Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel’s Liberal Settler State

351 Pages·2013·5.993 MB·English

by  Shira Robinson

Citizen Strangers
Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures
Citizen Strangers
PALESTINIANS AND THE BIRTH OF
ISRAEL’S LIBERAL SETTLER STATE
Shira Robinson
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Shira, 1972- author.
Citizen strangers : Palestinians and the birth of Israel’s liberal settler state / Shira Robinson.
pages cm--(Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and cultures)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8654-6 (cloth : alk. paper)--ISBN 978-0-8047-8800-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Palestinian Arabs--Civil rights--Israel. 2. Palestinian Arabs--Legal status, laws, etc.--Israel.
3. Citizenship--Government policy--Israel. 4. Land settlement--Government policy--Israel.
5. Jews--Colonization--Palestine. 6. Arab-Israeli conflict--1948-1967. 7. Israel--Politics and
government--1948-1967. I. Title. II. Series: Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic
societies and cultures.
DS113.7.R56 2013
323.1192’74009’045--dc23 2013021486
ISBN 978-0-8047-8802-1 (electronic)
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/14 Minion
For my mother, Lenore Annette Robinson

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Note on Translations and Transliterations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 From Settlers to Sovereigns 11
2 The Formation of the Liberal Settler State 29
3 Citizenship as a Category of Exclusion 68
4 Spectacles of Sovereignty 113
5 Both Citizens and Strangers 153
Conclusion 194
Notes 201
Bibliography 279
Index 313

ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of the Palestinian Arab villages and towns that remained
in Israel after 1948 32
Inside a makeshift military tribunal in Umm al-Fahm, 1956 43
Military police inspect the paperwork of Palestinians, 1956 110
Raising a makeshift Israeli flag in the Little Triangle, 1949 122
Bedouin leaders enter Beersheba on camels, 1950 129
Urban notable congratulates the president on Independence Day,
Rehovot, 1951 132
Communal leaders watch military parade, Tel Aviv, 1959 133
Histadrut poster commemorating May Day, 1954 136
Cover photo from ba-Mahaneh of Druze officer, his son,
and a fellow villager, 1954 142
Dancing in Jerusalem’s Independence Day parade, 1960 145
Teacher accompanies performance of the schoolgirls’ choir
on Independence Day, 1958 147
Girls march to commemorate the first anniversary of
Israel’s annexation of the Little Triangle, 1950 148
Nurse treats mother and infant at a new health clinic in Tira, 1957 150
Dignitaries arrive at the “reconciliation ceremony” in Kafr Qasim, 1957 154
Nighttime meeting against military rule in Nazareth, 1956 166
Military commanders listen to speeches at the sulha, 1957 173
Hasan ‘Abd Allah Mansur speaks at the sulha, 1957 174
Palestinian communists march in Nazareth on May Day, 1958 187
ix