such society – Israeli case of the Jewsthe in particular,heart ofin be terms – as solely innegative considered the not are society –and Palestinian one – the the Sephardic by becouldan entire patterns adopted mere cultural these that the argue, that possibility Jews. The cultural event especially, Henna ceremony that they presented. I really loved the music. I have the cultural connection,little Ifelt bithome at in weddingthe and at the have these ceremonies these have They did a Henna ceremony, and it was a common thing between us, also they the fact that I'm Mizrahit. I personally enjoyed it very much (Liat Karo) I very enjoyed, dafka,the wedding theymade.that Possibly it can linked be to them from my home, but it was Mizrahi. (Yifat Toledo) heart from this thespecific aspect, ceremonies they that know presented I did in me which till the seminar Idid not know that it exists – and it warms my beautiful side anditwarmed theheart. It also meconnected tothe Mizrahi side wasIt exposed wonderful, theypresentedtheirtraditional they ustothe things, (Hadar Azulai) 31 CEU eTD Collection 44 between theworkshops, in eveningsthe andduring days-off.the in in times visible most was which a similarity, Palestinians, and Mizrahim of mentality pointa generalsimilarity in constrained to at Iintend the thecultural was not to events. Palestinians the and Jews Sephardic the between connection the that can be observed It Argeela- a word for waterpipe which is common in the Middle East Middle the in common is which waterpipe for a word Argeela- we preferred to see the city ( the Israeliswent to the museum but I and joinedKeren the Palestinian group, museum,or towalk around city withthe oneof member.Germanthe staff All a to go To Strasburg. in off day- the in activity for options two had We that they played and I felt very much connected (Nofar Elbaz) (Nofar connected much very Ifelt and played they that songs the I know that out, turned It Henna. the in dresses traditional Moroccan the to similar very are which dresses traditional their in up dressed They background, and extremelyI'm connected it. to I'm connected to music.the enjoyed. Moreover, I was very connected it,to my parents are from a Moroccan peace between them,pinch inmy heart. Itemphasized meto nationalism,their their uniqueness, the all the thingsI was amazed,itwas (thePalestinian cultural evening) invested, I and felt a that I wish that we could have.Maimon) (Ronit I really brought something homogenic, strong; this wasthe strongestexperience mefor But itwas also hardreally forme Icompared withbecause ourgroup- they They set with the Argeela 44 and I joined them and I felt at home (Sharon Swisa) Irit Ibn Ezra) 32 CEU eTD Collection Ronit Maimon portrays the difficulty: the portrays Maimon Ronit viewing possibility the theculture of asequal establishment.) the of to from it by a depriving as ‘subculture’, of Israel elite intellectual to the frequently referred cultural inside‘Mizrahi’music culture.elements (Indeed, Israeli are and customs, invalidating Ashkenazi the the legitimate of ofSephardic alltogether position position presentation of the 'classic' Israeli culture and the ways of challenging it. Irefer here to The second issue that was raised by the participants of this project was: the tension of evening,did what the they feel the preparationsduring for it, andin eveningthe itself. cultural from Israeli the they describeremember what wereaskedto The interviewees identification The denialof Arabic stances were any closer than that of the non-Sephardic Jews to the Palestinians. suggest not political felt there that thePalestinians does closevery Jewsto Sephardic political behavior. Thatas manifestations'natural' of behavior daily from entirely disconnected isa conscious to say seen, be thatshould it Rather, side. the either from fact self-identification cultural or thatpolitical explicit in terms of interpersonal many not through instances.hasbein commonness to understood terms This an of attitude the was discernable Palestinians the and Jews Sephardic the between affinity The cultural amusement- park, and it was fun (Hadar Azulai) the to Palestinians the with went Ma'ayan and I only example, for off, day In the because we have pluralism. Wehave the Israeli roots and we emphasize them, I remember that it was not easy for us to work on it (the Israeli cultural evening) 33 CEU eTD Collection unconscious orientalistic beliefs. the issue‘activates’ the about discussion conscious The culture. Zionist classic a certain declaration about “the official” culture of Israel, which has to be presented as the Mizrahi a wedding music,to discussion the Israelicultural butthe involvesabout evening at dance uninhibitedly in will Jews Israel Ashkenazi interaction. ofsocial instances in all orientalistic viewof culture, which notnecessarilydoes functions as a guiding principle internalized asan