Conflict Assesment.Ethanography

Leslie Ader Ader 1IP530Dr. RigganData Analysis

The Creation of the Palestinian Identity

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one of the most complex deeply rooted conflicts in

history and has seen 65 years of sporadic wars since the Declaration of the State of Israel in 1948

resulting in several wars: the Suez War in 1956, Six Day War in 1967, Yom Kippur War in

1973, the First intifada 1987-1993 and the Second Intifada in 2000-2005. The current debate

today in post second-Intifada is the issue of Jewish settlements in Arab territories as declared in

Oslo II and Madrid Treaties, dictating the Israeli government cease building in the areas of Jenin,

Ramallah and Nablus in the West Bank. Such settlement projects has caused 2/3s of 1.6 million

Palestinian residents in Gaza as refugees and 727,471 “registered” refugees in the West

Bank(United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 2011,

World Bank 2011, Council for European Palestinian Relations 2010). Based off the following

literature I contend that through present in the Israeli government policy in Gaza and the West

Bank accommodate the social phenomena’s of “othering1”

“describes a process by which a perceiver will come to see themselves in a way more consistent

with stereotypes about their in-group than they otherwise would. Self-stereotyping may be seen

as an outcome of depersonalization, where the self is viewed as a categorically interchangeable

member of the salient ingroup based off of ethnic-religious lines (Haslam 2001)”.

Othering is the key social phenomena that has defined and created the Palestinian identity.

Below I will review the following sources that helps illustrates this phenomena in the Palestinian

context : The Colonial Present by Greogry, Ethnography of Arriving in Palestine by Furani &

Rabinowitz, Smader Lavie and Tina Forte’s anthropological piecs, Staying Put: Crossing the

1 (in-group out group) and self-categorization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-categorization_theory#Depersonalization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group


Israel-Palestine Border and Shopping in Jenin. The current literature written by Derek Gregory

applies the Edward Said’s theory of “Orientalism” in conjunction with Agamben’s homines

scari (bare life). Furani & Rabinowitz’s piece is very similar to Gregory’s piece for the same

themes are illustrated in their ethnographical work when visiting Palestine in 2011. The last

piece by Lavie re-tells a personal story of one of the Palestinian citizens in relation to the subject

of identity formation because of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. have several

themes in relation as to what the Palestinian identity is, and how it has been formed since the

conflict began in 1948. Some academics like Gregory, Said, and Furani & Rabinowitz claim that

Palestinian identity has been shaped by Israel’s colonial behavior (Gregory 91-99). Gregory

openly sates

“that Israel’s colonial past of geographic partitions in conjunction with Israel’s Zionist expansion

policies in regards to settlements; which not only dispossess Palestinians but regard them as

“space of exemption” or “bare life (Gregory 66).”

Furani & Rabinowitz’s ethnography claims that there are two competing histories when it comes

to land claims, that of the Palestinians and the Zionist settlers (Furani & Rabinowitz 476-487).

Palestinians date their land claims back to the Ottoman empire both the Arabs and Mizrahim

Jews lived in harmony together despite both groups claiming that GOD had granted them the

Levant (Furani & Rabinowitz’s 477). However, Jewish Zionists claim that the Palestinians have

no right to “Eratz Israel” for it was promised to them by Yahweh long before Ottoman Empire

(Furani & Rabinowitz’s 476). It is under this pretense that Palestinians have come to adopt An

Arab resistance-victim identity under the guise of Jihad against the Jewish Zionist state (Furani

& Rabinowitz’s 481-483). These ethnic tensions may seem solidified in practice, but some


academics like Smader Lavie and Tina Forte is disagree, for their ethnographic work shows that

Palestinian identity is not as solidified, but self-categorization does exist in relation to Mizrahim

Jews and Palestinians sharing the Arabic language and the desire for modernity.

Lavie’s ethnography is similar to Furani & Rabinowitz in regards to social phenomena of

“othering” but is less focused on the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians; which is

present but is implied from the data she gathered, but on the fluidity of ethnic identity via shared

space. Lavie focused on one woman Fatmah, who states that in 1967 both Arabs and Jews lived

together peacefully as a “secular” working class society; particularly the relationship Mizrahim

Jews and Arabs for both spoke Arabic (Lavie 102-117). Unfortunately, Fatmah died before

Lavie’s could return to finish her ethnography in 2006, but Fatma’s daughter continued her story.

Fatmah’s daughter’s story is similar to her mother’s in a sense that Mizrahim Jews and Arabs

have “better relations” than the settlers in the West Bank, who consist of Zionist Ashkenazi Jews

(Lavie 104). However, the Ashkenazi Jews run the state and use the Mizrahim Jews to build

settlements, if not Arab Palestinians (Lavie 106). This has allowed both ethnic groups, Arab

Palestinians and Mizrahim Jews to share space in the West Bank peacefully due to ties of a

shared language, Arabic. Lavie concludes that this has created physical difficulties in identifying

and separating Mizrahim Jews from Arabs in residential areas in the West Bank (Lavie 110).

