Festival in Haifa “Holiday of Holidays” third largest city of Israel, has gained the Festival in Haifa: between reputation of a model of tolerance among mixed localities. This might be partially Hope and Reality explained by the history of Haifa, where Jews and Arabs lived under the same Yelenevskaya, Maria municipality prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 (Yacobi 2009, 1). Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, In the empirical study conducted by Falah Israel et al., the ranking for positive perceptions Fialkova, Larisa of coexistence is highest in Haifa for 1 The University of Haifa, Israel Arab respondents and second highest for Jewish respondents (2000, 787). At the Introduction: Haifa as a Mixed City same time, the international conference ll localities in Israel are divided From Mixed to Shared: The Haifa Alternative into three groups according to organized by the NGO New Israel Fund their ethnic composition: Jewish, reported results of a study based on the A discussions with 165 residents in 22 focus Arab and mixed. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), eight groups which indicated that “the majority XUEDQ ORFDOLWLHV DUH GHÀQHG DV PL[HG of the town’s residents live in a sort of These towns “with a large majority of cultural indifference devoid of neither Jews, but with a considerable minority desire to interact with members of other of Arabs” are: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Yafo, populations nor outright hostility” (New Haifa, Akko, Ramla, Lod, Ma’alot- Israel Fund 2010). In addition, like in other Torshiha and Nazerat Illit (CBS, Statistical Israeli towns, the interethnic relations in Abstract of Israel 2010, 2011, 29). Life in Haifa visibly deteriorated in the period nd these cities is a subject of heated academic of the 2 Intifada also known as Intifada and public discussions. Academics Al Aqsa (2000-2005), when there were who study planning and development several terrorist attacks in Haifa buses strategies, distribution of housing, public and restaurants and clashes between space and resources believe that on the Arab demonstrators and policemen. one hand, Arab neighborhoods are treated Animosities that soared in that period as ‘internal frontiers’ into which Jewish were hardly alleviated by the fact that presence keeps expanding thus turning among the victims of the terrorists were mixed cities into urban ethnocracies, not only Jewish but also Arab and Druze where citizenship is unequal, and residents of Haifa. resources and services are allocated on The total population of the Haifa the basis of ethnicity rather than residency district which includes the city’s suburbs (Yiftachel, and Yacobi 2003, 680, 690). On is 880,000. The Arab sector makes 213,600, the other hand, the mixed city context may the rest being “Jews and others” (CBS, be favorable for forming perceptions of Statistical Abstract of Israel 2009, 2010, coexistence (Falah et al. 2000, 792). Among 106). 2 Like other mixed cities, Haifa is the mixed urban localities, Haifa, the still ethnically divided into the so called Cultural Analysis 10 (2011): 141-156 © 2011 by The University of California. All rights reserved 141 Maria Yelenevskaya and Larisa Fialkova Festival in Haifa “Arab” and “Jewish” neighborhoods. the Rubin Conservatory located in one The former are located in the low- of the Arab neighborhoods of the city. prestige areas of the city. In fact, Jews Despite a long history of living under also live there, although not by choice the same jurisdiction and abundance EXW GXH WR ÀQDQFLDO FRQVWUDLQWV 5LFK of contact zones, Jews and Arabs in neighborhoods are primarily occupied Haifa continue being apart maintaining by Jews, although socially upward social networks and engaging in leisure mobile Arab families have corners in activities primarily within their own them as well. One Arab neighborhood in ethno-cultural groups. the old part of the city stayed empty for Attempts to bring Haifa communities 50 years after the War of Independence closer to each other are made by Beit which took place in 1948 after the State of Hagefen—the Arab-Jewish Center Israel had been proclaimed. According to founded in 1963 (information about Beit Israeli law, abandoned houses cannot be Hagefen’s activities can be found on its transferred to other owners for a period website (http://www.beit-hagefen.com/En_ of 50 years. Since Palestinian refugees Web/En_%20Home_Index.htm, accessed are not allowed to return to Israel, the 9/01/2012). Its current head, Asaf Ronen, real estate was appropriated by the city says that from 2003 to 2010 the center and today this district is in the process was in crisis and only now is trying to of renovation. Most of the restored reinvigorate residents’ interest in its EXLOGLQJVKRXVHRIÀFHVDQGVKRSV initiatives (Korin 2012). One of the most On a daily basis interaction between successful among them is the December Jews and Arabs occurs in the work