In Spite of Partition: Jews, Arabs, and the Limits of Separatist Imagination (Translation - Transnation)

207 Pages·2007·1.02 MB·English

by  Gil Z. Hochberg

In Spite of Partition
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G I L Z. HOCHBERG
In Spite of Partition
Jew~, Ami», and the limits of Separatist Imagination
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
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To the memory ""loMI Perl<on. > ,rue peace
(1%1- 1999)
We must nOW begin to "'Ink In 'em" 0/ coexis,ence.
alter 'epM>tion. In .pite 0/ ",rtitOon,
- Edward S.,;d, "'NIl'" Co" s..po_ M",,,/"
~C"'OW'[OGM!NTS ~
INn ODUCTTON
Between ~jewn and "Arob": ProbOng the Borders of the Orient
0"'
History. Memory. Identity: From the Anb jew "We Were" to the
Arob jew -We M>y Become" 20
,.0
The legacy of L""..,tini.m: Agoinst. N3tional Norm.hty H
THHE
Bringing Hebrew Sack to Its {Semitic) Place: On the
Deterritoriaiintion of Lang»>ge 7J
'Ou~
Too Jewish.nd Too Ar.b '" Who Is the (Isr>ell) Subject' 94
Fin
Memory. Forgetting. Love: The Limit. of N.tion.1 Memory 116
UTERWORD
Going Beyond the Borders of Our Times 139
INDEX I~
.111 CONTENTS
PREFACE
“InSpiteofPartition,”asthetitlesuggests,aimsatchallengingthedomi-
nantideologyofseparationthatinformsthecurrentrelationshipbetween
Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine with devastating ramifications on the
relationshipsbetweenthetwopeopleelsewhereintheworld.Butthisbook,
it should be made clear from the very beginning, is first and foremost a
literary study. As such, it offers an analysis of cultural imagination, not a
politicalresolution.
Attending to contemporary literary texts written by and about
JewsandArabs—about,moreprecisely,theintricaterelationshipbetween
the figure of the Jew and that of the Arab in modern times, and most
notablyinthecontextofZionism—thisbookseekstoexposedeepcultural
andpsychologicalframeworksthatbindtheJewandtheArabtoeachother,
despite, or even due to, their current animosity. When I speak of such
bonds,orabouttheinseparabilityoftheArabandtheJew,Iamnotspeak-
ing about a reality that can be easily or directly mapped onto the current
sociopolitical state of affairs. Clearly, Jews and Arabs today, and certainly
soinIsrael/Palestine,existasradicallyseparatedandhostilecommunities.
Thisgrimrealityisundeniable,anditisbynomeansmyintenttosuggest
otherwise. My goal, however, is not to trace this hostile reality but rather
to expose the conditions of repression and active forgetting that bring it
aboutandmakeitseempregivenandunchangeable.
Exploring the imaginative territory introduced by literature, and
focusing, most explicitly, on the manner by which literature situates the
names or signifiers “Arab” and “Jew” in close proximity (either as traces
ofeachotherorasintegralpartsofeachother),thisbookaimstofreethese
signifiers,atleastpartially,fromtheircurrentdeploymentassemantically
constrained markers of polarized identities, communities, histories, and
cultures. This, while revealing, in turn, the strong attachments that bind