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WPIHP-Allouche.Pdf (Pdfa) Etudes et travaux Studies and Working Papers The Oriental Communities in Israel, 1948-2003 The Social & Cultural Creation of an Ethnic Political Group Jeremy ALLOUCHE Foreword by M.R. Djalili Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales, Genève Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva The Oriental Communities in Israel, 1948-2003. The Social & Cultural Creation of an Ethnic Political Group Jeremy ALLOUCHE Mémoire presented to obtain a Diploma of Graduate Studies (DES) in International Relations Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales, Genève Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva PUBLICATION OF THE GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, Geneva © Graduate Institute of International Studies, 132, rue de Lausanne, C.P. 36, CH-1211 Geneva 21 Copyright reserved for all Countries 2003 The Oriental Communities in Israel, 1948-2003. The Social & Cultural Creation of an Ethnic Political Group Jeremy ALLOUCHE Foreword by M.R.Djalili Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales, Genève Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva « The other Jews were looked down upon with a naive sense of superiority. One word invariably charged with contempt was that of Todesco, meaning German Jew or Ashkenazim. To marry a Todesco would have been unthinkable and I believe that there had been no exception to this rule among the many families I ever heard talked about at Roustchouk all those years. Even before I was six, my grandfather, already worried about the future, had warned me against such an ill-fated match....1» Elias Canetti2 1 Author’s own translation, « Les autres juifs, on les regardait de haut, avec un sentiment de naïve supériorité. Un mot invariablement chargé de mépris était le mot tosdeco désignant un juif allemand ou un ashkénaze...il eut été impensable d’épouser un todesco et je ne crois pas qu’aucune exception à cette règle, parmi les nombreuses familles dont j’ai entendu parler à Roustchouk, pendant toutes ces années. Je n’avais pas six ans que mon grand père, soucieux de l’avenir, me mettait déjà en garde contre une telle mésalliance... » 2 Canetti, Elias, La langue sauvée, Paris: Ed Albin Michel, p. 14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research has been made possible with the help of many people. I would like firstly to express my gratitude to professor Mohammad-Reza Djalili, who has always offered his help and who encouraged me in doing my field research in Israel. I am also grateful to professor Pierre Du Bois, who has given me precious advice. I would also to thank the University of Geneva who has encouraged me to pursue my research by granting me the Judaica – Adolphe Neuman award. Moreover, all the French-English translations in the text would not have been possible without the help of my mother. Besides my whole family and friends, I am also very indebted to Mr and Ms Horowitz, respectively professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv University, for facilitating my field research trip in Israel. FOREWORD The nature of Israeli society is clearly a fascinating and complex subject. Since its contested birth in 1948, Israel figures as one of the most interesting human experience regarding the melting pot model, far greater then its American counterpart. As shown in Mr. Allouche’s study, this society is composed of a large variety of citizens, encompassing East Europeans, Russians, Ethiopians, Middle-eastern and even Asian immigrants. Nonetheless, despite this extreme variety, they all had a common feature, a common historical and to a lesser extent religious feature that made them automatically Israeli, they were all Jewish. Although this common identity feature may be at first thought as an integrating factor, this jewishness constituted in fact more a problem. Indeed, the vision that East European leaders had of Israel was very much distant from this religious identity, what we commonly refer to political Zionism and its new ideals (cooperative society, kibbutz, etc…). For the vast majority of immigrants, and especially those coming from the Middle East, this new vision of Israeli society did not clearly reflect their expectations of what Israeli should be. In exploring the waves of immigration and the current difficulty in forging a new Israeli society, Mr. Allouche’s study pinpoints to the origins of the current debate in Israeli society on the nature of the Israeli state and citizenship. Basically, the main question that is currently addressed in Israeli society nowadays could be resumed as should Israel ‘just’ be a State of Jews or a Jewish State? Mr. Allouche study’s offers a new insight on Israeli society and politics, as well as additional factors in explaining the socio-psychological attitude of Israelis in their conflict with the Arabs. This study also brings into light the complexity of creating a melting pot model without a dominant ideology. Finally, this study offers a well-researched empirical reading of Israeli society from the early stages of the creation of the Israeli state and society to the last elections in 2003 from the oriental Jews perspective. The main conclusion of this study clearly reveals the dividing nature of Israeli society that is usually stigmatised by the creation of two imagined groups (except in religious terms), the Ashkenazim against the Sephardim. M.R. Djalili Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of International Studies TABLES OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 FIRST PART: THE SEPHARDIM COMMUNITY ......................................... 4 A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE SEPHARDIM/ASHKENAZIM DICHOTOMY ............................................................... 4 A JEWISH STATE OR A STATE OF JEWS................................................................. 9 1.1.1. Zionism.............................................................................................. 9 1.1.1.1. Zionism: an European ideology...................................................... 9 1.1.1.2. A political creation as opposed to a religious creation................... 11 1.1.1.3. The definition of Israeli identity according to Zionism ................. 14 1.1.2. The arrival of Sephardi Jews in Israel.............................................. 15 1.1.2.1. Origins of the Sephardim Community.......................................... 15 1.1.2.2. The Olim...................................................................................... 16 1.1.2.3. The negation of oriental culture and the « Levantine » threat….... 22 1.1.3. The « Absorption policies » and their negative impact on the different Oriental communities.................................................................................... 24 1.1.3.1. Mizug Galouyot and the « ingathering of the exiles » .................... 25 1.1.3.2. The creation of Development Towns ........................................... 27 FROM SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION TO POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT: THE GRADUAL PROCESS OF SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION AND ETHNIC CREATION............................ 29 1.2.1. The Social Struggle........................................................................... 29 1.2.1.1. The Waddi Salib Uprising............................................................. 29 1.2.1.2. The Black Panthers ...................................................................... 32 1.2.1.3. The status quo in Israeli society and the Horovitz Committee ...... 35 1.2.1.3.1. The non representation of Oriental Jews in the administrative and political sector ........................................................................................... 38 1.2.1.3.2. Inequalities in Educational opportunities ...................................... 39 1.2.1.3.3. Another sign of social malaise : delinquency................................... 40 1.2.2. The first path to a political consciousness: The development of an ethno-cultural remaking and the legacy of the Six Days War ....................... 41 1.2.2.1. A return and a recreation of the past ............................................ 41 1.2.2.2. The consequences of the Six Days War ........................................ 44 SECOND PART: THE BIRTH OF A POLITICAL PROTEST, A « REFLEXION » ON THE SO-CALLED SEPHARDIM POLITICAL CULTURE. .......................................................................................................... 48 FIRST PERIOD: 1977-1984.................................................................................. 48 2.1.1. A nationalistic vote: a characteristic of an Oriental culture?............ 49 2.1.1.1. The 1977, 1981 & 1984 elections: The confirmations of the Sephardi factor in Israeli politics................................................................ 50 2.1.1.2. Sephardi culture: right wing biased?.............................................. 53 2.1.1.2.1. The political cultural factor ........................................................ 53 2.1.1.2.2. Pragmatism versus Ideology. ....................................................... 55 2.1.1.2.3. Nationalistic Integration............................................................ 57 2.1.2. The Occupied Territories and Israeli Politics: Another ethnic differentiation?.............................................................................................. 60 2.1.2.1. The hardening of Israeli politics and society ................................. 60 2.1.2.2. Sephardi Likud Vote: A Specific Attitude towards the Occupied Territories?
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