it, deed. Isee asconscious necessarily isnot patterns cultural Sephardic any accept to participants Ashkenazi the of resistance the inmy opinion, that, emphasize, sense, wemightsay not and even Ashkenazi the Iwouldlikeconsciously, dominance. to their musical choices. Means, they aspired to challenge, though not in the ideological andBut there werearguments suggest the tension Mizrahi when they, women, to tried musical genre was influenced by Arabic and Yemenite, Greek and Turkish music as well. as music Turkish and Greek Yemenite, and by Arabic influenced was genre musical 46 awhole. as society" Israeli of the" culture consensual constructed the years, under the umbrella of the Zionist cultural establishment it became one of the mainelements of the 45 Mizrahi music is the term, which has beengiven to the musical style of the Sephardim in Israel. This Sing-Along and folk dances customs, are whichwere developed in theKibbutzim in Israel. Throughout evenings, everyone danced to this music (Nofar Elbaz) a sudden, music?' Mizrahi But, intheend of theday,in both of the cultural We had an argument concerning the Mizrahi music much of a discussion about it, which way I like them." The evening was assembled from Sing-Along and folk dances folk and Sing-Along from assembled was evening The the seminar, people somewhateliminated Judaism. life but I am connected to the religion, of myway grandparentssecular a runs who person aresecular a I'm religious myself, me and people. identity, Jewish In we look forthecommon Israeli aquestionsymbols.markwas Butthere onthe 34 46 . They asked: 'Why, all of 45 ; there was no CEU eTD Collection commandments. it is the celebrationof the ‘entry’ of the person to adultness, to the age of duty of keeping the 47 in the end. (Hadar Azulai) that wewear. We on someput well kerchiefs as weput and Moroccanmusic, very itwas beautiful dresses Moroccan the to similar very look dresses traditional Their evening. cultural their from we did our Henna ceremony in the evening. We asked from the Palestinian women their dresses well. During daythe we spoke about it alot, butthe Israeli facilitators intervened, andeventually suggested to organize a Drag show. He said, that it will be funny for us and for the Palestiniansthey it as of instead and evening cultural the of plan original the cancel to thought group, of the did. And then in the next day Yair came again with a new idea, he said, that Hennahe and few ceremony,members and if we do so, we need to tell itgroup to the rest came of the group.to me Andand this tois whatmy wefrienddid not understand why decidedthey tocancel particularly this ceremony. head The ofthe Israeli during the day and askedinclude us, the Bar- ifMitzvah we ceremony? still And he just saidwant that there tois no timepresent for itMy infriend asked him why thedid they change the program program.of the evening and whydid notthey the I for it. He thelistread of presentations the and wediscovered mitzvah theBar- that waserased. thought again about the presentations for the eveningcultural and they withcame a new structure gather for oneminute. he explained, Then lastnighthe, that andfew other from people thegroup, to participants, Israeli the all of us, all asked participant) Israeli male (a Yair workshop, first of the ceremony which isheld for theboy. The next morning, after breakfast, and before the beginning Henna the presentation this to add to wanted we and mitzvah Bar- the about excited were ceremony Mitzvah Bar- the also and Hashanah, Rosh and Passover example, for traditions, and holidays Jewish the on focus to decided have group of the members The Bar- Mitzvah is a ceremony inJudaism which is conducted at the age of 13 fora boy orat the age of 12, 35 47 . I and my friend my I and . CEU eTD Collection 50 51 19/20, Duke University Press (1988): 7 Exclusion in Israel," 49 48 communities lived a convenient way of life in Muslim surroundings, notsimilar to the sincea European understandingcountries through was incorrect, Sephardic the forits ‘modernization’. Second, the description of the history of Sephardim in the Muslim andpassive" "static narrative,Zionist as in the culture of Sephardic the deceptiverepresentation on the illuminates She Sephardim. adisparaged history the of for dedicates and place Jewish communities, European of focuses mainly experience the historiography,on which establishedthe Israeli stresses on Ella Shoat, researcher cultural TheIsraeli thought. legacy colonialist to the of with is this denial integrated similarly the approach Furthermore, of Sephardic culture, the the achievements of the West, while effacing the civilization of the East." privileges study history that of are"condemnedto a world the the students Israeli schools whichin Forexample, manifestations. Eurocentricbe seen various attitude, can through its about approach critical narrativea genuine That being Zionist