Tina Forte’s work is similar to Lavie’s in the sense of dual identity and the problems it presents

for the social phenomena of self-categorization; which is promoted by Israeli settlement policy in

the West Bank (Forte 215).

The phenomena of self-categorization is common in the Occupied Territories along

ethnic lines between Jews and Arabs, but in the marketplaces of Jenin and Galilee this is division


is subsides. Such disappearances in ethnic identity emerges through the phenomena of

consumerism and is replaced by the desire for Palestinian to be “modern” or “secular” by

shopping in Jewish towns filled with Western goods (Forte 211-218). Usually Palestinians would

not shop in Jewish areas either because of boycotted goods, fear of faulty (Forte 217). Middle

class Palestinian women transcend this norm for they buy Israeli products, eat in cafes in the

Jewish settlements, and speak both Arabic and Hebrew (Forte 218-224). Ironically, those settlers

in Jenin have no issue with Arabs purchasing their good or being present in their space (Forte

224-228). However, the Israelis government’s policies since the intifada has curtailed such

“spaces” by placing road blocks are preventing mobility for both Jews and Palestinians in the

area; thus causing economic hardship for those seeking work (Forte 217-220). Regardless of this

hardship these women remain motivated by the chance of “modernity” and its benefits of

replacing the “travel permit” given to then by the Israeli government. Such a privilege gives the

Palestinians a sense of distinction for these permits act as “freedom permits” for the Palestinians

for it grants them access to the outside world for employment and leisure (Forte 220-223).

The main method of analysis to be used in examining the following data (i.e. primary

sources) will be a combined lens guided by the theme of “othering (in-out group)” or “self-

categorization” in relation to ethnicity, rather than the desire for modernity, as seen in Lavie and

Forte’s work. This analysis will take these themes a step further by discussing how current

Israeli settlement policy accommodates the social phenomena’s of: “othering” (in-group out

group) and self-categorization (along ethnic-religious) that’s has created the Palestinian identity

through a narrative that consists of re-occurring themes of land dispossession and victimization

of Palestinian refugees by the Israeli Occupation, as seen in Tolan’s book The Lemon Tree.


Description: Tolan’s book is encompasses all the themes that have emerged in each of

the previous documents, from the illustration of Israeli oppression to the Lavie and Forte’s

descriptions of the few Palestinian and Israelis who transcend the norm by giving each party

mutual respect in attempt to end the cycle of hatred and violence. Tolan’s story includes tales

from both communities that display a common theme of shared trauma of war between Jews and

Arabs in order to illustrate to her readers that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot be resolved

because of how powerful self-categorization and othering has played throughout history.

However, Tolan does give a slight indicator that while the conflict cannot be solved, there is

hope for future generations if both parties recognize one common identity, that both Jews and

Palestinians are human beings.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one of the most complex and deeply rooted conflicts in

history. Violence has continued since the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, including the

Suez War in 1956; Six Day War in 1967; Yom Kippur War in 1973; the First intifada 1987-

1993; Second Intifada in 2000-2005. The current debate is in a post second-Intifada lens and

focuses on the issue of Jewish settlements in Arab territories. Even though Oslo II and Madrid

Treaties dictate that the Israeli government ceases building in the areas of Jenin, Ramallah, and

Nablus in the West Bank, such settlement projects are still ongoing creating a new fact of the

deeply rooted conflict.

Tolan’s story begins with those Arabs who in 1947 feared the growing popularity of

Zionism and its connection to the political memory tied to the Holocaust. One observers writes

“they danced and danced throughout the night elated over the UN resolution, the world has

finally seen justice for the Zionist cause (Tolan 50)” Only 15 days after the celebration of the


declaration of the Zionist state Haganah the right military wing of the Zionist group Irgun

bombed an Arab community in al-Ramla eye witness accounts describe the event as “gruesome

for there were bodies and entrails hanging within the trees (Tolan 52).”

The1948 war had begun, Arab states tried to block off any supplies coming into Israel

and Yitzhak tells the story of how the Red Cross and other families still in Europe arranged for

“parachutes of supplies, that landed in hospitals...especially where Arab caravans with shooters

confronted Israelis, which was in the area of Hadassah hospital (Tolan 53).” However the Jewish

people seemed to overcome the challenges in war and by mid-1948 Arab commanders were

being pushed back and were running out of ammunitions. One commander asked King Abdullah

(commander of the Arab forces in Palestine) “How do we fight without ammunition” The king

then replied “Don’t shoot until the Jews do (Tolan 55).” This proved to be sound advice but it

was too late in the war, the Jews had already taken al-Ramla and were forcing Palestinian Arabs

out of their homes “Arab fighters told women and children to stay put and remain in their homes

(Tolan 56).”It was under such a pretext that borders were beginning to change as well as

relationships. While the Jewish state quickly established themselves Arabs were being disposed

of land and pushed into refugee camps, most Jews supported this however some Jews spoke out

“We still don’t appreciate the type of enemy we have become…our enemies the Arab states are a

mere nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands Arabs [Palestinians refugees] by the hatred

by the hopeless and hostility to wage war (Tolan 94).”