place, festival known as Holiday of Holidays. It for example in hospitals where both Jews was launched in 1993 as a joint venture and Arabs can be found among the staff of the Municipality of Haifa and Beit and patients, in shopping centers and Hagefen. The name and the time of the PDOOV LQ SKDUPDFLHV DQG SRVWRIÀFHV festival was chosen because the holidays and at the universities and colleges (see of the three main religions represented Blumen & Tzafrir 2011). One can add that in Haifa - Christmas, Hanukkah and at the universities, there are many more Ramadan happened to be almost at the Arabs among the students than among same time in that year. Moslems use the the professors, engineers, librarians, and lunar calendar, and since then neither secretaries. Notably, although there are Ramadan nor any other Moslem holiday four mixed bilingual schools in Israel3 has fallen on December, yet in the none of them is in Haifa (Mor-Sommerfeld consciousness of the residents the festival et al. 2007, 11). Yet some Arab and Druze is still associated with the three religions, parents send their children who intend to although the events of the festival are go to the university to Jewish high schools VHFXODU 7KH ÀUVW H[SHULHQFH RI KROGLQJ in order to facilitate their further studies, an intercultural festival was successful because instruction at Israeli universities and from year to year it is getting more is in Hebrew. In addition, both Arab popular attracting Israelis from all over and Jewish children, including Russian- the country as well as foreign tourists. speaking immigrants, study together at Today it is generously covered in the 142 Festival in Haifa media, including electronic sources. The of Beit Hagefen, Asaf Ronen. We read festival has its own web page which posts and analyzed internet materials devoted the schedule of events, announcements to the festival on institutional and non- and photographs (http://www.haifahag. institutional sites, such as discussion co.il/, accessed 10/12/2011). It is covered forums and blogs in English, Hebrew on the site of the Haifa Municipality and Russian. Unfortunately, we were (http://www.haifa.muni.il/Haifa/Pages/ unable to cover sites in Arabic, although NewsItem.aspx?One1Id=306, last accessed we spoke about the festival with our 20/01/2012) and on the homepage Arabic-speaking colleagues and students. of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Moreover, we conducted a short online (http://www.altawasul.com/MFAAR/ interview with Roseland Daeem, a Ph.D. israel+beyond+politics/society+co- student in the Department of Hebrew and existence+and+peace/Holiday-of-Holidays- Comparative Literature of the University Festival-celebrated-in-Haifa-13122011.htm, of Haifa, specializing in folklore, and a last accessed on 20/01/2012). Note that lecturer at the Academic Arab College of on the municipal site the page is given Education. in Hebrew, Arabic and English, and The Holiday of Holidays in Haifa is the Ministry adds the Russian page. In an attempt to promote Haifa’s image of 2011 we also found that the festival was a tolerant multicultural city by creating advertised on the web pages of travel a unifying festival. At the same time, agencies in Russia and Ukraine (see e.g., for years Haifa has struggled to shed its http://tours-service.ru/news/9161 and http:// image of a provincial city, which has little www.rv.org.ua/blog/prazdnik-prazdnikov- to offer to young and ambitious people.5 v-haife/ ,4 last accessed 20/01/2012). A widely used method of revitalization 7KH DUWLFOHV RQ WKH RIÀFLDO ,VUDHOL VLWHV of a city’s image, developing its economy underscore the inter-confessional and place identity, and capitalizing on nature of the holiday, contributing to cultural resources is conducting festivals peaceful coexistence of ethno-religious (Cheng-Yi and Woan-Chiau 2009, 1317- groups. Sites for tourists, on the other 1322). This trend is a distinctive feature hand, emphasize a playful and happy of post-industrial societies, where atmosphere and the entertaining nature urban landscapes “become less tied to of the events. production and more concerned with This essay is based on participant organization of consumption” (Zukin observation and monitoring of websites. 1991, 57). We have attended events of Holiday of Holidays since the year it was launched, The Festival and Its Chronotope ÀUVW FRPLQJ DV FXULRXV PHPEHUV RI WKH The term “Chronotope” (literally “time- audience, and in the last two years talking space) was introduced into literary to participants, watching behavior studies by Mikhail Bakhtin for the and reactions of children and adults, DQDO\VLV RI QRYHOV +H GHÀQHG LW DV FROOHFWLQJ DGYHUWLVLQJ OHDÁHWV PDNLQJ “intrinsic connectedness of temporal and notes in our ethnographic diaries. In spatial relationships that are artistically January 2012 we interviewed the head expressed in literature” (Bakhtin 1981, 143 Maria Yelenevskaya and Larisa Fialkova Festival in Haifa 84).