islacking case,the the could areal become Jewfinally state the German". what isHerzlian Zionism “understood by thatonly leaving and Germany in settling theJewish Ha’am, Ahad opinion the In Zionism. cultural of current the of theoretician key Zionistname) ZviHirsch asAhad the thinkers Hebrew–Asher pen Ha'am (his Ginsberg- can learn about it through West" into the assimilate "The desireto the vision establishment. ofIsraeli the of Theodorculture the of disposition orientalistic the of Herzl,development but also from other backgroundthe of on elaborate theoretical the like to would I advancing, Before leaders and The Eurocentric discourse in Israel – A discourse of denial Ella Shoat, "Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its JewishVictims," Aziza Khazzoom, "The Great Chain of Orientalism: Jewish Identity, Stigma Management, and Ethnic Ibid Ibid , 9 , 166 American Sociology Review 48 51 68,No. 4 (2003): 500 was a central ideology. was We ideaa central in Zionist the , which needed to adoptwestern, whichneededto Zionist values 36 49 50 Social Text , No. CEU eTD Collection participants did not unite 'with us' and sheadded: I asked her to elaborate and to explain what does she mean when she states that the Israeli her experience: describes Nofar Elbaz Sephardim. the Jews toward ofAshkenazi attitude ‘belittling’ observethe can one of women, the accounts the throughout Furthermore, world. Moslem Arab- the in practically no acquaintance with the common life, andmutual cultural experience of Jews 52 one. Arab Muslim the dissimilarity between the place of Jews in the Christian European environment and that of emphasize basic intend the to Ido Arab world. inthe Jewish existence about picture European- Jewish experience. Similarly to Shohat herself, I do not intend to paint a rosy Ibid, ibid Before the peace with the Palestinians, if we would not accept our neighbor, our accept not would we if Palestinians, the with peace the Before the women that is next to you? I felt that this was not sincere. It gave me a slap. want peace and theywere really nice to Palestinian womenthe what but about inside the Israeli group. I felt kind of 'bleeding hearts' because they say that they was acomplete ofrejection the'different'. There adivision was into groups were ethnicaljokes about Mizrahim,about colored skin AllJews. the time.It every nextgroupto theparticipants time I set fromour laughed, and they there there is no peace among us. Israeli participants reflected that 'everything isnice and wewant peace' but the most difficult thing me,for it bothered me the most, that I felt that the was this And us. with unified of being instead them with united got participants our and nationalist really were Palestinians The me. for hard very was It . 52 As a consequence of the above discussed, Israeli society has 37 CEU eTD Collection I asked Karo to elaborate on these situations of no consolidation: by inSephardim inthe 1930 53 the Bar mitzvah in favor of the Bar- mitzvah's 'groom'. mitzvah's Bar- of the favor in mitzvah Bar the of frame the itin celebrate also Africa, inNorth- lived who Jews, The communities. Jewish Sephardic and 54 IranIraq, and Egypt. Hatikva Quarter is a neighborhood in the south of Tel- Aviv- Yaffa. This neighborhood was established was neighborhood This Yaffa. Aviv- of Tel- south the in aneighborhood is Quarter Hatikva TheHenna ceremony is atraditional custom forgood luck which is beforeheld the wedding in Muslim seminar, because what is there in between Israelis andPalestinians? It is racism. strange. It was strange since I didn't understand what ishedoing inthere, the bring a woman from there myto grandmother accepts she her'. Andit was women look like Moroccan the how is This 'See? him: inexplained I Then that. like ourdressed place', and he saidmitzvah, and (an Eran, Ashkenazi) someone from mygroup was looking at me to me: 'I'm not sure that if I will before our presentation of the Henna ceremony remember thatin our evening cultural I putakerchief onmy head, itwas right Hatikva Quarter people from ourgroup recruit themselves for the Palestinian favor,butfor the Mizrahim and Ashkenazim. Personally itdidn't anger me but you could see "For example, in the nationaluni- meetingsof ourgroup,there was theissue of There (in the Palestinian group) was much more solidarity more much was group) Palestinian the (in There situations. many in expression to came It group. our in consolidation feel didn’t There was no union and connection like in their case(the Palestinian group). I Liat Karo tells about her experience: the Israeli group. from memory strongest the is This separation. The country. our in happens what accepted, theother, as inside the Israeli group. Itshowedme in micro terms, how will itwith be (the them Palestinians)? Ifelt astrong angernot for being th . The majority of the population was constituted by immigrants from Yemen, 53 –they would never themselves. Moreover, recruit I 38 54 in the frame of the Bar- CEU eTD Collection settlements in the territories beyond the 1967 borders. shaping of the solution. The right- wing generally supports a more rigid approach the to and and side is infavor of the Palestinian the toward ofcompromise stance ofa more represents wing left- The conflict. 