The London School of Economics and Political Science Peripheral Nationhood: Being Israeli in Kiryat Shemona Marie Cathrine Furberg Moe A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, March 2012 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 80,216 words. 2 Abstract The thesis provides a case study for how settler colonialism intertwined with ethno- nationalism to shape social identification in the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. Jews from Arab and Muslim lands were categorized by Zionist nation-builders as Mizrahim and disproportionally placed on the geographic and socio-economic margins of Israeli society to Judaise territory, to prevent the return of the displaced indigenous Palestinian population and to provide cheap labour for Ashkenazi settlements. They were excluded from the Ashkenazi-dominated centre of power, yet included as essential members of a militaristic frontier ethos. The thesis explores how Mizrahim negotiated Israeliness from the margins within the dynamics of ethnocratic exclusion and inclusion, in what I have termed peripheral nationhood. It examines the Israeli State’s attempt to mould loyal subjects through Hebrew education, national ceremonies and military campaigns. In everyday life, Mizrahim contested the socio-economic and cultural hegemony of the Ashkenazi through ethnic and transnational identifications and practices. Simultaneously, their support for the nation-in-arms and creative self-fashioning as ‘strong’ and ‘civilized’ reinforced the dominant logic of ethno-nationalism. Mizrahi residents redeployed stereotypes and an Oriental stigma in their descriptions of Mizrahim, Russian-speaking Israelis and Arabs to elevate their own social status and position in the ethnocracy. The nation was only intermittedly salient as a category of belonging, thus challenging theories of ‘everyday nationalism’ that consider it omnipresent. During the Israeli war on Gaza in 2008/2009, sentiments of national unity were heightened, and the border Mizrahim appeared to be move and/or moved themselves from the periphery to the centre of the nation as key actors in the moral legitimization of war. The dissertation argues that the qualities that make up peripheral nationhood are coeval with construction of national unity as a colonial practice by the centre. 3 Contents List of Figures 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 1. Zionist settler colonialism and its impact on Jews from Arab and Muslim Lands 24 The ideological motivation for a national home in Palestine 24 Two national narratives: independence and catastrophe 30 The destruction of al-Khalsa 35 The ingathering of the Exiles 36 The policy of population dispersal 40 From ma’abara to development town 42 The (re)making of place 43 A house of memory and forgetting 45 Tsipman’s diary 46 The powerful kibbutzim 49 The monoethnic rationality of Zionism 51 The immigration narrative of Avri Moshe 53 Grievances and resistance 56 Conclusion 58 2. Promoting Love and Loyalty for the Nation 60 Nurturing national sentiments in Hebrew language studios 60 Singing the nation into being 64 The enemy within 66 The harsh reality of war 68 The nationalisation of death 71 Presenting united soldiers in the sunset 76 4 Consuming the nation 79 Ignoring the sirens of remembrance 82 Flagging the nation 84 Conclusion 89 3. Civilised Persians and Cold Ashkenazim: Negotiating the Ethno-racial Hierarchy 91 Mizrahi as a category of analysis and practice 92 Mizrahim on the margins 92 Ethno-racial stereotyping and joking amongst the Chackotay family 95 Introducing the Zakay family 102 Racialisation and discrimination 107 Challenging ethnic boundaries 109 Conclusion 115 Chapter 4. Peripheral Nationhood: Fear, Faith and Strength in a Border Town 116 Existential insecurity as an ordinary situation 116 Fear and traumatic memory 119 The national idealisation of border towns 121 Gilad Shalit is still alive 124 Making the margins central 126 Self-nationalization as strong and steadfast 127 The fighting rabbi 131 National unity during war 137 The online battlefield 139 “X-plain” moral righteousness 144 Conclusion 146 5 Chapter 5. Threathening Others: the Dynamics of Prejudice in Everyday Life 148 The absorption of FSU immigrants and their challenge to Mizrahim 148 Russian pride and Arab stigma 151 The image of Russian internal others in personal narratives 154 Playing the religious card 155 Defending a moral community 157 Being civilised and rejecting Arabic 159 Redeploying the Oriental stigma 162 Racism and ritualised xenophobia towards Zionism’s external other 165 Russocentric prejudice against Mizrahim 169 Friendship with a loyal Druze 172 Teaching multiculturalism 174 Conclusion 175 Chapter 6. Longings for an Arab past and an American Future 177 Multiple homes and memories 176 Remembering Iraq 181 Symbolic identification with Iran 183 Defiant memory 185 Transnational ties as status symbols 187 Morocco as a safe place 189 Dual belonging, one national loyalty 191 Forgetting the past 193 Leaving the Promised Land 195 Conclusion 199 7. Conclusion 200 Bibliography 205 6 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Israel. 