הפקולטה למשפטים ע"ש בוכמן THE BUCHMANN FACULTY OF LAW מרכז צבי מיתר ללימודי משפט מתקדמים THE ZVI MEITAR CENTER FOR ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES מכון ברג למשפט והיסטוריה THE BERG INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND HISTORY היסטוריה של המשפט – סדנת יגאל ארנון ושות' The1T Yigal Arnon & Co. Law and History Workshop משפט והיסטוריה – מאמרים בדרך Law and History Working Papers 2/5775 Sexual offences and ethnic identity Orna Alyagon Darr Carmel Academic Center School of Law 30 March 2015 מנחי הסדנה: :Workshop Coordinators פרופ' ליאורה בילסקי Prof. Leora Bilsky
[email protected] [email protected] ד"ר דוד שור Dr. David Schorr
[email protected] [email protected] ד"ר לינא שלאימה Dr. Lena Salaymeh
[email protected] [email protected] draft SEXUAL OFFENCES AND ETHNIC IDENTITY ORNA ALYAGON DARR Introduction Nationality and ethnic origin are not elements of the substantive norm. On the contrary, considering them would be an affront to the principle of equality before the law1. Nevertheless, in practice the legal proceedings in sex offences follow ethnic patterns and provide a public stage on which national sentiments are stirred, expressed, shaped, opposed and sometimes silenced or repressed. This chapter reviews how British, Arabs and Jews in Mandate Palestine treated and mobilised the national or ethnic identity of the various participants in sexual crimes. The British rulers’ strategy was to downplay the significance of the ethnic origin of the participants in the criminal proceedings. Nevertheless, occasional derogatory remarks sometimes slipped into the British façade of neutrality and betrayed prejudice against the inhabitants of the land.