55 Palestinians: painof the the they understood despite believes, their arguedthat All political them of described themselves as right- wing. seminar, self-positioning theMost of 'political map' their on with them Israel.of the in experience their about explanation the with began interviewees the of Most development of the ethnic tension in Israeli politics The political division andof betweenleft right participants, the historical the The division of Right and Left in Israel refers, mainly, to the stands toward the Israeli- Palestinian asking myself" asking It is connected to the issue of inferiority. So what are you doing here? – I was understanding, there (during the seminar) I understood their pain. (Sharon Swisa) political wing right a is myopinion though even mind, open an with I came was brought up, the way that I know. I was the most rightist was themost I Iknow. that way the up, brought was they touch you. (Keren Alfasi) (Keren you. they touch how –Points, the Check in checks thephysical about us told Wafa that situations cried. I didme whenthey It devastated them. onwith going is what I know now but that, know these stories and it touched me. I remember the most the It is important to mention that I came with a right- wing opinion, like the way I theway like opinion, wing aright- with Icame that to mention important It is 55 39 , till today I'm like I'm today till CEU eTD Collection Ronit Maimon describes: Maimon Ronit in seminar." the Israeli other groups likethetwo extremists were not rightwingas "neutral- onedescribed left, andhergroup nor herself interviewees), not we of wingright ten the out persons(six intervieweesMost of as themselves defined the them. to comparison in orientation leftist a having thattheSephardic it the Israeli group women First,can beunderstood, considered Sephardim. inside toward the the Israeli The secondissue of racism group wasexpressions positing themselves prominentas more righttwo into paradigms.be differentiated can group wing Israeli the with interviewees the then of experiences The Thethe firstother isparticipants the division ofof 'rightthe Israeli and left': group. the Sephardic women an 'extremist'. There, among the Israeli group I was the 'moderate'." as here considered I'm family. my by negatively seen is this and peace', of 'flag a strong backing, ameaningful me to support in this. I'm the onewhowaves the from, there are people who don't acceptmy opinions. Atmy home, Idon't have The group was of high quality. home, Back in the environment that I'm coming had"Ieasy an time – Ifound a goodconnection with the women inmy group. Swisa) discussions.(Sharon group's the itin demonstrated and opinions political rightist with came participant) Sephardi (another Shlomi and me Only I felt, otherwise,good with the Israeli group,except for their political stances. 40 CEU eTD Collection 56 Victims" Jewish Its of Standpoint the from Zionism in Israel: "Sephardim article in her Shoat Ella The political approaches of Sephardim 58 settlements in the territories beyond the 1967 borders. shaping of the solution. The right- wing generally supports a more rigid approach the to and and side is infavor of the Palestinian the toward ofcompromise stance ofa more represents wing left- The conflict. 57 19/20, Duke University Press (1988): 1-35 the right- wing side of the political map of Israel. of map political the of side wing right- the Western perspective and turned (them) into self-hating Sephardim. Thus not only only did not the Thus Sephardim. self-hating into (them) perspective andturned Western internalize) the (to Sephardim caused "many that hating process self- the explains in tobelongSephardim situation. side superior colonialistwanted the Shoat the to identified becauseis with identified it enemy;the andsecond, lagging and as motifs the is Arab-ness since First, identity. from their Arab characteristics shed any to needed skin on one hand-, and their will to become a 'sabra, on the other hand'. Sephardim,in fact Arab and countries its throaty language, the music expressions- oriental and the dark the in abouttheirShoat elaborates on heritage their Sephardim shameamong the history)". in time first the (for antonyms as Arab-ness and Jewishness and as synonyms Zionism see and Judaism they areurgedto inwhere situation the inherent contradictions the situation ofcolonial ideological ambivalence …The from of Sephardim derive dilemmas of imposed self-rejection,"minglinga stubborn products self-pridean typical with meaning