23 Figure 2. Street names in Kiryat Shemona. 44 Figure 3. The museum of history located in the former mosque of Al-Khalsa. 46 Figure 4. A choir performing in front of a soldier in a glowing sunset. 77 Figure 5. The national flag waving over the blooming land. 78 Figure 6. The bus station in Kiryat Shemona decorated with national flags and flags from 85 various military units. Figure 7. A banal reminder of nationhood in a grocery store. 86 Figure 8. “The metonymic image of banal nationalism is not a flag which is being consciously 86 waved with fervent passion; it is the flag hanging unnoticed on the public building” (Billig 1995:8). The Ministry of Interior (Misrad HaPnim) wrapped in the national flag. Figure 9. Family tree for the Chackotay family 98 Figure 10. The Chackotay family sukkah. 99 Figure 11. Family tree for the Zakay family 102 Figure 12. Guards following the ulpan class on an excursion to Metula in 2006. 117 Figure 13. The state idealisation of the peripheries: Ehud Olmert visited Kiryat Shemona 121 September 23th 2008. Figure 14. “A celebration in the jungle.” 122 Figure 15. “Gilad is still alive” banner hanging from a private home in Kiryat Shemona. 124 Figure 16. Public procession of a Torah scroll in Kiryat Shemona October 2008. 136 Figure 17. Facebook campaigns and slogans against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. 139 Figure 18. “The Red Army.” 140 Figure 19. "Gilad Shalit is still alive.” 141 Figure 20. “I wake up in the morning and suddenly fall on me rocket.” 143 Figure 21. Front Page of Israel HaYom 18/01/09. 145 Figure 22. “A Question of Identity”- Interview with the anthropology student. (Rein in 164 Meidat Shmona 17/10/08). Figure 23. “The Nation of Israel Lives.” 170 7 Acknowledgements First of all I thank the many people I met in Israel who generously helped me with my research. Shay Fahima, Yiftach Chozev and Rinat Zaid introduced me to their network of friends and relatives in Haifa. I owe my great thanks to families in Kiryat Shemona for allowing me into their private lives and sharing their stories and daily experiences. I express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Martha Mundy and Stephan Feuchtwang for firm guidance and mentorship through six years. Martha, I thank you for always pushing me to recognize forms of power. Stephan, I thank you for your theoretical frames of reference that have provided me with direction at crucial steps. My supervisor at the University of Haifa, Yonay Yuval, gave advice on the political sensitivities of research on Israeli society and provided insightful comments on an early draft. Fellow PhD researchers in the field, Vivienne Jackson, Rebecca Steinfeld and Tilde Rosmer, and their critically informed engagement with Israeli and Palestinian society has been a constant source of inspiration. I am grateful for the many conversations and sense of community with fellow students from LSE, particularly Kimberly Chong, Alanna Cant and Miranda Sheild Johansson have been invaluable friends and have made the process joyable. My dear friends Roda Ahmed Hermansen, Esther Buchmann and twin-sister Birgitte Furberg Moe have provided much appreciated long-distance morale boosting. I thank the different institutions that funded this project. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs provided two scholarships in 2006 and 2007/2008 covering Hebrew language training. The Norwegian Research Council provided a three-year state-funded scholarship from 2008-2010. I am grateful to Odd-Bjørn Fure at the Norwegian Holocaust Center, for welcoming me to Villa Grande in Oslo during the final months of completing the thesis. I thank my mother Berit Furberg for her constant enthusiasm and generosity, and my father Thorvald Grung Moe for his newspaper clippings and involvement. Finally, I thank my husband Tobias for his unconditional love and forbearance during my research-induced mood swings. Thank you for being such an involved father for our daughter who became a wonderful addition to our family in 2010. With your support this journey has been possible and tolerable. I dedicate this thesis to you and Ragna.