This statement came from the Jewish minister of agriculture Ahron Cizling who

contended that the refugee problem in Ramallah should be the priority of the new government,

for it they are not settled farming could not be possible. Unfortunately, the Israeli government


ignored Cizling’s logic, despite the 1300 Arabs that were ‘living” in the area of Ramallah. One

person that transcends the norm was a Jewish man named Zamir who worked with Christian

NGO’s from London to provide humanitarian aide to the Palestinian refugees. Zamir’s

comments are littered with despair “many Palestinians ask the same questions over and over

again…what we will eat? Why should Jewish settlement in Palestine be the solution for the

Jewish problem in Europe (Tolan 108)?” Zamir knew that the situation was becoming more

complicated for by 1949 over 500 Arab settlements were demolished and being replaced by

Jewish settlements that housed 150,000 Bulgarian Jews and another was on the way. The Zionist

government continued to welcome the new settlers, particularly Ben Gurion who stated “Today

the Jewish people are again on a period of genesis…. A waste land [current Arab lands in

Palestine] must be made fertile and all exiles gathered in(109)” While some Palestinians opted to

live as refugees other tried to integrate with the new Palestine by learning Hebrew which one

man stated “speaking Hebrew comes with great difficulty” ‘ whereas other fled to Morocco

Yemen and Egypt.

Ironically as time went on the European Jews or Ashkenazi Jews started to suppress their

own, the Sabras or Mirziam Jews who opted to integrate with Palestinians due to their linguistic

connections. Ben Gurion called the sabras “chronically lazy…primitive and that they have

mentally regressed (Tolan 120).” Such comments did little to endear the sabras to the Zionist

government. During the 1967 war which pitted Israel against all her Arab neighbors including

Gamal Nasser the champion for the Palestinian cause invaded. Most settlers were eager to fight

back, others were not. A girl named Dalia states her agreement with Nasser’s speech about the


“right of return for displaced Arabs” but she said “only in part…for what we did in 1948 with

brute force was wrong (Tolan 150).”

While the text of the Lemon Tree may not have on specific main character, but it has

several characters over a certain span of time 1947-1967 when both communities, Jews and

Arabs were locked into a tumultuous battle of socio-political survival where the only sense of

security one had was one’s idneity. For Jews it was about gaining political regonition and redress

for the Holocaust by reating the land of their fathers. The Arabs sought to defend their land from

the incoming Holocaust refguees who sought to ‘steal their land’ despite the many Arbs who had

farmed those lands over generations. Violent conflict was ineviatbale, but witin the text there are

a few voices that speak about the graphic images that haunt them from the conflict like Yitzhak

and the Jordian commander to King Abdullah of Jordan, while others speak out about the

conflict by asking why vioelcne was the answer like Zamir and others like Daila wants to

reconcile with the ‘other side’ but cannot betray herself or the Jewish people by openly

expressing her disagreement with Ben Gurion’s stament or her empathy for the Arabs.

Here are the stories of ordinary people in the midst of war who suffer not from the

violence, but the battle within themselves, trying to reconcile themselves to understanding the

opposition from a humanist perspective rather than the traditional ethnic narritve that was taught

to them since birth.The Lemon Tree’s compliation of stories illustrate the traumas and internal

battles that those whithn the Palestinan Isreali conflict face on a daily basis trying to grasp why

one must hate or avoid the opposite party because they were Muslim Arabs or Jewish Israelis.

This text not only supports my thesis that Palestinan idenity was formed because of the social

phenomena of ‘othering’ and self-catagorzation, but that the Jewish idenity has been affected as


well; for both parties use the same cultural norms of story telling through the lense of ethnic

idenity formation from the social life of war.


Work Cited:

Secondary Sources:

Forte, Tania. "Shopping in Jenin: Women, homes, political persons in Galilee." City and

Society . 13. no. 2 (2002): 211-243.

Furani, Khaled, and Dan Rabinowitz. "The Ethnographic Arriving in Palestine ." Annual Review

of Anthropology . 40. no. 5 (2011): 475-491.

Gregory, Derek. The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. London United Kingdom:

Wiley-Blackwell , 2004.

Haslam, A. “Psychology Orgamzations: The Social-Identity Approach.” SAGE. 40.no.2 (2001): 30-50

Lavie, Smader. "Staying Put: Crossing the Israel-Palestine Border with Gloria

Anzaldua." Anthropology and Humanism . 36. no. 1 (2011): 101-121.

Primary Sources:

Sacco, Joe. Footnotes in Gaza . New York City, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009.

Shehadeh, Raja . Palestinian Walks. New York City, New York: Scribner Press, 2007

Tolan, Sandy . The Lemon Tree. New York City, New York: Bloomsbury Press , 2006.

Von Schubert , Katherine . Checkpoints and Chances. New York City, New York: Quaker Books

Press, 2005 .

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