state, aschizophrenic encountered Sephardim the Zionisttheoreticians, beconsistently stigmatized uprooted". asevilto were Oreintal-ness and "Arab-ness existence- Western the cherishes and Palestinians the of framework Zionistideologythe which asks deny to presence of Arabsthe indigenous- Ella Shoat, "Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its JewishVictims," Shohat, "Sephardim inIsrael: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its JewishVictims," 25 The division of Right and Left in Israel refers, mainly, to the stands toward the Israeli- Palestinian 56 describes the background for the belonging of the majority of the Mizrahim to Mizrahim the of majority the of belonging the for background the describes 41 58 As a result of this hypothesis of the 57 First, Shoat explains that in the Social Text , No. CEU eTD Collection 61 59 hatred". self- of from disguised a always is almost Jews Oriental among itoccurs East came viewto itself through the West's distorting mirror… In fact, Arab- hatred when 'West' come to represent the 'East', but also, in a classic play of colonial specularity, the 60 organization; and the repression as well as the cooptation of Sephardi revote". re- communal and political for energy and time little left which sixties, and fifties the in conditions, harsh objectively leaderships; Sephardic of traditional the delegitimization majorlittlein the forshifts structure leaves direction; that room hierarchical top-down institutional partyfrom apparati the priorpolitical eighties.to the arrival Shoat the of middle in the stresses established was arena:which party enorthodox ultra- an – Shas masse for except on the of historical Sephardim;"The causeshistorical from till parties parties parties, the arebasedon secular European roots- religious the the thewhich inertia led to the ofisolation a legacy since allof by andrepresented parties political is whichpolitical conducted the discourse of Sephardim of theissue. Ashkenazi aggressive- nationalist (Likud) other humanist- the and liberal Palestinian(Labor)" the on dominationone "populist" (Likud) on "condescending" one and Sephardicthe issue, (Labor) one and of the the issues of Sephardim and of the Palestinians, itin out they carried that policies the parties regarding thesetwo was between difference is no only on the level of the discourse: toward them, and less with their stance on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. However party's disparaged attitude there againstLabor the expressprotest their to will of Sephardim withdo the lotto has a voting pattern right-wing theLikudparty. especially parties, This The secondissue dominantis the voting patterns of inSephardim Israel which tend tothe above is tension highly relevant relationship tothe of Mizrahim Palestinians.the to Ibid, ibid. Ibid, Ibid, 28. 60 ibid. It is important to explain that the Sephardim don't have a real alternative in the 42 61 59 The CEU eTD Collection anti-democratic state; 'they support the occupation". support 'they state; anti-democratic a right-wing into Israel 'they Israel; are turning beautiful have peace':"'they'destroyed the 64 63 62 above described Zionist approach to Palestinians and to the position of the Sephardim in isby influenced the than interpretation this of conflict The genuineexperience. personal claims of The Sephardim different. basically is Ashkenazim of position the that stated be could It againstexample. Palestiniansexistence in in cultural likethe sense, generally of and social inforareas conflict, Sderot about a militantmarginalized a conditions- socio-cultural their is views ethnicpolitical in their Jews Sephardic conflict, is based whichinfluences factor The ultimate reasons. of a number due to understanding on a alter political their not did Sephardim the that fact, the that believe, I stance. political in their change in aradical result not did Palestinians the to vicinity cultural inof The perception of seminar. the theiras aresultpolitical disposition experience their change not did Sephardim the accounts, following the from study can we As Political difficulty false achieving impression of it. toward acting a itpresents peace, rather hardly inpromotes 'left' the Israel However, conflict. solve the this system of public relations,peace thereand dialogue is witha sincere the Palestinians, belief in its inown maintainthe helpSephardim 'left'eyes theimages liberal to pursuing of Israeli the as and one andwillingness in the eyes of the world. of theIn 'left' to patriarchal demagogues" by manipulated "easily and impulsive innocent, as view, Oreintalist an of frame the In of'Right' in this discourse and 'Left' the society Israeli Sephardim the in are conceived, Shoat, "Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its JewishVictims," 27 Ibid, ibid Ibid, ibid 62 , specifically in the view of the Israeli 'left' as the 'problem of 'problem asthe 'left' Israeli the of view inthe specifically , 43 64 63 These representations of the of representations These CEU eTD Collection the the 1950 65 social position. We can learn about this political difficulty from the interviewees: moving the settlements to can be explainedbyeconomical necessities determined bytheir itself, there whereas by state the settled areasthey were border Inthe reasons. various for settled populations Jewish Eastern Bank, where West in the themselves settlements border areasin the like of ‘buffer-zone’, Israel,geographical a even but social only not it’s terms many In orzone’. on the borderline ‘buffer social a as serving Palestinans, the and Jews betweenAshkenazi the between situation this West and East Jerusalem, or in the Sderot is a city in the southern part of Israel, Located in the vicinity of Gaza. The City was established in th and was and still today populated mostly by immigrants from Morocco. rockets, and they said 'you deserve this- we suffer aswell', and I understand that I remember that one guy who studied in Sderot in studied who guy one that I remember judged me asanex-soldier (NofarElbaz) view. For me as a person,to apologize. They did not except it. A soldier is a terrorist from their pointof as Nofar, environmentthey and I'm proud of my army, but there I felt ashamed. I didfelt the need not giveI felta the placeneed to apologize forthat I was me.in the army. TheyI'm coming from a patriotic stayed shocked. (RonitMaimon) because of the hierarchySince Zionism, asthat I understood Palestinians andIcried - they theysaid something like 'How can you even here?'sit later,feel isand little theZionist a bitfact frameequal a the through andstory to this told I how Yemen. Nazism from they Israel it to immigrated was who grandmother for reallyare them, hardinferiors, for her,great my about tell to chosen have and I and narratives I family and gotpersonal ricochetsI fromour about the workshop in the discussed we seminar ofthe day second In the 44 65 spoke about theKassam CEU eTD Collection Loneliness for the interviewees. Most of the interviewees testify that they felt loneliness amongst the amongst loneliness felt they that testify interviewees the of Most interviewees. for the loneliness of feeling the to cases in many leaded orientation in political difference This situation of embedding. (Nofar Elbaz) Israeli group tried moveto forward- 'what is happening today' – and there was a opinions; Ifeltasituation of being politicalstuck from the aspect. We, the conquerors. I did get pretty much what Ihave expected concerning the that the other side expectingwill present from himselfthe meetingfor asthe withthe bad. the'miserable' Before Palestinians?", the Thedeparture meeting with them was areally strong experience forme, forthegood and and that and to I wethesaid are seminarthat the I'm we afraidwere asked 'what areunderstand them. (Liatwe Karo) civilians,miscommunication itwas and misunderstanding between us. Idid not against fighting are they and violence against go to is purpose our Because view. my in thing strange and stressful was this and soldiers", our are Shuhada "the that said they conversation of the part one in and soldier, a and 'Shahid' a of process andwork group. in And the then they talked (the Palestinians) about We set and talked in the group (Palestinians and Israelis), it was after few days (Hadar Azulai) fell a Kassam rocket,look, the sufferance is mutual.'But they did not accept it. suffer as much we suffer' and then I said 'I sufferon were them in united experience. this They are said asin 'you Israel,don't you well: on my parents all housesince it see could you experience, traumatic a through been have of them all 45 CEU eTD Collection sentence that I have received from few interviewees was, that they feltalone. was,that they I havefewfrom interviewees that received sentence first the group, Israeli the relationship When with the I askedabout participants. Israeli alone, every afternoonElbaz) (Nofar and I was curved in my bed crying. Not because I wasthem. was This themostmeaningful experience forafraidme. They put their songs but because I felt from jealousy of nationalism.their And Ifelt extremely lonely compared to And I remember that during the seminar it began to entermy dreams. It derived music in club. Itwasthe their more anthem Arabic musicand high in volume. me and another participant went our to upstairs to room And rest. they played What isburnedwith me is noon every that break, generally after thelunches, me. (Nofar Elbaz) than extreme more was everybody that group a to arrived I then and orientation my political less, or more I know, that thought I've opinion, fixed a without Also in the Israeli group I felt pretty alone. Lonely. I've Alfasi) arrived (Keren mindset." same the of towere the Israelis) (the seminar group. And now, that I'mI felt alone, only me thinking like that, itseemedthinking wewere that not in the same about it, it is little strange that all of them 46 CEU eTD Collection Jews which was established by the Zionist elites, does not fit the Sephardic Jews, since they are challengeargue identities ofidentities,wouldlike rigid andto thisdiscourse that these to feminism, attitudes, which and of needof Ibelieve there’s theapproaches that post-colonialism discourse, adopting might bring about a existing the challenge Jews.To truevs. religious seculars and vs.Sephardim Ashkenazim change in terms of the discourse. identity of Rightwingvs.Theseare: Jewsvs.Arabs, forces, Left political conflicts wing I identifications. of tensions dichotomic main four are there well, as seminar in the society, as well.As inIsraeli whicharepresent the patterns, additional identification reinterpret meeting between only dialoguetwo meetings nor in the Israeli society as nationala whole. The framework of the seminar is a identities, aboveinI suggestplace, cannottake process neither that seminar of Unfortunately, the which does not permit East. Middle to observe and which to defined standpointof the vis-à-vis non-European Israel in the environment the the social position of Sephardic Jews in the Israeli society, is the same orientalistic vision, and cultural the determined which outlook, Zionist the that believe, I a whole. as world critical understanding would illustrate the general disposition of Zionism to the Arab Jew in the society and thehistoricalIsraeli itsAfterwards, development of this position. ‘Mizrahi’ the of place the isof need reevaluation First,there the of steps. a through two isreachable understanding alternative this Iclaim, that conflict. Palestinian-Israeli the them. Iwouldlike toassert thisthat linkallowmight amore complex understanding of between it’smeeting that extent possible, to the framework of and equal sincere, the the in itself manifests connection This Palestinians. and Jews Sephardic between connection cultural is essential an there that participants, the of accounts personal the of help the aswith well as sections theoretical the on based my thesis, argue throughout to intended I Conclusions and Arabs, their political understanding is different from that of the classical 47 CEU eTD Collection 66 conflict the itdeterritorializes that namely inGermany, of seminars feature the central and their – notion Andaluza’s religious Gloria borrow to borderland, the on are they – divisions European conceptions are different as well, from those Ashkenazi ideas. The of yearsin of of countries Maghreb. the the nota new cultural creation, rather a return to acultural reality, which existed for hundreds ‘Mizrahi Jews’is of understanding emphasize this alternative Iwould that like East. to aandtheMiddle between bridge foragenuinedialogue Israel constitute could indeed The possible commonPalestinians. Jews vs. not and Palestinians Jews with of new discourse a for cultural conditions the platform of andwould establish Sephardic conflict, Israeli-Palestinian of the constrains territorial the transcend Arab Jews and whichwould identity, myideaan in encapsulates sense, of ‘Mizrahi’ alternative acertain Palestinian Arabs I thank Prof. Pet Prof. Ithank Ę for this observation on the nature of the seminar. the of nature the on observation this for 48 66 , CEU eTD Collection 30 years in old.in She participated seminar the 2007. were bornin Lebanon, Israel,butthegrandparents are from is IranandLithuania. Zaguri Hagit Zaguri seminar in 2007. Mimon's immigrated parents toIsrael from Iraq and in Yemen.Mimon participated the inDepartment Ben-Gurion andUniversity livesin Beer- Sheva. Sheis years 30 old. Ronit Mimon 2007. parents immigrated toIsrael from Yemen and Toledo Libya. participated in seminarthe in She livesin Haifa in (a city in northern the part Israel). Sheis 30 years old. Toledo's Yifat Toledo policies Ashkenazithe of Swisaestablishment. in participated seminarthe in 2006. development city in the southern part of Israel, according to the central population to Israel in late the 1950'sfrom and Morocco in they down settled a Dimona, immigrated Sheyearsis parents main Swisa's desert. 29 old. the of Negev Israel, the city Sharon Swisa paper thepresent for were interviewed The women who Sample The Appendix - A statistician and MA student in the statistic school in Haifa University. - asocial livinginworker in Beer-Sheva. Shegrewup Herparents kibbutz. - A Social-Worker who lives in Beer- Sheva - a city in the southern part of - A Social- Worker, who studies for her MA in the Social Work 49 : CEU eTD Collection was born in LibyanIsrael to Alfasiparents. participatedin seminarthe in 2008. mother herfrom to Israel Libya, immigrated father Alfasi's is years Sheva. She old. 23 Alfasi Keren seminarthe in 2008. Sheis years26 old. Azulai in Israel from participated Morocco. to Theyimmigrated in authorities 1950s. the immigration toby brought whereherparentswere the from originally Sderot, originates Hadar Azulai seminarthe in 2008. Sheis years27 old. in Elbaz participated Israel from Morocco. to immigrated They down. family hersettled Nofar Elbaz from Morocco. She is 27 years old. Karo participated in the seminar in 2008. her weresettled toIsrael where immigrated beginning parents atthe of 1960s.They the for management. business Karolives (a in Sderot developmentcity near the Gaza strip) Liat Karo inmy outlook, view. influenceontheir hadaspecific ancestry, Sephardic and in ofAshkenazi terms background from heterogeneous a are they The factthat Russia. She is 30 years Levi old. participated in seminarthe in 2007. city in the center of Israel). Her grandparents immigrated to Israel from Yemen and Shlomit Levi - an administrative worker in Amdocs (high-tech company) and an MA student – a youth worker who lives whois worker in where –ayouth from She Haifa. Sderot, originally - a student in- astudent SapirCollegethe Sheis in Sderot. from originally (a Rehovot - A for - education inBen-Gurion student livesinBeer- She University. - an administrative worker in an education college in Jerusalem. She Jerusalem. in college education in an worker an administrative - 50 CEU eTD Collection The questions of interviews: of the The questions seminarthe in 2008. She is in yearsimmigrated from Iben 23 to Israel old. participated Iraq. Herparents Ezra Ezra Irit Iben 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. Describe your feelingduring cultural the of Israeli the evening group Describe your feeling during the cultural evening of Israeli the group. your Tell relation about participantsthe with of Palestinianthe group. disagreements? your Tell relationabout of youwith Did participants havethe Israeligroup. the in? youthat participated Could andpointof view you tell yourabout experience in dialoguethe meeting Couldyou tell yourself?generally about - a student for education in Ashkelon College. inlivesBeer-Sheva. She for education Ashkelon - astudent 51 CEU eTD Collection 52 CEU eTD Collection 53 CEU eTD Collection Foucault, Michel. Foucault, 481-510.(2003): in in for theschool peace"], approach work the Reality- the Challenging and Identity [Consciousness, leshalom" hasefer be'beit Halabi, Rabach Zoneshein.Zehut, andNava veitgur hametziut,gishatha'avoda "Todaa, Part 2, 3 Management, and Ethnic Exclusion in Israel," Exclusion Ethnic and Management, Stigma Identity, Jewish Orientalism: of Chain Great "The Aziza. Khazzoom, 14- 27.Tel- Aviv:HaKibbutz Ha'Mehuad, 2000. Jewish –Arabs, Metamorphosis of a term], Hever,shel munach” [The Shinhav,“Hayhudim-aravim,and gilgulo Yehuda Hanan 47-78 London: Sage,2003. and Interpreting QualitativeMaterials, in Science." of Art The “Interviewing, Frey, H. James and Andrea Fontana, DenzinK. andLincoln 1-17.Yvonna S., London: Sage, 2003. Qualitative Research",in Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, ed. Norman Denzin, Norman K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln. "Introduction. Entering the Field of Denzin Gloria. Anzaldua, Bibliography , Norman K. Norman Borderlands/La Frontera TheHistoryofSexuality. Interpretative Interactionism ed. Norman Denzin ed.Norman K. Yvonna Lincoln S., and Dialogue betweenIdentities Peamim .1987. 1017-1030 .1987. i Vol. I, New York: Random Vol. NewYork: 1978. I, House, . London: Sage,2001 American SociologyReview 118 , (2009): 1-14. , ed. Rabachhalabi,, 68, No. 4 Collecting CEU eTD Collection http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/adding-insult-to-injury-1.205174 Sa'ar, Relly. "Adding insultinjury",to in 94-98 is'TransversalYuval- Politics'?," Nira."What Davis, Yuval- Davis, Yuval- LeMehkar 1981 veBikoret, faltering [Not inand Ashkenazim butweakened:Mizrahim Mahbarot Israel] Haifa: Shlomo. Svirski, of California 5-20 Press, (1999): Shoat, Ella. “The invention of the Mizrahim." the of invention “The Ella. Shoat, Social Text Victims," Jewish Its of Standpoint the from Zionism in Israel: "Sephardim Ella. Shoat, Prespective," in Prespective," Jewish Westand Mizrahi the to the Return Zionist Amnon. "The Raz-Krakotzkin, Said, Edward. Davidow, 423-437.DukeUniversity, 2002. Disciplining Feminism.FromAcademicDiscourse SocialActivism to in Debate," of Matter a Research, Feminist of Principle "The Shulamit. Reinharz, Penslar, 162-181.Waltham, Brandeis University Massachusetts: Press, 2005 , No.19/20, DukeUniversity 1-35 Press (1988): Nira Orientalism Orientalism and theJews Orientalism Lo Nechshalim Ela Menuchalim: Mizrahimve Ashkenazim BeIsraelLo NechshalimElaMenuchalim: . GenderandNation . NewYork: Vintage Books, 1979 . London: SAGE Publications, 1997 Haaretz, ii , ed. Ivan Davidson Klamar and Derek J. Journal ofPalestine 14.11.2006 Sounding issue 29, No.1, University 12 (summer 1999): (summer 12 , ed. Ellen Messer- Ellen ed. ,